Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock (actually Anthony John Hancock, born May 12, 1924 in Birmingham, England, † June 24, 1968 in Sydney, Australia) was a British comedian who was successful in the 1950s and 1960s on BBC TV and radio.

The beginnings of his career

Tony Hancock grew up in Bournemouth on in the English county of Dorset, where his father, John Hancock, has worked as a comedian and entertainer. He spent his school years in a boarding school in Berkshire. In 1942 he joined the Royal Air Force ( RAF). His first successes were appearances on radio programs, including 1951 in Educating Archie, where he performed as a teacher of a ventriloquist's dummy. In the same year he appeared with the BBC's Kaleidoscope first time on TV. In 1954 he got his own radio show Hancock 's Half Hour.

Hancock 's Half Hour

Hancock 's Half Hour was the greatest success that made ​​him popular throughout the UK as a first radio broadcast and from 1956 also as Tony Hancock's TV show. The half-hour programs were impressive because of funny scenes from everyday life, and so introduced the sitcom. Regular appearances in Hancock 's Half Hour, among others, had Sidney James, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques, who were all three well known in Germany through their appearances in numerous Carry-on ... movies.

Especially Sidney James became the permanent co-star Hancocks. In 1959, James and Hancock quarreled, however, since Hancock saw a potential competitor in James. In 1960, he parted with Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who had previously written the screenplays for Hancock's Half Hour. This is seen as the biggest mistake of his life, because from that moment on it was with the level of the broadcast, and thus also with the popularity of Tony Hancock's downhill.

By 1967, Hancock appeared yet on British television, his performances were, however, still worse, which is due in part to his increased alcohol consumption at that time.

In May 1968, Hancock went to Australia, where he shortly afterwards took his own life.

Others

The album title Send Away The Tigers by Manic Street Preachers is a quote from Hancock. When he increasingly drank alcohol, he said he drink his inner demons to remove.