Editing Tony Hancock

{{Short description|English comedian and actor (1924–1968)}}
{{For|the football player|Tony Hancock (footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Tony Hancock
| image              = tony-hancock.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = Hancock c. 1963
| birth_name         = Anthony John Hancock
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1924|05|12|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Hall Green]], [[Birmingham]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1968|06|25|1924|05|12|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Bellevue Hill, New South Wales|Bellevue Hill]], [[Sydney]],  Australia
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actor|comedian}}
| years_active       = 1942–1968
| spouse             = {{ubl | {{marriage|Cicely J. E. Romanis|1950|1965|reason=divorce}} | {{marriage|[[Freddie Ross Hancock|Freda "Freddie" Ross]]|1965|1968|reason

}} }}
}}

'''Anthony John Hancock''' (12 May 1924 &ndash; 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor.<ref>{{cite web|last=Oliver|first=John|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/482568/|title=Hancock, Tony (1924- )|work=BFI Screenonline|date=2003–14|access-date=10 February 2017}}</ref>

High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor [[Sid James]]. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960,<ref>John Fisher ''Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography'', London: Harper Collins, 2008, p. 289</ref> disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including [[The Blood Donor]] and [[The Radio Ham]]). After breaking with his scriptwriters [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]] later that year, his career declined.

Across his career, Hancock twice won the [[British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance|BAFTA Award for Light Entertainment Artist]] in 1958 and 1960.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Light Entertainment Artist |url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/television/light-entertainment-artist |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Bafta |language=en}}</ref> He was later nominated for the [[BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles]] for his performance in [[The Rebel (1961 film)|''The Rebel'']] (1961).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles |url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/film/most-promising-newcomer-to-leading-film-roles |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Bafta |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Hancock was born in Southam Road, [[Hall Green]], [[Birmingham]],<ref>GRO Register of Births: JUN 1924 6d 231 KINGS N. – Anthony J. Hancock, mmn = Thomas</ref> to his mother, Lily,<!-- https://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/uploads/docs/Railway%20Cuttings/Railway%20Cuttings%2039.pdf --><!-- Lucie Lilian Sennett   4 Sep 1890...8 Nov 1969 --><ref name="birminghammail/47052">{{cite news |title=BBC to make film about Birmingham comic genius Tony Hancock |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/bbc-to-make-film-about-birmingham-comic-47052 |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[Birmingham Mail]] |date=12 October 2012 |language=en}}</ref> and John Hancock, his father, also worked as a comedian and entertainer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tony Hancock in Dorset |work=Dorset Life: The Dorset Magazine |url=https://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2018/06/tony-hancock-in-dorset/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

<blockquote>His father, Jack, worked for a shipping firm while his mother, Lily, was the daughter of a printer who served 21 years as a director of [[Birmingham City Football Club]].<ref name="thefreelibrary/a062103596">{{cite news |last1=Hudson |first1=Jenny |title=My life with Hancock; Tony Hancock's widow Freddie tells of the great man's despair as he brought joy to millions |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/My+life+with+H-+h-h-h-ancock%3B+Tony+Hancock%27s+widow+Freddie+tells+of...-a062103596 |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[Sunday Mercury]] |agency=|via=[[Free Online Library]] |date=May 14, 2000 |location=Birmingham, England}}</ref></blockquote>

