the missing page - tony hancock missing page/vol 6 - no 3.… · website administrator martin...

The MISSING PAGETHE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE TONY HANCOCK APPRECIATION SOCIETYFOUNDED IN 1976 Volume 6 Number 3 - July 2014

2 THE MISSING PAGE JULY 2014

BACK ISSUESof The Missing Page, Piltdown Glory

and Railway Cuttings

at only £1.10 per issue, available fromCyrilla Rogers

ARCHIVESSituation Vacant

If you would like to apply for this positionEmail: [email protected]

LOCAL EVENTS ORGANIZERKeith Fisher

26 French’s Well, Horsell, Woking, Surrey GU21 3AS

MERCHANDISING OFFICER Dryden Pennington

The Old Chapel, Redbridge Road,Nr. Crossways, Dorset DT2 8DY

Email: [email protected]

AUDIO & VIDEO LIBRARIANMick Dawson

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WEBSITE ADMINISTRATOR Martin Gibbons

9 Shelley Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 8NSEmail: [email protected]

TREASURERKen Clarke

24 Heenan Close, Frimley Green,Camberley, Surrey GU16 6N


MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY & PUBLICITY OFFICER

Cyrilla Rogers5 Kilnwood Avenue, Hockley, Essex SS5 4PR


ACTING PRESIDENT and EDITORAndrew Clayden

9 Roydon Road, The Maltings Business Centre,Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire SG12 8HQ

Telephone: 01920 870355Email: [email protected]


Following on from this years Bournemouth Reunion it was agreed that it might be a good idea if com-mittee members could have their photograph next to their details, in order that all members would be able to iden-tify whose ugly mush deserves to have the rotten tomatoes thrown at it! Seriously though, for this issue only, here are the prime suspects of Committee Members and Officers of The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society

PUT A FACE TO THE NAME OF THE THAS COMMITTEE MEMBERS

THE MISSING PAGE JULY 2014 3

IT IS NOT RAINING HERE ALSOIt’s been all change here in your beloved THAS since our last issue and over the next few paragraphs I’ll try to fill you in on what’s been happening since we last spoke in April.Well in May we had our Annual Bournemouth Reunion, which - following our original honoured guests, Ray & Alan along with Barry Cryer all having to cancel at the last minute

- we were delighted to welcome Neil Pearson and Kevin R. McNally, both of whom proved to be excellent guests and the producer and star of The Missing Hancock radio shows, due to be broadcast in November on the 60th Anniversary of Hancock’s Half-Hour. That’s Kevin wearing Hancock’s Hat and Coat on our front cover and you can read Ken Clarke’s write-up on pages 8 & 9.Also in May (on what would have been Tony’s 90th birthday), Ray Galton and Alan Simpson unveiled a English Heritage Blue Plaque at Queen’s Gate Place, Kensington commemorating that Hancock lived there from 1952-1958 (there’s some press cut-tings about it on page 6).We also had the launch of the Heyday TV channel, (which can be found on Sky Chan-nel 192 and Freesat 402) who are broadcasting seven rare Hancock shows every Sunday at 2.30pm, . Martin Gibbons (our Website Administrator) attended their launch party and has written an article about it on page 7 this issue.But perhaps the biggest news for us in The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society was the stepping down as President of Dan Peat, who has held the position - on and off - since 1989! If that wasn’t a big enough shock, it was also the news that - for the first time in 25 years - he wasn’t able to come along and join us in Bournemouth this year.The reasons for Dan’s decision (which wasn’t made lightly) was his continuing health problems, resulting in him still being in hospital as we speak. Although no longer President, Dan will continue to be an active member of our beloved THAS and I’m sure I speak for all of us in wishing him a speedy recovery and that it won’t be too long before he’s back texting all his terrible jokes again! Following Dan’s decision, yours truly has stepped up to the mark and taken on the lofty mantle of Acting President during this time of changeover. With this extra re-sponsibility I seriously need another mug (sorry that should be willing member!) to take over my role as Editor of this magazine and have detailed the requirements in the advert opposite, along with that of Society Archivist, following Daniel Hillier also stepping down (though gladly not through health problems, but the happy arrival of a new baby - congratulations and thanks for all your efforts in the past Daniel).So with all the changes that we’re going through at the moment, I hope that members will allow a little longer for any replies to letters or emails that get sent to me, which will hopefully be back to normal by our next issue in October, which - as it coincides with the 60th Anniversary of Hancock’s Half Hour being first broadcast on the BBC - will include a Free Gift of the original script of that very first show!Another freebie is being offered by Gary Hooper from Woodford in Essex who has a large (1m 22cm x 92cm) print of Hancock and Sid James, which he doesn’t have room for anymore. If you do, send him an email at [email protected], but be quick, as it’s first come first served!Before I go, keep an eye out for the biography of Freddie ‘Parrot Face’ Davies, due out on the 31st July, as it features a small section on Hancock in The Blackpool Show.Sorry for the length of this introduction, but it has been a bit hectic here recently! Have a great summer and I’ll see you again in October.

