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Tony Hancock

© Hunter Peters

Beloved in Britain, though little known in the U.S., Tony Hancock, "the Lad Himself", first arrived on the small screen in 1956 when the BBC transferred his popular radio show "Hancock's Half Hour" to telly. The radio Hancock, like it's television progeny, was the brilliant result of the collaboration between the extraordinary writing team of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the comic genius of Tony Hancock portrayal of the irascible but lovable loser, and the marvelous supporting cast that included the likes of Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Bill Kerr and Hattie Jacques (though only James would be featured prominently in the TV version of the program). The two versions of "Hancock's Half Hour" remained on the air together for many years with Hancock's portrayal of the downtrodden everyman becoming a national treasure and one of the great comic creations of all time.

Dressed in his signature Astrakhan collared coat and homburg Hancock entertained millions with his characters pompous buffoonery and thwacks at the establishment, ever the oblivious underdog Hancock's alter-ego blustered and sulked his way through some of the greatest moments of television comedy. Classic episodes such as "The Radio Ham" and "The Blood Donor" are still as funny today as they were forty years ago.

Though universally beloved Hancock was ravaged by personal demons. He longed to break free from the Homburg and Astrakhan collar to become the sixties answer to Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. He wanted to create a comic character that would transcend mere comedy as his heroes before him had, his 1963 film "The Punch and Judy Man" was a step in this direction, but his attempts at creating this new persona were doomed. The public wasn't interested in any "new Hancock" and he slowly sank into drink and despair, a situation made worse by injuries he sustained in a car accident. (Interestingly enough it was shortly following this accident that Hancock, still suffering bouts of amnesia, filmed the great "The Blood Donor" episode of his series. Never having been too keen on memorizing his lines for this episode he was forced to use cue cards and yet it is one of his finest moments). An abortive attempt at a comeback with Walt Disney Studios also proved disastrous. Finally Hancock relented and returned to the familiar trappings of the collar and the hat and made his way to Australia to film new versions of his classic work. Things did not go well though and soon after arriving Tony Hancock took his own life.

Fortunately for his fans much, though not nearly all, of his TV and radio work survives today to be enjoyed with just a tinge of sadness at

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