His father, John Hancock, in an effort to improve his health, moved to  [[Bournemouth]] (then in [[Hampshire]]), at his age of three, where his family took over the Mayo Hygienic Laundry in Winton.<ref name="flickr/47-Gervis">{{cite web |last1=Ladell |first1=Alwyn Torquil Francis |title=Hotel Celebrity (Swanmore Hotel, Durlston Court Hotel, Quality Hotel), 47 Gervis Road, Bournemouth, Dorset |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/alwyn_ladell/albums/72157625917623549/with/6102966744 |website=[[Flickr]] |access-date=22 April 2025 |language=en-us |quote=Former church warden, [[St Ambrose Church, Westbourne]]}}</ref> They later moved to run the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road.<ref name="bournemouthecho/18042831">{{cite news |title=Picture of the Day: The Railway Hotel on Holdenhurst Road |url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18042831.picture-day-railway-hotel-holdenhurst-road/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[Bournemouth Echo]] |date=18 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1933, Hancock's parents bought ''Swanmore Villa and Lodge'' in Gervis Road,<ref name="bournemouthecho/18042831"/> which they renamed to the Durlston Court Hotel, after [[List_of_schools_in_Hampshire#Primary_and_preparatory_schools|Durlston Court Preparatory School]], now called the Celebrity Hotel.<ref name="bournemouthecho/9000829">{{cite news |title=Tribute to genius of comedy Tony Hancock |url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9000829.tribute-to-genius-of-comedy-tony-hancock/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[Bournemouth Echo]] |date=29 April 2011 |language=en}}</ref> After his father's death in 1934, Hancock and his brothers (Colin and Roger Thomas)<ref>[[Anthony Hayward]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716180158/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/roger-hancock-agent-who-guided-many-showbiz-careers-and-protected-the-legacy-of-his-brother-tony-2313129.html Obituary: Roger Hancock obituary], ''The Independent'', 14 July 2011</ref> lived there with their mother and stepfather Robert Gordon Walker<ref>Bournemouth electoral Register 1938</ref>  

<blockquote>The young Anthony was sent to board at Durlston Court School, Swanage, from 1936. He learned typing and shorthand at Bournemouth Municipal College at the Lansdowne and later applied to be a newspaper reporter in Birmingham.<ref name="bournemouthecho/1874058">{{cite news |title=Half-hour of fame |url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1874058.half-hour-of-fame/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[Bournemouth Echo]] |date=2 December 2007 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

Hancock attended Summerbee Infants, Saugeen Preparatory School in Derby Road, Durlston Court Preparatory School, part of Durlston boarding school near [[Swanage]] (the name of which his parents adopted for their hotel)<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-06-01 |title=Tony Hancock in Dorset |url=http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2018/06/tony-hancock-in-dorset/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Dorset Life |location=Dorset}}</ref> and [[Bradfield College]] in [[Reading, Berkshire]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Viner |first=Brian |date=2005-12-24 |title=Tony Hancock: Funny man |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/tony-hancock-funny-man-520612.html |url-status=live |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Independent}}</ref> but left school at the age of fourteen.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cowall |first=Simon |date=2008-12-27 |title=The lad himself |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/dec/27/biography-tony-hancock |url-status=live |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

<blockquote>He made his stage debut in the hall of the Church of the Sacred Heart on Richmond Hill in 1940, billed as "Anthony Hancock - The Confidential Comic".<ref name="bournemouthecho/1874058"/></blockquote>

In 1940, Hancock made his first professional appearance at ''The Labour Halls'' (now the ''Avon Social Club''), in Avon Road, Springbourne, in Bournemouth.<ref name="bournemouthecho/9000829"/>

<blockquote>During the war, Hancock was billeted to the Hotel Metropole in Holdenhurst Road while attached to the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] photographic interpretation unit.<ref name="bournemouthecho/1874058"/></blockquote>

