Product Description

More than 30 years after his death Tony Hancock still enjoy's cult status. He has the distinction of being known simply by his surname- Hancock. The word defined not only the man but his art. Using a wealth of previously unpublished material, Cliff Goodwin reveals at last the man behind the myth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #710829 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The story of Tony Hancock is well-known; East Cheam's most famous resident, star of classic episodes such as "The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham", the first British comedian to earn 1,000 pounds a week, whereupon he blew both his money and his dignity on drink before taking his own life in a flat in Australia in 1968 aged 44. It is the stuff of legend. Modern British comedians such as Paul Merton idolise him, characters such as Alan Partridge or Victor Meldrew still feast on his legacy. Cliff Goodwin's new biography adds flesh to the much pored-over bones to bulk out a life that seemed to define "doomed". In post-war Britain, Hancock tapped into a reserve of frustration and forlornness, and rather than act he learned to react. However, as is the way with such talent, success only begot dissatisfaction. A hard-headed belief that he could only emulate his hero Sid Field by working alone led him to sack the architects of his success, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, as well as the talented team of actors who contributed so crucially to the success of 'Hancock's Half Hour', particularly Sid James (a subject of Goodwin's last biography). His treatment of Galton and Simpson was masochistic; the scripts they wrote for him defined his comic being, and their mastery of colloquial nuance in the late 1950s was comparable to more "serious" writers for theatre such as Beckett and Pinter. He had little success with either films or America, and as the drinking increased so did the violence and anger, until he had pushed away or walked over any lover or friend who sought to help him. Goodwin has researched and read around his subject comprehensively, and he succeeds in shaping Hancock's life in a way the comic actor was never able himself. If his approach eschews too much interpretation, perhaps he is right not to analyse the man too deeply; it is a recognisably cautionary tale well-told, of a peculiar man who held the cup of plenty, but preferred a tankard of vodka. --David Vincent

Customer Reviews

Tony Hancock
This book was presented in a very readable style - easy and relaxed. I bought the book because I have a keen interest in geneaology and already knew that Tony Hancock was a relative of mine. However I found that many of the details about Tony's early family life and relations were incorrect and clearly not thoroughly researched. As to his professional life; well I can't vouch for the accuracy of that, but knowing that the first part was not all correct, made me wonder about the rest of it. I had attempted to get in contact with the author,and had been assured that in subsequent additions the errors would be corrected, so far that hasn't happened. To anyone using the book as a source for research - beware.

yellow press journalism
This is piece of poorly researched journalism. There is almost nothing new in the book and appears to be very little first hand material. Mr Goodwin appears to have simply collated a mass of press cuttings and fan club magazine articles and glued them together. Written in an easy, chatty style, and well edited. But in all key respects its a waste of money.

Muck is raked aplenty but little new is revealed.
The jacket of this books proclaims it to be 'The first authoratative and detailed account' of Tony Hancock's life, something that probably came as a bit of a surprise to David Nathan and Freddie Hancock who co-wrote "Hancock-A biography." Perhaps this bold claim led me to expect from this book but I can't honestly say that I was very much enlightened about Hancock's life after reading it.

The outline of Hancock's life is well known and this book recounts it fluently enough but adds little to what is already known. True, Cliff Goodwin goes into more detail about Hancock's decline in alcoholism but this gives the impression of coming from a desire to muck rake rather than to produce any deep analysis (especially as some of the anecdotes, such as Hancock frequenting known homosexual bars come from such dubious sources as corrupt detectives). There is much that can, and still needs to be said about Hancock's life, but this biography does not do this.

In the end, it is the failure of Cliff Godwin to produce any sort of analysis that makes this biography unnecessary when compared to the previously mentioned book by David Nathan & Freddie Hancock