Editing Tony Hancock (section)

== Legacy ==
[[File:Tony Hancock in Old Square Birmingham.jpg|right|thumb|Statue in [[Old Square, Birmingham]]]]
[[File:Hancockplaque.jpg|right|thumb|Commemorative plaque at the foot of the statue in [[Old Square, Birmingham]]]]
There is a sculpture by Bruce Williams (which was established in Hancock's honour in 1996) in [[Old Square, Birmingham|Old Square]], [[Corporation Street, Birmingham|Corporation Street]], Birmingham.

There is a plaque on the house where he was born in [[Hall Green]], Birmingham, and a plaque on the wall of the hotel in Bournemouth where he spent some of his early life. There is also a plaque, placed by the Dead Comics Society, at 10 Grey Close, [[Hampstead Garden Suburb]], north London, where he lived in 1947 and 1948.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk/locations/tony-hancock-nw11/ |title=Tony Hancock - NW11 |work=Plaques of London |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> In 2014, an [[English Heritage]] [[blue plaque]] was placed to commemorate Hancock at 20 Queen's Gate Place in South Kensington, London, where he lived between 1952 and 1958.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/tony-hancock/ |title=Hancock, Tony (1924-1968) |website=[[English Heritage]] |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society organised a  plaque to commemorate Hancock's first professional appearance, in 1940, at the Labour Halls, now the ''Avon Social Club'' in Avon Road, Springbourne, in Bournemouth.<ref name="bournemouthecho/9000829"/>

In a 2002 poll, BBC radio listeners voted Hancock their favourite British comedian.<ref name="poll2002">{{cite news|last=Morrison|first=James|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/stone-me-hancock-voted-top-british-comedian-136080.html|title=Stone me! Hancock voted top British comedian|work=The Independent on Sunday|date=15 December 2002|access-date=31 March 2016}}</ref> Commenting on this poll, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson observed that modern-day creations such as [[Alan Partridge]] and [[David Brent]] owed much of their success to mimicking dominant features of Tony Hancock's character. "The thing they've all got in common is self-delusion," they remarked, in a statement issued by the BBC. "They all think they're more intelligent than everyone else, more cultured, that people don't recognise their true greatness – self-delusion in every sense. And there's nothing people like better than failure." 

Mary Kalemkerian, Head of Programmes for BBC 7, commented: "Classic comedians such as Tony Hancock and [[the Goons]] are obviously still firm favourites with BBC radio listeners. Age doesn't seem to matter – if it's funny, it's funny." Dan Peat of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society said of the poll: "It's fantastic news. If he was alive, he would have taken it one of two ways. He would probably have made some kind of dry crack, but in truth he would have been chuffed."<ref name="poll2002"/>

The last eight or so years of Hancock's life were the subject of a BBC1 television film, called ''Hancock'' (1991), starring [[Alfred Molina]]. Another drama, ''[[Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!]]'' (BBC Four, 2006), saw [[Martin Trenaman]] play the role of Hancock with [[Michael Sheen]] as Williams. Hancock's affair with Joan Le Mesurier was also dramatised in ''[[Hancock and Joan]]'' on [[BBC Four]] and transmitted in 2008 as part of the "Curse of Comedy" season. Hancock was portrayed by [[Ken Stott]] and Joan by [[Maxine Peake]].

Musician [[Pete Doherty]] is a fan of Hancock and named the first album by his band [[the Libertines]] ''[[Up the Bracket]]'' after one of Hancock's catchphrases. He also wrote a song called "Lady Don't Fall Backwards" after the book at the centre of the ''Hancock's Half Hour'' episode "[[The Missing Page]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/babyshambles-409-1360455 |title=Pete Doherty in Hancock tribute |website=[[NME]] |date=2005-12-21 |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> Hancock is also referenced in the lyrics to the Libertines' 2015 song "You're My Waterloo".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/The-libertines-youre-my-waterloo-lyrics|title=The Libertines – You're My Waterloo|via=genius.com}}</ref>

[[Paul Merton]], in 1996, appeared in remakes of six of Galton and Simpson's ''Hancock'' scripts, which were not critically well received. In 2014, five of the radio instalments of ''Hancock's Half Hour'' that did not survive, chosen by Galton and Simpson, were re-staged for BBC Radio 4 under the umbrella title ''The Missing Hancocks'', with [[Kevin McNally]] taking the title role. Over subsequent years, all the remaining missing episodes were re-made, including two episodes, The Marriage Bureau and A Visit to Swansea, where the original broadcasts were later discovered and broadcast. 

Playwright Roy Smiles' play about Tony Hancock, ''The Lad Himself'', was staged at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] in 2012 with Mark Brailsford as Tony Hancock.<ref name="fringereview/2012/lad-himself">{{cite web |last1=Lentell |first1=Dan |title=The Lad Himself |url=http://fringereview.co.uk/review/edinburgh-fringe/2012/the-lad-himself/ |website=FringeReview |access-date=22 April 2025 |date=6 August 2012}}</ref>

The ''Tony Hancock Appreciation Society'' was formed in 1976 and still attracts new members, such as [[Diane Morgan]]. In 1980, Chris Bumstead began publishing a monthly ''Tony Hancock Appreciation Society'' [[newsletter]], ''Railway Cuttings'', later quarterly. The Society publishes two magazines for members, ''The Missing Page'' (quarterly) and ''The Bonus Page'',<ref name="ark.dmu.ac.uk/TH" /> holds an annual April reunion, at the Queens Hotel,<ref name="bournemouthecho/9000829"/> events and is a source of information on Hancock.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} It has an extensive archive held in the safe keeping of [[De Montfort University]], Leicester.<ref name="bbc/68978879">{{cite news |title=Leicester: Tony Hancock archive to be made publicly available |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68978879 |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[bbc.com/news]] |date=11 May 2024}}</ref><ref name="ark.dmu.ac.uk/TH" >[https://specialcollections.catalogue.dmu.ac.uk/records/TH Tony Hancock Appreciation Society Collection] - [[De Montfort University]] Archive</ref><ref name="library.dmu.ac.uk/Trove-Hancock-">{{cite web |last1=Hayton |first1=Natalie |title=Treasure trove celebrating life of sit com legend Tony Hancock to be held at DMU |url=https://library.dmu.ac.uk/archivesblog/home/Treasure-trove-celebrating-life-of-sit-com-legend-Tony-Hancock-to-be-held-at-DMU |website=LibGuides: Special Collections Blog |publisher=Kimberlin Library, [[De Montfort University]] |access-date=22 April 2025 |language=en |date=2024-05-10}}</ref>