Some of the many records either dedicated, featuring or other (small) connection to the lad himself. Unfortunately most, if not all, have now been discontinued. You can still find them about, second-hand, if you look hard enough. So keep those minces peeled!

Published between 1963 & 82
Various compilation LPs featuring the lad himself. These generally contain the best that British comedy had to offer over the past four decades - with most originating from the golden years of both BBCtv and radio. What you see below contain, amongst them, extracts from several Hancock's Half Hour radio or TV shows and both TV show theme tunes or film soundtracks. There are several more compilation LPs of this type still to be added to this collection. These will be included in due course...
 
PYE (GOLDEN GUINEA)
Top T.V. Themes
GGL 0196 - Mono
First published 1963

Sleeve notes, for this LP, are shown on the right...

Side 1 - Track 3

Includes the signature tune from the 1963 ATV series of Hancock - Hancock's Tune

We present entertainment for the whole family with a brilliant programme of top T.V. themes from television's most popular shows, arranged and played by the Country's leading orchestras and groups.
   Each theme selected, has the wonderful quality that enhanced the hit television series for which it was written. All have that special flavour that gained them 'hit parade' status throughout the world.
   We invite you to sit back, relax, and relive your viewing pleasure by listening to the sparkling arrangements of TOP T.V. THEMES.

Download this TV Theme Tune by clicking here: Hancock's Tune, by The Derek Scott Music

 

The World Of British Comedy
DECCA
First published 1969
PA 39 - Mono

Side 2 - Track 4

Includes an extract from The Missing Page - Hancock is reading a murder mystery from the library but the last page is missing. After keeping Sid up all night trying to work out 'who done it', he determines to track down a complete copy.

Side 1: MARTY FELDMAN the great bell
FRANKIE HOWERD ten guinea cruise
SPIKE MILLIGAN Cold porridge
THE GOONS eeh!ah!oh!ooh!
BENNY HILL the Sunday ben
SPIKE MILLIGAN pontius kak-story
 
Side 2: hand up your sticks KENNETH WILLIAMS
holy smoke SPIKE MILLIGAN
the ballad of bethnal green PADDY ROBERTS
the missing page TONY HANCOCK
the great man-story SPIKE MILLIGAN
father and son PETER COOK & DUDLEY MOORE

BBC Records
The BBC presents - 50 Years Of Radio Comedy
REC 138M - Mono
First published 1972

Sleeve notes, for this LP, are shown on the right...

Side 2 - Track (Band) 6

Includes an extract from Sunday Afternoon At Home - 23 Railway Cuttings is a scene of boredom and inactivity as the occupants try to while away a British Sunday.

Of course, for a start, trying to put 50 years of radio comedy on to one long playing record is impossible, and I, therefore, make no apologies for the startling omissions from this disc. Further, and also on grounds of space, I have had to omit musical performances, even if they are funny. Even so, the record rapidly got embarrassingly large. I ask your forgiveness if your own personal favourite is missing. There may not have been room for it, there may be no archive examples as recording of radio shows did not seriously start till the war years, or the few examples extant of the artist's work do him or her little justice. One must not destroy memory. But I hope the memories this record will revive of those artists on it are worthy ones.

Alastair Scott Johnston

 

The BBC presents - 50 Years Of Radio Comedy
BBC Records
First published 1972 - Reprint of above
REC 138M - Mono

Side 2 - Track (Band) 6

Includes an extract from Sunday Afternoon At Home - 23 Railway Cuttings is a scene of boredom and inactivity as the occupants try to while away a British Sunday.

This LP, I suspect, is a reprint of the above, but I don’t know that for certain. The above LPs back cover has a label placed, coincidently, over the Hancock except at track 6 – should be just visible, if you stare hard enough (on the right, third from the bottom). There had obviously been a printing error there, of some description, and although I’ve studied it very hard I can’t make out what was written there originally. I do know however, that there was much more text under the label than is now included in the correction. This re-printed copy (to the right) has now been corrected to read exactly as the above, but minus the label. I would also hazard a guess that whilst they were about it, the BBC, or whoever produced the record on their behalf, decided to make a very subtle colour change to the LPs front cover and to redo the text for the title 50 Years Of Radio Comedy - now in pretty pink! The LPs mustard coloured labels are identical, with no text changes or alterations. If anyone reading this knows any different, then please don’t hesitate to put me right...

 
John Barry Conducts His Greatest Movie Hits
CBS
First published 1972
SS 63038 - 'Super Stereo'
See the rare LP featuring the complete film soundtrack - The Wrong Box

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP, click here

Side 2 - Track 5

Includes the soundtrack from the The Wrong Box - This was the last film in which Hancock appeared. He was credited as guest artist.

The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson & Lloyd Osbourne is black comedy at its best, with fast-paced action, outrageous characters, and a generous portion of unconventional British humour-guaranteed to keep you laughing right to the very last page.

A book was published as a tie-in to this film - click here to see the book. To see a video release of this film - click here. Unfortunately this film is not currently available on video - having been discontinued / deleted for the time being.