Anthony Aloysius St. JohnHancock

The Lad Himself (1924 - 1968)“Stone Me, What A Life!”

The basic aims of The Tony Hancock Appreciation So-ciety are to promote the works of Tony Hancock for the continued awareness and enjoyment of the general pub-lic and to collect and classify the recorded works of Tony Hancock for the benefit of members. No active individual receives payment for service to the Society, which is a voluntary organization. All members details and infor-mation are covered under The Data Protection Act and cannot be used by any other than the THAS. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writ-ing of The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. All views, comments and letters reproduced in this publication are entirely those of the individual author concerned and in no way reflect the views of the general membership of the THAS.

Published by The Tony Hancock AppreciationSociety. www.tonyhancock.org.uk

The MISSING PAGE Volume 6 Number 3 July 2014

SITUATIONS VACANT ON THE COMMITTEE OF THE

TONY HANCOCKAPPRECIATION SOCIETY

ARCHIVISTResponsibilities include:

Custodian of the entire Archive Col-lection of the THAS (as this com-prises of several items - including The Radio Ham set, Spitting Image Puppet, Hancock’s original Hat and Coat etc - someone with access to storage facilities would be ideally suited)

EDITOR OFTHE MISSING PAGE

Responsibilities include:

Receiving, Collating and Prepara-tion of all content for the Society’s quarterly magazine and preparing original copy to send to our printer. Access and knowledge of computer based desktop publishing pro-grammes would be beneficial, but not obligatory.For further information or to apply for either of the above positions, please contact Andrew Clayden at his details on opposite page


down.”“Ere, stop messing about.”“Well, if that’s it I suggest we retire to the Hand and Racquet for a swift pint.”“Now you’re talking.”Cynical? Certainly. Sorry, but I just can’t see where you’re going with this society. I’m sure you’ll have something to say in your defence, but I can’t for the life of me think what it will be. At least this should fill half a page of Dear Bighead Hancock (it might even re-place Film Fun!), but hopefully it’ll get people responding, and, more impor-tantly, the editorial team thinking

Anthony GreenThe Editor replies:

Only the one letter this issue, but what a letter! and one worthy of a serious answer to your - justifiable - critic-sisms Anthony.

Behind the scenes at the time of pre-paring the last issue (and it is all down to me - no editorial meeting I’m afraid), I was trying to find replace-ment guests (following Ray and Alan having to pull out) for our Bourne-mouth Reunion and prepare for my promotion to Acting President, due to Dan stepping down.

Unfortunately your cynical scenario was pretty near spot on, as I desper-ately pulled our last issue together in order to get it out in time for our Bournemouth Reunion (you’ll note that this issue doesn’t contain the two pages of Film Fun - which myself and many other members look forward to - owing to an increase in submitted material). I’m sorry for this lapse in editorial quality, and as you can see on page 3, I am hoping that another member could take over from me as Editor now that I have added respon-sibilities as Acting President. Would you like to have a go Anthony?

