Hancock - the Half Hour Genius
As we look back on broadcasting's first century, there is one comic performer who stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Tony Hancock made some of the greatest comedy programmes ever seen or heard on radio or television. His series "Hancock's Half Hour" was recently voted the funniest radio comedy programme of all time by a poll of Radio Times listeners in the UK. He has a small but significant presence on the world wide web, with some intelligent, and thought provoking material available for those who want to look a little more closely at what makes broadcast comedy works (and the toll it takes on performers).
The Lad Himself
Tony Hancock was born in Birmingham in 1924. By the time he was 3 years old., his family were running a small hotel in the English south coast resort of Bournemouth. The hotel was home for a number of visiting music-hall artists when they were booked for performances in the area, and Tony's father was a regular part-time entertainer, so he was raised in vaguely showbizzy atmosphere.
After some time entertaining the forces during World War 2, Hancock received his first professional engagement in 1947, although his first radio job had been a single spot on a variety programme on the BBC's Forces programme in 1941, during his time in the services. His first broadcast as a civilian was on the BBC's fledgling Television service in 1948 - and on BBC radio's famous "Variety Bandbox" show in 1949. At that stage there was little hint of the towering giant he would become on TV and radio for a short period around the English speaking world.
His first major series was appearing as Archie Andrews' tutor in "Educating Archie", an enormously popular radio series in the fifties, which featured ventriloquist dummy Archie's adventures (don't ask how you do ventriloquism on the radio... the answer is, of course, very easily!).
In 1954, the first edition of "Hancock's Half Hour" was broadcast on BBC radio. It was ground breaking stuff. Writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson laid the foundations for most of today's comedy programmes when they wrote for Hancock.. Their plots revolved around Anthony Aloysius St.John Hancock, and his friends. They did not use silly voices or funny catchphrases, which were the staple diet of comedy writers up until then. Although sometimes the plots verged on surreal, they broke new ground. The format adopted by Galton and Simpson we see today in "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Spin City" and the rest.
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