“Hello” Tony Hancock – Born 12 May 1924

Anthony John “Tony” Hancock (12 May 1924 – 24 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor.

Popular during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series Hancock’s Half Hour, first 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.

After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career took a downward course because of his increasing dependence on alcohol.

Hancock committed suicide, by overdose, in Sydney, on 24 June 1968. He was found dead in his Bellevue Hill flat with an empty vodka bottle and a scattering of amylo-barbitone tablets.