From Anthony Green via Email

FORGIVE me for saying this, but I think The Missing Page – and possibly THAS – is a spent force. And what prompts this salutary statement is the latest issue of the quarterly newsletter.To put it mildly: there isn’t anything of any import to read in it. Twelve pages of what? The cover proudly proclaims: ‘60 Years of Hancock’s Half-Hour.’ Sadly, it isn’t reflected with stories and features inside. Not a single one.So what do we get for our subs? A full-page ad for the Bournemouth dinner; two pages of reprints from Film Fun (what exactly is the justification for that? Because Hancock and James fea-tured in one of the comic’s strip car-toons? A bit tenuous, I would have thought).And four pages on lurid out-of-print thrillers, the link being Lady Don’t Fall Backwards featured in the HHH The Missing Page.Surely a fanzine should be more than this? It should be brimming with anal-ysis and articles about the stars, pro-ducers and directors of HHH on radio and TV. If there’s nothing left to say, then maybe it’s time to pull down the shutters and turn off the lights. We can better spend our time listening and watching those marvellous shows.But let’s think about this for a minute: It’s 60 years since Hancock first aired and the creators are thankfully still around to tell the tale (but not in The Missing Page). What an opportunity lost!The 60th anniversary would have been a perfect platform for an in-terview with Galton and Simpson’s views on, amongst other things, what they think of the state of TV and radio comedy today? Whatever their opin-ions, they’ve got to be worth read-ing. Did anyone think of getting on the blower and chatting to them – or asking if they’d like to provide a piece? I’m sure that whichever way you would have played it, they would have had something interesting and signifi-cant to say.

Dear Bighead HancockI hate you and everybody down our street hates you!

Letters for publication should be sent to the Editor at his address on page 2

And if not that, what about letting them reminisce about the old days? Yes, we’ve read and heard a lot of it before, but with some pertinent ques-tions I’m sure they’d have had some-thing new to say. Now I wouldn’t have minded reading four pages of that.(I bet the fans of scriptwriter Bob Larbey wish he was still here so they could glean more facts and behind-the-scenes stories about The Good Life and its creation.)And then I wondered what the edi-torial meeting must have been like when the brains behind The Missing Page got together to discuss the next edition (you do get together to do this, don’t you? It doesn’t just happen, surely).Maybe it was a bit like A Sunday After-noon at Home . . .“What time is it?”“2 o’clock.’”“Blimey, is that all? This meeting seems to be lasting all day.”“It only started 15 minutes ago.”“Stone me, what a life. So what have we got for the April edition?”“Mmm, not a lot.”“Well we must have something!”“There’s those old Film Fun strips. They’ll fill two pages no problem. Just like they’ve done in previous editions.”“It’s getting a bit thin, isn’t it? I mean what have they really got to do with THAS? Film Fun? More like flimflam, if you ask me. I know – what about re-prints of recent newspaper cuttings about Hancock? They usually fill a nice slab of A4?”“Not this time, but we’ve got four pages on old paperbacks that Lady Don’t Fall Backwards might have been the inspiration for.“Oh, and there’s a quarter page on the Hancock crossword. Well, not ex-actly a crossword – just the solution to the one that appeared in the previous issue.”“I bet our paid-up members have been on the edge of their seats waiting for that. Mind you, this meeting is a bit like a crossword: it certainly gets one cross, and without question gets one


At last year’s Bournemouth Reunion the THAS was invited by Soo Chapman to look through the late Malcolm Chapman’s incredible Tony Hancock archive to take items for our archives. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Soo for her generosity in donating a significant number of items to the Society.

The cataloging of the items has not yet taken place and this third part of this article takes a brief look at some of the Video Cassettes that have been added to the THAS archive

MALCOLM CHAPMAN’S LEGACY IN THAS ARCHIVES PART 3 - by Martin Gibbons

Video

Best of BBC Comedy. This video was issued free with The People and includes an ex-tract from The Train Jour-ney. Also in-cluded are ex-tracts from Only Fools & Horses, Red Dwarf and 9 others.

Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines

Magnetic Video CBS Fox 4A- 023 1033

20th Century Fox All Time GreatsVFA26381 S1033-

Best of Kenneth WilliamsPNV1021 The Kenneth Williams video fea-tures extracts from Rambling Syd Rumpo, Julian & Sandy and the Carry On Films; the release also fea-tures Kenneth’s only surviving ap-

pearance in the Television Han-cock’s Half Hour: The Alpine Hol-iday.Best of Sid James PNV 1019

The Sid James video features extracts from George & The Dragon, Bless This House and, of course, the

Carry On Films, the release would not have been complete with-out extracts from Hancock’s Half Hour. The shows featured are: The New Car, Sid In Love, The Cold and Twelve Angry Men.The Wrong Box

RCA60416 (USA/ ColumbiaCanadian release) CVT10661 (1989)

100s of Smiles This video was issued free with Benson & Hedges cigarettes. Featured artists include Tommy Cooper, Max Wall, Tony Hancock and Peter Sellers.