In 1942, during the [[Second World War]], Hancock joined the [[RAF Regiment]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=John|title=Tony Hancock|date=2008|publisher=Harper Collins|location=London|isbn=978-0 00-726678-4|pages=72–77|chapter=3. Remember Gibraltar?}}</ref> Following  failed auditions for the [[Entertainments National Service Association]] (ENSA), he joined the Gang Shows, travelling around Europe entertaining troops. After the war, he joined the ''[[Ralph Reader]] [[Gang Show]]'' touring production of "Wings".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=June 19, 1947 |page=9}}</ref> He later worked in a double act with musician Derek Scott at the [[Windmill Theatre]], a venue which helped to launch the careers of many comedians at the time. A favourable press review of his work at the Windmill was seen in July 1948. "But mention must made of a new young comedian…who with a piano partner, gives some brilliant thumbnail impressions of a “dud” concert party."<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=July 13, 1948 |page=3}}</ref> He took part in radio shows such as ''[[Workers' Playtime (radio programme)|Workers' Playtime]]''<ref>{{cite journal |title=Coventry Evening Telegraph |journal=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=January 24, 1950 |page=4}}</ref> and ''[[Variety Bandbox]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Bognor Regis Observer |journal=Bognor Regis Observer |date=June 11, 1949 |page=1}}</ref> In July 1949, he was praised for his work in the summer presentation of "Flotsam's Follies" at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Bognor Regis.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=July 7, 1949 |page=4}}</ref> Christmas 1949 saw him in the part of "Buttons" in the Cinderella [[pantomime]] at the Royal Artillery, Woolwich.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=December 8, 1949 |page=6}}</ref> In June 1950, he opened in the "Ocean Revue" at the Ocean, Clacton Pier<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=June 22, 1950 |page=6}}</ref> which ran for three months. At Christmas 1950, Hancock was in the "Red Riding Hood" pantomime at the Theatre Royal Nottingham playing the part of Jolly Jenkins, the Baron's page.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Nottingham Evening Post |journal=Nottingham Evening Post |date=November 20, 1950 |page=5}}</ref>

In 1951–1952, for one series beginning on August 3, 1951,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Yorkshire Evening Post |journal=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=July 21, 1951 |page=5}}</ref> Hancock was a cast member of ''[[Educating Archie]]'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frasier|first1=David|title=Suicide in the entertainment industry|date=2002|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson|isbn=9780786410385|page=132}}</ref> in which he mainly played the tutor (or foil) to the nominal star, a ventriloquist's dummy. His appearance in this radio show brought him national recognition, and a catchphrase he used frequently in the show, "Flippin' kids!", became popular parlance. The same year, he began to make regular appearances on [[BBC Television]]'s [[light entertainment]] show ''[[Kaleidoscope (British TV series)|Kaleidoscope]]'', and almost starred in his own series to be written by [[Larry Stephens]], Hancock's best man at his first wedding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/000001940/forgotten_tony_hancock_script_larry_stephens/|title=Forgotten Hancock script rediscovered|website=British Comedy Guide|date=3 November 2015|access-date=7 November 2015}}</ref> In 1954, he was given his own eponymous [[BBC]] radio show, ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]''.

==Peak years==
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
Working with scripts from [[Galton and Simpson|Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]], ''Hancock's Half Hour'' lasted for seven years and over a hundred episodes in its radio form, and, from 1956, ran concurrently with an equally successful BBC television series with the same name. The show starred Hancock as "Anthony [[Aloysius]] [[St John (name)|St John]] Hancock", living in the shabby "23 Railway Cuttings" in [[East Cheam]]. Most episodes portrayed his everyday life as a struggling comedian with aspirations toward straight acting. Some episodes, however, changed this to show him as being a successful actor and/or comedian, or occasionally as having a different career completely, such as a struggling (and incompetent) barrister.<ref>"The Lawyer: The Crown v James S: Hancock QC Defending", series 3 programme 9, BBC-TV, 2 December 1957</ref> Radio episodes were prone to more surreal storylines, which would have been impractical on television, such as Hancock buying a puppy that grows to be as tall as himself.

[[Sid James]] featured in both the radio and TV versions, while the radio version also included regulars [[Bill Kerr]], [[Kenneth Williams]] and, successively, [[Moira Lister]], [[Andrée Melly]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/andree.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010819095822/http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/andree.html|title=Biography of Andrée Melly|archive-date=19 August 2001}}</ref> and [[Hattie Jacques]]. The series rejected the variety format then dominant in British radio comedy and instead used a form drawn more from everyday life: the [[situation comedy]], with the humour coming from the characters and the circumstances in which they find themselves. Owing to a contractual wrangle with producer [[Jack Hylton]], Hancock had an [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] series, ''[[The Tony Hancock Show]]'', during this period, which ran in 1956–57.