Download this film soundtrack by clicking here: The Wrong Box, by John Barry

 

40 Years Of Television - Comedy Spectacular
BBC Records
First published 1976
REC 249 - Mono / Stereo

Side 2 - Track 4

Includes an extract from The Blood Donor - Perhaps the best loved of all Hancock episodes. 'A pint, why that's very nearly an armful!' protests our public-spirited hero when he decides 'to give so others can live'. And, as with any ordinary bank, Hancock discovers that the deposit can be all-too-quickly followed by sudden withdrawal.

With: June Whitfield, Patrick Cargill, Hugh Lloyd, John Bluthal, Frank Thornton, Annie Leake

Tony Hancock died in 1968. There has never been a comedian whose work is so fondly remembered as this man's. In particular Hancock’s Half Hour will never be forgotten. This item is perhaps the most famous of all his performances. Originally done for BBC TV it was re-recorded before an invited audience in October 1961.

Click - to hear this excerpt from The Blood Donor

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP, click here

Comedy from FUN AT ONE
BBC Records
First published 1979
REB 371 - Mono / Stereo
Click here - to see the BBC cassette release of this LP

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP, click here

Side 1 - Track 7

Includes an extract from The Blood Donor - Perhaps the best loved of all Hancock episodes. 'A pint, why that's very nearly an armful!' protests our public-spirited hero when he decides 'to give so others can live'. And, as with any ordinary bank, Hancock discovers that the deposit can be all-too-quickly followed by sudden withdrawal.

With: June Whitfield, Patrick Cargill, Hugh Lloyd, John Bluthal, Frank Thornton, Annie Leake

Tony Hancock died in 1968. There has never been a comedian whose work is so fondly remembered as this man's. In particular Hancock’s Half Hour will never be forgotten. This item is perhaps the most famous of all his performances. Originally done for BBC TV it was re-recorded before an invited audience in October 1961.

Click - to hear this excerpt from The Blood Donor

 

'We Are Most Amused' - The Very Best Of British Comedy  
First published 1981 - Double album in Gatefold sleeve
RONCO
Click here - to see the audio tape release of this LP
RTD 2067 - Stereo

Ronco and Charisma Records presents on belhalf of The Prince's Trust

'We Are Most Amused' - The Very Best Of British Comedy

Side 1 - Track 3

Includes an extract from The Blood Donor - Perhaps the best loved of all Hancock episodes. 'A pint, why that's very nearly an armful!' protests our public-spirited hero when he decides 'to give so others can live'. And, as with any ordinary bank, Hancock discovers that the deposit can be all-too-quickly followed by sudden withdrawal.

Hancock excerpt taken from The Blood Donor, followed by Monty Python's - Massage From The Swedish Prime Minister (listen carefully!)

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP, click here

BBC Records
The Laughingstock Of The BBC - The best of BBC TV & Radio
LAF 1 - Mono
First published 1982

Side 2 - Tracks 3 and 5

Includes extracts from Almost a Gentleman - Annoyed by his omission from the New Year's Honours list - again - Hancock takes lessons from Sid on how to become a gentleman.

&

The American's Hit Town - When the US Air Force sets up a base in Cheam, Hancock joins the rush to rent them rooms at exorbitant prices; but the sudden appearance of a Council Inspector forces them to masquerade as unexploited Yanks. . .

 

Sleeve notes for John Barry Conducts His Greatest Movie Hits - (63038)

JOHN BARRY CONDUCTS HIS GREATEST MOVIE HITS

BARRY, JOHN

Super-composer for super-films such as "You Only Live Twice," "Born Free" and "From Russia With Love," plus "The Ipcress File," "King Rat," "The Knack."
Born York, England, November 3, 1933. Ended formal education at fifteen ("I just quit. I hated it."). Once worked as projectionist ("I was - and still am - an avid filmgoer."). Army service in Egypt and Cyprus ("somewhat uncomfortable"). Took piano lessons when he was nine, later switched temporarily to trumpet. Was member of his regiment's army band. Trained by correspondence course in composition, orchestration and harmony ("I've never taken an exam, and I'd probably flunk if I did. My favorite composers - Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartók, Stravinsky - generally break all the rules of composition anyway."). After army stint, returned to England and formed own rhythmand-blues group, The John Barry Seven. Landed job with record company first as recording artist, then as Musical Director. Wrote scores for movie starring rock 'n' roller Adam Faith and one for Peter Sellers ("Never Let Me Go"). Next, arranged title music for "Dr. No," first James Bond film. Also did imaginative orchestrations. Brilliant film-music career assured.

JAPAN - You Only Live Twice ('67)
AFRICA, mostly jungles of KENYA - Born Free ('66). Two Academy Awards: Best Song and Best Music Score
SWITZERLAND; MIAMI - Goldfinger ('64)
ENGLAND - The Whisperers ('67)
BERLIN - Wednesday's Child (from "The Quiller Memorandum," '66)
JAPAN - Space March (from "You Only Live Twice," '67)
LONDON - The Girl With the Sun in Her Hair (British shampoo commercial)
BAHAMAS - Thunderball ('65)
LONDON SUBWAY - Dutchman ('67)
ENGLAND - The Wrong Box ('66)
ENGLAND - The James Bond Theme ('62)

Married to actress Jane Birkin.