Orders Are Orders Video Masterpiece DEA Release vm102 1986

The Rebel Warner PES 38121 1989The UK release of The RebelTo See Such FunRelease date 1981

Golden Years of British Comedy0884783

Best of BritishCinema REB053 Tring Video

To See Such Fun features ex-tracts from both The Rebel and The Punch and Judy Man. The

Golden Years of British Comedy features extracts from The Rebel and The Best of British Cinema extracts from The Punch and Judy Man.

PLAQUE UNVEILING & HEYDAY TV CHANNEL PRESS REPORTS

While staying in Bournemouth prior to our 2014 reunion, I visited the Celebrity Hotel, which as we know was Tony Hancock’s childhood home albeit the hotel bearing a different name, The Durlston Court. I understand that guest rooms bear the name and feature a photograph of many famous entertainers and over the course of the summer biographical write up’s will be created, copies of which are available for the visitor to take away. Tony has a more general memorial. Rather than his pictures being situated in one room there are photos and film posters on the wall of the second floor staircase and in the passage near the head of the stairs.Also featured on the second floor is a glass case in which are displayed the Hancock family’s ‘Bluebird’ typewriter purchased in 1933 and a ready reckoner manual from which staff wages were calculated. Two other typewriters also feature: a ‘Travel – Riter’ machine used by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and a Dutch made ‘Adler Tippa’ machine owned by Tony in the 1960s. The display case also includes Hancock biographies, one of them co-written by David Nathan and Tony’s widow Freddie in 1969 and John Fisher’s 2008 biography of Tony which has been personally signed by the author to the hotel’s owner Mr Ken Robins. Finally, there is the original memorial sign which once adorned the wall to the right of the hotel door.Would T.H.A.S. consider contacting Mr Robins re: a possible loan of one or two items perhaps over the course of a future reun-ion gathering? What do members think of this?EDITORIAL NOTE: An interesting article and one that - as a relatively new member of the THAS - Lynn may not be aware of the fact, that it was only a few years ago we moved the venue of our Bournemouth Reunion to The Queen’s Hotel from The Hotel Celeb-rity (or The Durston Court as it was known then) due to several guests complaining of poor service over the years.

THE HOTEL CELEBRITY HONOURS HANCOCK LEGEND by Lynn Phillips

The focal tribute to friend of the THAS and a fine comedy actor at his memorial service William Desmond Anthony Pertwee MBE was born on

21st July 1926 and sadly died on the 27th May 2013On Wednesday 14th May 2014 I went with my good friends Barry Barnes and Dan Peat to the Thanksgiving for the life of Bill (put that light out) Pertwee.The service started with a few words from the reverend of the St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, Simon Grigg, then the first hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.One of Bill’s sons, Jonathan Pertwee, read a tribute for his father, then Roy Hudd OBE gave his own tribute which was very funny and entertaining. I looked around and saw women with their makeup running. Several video clip’s and audio of Bill’s career were shown, lots of Dads Army and Seamus Android. They also played one of Bill’s three sin-gles called Get Out and Get Under the Moon. It was nice to see so many of Bill’s actor/ac-tress friends, Ian Lavender, Pamela Cundrell and Frank Williams from Dads Army, Barry Cryer, the lovely Linda Ragan from Hi-De-Hi, who told me that her father Peter was in The Gang Shows with Hancock.On a personal note, it was nice to meet Joan Le Mesurier and Harold Shoad, both with Hancock connections.

There were two more tributes from Charles Garland and past King Rat; Keith Sim-mons, who read out a letter from Su Pollard who was in Australia giving the Aus-sie’s fashion tips. The service ended with organist Simon Gutteridge playing the Dads Army tune. The large Audience mingled outside signing autographs, talking and taking photos, a very enjoyable afternoon.

A SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE LIFE OF BILL PERTWEE by John Thompson

THAS member Barry Barnes, photographed with Joan LeMesurier outside St. Paul’s after the service

LAUNCH OF HEYDAY TV CHANNEL by Martin Gibbons

The new Heyday channel was launched on the 1st May. The adver-tising describes Heyday as ‘the channel that brings you nostalgia like it used to be. Broad-casting comedy, music, sport and movies with a retro twist from noon to 4pm each day’.Heyday, thanks to the kindness of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, has been given the rights to broadcast the eight surviving episodes of the TV Hancock’s Half Hour that were origi-nally broadcast live. The episodes being broadcast are Air Steward Hancock: The Last of Many; The Oak Tree; Hancock’s 43 Minutes; The Alpine Holiday; Competitions: How to Win Money and Influence People; There’s an Airfield At The Bottom of My Garden; The Lawyer; and The Knighthood.On the 13th May 2014, the THAS were invited to the launch party at the Prince of Wales pub in Drury Lane and yours truly was fortunate to be able to attend. The evening started with a preview of the shows that would be up and coming over the first few months and this preview included a number of clips from ‘The Lawyer’ as well as Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and extracts from a number of sporting events and live music performances (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and The Rutles). There followed a live set from 2 excellent comedians from the rostrum of the Soho Comedy Club with, of course, plenty of audience participation.The formal part of the evening over, I had the opportunity of discussing the new channel with Hayday’s Managing Director, Bob Carruthers. Bob is very excited about the fact that Hancock will once again be on the telly and is keen to work closely with the THAS to look at other opportunities for further episodes that could be made available for broadcast.Bob would very much like to receive feedback on the episodes currently being broadcast. This is because, in order to meet the requirements for a commercial TV channel, he has been compelled to edit the episodes to 24 minutes. He has done this by largely removing the incidental film from between scenes (where Hancock was making a change of costume etc). If any member has managed to see one of the broadcasts (or has caught up with the episodes on Heyday Catch-up) please can you let me know if you have any feedback on how well (or otherwise) this has worked? For me, what is good is that Hancock is back on TV again after so many years absence and this together with the 60th anniversary of the 1st Radio episode celebrations later this year, can only be good for introducing Hancock to a new audience.


BOURNEMOUTH REUNION DINNER & CELEBRATIONS 2014 - by Ken Clarke

This was to be our fourth visit to the Queens Hotel for our annual dinner and celebration, after leaving the old Durlston Court Hotel, with its Hancock connections. Any disappointment we felt at the sad decision that prevented Ray and Alan, and Barry Cryer from attend-ing were soon dispelled with our good fortune in securing the agree-ment of Kevin McNally and Neil Pearson, that they would be more than happy to attend our function. This was particularly fortuitous, due to the fact that were both involved in the recordings of five “Missing Han-cock’s”, which as anyone who had the fortune to attend the recordings, would agree that were a delight to behold, with Kevin really grasping all the attributes that T.H. had, and as one of the lucky ones, I can per-sonally vouch for the quality and ex-cellence of the recordings.

The day’s weather proved kind to us and after the arrival of many of the members the day got off to a good start with the T.H. Quiz in the main bar, ably organized by our own es-teemed Acting President, Andrew Clayden. As per last year the one to beat was Lyn Phillips, who again tri-umphed with her vast knowledge of the man, and won the top prize after beating Nigel Parkinson in a run off for first place.Downstairs in the Purbeck Suite, the

setting for our dinner, was a dis-play of some of our archives, includ-ing the famous homburg hat and as-trakhan coat, which has always epit-omised T.H. In addition there were copies of Film Fun, which Nigel Par-kinson, one of our members, has re-paired to enable them to be included in the Missing Page, and what a splendid job he has done to them. Dinner was not due to commence until 7pm so time was now available to renew friends and relax, before preparing for dinner and our guests, who by this time had arrived and were interviewed for Radio Solent, by Richard Latto.

The start time duly arrived, and after the attendee’s had taken their places, our honoured guests were escorted in by Andrew and my good self, to a rousing reception from those in the room. Dinner was then commenced, although it did last somewhat longer than in previous years, with unexplained delays be-tween each course, bit it has to be said that everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves, judging by

the sound of laughter and talking amongst the tables.Dryden, our Master of Ceremonies, had previously explained the ab-sence of Dan, our President owing to bad health, to which we all wish him a speedy recovery. At the conclusion of the dinner, Andrew Clayden read out a short message sent to us by the two gen-tlemen, namely Ray and Alan, plus a message from Dan, you just can’t keep him out of it can you? Bob Bray then introduced the Committee, to enable new members, as well as some of the older ones to put a face to each member of the Committee, which in some way personalises the evening.Dryden then introduced Neil Pear-son who gave a short speech saying that 18 months ago he had come across a large quantity of scripts, in-cluding 12 typed Hancock scripts. He then made some enquiries and realised that some 20 or so record-ings had disappeared, due to some of the tapes being used again. He had lunch with Ray and Alan and asked them which 5 of the 20 they would