During the run of his BBC radio and television series, Hancock became an enormous star in Britain. Unlike most other comedians at the time, he was able to clear the streets while families gathered together to listen to the eagerly awaited episodes. His character changed slightly over the series, but even in the earliest episodes the key facets of "the lad himself" were evident. "Sunday Afternoon at Home" and "The Wild Man of the Woods" were top-rating shows and were later released on an [[LP record]].

As an actor with considerable experience in films, Sid James became more important to the show when the television version began. The regular cast was reduced to just the two men, allowing the humour to come from the interaction between them. James's character was the realist of the two, puncturing Hancock's pretensions. His character would often be dishonest and exploit Hancock's apparent gullibility during the radio series, but in the television version there appeared to be a more genuine friendship between them. Hancock's highly-strung personality made the demands of live broadcasts a constant worry, with the result that, starting from the autumn 1959 series, all episodes of the series were recorded before transmission. Up until then, every British television comedy show had been performed live, owing to the technical limitations of the time. He was also the first performer to receive a £1,000 fee for his performances in a half-hour show.

Hancock became anxious that his work with James was turning them into a double act, and he told close associates in late 1959, just after the fifth television series had finished being recorded, that he would end his professional association with Sid James after a final series.<ref>Fisher, pp. 282-83</ref> Hancock left others to tell James.<ref>Fisher, p. 287</ref> His last BBC series in 1961, retitled simply ''Hancock'', was without James. Two episodes are among his best-remembered: "[[The Blood Donor]]", in which he goes to a clinic to give blood, contains some famous lines, including "I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That's very nearly an armful!"; in "[[The Radio Ham]]", Hancock plays an [[amateur radio]] enthusiast who receives a mayday call from a yachtsman in distress, but his incompetence prevents him from taking his position. Both of these programmes were re-recorded a few months later for a commercial 1961 LP, produced in the same manner as the radio episodes.

Returning home with his wife from recording "[[The Bowmans]]", an episode based around a parody of ''[[The Archers]]'', Hancock was involved in a car accident and was thrown through the windscreen. He was not badly hurt, but suffered concussion and was unable to learn his lines for "The Blood Donor", the next show due to be recorded. The result was that his performance depended on the use of [[teleprompter]]s, and he is seen looking away from other actors when delivering lines. From this time onwards, Hancock came to rely on teleprompters instead of learning scripts whenever he had career difficulties.

==Introspection==
In early 1960, Hancock appeared on the BBC's ''[[Face to Face (British TV series)|Face to Face]]'', a half-hour in-depth interview programme conducted by former Labour MP [[John Freeman (British politician)|John Freeman]]. Freeman asked Hancock many soul-searching questions about his life and work. Hancock, who deeply admired his interviewer, often appeared uncomfortable with the questions, but answered them frankly and honestly. Hancock had always been highly self-critical, and it is often argued that this interview heightened this tendency, contributing to his later difficulties. According to Roger, his brother, "It was the biggest mistake he ever made. I think it all started from that really. ... Self-analysis – that was his killer."<ref>Quoted in Fisher, p. 272</ref>

Cited as evidence is his gradual [[ostracism]] of those who contributed to his success, such as Sid James and his scriptwriters, Galton and Simpson. His reasoning was that, to refine his craft, he had to ditch catch-phrases and become realistic. He argued, for example, that whenever an ad-hoc character was needed, such as a policeman, it would be played by someone like [[Kenneth Williams]], who would appear with his well-known oily catchphrase "Good evening". Hancock believed the comedy suffered because people did not believe in the policeman, knowing it was just Williams doing a funny voice.<ref name="H&N"/>

==Break with Galton and Simpson==
Hancock starred in the film ''[[The Rebel (1961 film)|The Rebel]]'' (1961), in which he plays the role of an office worker-turned-artist who finds himself successful after a move to [[Paris]], but only as the result of mistaken identity. Although a success in Britain, the film was not well received in the United States: owing to a contemporary American [[the Rebel (American TV series)|television series of the same name]], the film was retitled ''Call Me Genius'' and was not well received by American critics.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

