Hancock by Freddie Ross Hancock & David Nathan

Introduction

The biographer's dilemma in writing about the life of a great but controversial talent can be immense.
      To tell the whole truth, particularly where the truth hurts, often diminishes a much-loved image, angers a vast and devoted public unwilling to be robbed of their illusions.
      I sympathise with this, not merely because I loved Tony Hancock and married him, but because I shared with the millions a tremendous admiration for his genius, total identification with the lovable character who became perhaps the first authentic idol of the television screen.
      But if the quality of genius is a love of truth so, too, must be the essence of a biography. And Tony himself, who loathed sham publicity and false sentimentality, would want nothing less than the truth.
      That truth is warm, rich, and wonderful. It is also chill, brutal, at times hateful. Here was a man who achieved the ultimate triumph of being known only by his surname - in such distinguished company as Garbo, Chaplin, Fernandel, Laurel and Hardy.
      Yet behind that unique, sombre smile was a tortured and tormented existence, into which I too was slowly drawn and by which I was almost destroyed.
      It is because of this deeply personal involvement in which my life swung violently between ecstasy and despair that I could not, alone, attempt an objective account of Tony's life.
      For this reason I asked the writer, David Nathan, who knew the man as well as anyone alive today, to collaborate with me - in fact to write the book with the compassion it deserves, but with the objectivity it demands.
      If the book achieves a greater understanding of the secret torments of a clown, the interminable agony of making the millions laugh, the project will have been worthwhile.
      But I hope it will do more than that.
      What I pray for is that this complex, unhappy but richly endowed character will emerge into a kinder and warmer light than the hasty and partisan obituaries conferred upon him.
      The genius of Tony Hancock will rise above the innuendoes and half-truths that distort and often corrode a much-loved public figure.
      I hope this book, despite its uncomfortable revelations, will show that a gem, though flawed, can still be priceless.
Freddie Hancock, 1969

As you can see, from the picture at the top of this page, there were four publications of this particular book. They date from: 1969 to 1996, and are as follows:

1st, William Kimber, hardback, published in 1969

2nd, Coronet Books, paperback, published in 1975

3rd, Ariel / BBC Books, paperback, published in 1986 (revised edition)

4th, BBC Books, paperback, published in 1996 (revised edition, but has no pictures, as all three previous publications do) 'Re-issued to coincide with a major season of Hancock's Half Hours celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hancock's first broadcast.'

The 1996 BBC publication (4th) is still available to buy. The others can be found second-hand, if you look hard enough, as I did. Click here, to buy this book Online, from the BBC Shop.

 

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