A photograph of Neil Pearson taking a photograph of Kevin McNally in Hancock’s classic pose

Kevin McNallyin Hancock’s original hat and coat Richard Latto of BBC Radio Solent

interviewing Kevin and Neil

Neil Pearsonspeaking to the thronging masses


Following on from Mick Dawson’s ar-ticle about the decline and fall of The Hand & Racquet pub (on the corner of Orange Street in WC2, we’re grateful to THAS member Barry C. Barnes for sending in these photographs of it when it was in it’s prime along with the descrip-tive plaque that sadly went missing.

him raised a further £121, which helps the T.H.A.S. remain solvent in these difficult times financially speaking. Thanks Keith, it really helps the society. With the formal part of the evening closed it was time to relax and meet Neil and Kevin and get their auto-graphs, as well as watching record-ing on the screen, and talk to fellow members and guests.Verdict on the event, extremely en-joyable, which is in no small way down to our guests, who were ex-cellent and willing to converse with us all, and made the T.H.A.S. feel rather special, which it is.

I would like to personally thank both Neil and Kevin for giving up their weekend, and allowing us to share their thoughts, and to meet and talk with them, you were both great. What are you doing next May?

like to see done again. From there the 5 were selected and the rest, as they say is history, with the 5 radio shows due to have an airing on Radio 4, starting on the 31st Oc-tober, and running through Novem-ber, dates NOT to be missed. He en-joyed being a co-producer, as it meant you wore your own clothes, did not have lines to learn, and you tell everyone else what to do. He then asked Kevin McNally to ad-dress us, which he duly did.

He told us that in 1965, aged 9 his father got him to watch T.H. and, in fact, his father based his person-ality on him, using many of his ex-pressions, as we all do. For the next 15 years he remembers the Radio Ham, the Blood Donor, a clip from the Test Pilot and the Threatening Letters. In 1980 he went round Mel Smiths house, as he had made some illicit recordings of T.H. Although he was depressed he was a magnif-icent performer. Lastly he did say that prior to the first of the recent 5 shows he was very nervy. During his talk he occasionally lapsed into Hancock, and he has got him off to a T. Questions from the floor elicited the response that the scripts by Ray

and Alan were timeless, and still funny today. Hopefully these recent recordings will bring it to a younger audience, like the T.H.A.S. has done. He did say that after playing Claudius with Jude Law on Broad-way, Jud Law had told him that he could see T.H. in his rendering on stage!!!The time was now 10pm and it fell to me to say a few words of thanks to both Neil and Kevin, and to pre-sent them with a small gift to show our appreciation of then attend-ing our function, and sharing their thoughts with us. They were pre-sented by Ros Dawson and Chris-tine Byrne.

Mick Dawson then rose and much to mine and Andrews surprise, awarded both us a certificate of appreciation, signed by our two guests, for which we are both grate-ful. He then went on to award Mike West with the “He gaveth for others so that others may live” award for continually sending him recordings and C.D.’s for the Audio archives, well done and thanks Mike.Keith then commenced our auction of books etc., which raised the mag-nificent total of £162, and with the addition of the raffle, organised by

Kevin Mc-Nally talks

whilst Keith

Fisher looks on!

One of the evening guestsChristine Byrne with Kevn and Neil

Kevin and Neil posing withHancock’s hat and coat

THE HAND & RACQUET


I was very excited to hear the news that the BBC were considering re-re-cording 5 of the Radio ep-isodes of Hancock’s Half Hour that have been wiped by the BBC and promptly went onto the BBC Shows website to see how to go about being in the audience for the record-ing. I found that there was a very simple registration process which put my name onto a list of those in-terested in attending. The BBC then selected the audience from this list and I was very fortunate to receive a ticket for the first re-recording. But even this didn’t guarantee me entry as the BBC allocate more tickets than there are seats in order to ensure that the Radio Theatre is full and this approach removes the risk of folk who have been allocated tickets not turning up!