According to his agent at the time, [[Beryl Vertue]] his break with Galton and Simpson took place at a meeting held in October 1961, where he also broke with her. Alan Simpson remembered that the break occurred during a telephone call and that only Beryl's position was discussed at the meeting. During the previous six months, the writers had developed – without payment and in consultation with the comedian – three scripts for Hancock's second starring film vehicle. Worried that the projects were wrong for him, the first two had been abandoned incomplete; the third was written to completion at the writers' insistence, only for Hancock to reject it. It is believed that he had not read any of the screenplays. The result of the break was that he chose to separately develop something previously discussed, and the writers were ultimately commissioned to write a ''Comedy Playhouse'' series for the BBC, one of which, "The Offer", emerged as the pilot for ''[[Steptoe and Son]]''. That "something previously discussed" became ''The Punch and Judy Man'', for which Hancock hired writer [[Philip Oakes]], who moved in with the comedian to co-write the screenplay.<ref name="H&N" />

In ''[[The Punch and Judy Man]]'' (1963), Hancock plays a struggling seaside entertainer who dreams of a better life; [[Sylvia Syms]] plays his nagging social climber of a wife, and [[John Le Mesurier]] a sand sculptor. The extent to which the character played by Hancock had merged with his real personality is clear in the film, which owes much to his memories of his childhood in Bournemouth.<ref name="H&N" />

== Later years ==
{{Further|Hancock (1963 TV series)}}
Hancock moved to [[Associated TeleVision|ATV]] in 1962 with different writers, though Oakes, retained as an advisor, disagreed over script ideas and the two men severed their professional (but not personal) relationship. The initial writer of Hancock's ATV series, Godfrey Harrison, had scripted the successful [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] radio series ''A Life Of Bliss'', and also Hancock's first regular television appearances on ''Fools Rush In'' (a segment of ''[[Kaleidoscope (British TV series)|Kaleidoscope]]'') more than a decade earlier. Harrison had trouble meeting deadlines, so other writers were commissioned, including [[Terry Nation]].<ref>[http://www.thekettering.co.uk/ Kettering Magazine] Issue No. 2 p5; ''Hancock At ATV''</ref>
 
The [[Hancock (1963 TV series)|ATV series]] was transmitted in early 1963, on the same evenings as the second series of ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'', written by Hancock's former writers, Galton and Simpson. Critical comparisons did not favour Hancock's series. Around 1965, Hancock made a series of 11 television adverts<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnLyqBtU_F8  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/JnLyqBtU_F8| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=TV adverts |date=12 May 2007 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2011-02-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref> for the Egg Marketing Board. Hancock starred in the adverts with [[Patricia Hayes]] as the character "Mrs Crevatte" in an attempt to revive the Galton and Simpson style of scripts. Slightly earlier, in 1963, he had featured in a spoof ''Hancock Report'' – hired by [[Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching|Lord Beeching]] to promote [[Beeching cuts|his plan to reduce railway mileage]] in newspapr advertisements and posters. A pamphlet featuring Hancock entitled The Truth About the Railways - The Hancock report was also published by the British Railways Board. Hancock reportedly wanted to be paid what Beeching was paid annually – £34,000; he was offered half that amount for his services.<ref>BBC TV, ''Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails''.</ref>

Hancock continued to make regular appearances on British television until 1967, including a 50-minute show for BBC2 from the Royal Festival Hall, which was poorly received. By then his [[alcoholism]] was seriously affecting his performances. Two unsuccessful variety series for [[ABC Weekend TV]], ''The Blackpool Show'' (1966) and ''Hancock's'' (1967), were his last work for British television. He tried a role in a Disney film – ''[[The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin]]'' – but was sacked after reportedly having trouble with the mock-Shakespearian dialogue. He collapsed with acute liver failure on 1 January 1967 and was told he would die within three months if he continued drinking.<ref>Fisher, John ''Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography'' (2008) p. 439</ref>  

In December 1967, while recovering from a broken rib from a drunken fall, he became ill with [[pneumonia]].<ref>Fisher, John ''Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography'' (2008) p. 454</ref> His final television appearances were in Australia under a contract to make a 13-part series for the [[Seven Network]]. However, after arriving in Australia in March 1968, he completed only three programmes before his death and they remained unaired for nearly four years. These shows are the only existing television footage of him in colour, as all his previous shows had been made for black-and-white television.

