The Legendary Dead: Tony Hancock (1924 - 1968)

The Tony Hancock statue in his native Birmingham, England.

Tony Hancock came to prominence on his BBC Radio show 'Hancock's Half Hour' (1954 - 1959) and a TV show also called 'Hancock's Half Hour' (1956 - 1961) written by Ray Galton & Alan Simpson, the stars of the radio show included future 'Carry On...' stars Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and Sidney James. James also featured as Hancock's co-star in the TV version. In 1962 he broke with the BBC and Galton & Simpson, who went on to make the hugely popular 'Steptoe & Son' with Harry H Corbett and Wilfred Brambell, and Hancock moved over to ATV where his career sadly slipped into the doldrums.



Hancock's comic persona was heavily influenced by his own troubles in life. Born in Birmingham but raised in Bournemouth, Hancock joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and failed an audition for Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and then was on The Ralph Reader Gang Show.

After the war, Hancock returned to the stage. Rumours of homosexuality hounded him and he was married to model Cicily Romanis in 1950. During his successful years, Hancock's publicist Freddie Ross became his mistress and he eventually divorced Cicily in 1965. The marriage to Freddie didn't last long, mainly due to Hancock's alcoholism, egotism and abuse, which was also the primary reason his career had stalled. Hancock and Freddie separated and Hancock moved to Australia to try and recapture his early success.

He was in the process of divorcing Freddie when, in his flat in Sydney, Tony Hancock intentionally overdosed on amphetamines and vodka. He was 44 years old. One of his suicide notes read:

"Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times."

It was a morbidly tragic end for his tragic comedy persona. His star had burned bright and fast and if he had just held on for 50 more years he would have seen that his show is the bar by which all British sitcoms are now set, even The Inbetweeners owes much to Hancock's Half Hour.

Tony Hancock will be remembered as a great comic character, alongside names like Basil Fawlty, Derek Trotter, Edmund Blackadder, Victor Meldrew, Alan Partridge and David Brent.