As I work in London just a short Tube ride from the BBC Studios, I set off early to ensure that I was able to get in. On arrival at about 5:30, I went to the Radio Theatre and had sticker number 25 added to my ticket thus guaranteeing my seat (the theatre holds 214 in the stalls and 96 in the balcony). I could now relax, so set off for a coffee in a Café Nero on the ground floor of the old Broadcasting House.

THE MISSING HANCOCK SHOWS - by Martin GibbonsReturning back to the Radio The-atre, all of the audience were able to gather in a very nice café area that over-looks the BBC Newsroom and it was great to see the ‘On Air’ sign outside of the newsroom.At 7:15, about 15 minutes prior to recording, we went into the Radio Theatre which comprises both stalls and a balcony and is within the old Broadcasting House. Above the both the stage and the audience were an array of micro-phones and sitting in the audience were Ray Galton, Alan Simpson and Paul Merton. How wonderful that they were able to experience this re-recording.Neil Pearson, co-producer of the shows provided an introduction to the recording by stating that the idea came about when he came into pos-session of some original 1950’s radio scripts amongst which were some Hancock’s Half Hour scripts (Neil is a rare book dealer as well as an actor) and, after undertaking some research, realised that approximately 20 origi-nal episodes had been wiped by the BBC many years ago. Neil advised that he then had lunch with Galton & Simpson (he clearly enjoyed being able to say this!!) and he asked them which 5 episodes of those wiped by the BBC that they would most like to hear again; and these are the 5 epi-sodes that will form this season to be called ‘The Missing Hancock’s’. Neil went on to say that as these shows had not been repeated since the mid 1950’s, it was really like creating a new series of Hancock’s Half Hour. Having received Ray & Alan’s bless-ing Neil approached the BBC and they agreed to re-record the shows.In press coverage Neil has advised that “we will be re-creating as closely as possible the experience you would have has listening to your radio all

those years ago. The Scripts are per-fect and timeless. We will be record-ing the programmes in front of a live audience at BBC Radio Theatre and, rather thrillingly, the BBC Concert Orchestra will be re-recording the theme tune for the new series”But just how good would it be? As Neil finished his introduction, he in-troduced the cast and advised that the single episode being recorded (on the 8th April) is The Hancock Festival (5th episode of the 1st series originally broadcast on 30.11.54). The cast wore suits with the ladies, cocktail dresses, so, very definitely as they would have been in 1954. I say ladies because in addition to the ac-tress playing Moira Lister, there is a second lady who is in control of the sound effects, including the use of a door, which she opened and closed as required throughout the record-ing.

The episode began with the play-ing of the original music (the re-re-corded version not being available in time for the recording). The Hancock Festival is an unusual episode in that it requires the cast to play different roles in plays that Hancock has writ-ten. The various members of the cast do not impersonate Tony, Bill, Sid or Moira but they have clearly been lis-

Broadcasting House

BBC Newsroom

BBC Radio Theatre


second series were re-recorded. These featured the Kenneth Wil-liams character magnificently played by Robin Sebastian (whether during the recording or between takes, Robin was in character!!) and I am now impatiently waiting for the first show to be broadcast in very late October date to be confirmed).

The episodes re-recorded were:The Hancock Festival – 8.4.14 Series 1 Episode 5 originally broadcast 30.11.54

tening to old episodes of the show for the overall sound of the voices, the timing, the inflexions and into-nations are all there and it was like being transported back in time to watch the recording of the original episode. It was a fantastic perfor-mance from all the cast.And did the comedy work for a modern audience? Of course! As Neil said, these scripts are timeless and the audience reaction through-out the episode was fantastic and the half hour was over all too soon. Following the recording of the epi-sode, which was all recorded in one take, there were a few retakes of fluffed lines or where the rustling of a script could be heard in the re-cording to finish the evening.I was fortunate to be able to attend the second recording on the 15th April when two episodes from the

Robin Sebastian who acts as Kenneth Williams with Andrew Clayden who acts as President!