== Personal life ==
In June 1950 Hancock married Cicely Romanis,<ref>GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1950 5c 2781 KENSINGTON. Anthony J. Hancock = Cicely J.E. Romanis</ref> a [[Lanvin (clothing)|Lanvin]] model,<ref>Sir Reginald E.W. Harland [https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-mod-and-coroners-800228.html "Letters: MoD and coroners"], ''The Independent'', 25 March 2008</ref> after a brief courtship.

[[Freddie Ross Hancock|Freddie Ross]] worked as his publicist from 1954 and became more involved in his life, eventually becoming his mistress. He divorced<ref name="gettyimages/cicely-romanis">{{cite web |title=Cicely Romanis |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/cicely-romanis |website=[[Getty Images]] |access-date=22 April 2025}}</ref> Cicely in 1965 and married Ross in December of that year.<ref>GRO Register of Marriages: DEC 1965 5D 1664 St Marylebone: Anthony J. Hancock = Freda (Freddie) Ross</ref> This second marriage was short-lived. During these years Hancock was also involved with [[Joan Le Mesurier]] (née Malin), the new wife of actor [[John Le Mesurier]], Hancock's best friend and a regular supporting character-actor from his television series. Joan was later to describe the relationship in her book ''Lady Don't Fall Backwards'',<ref>{{cite book |url=http://home.btconnect.com/howejam/dadsarmy/books/bio_jlm_lady.htm |title=Lady Don't Fall Backwards |first=Joan |last=Le Mesurier |publisher=ISIS |year=1990 |isbn=1-85089-406-X}})</ref> including the claim that her husband readily forgave the affair; he is quoted as saying that if it had been anyone else he would not have understood it, but with Tony Hancock it made sense. In July 1966 Freddie took an overdose but survived. Arriving in [[Blackpool]] to record an edition of his variety series, Hancock was met by pressmen asking about his wife's attempted [[suicide]]. Freddie was granted a decree nisi a few days before Hancock's own suicide.<ref>John Fisher, ''Tony Hancock : the Definitive Biography'', London : HarperCollins, 2008, pp473-5</ref>

Cicely developed her own problems with alcohol and died from a fall in 1969, the year after the death of her former husband. Freddie Hancock survived her broken marriage and resumed her career as a prominent publicist and agent in the film and television industry. Based in [[New York City]] for many years, she founded the East Coast chapter of BAFTA, the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]].

== Death ==
Hancock died by suicide by [[Drug overdose|overdose]], in [[Sydney]], on 25 June 1968, aged 44.<ref>{{cite news |last= Sommerlad |first= Joe |date= 27 June 2018 |title= Tony Hancock 50 years on: How the legendary British comedian paved the way for Alan Partridge and David Brent |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/tony-hancock-50th-anniversary-bbc-comedy-alan-partridge-david-brent-sid-james-a8415241.html |work= The Independent |access-date= 20 January 2021}}</ref> He was found dead in his [[Bellevue Hill, New South Wales|Bellevue Hill]] flat with an empty [[vodka]] bottle and a scattering of [[amobarbital]] tablets.<ref name="H&N">''Hancock'' by Freddie Hancock and David Nathan (William Kimber & Co., 1969)</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3626969/Laugh-at-Tony-I-very-nearly-died.html |title=Laugh at Tony? I very nearly died |author=Craig, Olga |date=10 November 2004 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=5 July 2010 | location=London}}</ref>

In one of his suicide notes he wrote: "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times."<ref>John Fisher, ''Tony Hancock : the Definitive Biography'', London : HarperCollins, 2008, p.469</ref> His ashes were taken to England by satirist [[Willie Rushton]]<ref>Fisher, p.484</ref> and were buried in St Dunstan's Church in [[Cranford, London]].