London studio-apartment ("I put on a suit and walk in one direction, throw on some blue jeans and walk in another - into Chelsea. I've got the best of both worlds.").
A new breed of film composer - unique in personality, training and approach. ("The full potential of music and film image has yet to be fully exploited.").
John Barry's film music impossible to associate with what has gone before in that medium. He is an experimenter - and an inventor. This man bears careful listening.

Sleeve notes for 40 Years Of Television - Comedy Spectacular - (REB 249)

I can't think of a nicer way to mark the 40th birthday of BBC-TV than with a laugh or two. And looking at the great names in the field of comedy keeping me company on this album, I can only say that "a laugh or two" must be the understatement of the year. Because if there's one department in which BBC-TV has constantly come out on top it's in the very serious business of raising a laugh. Mind you, they have made the odd mistake along the way. Like the time they missed the chance of screening some really tremendous situation comedy - my audition for my very first appearance on the box.
I went along to the audition for children's TV - with my story about the shark and the octopus and my drawings in my hot, sweaty little hands. As I walked into the producer's office he was dictating to one secretary seated in front of him, shouting out instructions to another secretary filing bits of paper in a cabinet across the room, and listening to a guy at a grand piano running through various tunes to find theme music for the show.
"Carry on, old boy!" he said to me. So I started telling him about the octopus and the shark. "Dear sir," said the producer, "in reply to your letter of ... no, not there, Muriel, put them in the pink folder, love ... carry on, old boy ... play that again, Joe, I rather liked that ... where was I, in reply to your letter of ... no, the pink folder, Muriel ... carry on, old boy ..." And so it went on. It was quite terrifying and the little confidence I'd walked in with disappeared as if by magic. "Have you finished, old boy?" asked the producer. "Right, we'll give you a ring." I left his office convinced that my big chance had been blown sky-high. But, bless his heart, he 'phoned me. "That story about the octopus and the shark was very good, old boy, very good ... but we won't use that. We've of another idea." like to think that maybe Spike Milligan, and the two Ronnies, and Michael Bentine, and Mike Yarwood, and all the other ladies and gentlemen on this album who have delighted millions of viewers with their own highly individual and fantastically popular brand of comedy, also remember their first appearance on the box, and the utter terror that went with it.
So here's a happy 40th birthday to BBC-TV. May the next 40 years be as successful as the first 40 years. And, of course, another long, long laugh.

Sleeve notes for Comedy from FUN AT ONE - (REB 371)

A Top 40 format, as featured on a predominantly pop music station like Radio 1 leaves little room for the comedians who, of course featured regularly in the old Light Programme days.
However, the Lunch Time Show, (11.30 till 2.00 Mon to Fri folks!) is an exception. Now, I wouldn't say that ours is a more discerning audience (well I would, but my colleagues won't let me!) it is though, due to the time slot, a more attentive audience as the Great British Worker takes a well earned break...and the comedy featured in the immensely popular Fun At One spot demands attention to be fully appreciated. Programme Producer Malcolm Brown and I have settled for what we hope you'll agree is a pretty healthy cross-section of humour, spanning three decades of laughter-makers...some will be familiar to you, others perhaps not so. Quite honestly, we could have compiled a triple album from the wealth of material in the BBC record library...still, there's always Vol. II!?
There are two kinds of tears...and in a world that sometimes seems so full of one, sit back, listen to this L.P. and perhaps shed some of the other...

Paul Bernett

Sleeve notes for 'We Are Most Amused' - The Very Best Of British Comedy - (RTD 2067)

The Prince's Trust was established on the initiative of Prince Of Wales to assist young people who are at a social, economic or environmental disadvantage. The Trust aims to support those enterprises, devised by young people themselves, which, offer fresh challenge and may contribute to their own or other people's welfare and development. Such enterprises range from leisure activities to projects which may help to relieve the problems faced by the unemployed.

Trust has assisted with the formation of informal youth clubs, the provision of materials to renovate premises, the purchase of a wide range of equipment for leisure pursuits, the acquisition of tools and machinery for craft production and the resources to enable young people to help others in the community.

The proceeds of the sale of this record are being given to the Prince's Trust as a tribute to its President, The Prince Of Wales, in the year of his marriage to The Lady Diana Spencer. The Prince's Trust is grateful to all the artists whose contributions have made this a significant collection of the best of recorded British comedy.

Railway Cuttings is the first Web site to contain this information, in detail, with pictures and an accompanying sound file - of either, a whole track, or an extract / excerpt - for your listening pleasure (server space permitting), selected from several of the above LPs. The most comprehensive collection of Hancock related records anywhere on the Web, so far!

This long player should be easy to find. Indeed you may trip over one. So mind your step!
This long player can be found, but you may have to look harder, it won't just fall into your lap!

This long player is very difficult to find. If you do find a copy relatively easily, then you were lucky!

 

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