The New Neighbour – 15.4.14 Series3 Episode 4 originally broad-cast 19.11.55The Matador – 15.4.14 Series 2 Epi-sode 12 originally broadcast 5.7.55The Breakfast Cereal – 22.4.14 Series 3 Episode 15 originally broadcast 25.1.56The Newspaper – 22.4.14 Series 3 Episode 17 originally broadcast 8.2.56The cast for the new episodes are:Tony Hancock – Kevin R McNallySid James – Simon GreenallBill Kerr – Kevin EldonKenneth Williams – Robin SebastianAndree Melly – Suzy KaneMoira LIster – Margaret Coburn-SmithBelow is how The Daily Mail reported the news on the 8th April 2014 (clip-ping kindly sent in by Mick Dawson)

AVON ROAD LABOUR CLUB & HANCOCK COURT AT BOREHAMWOOD - by Barry Barnes

The Society’s two ‘sons of fun’ Barry Cameron Barnes and John Thomp-son have recently unearthed this entry (dated July 8th 1940) from the Minutes of The Avon Road Labour Club (where Hancock made his first professional appearance), which - al-though not mentioning Hancock by name - is believed to refer to him where it states:“The concert entertainment commit-tee (CEC) reported that the Free and Easy concerts were going well and a complaint was registered re the jokes of a comedian and it was agreed that in future the E.C Tee [Entertainment Committee] read the script before passing same”Also here are a few photographs taken when Barry and John visited the Elstree Studios in Borehamwood recently.

A LOAD OF OLD CODSWALLOP!Following on from ‘a punch up the bracket’ etc, here’s a possible explanation of another one of Hancock’s phrases sent in by Terry Capper

HANCOCKCROSS-WORD

by Ted Masters

The next issue of The Missing Page is due out in October 2014. All contributions for inclusion should be sent to the Editor (at his address on page 3 this issue) by: SEPTEMBER 26

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Clues Across

1 Tony asks Colin Cowdrey what does this woman know about cricket – she’s an opera singer! (4,7)9 Wally Pinner knows how to handle them (7)10 Promising young actress – Moira Lister for example, on the stage at 14 (7)11 Name of girl on picnic, when shortened reminds one of Ron Glum’s fiancee (3)12 Hancock’s are throbbing away like those in the tv ads for cold cures (7)13 Hancock finds himself defend-ing Sid as one, having got his diploma from evening classes (6)15 One of Sid’s wrestlers – billed as the ‘Fiendish Turk’ (5)17 Hancock offers the vicar a cig-arette, does he prefer them with or without? (5)18 Sid is determined to win at the Highland Games and in the first con-test uses one made of balsa wood (5)20 Bill can’t count them in his head so keeps Tony from sleeping (5)23 Young Biggs – sounds eager (6)24 Hancock hands the threatening letter he has received to Constable Perkins who weighs up its contents (7)25 Check your policy – it’s a ‘crusher’ not a ‘biter’ (3)26 Tony needs somewhere else – a place apart – now that the woods are swarming with hermits (7)27 Must be cold out, Smudger and Ginger, Tony’s old army chums, are wearing them on arrival (7)28 Butchers, green grocers and the like, trading on East Cheam High Street, seen on Sid’s five shilling tour (11)

Clues Down

1 A sweet treat that Tony intends to buy with some of his Christmas Club handout – his radio ham friend Yoki would like them (8,7)2 It seems that all the East Cheam women are off there with their GIs (7)3 They’re part of Sid’s equip-ment, along with siphons and mouth-washes, for draining petrol from ve-hicles now that the rationing of it has returned (5)4 Hancock is horrified that Sid, a teacher of etiquette, should address him so, he was expecting at least a ‘sir’ (4)5 Nell would count them back at what is now Tony’s house (7)6 Librarian’s full name, she’s known by her first to those ‘she reck-ons’ (5,10)7 Skin condition of carol singer’s neck that Hancock unkindly refers to in a bout of name calling (6)8 Tony claims that he’s been in some that when it rained the fish

were swimming in raincoats (6)14 Hancock’s suit is in a shade of this primary colour known as ‘Mid-night’ (4)16 The makeshift train lacks authen-ticity, Tony suggests scattering some on the floors plus footmarks on the seats and breadcrumbs under them (4)18 French Customs Officer, much taken with Moira, adds this endear-ment to his “Au Revoir” (6)19 Mr Brazzi, unless you know him personally, he on the enviable nose (7)21 Don’t blow up Tony’s house, it’s of historical interest being the finish-ing line for this annual Cheam race (7)22 It’s what Tony does in the depart-ment store, it’s literally part of his job (and ATV programme) title (6)24 Filling (sardine and anchovy) in sandwich offered to visiting vicar (5)25 Sid has been up before him many times for various crimes (4)

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