Asked by [[Van Morrison]] about his relationship with Hancock, [[Spike Milligan]] commented in 1989: "Very difficult man to get on with. He used to drink excessively. You felt sorry for him. He ended up on his own. I thought, he's got rid of everybody else, he's going to get rid of himself and he did."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/reviews/1989august.html|title=Blind Date! The Day Van Morrison met... Spike Milligan!? August 1989 Q Magazine interview 'written down by' Paul Du Noyer.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107084853/http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/reviews/1989august.html|archive-date=7 January 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Hancock Grave.JPG|right|thumb|Plaque at St Dunstan's Church, Cranford]] -->

== 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>

== Recordings ==
Episodes and anthologies from the radio series were released on vinyl [[LP record|LP]] in the 1960s, as well as four re-makes of television scripts; an annual LP was issued of radio episodes (without the incidental music) between 1980 and 1984. Much of this material was also available on [[Compact Cassette|cassette]] in later years.

The [[BBC]] issued [[Compact disc|CDs]] of the surviving 74 radio episodes in six box sets, one per series, with the sixth box containing several out-of-series specials. This was followed by the release of one large box set containing all the others in a special presentation case; while it includes no extra material, the larger box alone (without any CDs) still fetches high prices on online marketplaces like [[eBay]], where Hancock memorabilia remains a thriving industry. There have also been numerous [[VHS]] releases of the BBC television series.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}

While five separate [[DVD region code|Region 2]] DVDs were previously issued, some of the surviving episodes were unavailable until ''The Tony Hancock BBC Collection'' (eight DVDs) appeared in 2007. Episodes of the radio series are often broadcast on the digital radio station [[BBC Radio 4 Extra]].

== Film appearances ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1954|| ''[[Orders Are Orders (1955 film)|Orders Are Orders]]'' || Lt. Wilfred Cartroad ||
|-
|1961|| ''[[The Rebel (1961 film)|The Rebel]]'' || Anthony Hancock || US title: ''Call Me Genius''
|-
|1963|| ''[[The Punch and Judy Man]]'' || Wally Pinner ||
|-
|1965|| ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' || Harry Popperwell ||
|-
|1966|| ''[[The Wrong Box]]'' || Detective ||
|}

== Biographical texts ==
* {{cite book |last1=Hancock |first1=Freddie Ross |last2=Nathan |first2=David |author1-link=Freddie Ross Hancock |author2-link=David Nathan (journalist) |title=Hancock |date=1969 |publisher=William Kimber & Co. ([[Thorsons]]) |location=London  |edition= |via=[[archive.org]] |url=https://archive.org/details/hancock0000hanc_w5o8 |language=en}} {{ open access}} {{Registration required}} 
* {{cite book |last1=Wilmut |first1=Roger |author1-link=Roger Wilmut |title=Tony Hancock "artiste": A Tony Hancock Companion |date=1978 |publisher=[[Eyre Methuen]] |edition= |via=[[archive.org]] |url=https://archive.org/details/tonyhancockartis0000wilm |language=en}} {{ open access}} {{Registration required}} 
::with details of Hancock's stage, radio, TV and film appearances
* Edward Joffe ''Hancock's Last Stand: The Series That Never Was'', June 1998, foreword by [[June Whitfield]], Book Guild Ltd Publishing, {{ISBN|1-85776-316-5}} 
::an account of Hancock's final days, written by the man who found Hancock's body after his suicide
* {{cite book |last1=Goodwin |first1=Cliff |title=When the Wind Changed: The Life and Death of Tony Hancock |date=1999 |publisher=Century ([[Penguin Random House]])<!-- ??? Century, an imprint of Cornerstone, formerly part of Random House, now Penguin Random House ??? -->|isbn=978-0-7126-7615-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/whenwindchangedl0000good |language=en}} {{ open access}} {{Registration required}} <ref name="thefreelibrary/a060531022">{{cite news |last1=Reyburn |first1=Ross |title=(Review) Hancock's half-hearted fame; When the Wind Changed - The Life and Death of Tony Hancock by Cliff Goodwin (Century, pounds 17.99) |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hancock%27s+half-hearted+fame%3B+When+the+Wind+Changed+-+The+Life+and...-a060531022 |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=[[The Birmingham Post]] |agency=|via=[[Free Online Library]] |date=June 26, 1999}}</ref>
* {{cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=John |title=Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography |date=22 December 2008 |publisher=[[HarperCollins UK]] |isbn=978-0-00-728778-9 |language=en}}<ref name="Callow/bio-tony-hancock">{{cite news |last1=Callow |first1=Simon |author1-link=Simon Callow |title=The lad himself |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/dec/27/biography-tony-hancock |access-date=23 April 2025 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 December 2008}}</ref>

== Biographical filmed documentaries ==
* ''Omnibus: Hancock'' (1985): a BBC documentary which seriously looked at Hancock's life and work, and his legacy. With contributions by [[Beryl Vertue]], [[Galton & Simpson]], [[Bill Kerr]] and producers [[Dennis Main Wilson]] and [[Duncan Wood]].

== Biographical filmed dramas==
* ''Hancock'' (1991): a ''Screen One'' production, broadcast on [[BBC One]] and starring [[Alfred Molina]]
* ''[[Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!]]'' (2006): a [[BBC Four]] drama about [[Kenneth Williams]], featuring [[Martin Trenaman]] as Hancock
* ''[[Hancock and Joan]]'' (2008): a BBC Four drama, starring [[Ken Stott]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7109236.stm | work=BBC News | title=Stott takes lead in Hancock drama | date=23 November 2007}}</ref>
::based on the affair between the comedian Tony Hancock and [[Joan Le Mesurier]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [http://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/tragedy-and-talent-tony-hancock-profiled Tony Hancock profiled] at ''British Classic Comedy''
* [https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50050/culture_arts_and_heritage/190/statues_and_public_art/10 Hancock: birth plaque at 41 Southam Road and a statue in ''Old Square, Birmingham''] by Birmingham.gov.uk
* Photo of Tony Hancock, in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140921062313/http://www.durlstoncourt.co.uk/History-of-Durlston-Court History of Durlston Court] at [[List_of_schools_in_Hampshire#Primary_and_preparatory_schools|Durlston Court Preparatory School]], [[Barton on Sea]] BH25 7AQ
'''Papers'''
*[https://specialcollections.catalogue.dmu.ac.uk/records/TH Tony Hancock Appreciation Society Collection] - [[De Montfort University]] Archive
'''Tony Hancock websites'''
* [http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/ Tony Hancock Appreciation Society]
* [http://www.galtonandsimpson.com/ Ray Galton and Alan Simpson]; Official website
* [http://www.tonyhancockarchives.ajhw.co.uk/ Tony Hancock Archives website] - ''A.J.H. Computer Services'' - [[fansite]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111001072251/http://www.howardm.net/hancock/tony.php "The Original Tony Hancock website", since October 1995] - [[fansite]]
'''Episodes'''
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009t2ld ''Hancock's Half Hour'']
:: radio show on [[Radio 4 Extra]] (listen again available)
* [http://www.colinbrockhurst.co.uk/the-cream-of-philosophical-chat-tony-hancock-on-the-radio/547/ The Cream of Philosophical Chat] – Tony Hancock on the Radio 
::{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223215034/http://www.colinbrockhurst.co.uk/the-cream-of-philosophical-chat-tony-hancock-on-the-radio/547/|date=23 February 2012}}
'''Metadata'''
* {{IMDb name|0359437}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0207504|title=Hancock (1991)}}, broadcast on [[BBC One]] and starring [[Alfred Molina]]

{{British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hancock, Tony}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1968 suicides]]
[[Category:1968 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Drug-related suicides in Australia]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Australia]]
[[Category:Barbiturates-related deaths]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]
[[Category:English male radio actors]]
[[Category:English male television actors]]
[[Category:People educated at Bradfield College]]
[[Category:Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Male actors from Bournemouth]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Suicides in New South Wales]]
[[Category:20th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Regiment]]
[[Category:20th-century English comedians]]
[[Category:Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners]]
[[Category:Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Comedians from Hampshire]]