Some of the many records wholly dedicated to, and featuring, 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!

First published 1961: Pye-Nixa PLP 1092
The Blood Donor & The Radio Ham collection - There were five (UK) releases wholly dedicated to the two Half Hours featured on these long players (more if you include, as I have, those sold outside the UK - within the commonwealth). The first release; PYE NIXA PLP 1092, is not shown, as, yet again, I'm still in the process of trying to track down a copy. And indeed, as with the previous two Nixa releases, this too is proving to be yet another very illusive LP. All the others, which were all subsequent releases, can be seen below.
 
PYE
HANCOCK - Vol. 2 - Australian pressing
PLP 1092 - Mono
First published 1961

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

     One of the most popular radio shows ever beamed over the air in Australia is "Hancock's Half Hour".
     One of the most popular television shows to grace the glass screen is "Hancock's Half Hour".
     In short Mr. Anthony Hancock, the celebrated comedian and middle-class beatnik, has more than made his mark on the Australian public.
     In 1960, after months and months of deliberation, we finally decided to take the plunge and see what the reaction of the Australian public would be to Mr. Hancock on record. Our complete staff were checking the sales returns at five minute intervals immediately from the time it was issued - after weeks and weeks of patiently waiting, we found someone had actually bought one.
     There is an old saying, "Fortune favours the brave" - we think - hence we have decided to inflict on you yet another disc featuring this great man's meanderings. In short we intend to be very "brave" and hope you provide the "fortune". At least this should raise the total sales of Hancock's albums to two!
     This recording was made before an Invited Audience on the 1st October, 1961.

 

HANCOCK - Vol. 2 - Australian pressing
ASTOR (GOLD STAR SERIES)
First published 1961
PLP 1092 - Mono

     One of the most popular radio shows ever beamed over the air in Australia is "Hancock's Half Hour".
     One of the most popular television shows to grace the glass screen is "Hancock's Half Hour".
     In short Mr. Anthony Hancock, the celebrated comedian and middle-class beatnik, has more than made his mark on the Australian public.
     In 1960, after months and months of deliberation, we finally decided to take the plunge and see what the reaction of the Australian public would be to Mr. Hancock on record. Our complete staff were checking the sales returns at five minute intervals immediately from the time it was issued - after weeks and weeks of patiently waiting, we found someone had actually bought one.
     There is an old saying, "Fortune favours the brave" - we think - hence we have decided to inflict on you yet another disc featuring this great man's meanderings. In short we intend to be very "brave" and hope you provide the "fortune". At least this should raise the total sales of Hancock's albums to two!
     This recording was made before an Invited Audience on the 1st October, 1961.

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

PYE (PLUM LABEL)
HANCOCK - UK pressing
NPL 18068 - Mono
First published 1961

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP - penned by Galton & Simpson, in their imitable style, click here

Side A

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.

Side B

The Radio Ham - 'Mayday! Mayday!' A motor yacht is holed beneath the waterline off the coast of Sierra Leone. The good news for the stricken vessel is that it's desperate messages have been picked up by a keen radio ham in England. The bad news is that it's the lad himself at the receiving end.

 

HANCOCK - Canadian pressing
PYE (ASTRAL)
First published 1961
SPL 18068 (NPL 18068) - Mono

Side A

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.

Side B

The Radio Ham - 'Mayday! Mayday!' A motor yacht is holed beneath the waterline off the coast of Sierra Leone. The good news for the stricken vessel is that it's desperate messages have been picked up by a keen radio ham in England. The bad news is that it's the lad himself at the receiving end.

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP - penned by Galton & Simpson, in their imitable style, click here

PYE (GOLDEN GUINEA)
HANCOCK - UK pressing
GGL 0270 - Mono
First published 1961

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

    Record lovers already enhanced by the breathtaking translucency and overwhelming poignancy of previous Hancock recordings will surely be dead chuffed by the addition of this, yet another recording by the Grand Old Man of English Television. Over a period of six tremendous years he has endeared himself to the hearts of dozens of viewers with his cheerful banter and unpleasant manner, qualities which surely must earn him a place in the top ten thousand comedians of the past war years.

    "The Blood Donor" was first produced on B.B.C. Television on June 23rd 1961. Or was it October 31st 1956? - Well anyway it was round about that time. In it Mr. Hancock gives a strong savage portrayal of a man torn between the noble desire to give a pint of his blood and the primitive desire to hang on to it. The performance owes much to the course Mr. Hancock took at the Actors Studio, Stenhousemuir, where he studied method acting and how to walk across a stage carrying a book on top of your head while scratching yourself.

RAY GALTON and ALAN SIMPSON

 

Tony Hancock - UK pressing
First published 1968
MARBLE ARCH
Click here - to see the audio tape release of this LP
MAL 872 - Mono

Side 1

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.

Side 2

The Radio Ham - 'Mayday! Mayday!' A motor yacht is holed beneath the waterline off the coast of Sierra Leone. The good news for the stricken vessel is that it's desperate messages have been picked up by a keen radio ham in England. The bad news is that it's the lad himself at the receiving end.

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP - penned by Galton & Simpson, in their imitable style, click here

HALLMARK
The Best Of Tony Hancock - UK pressing
HMA 228 - Stereo (Electronically Created)
First published 1975

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP - penned by Galton & Simpson, in their imitable style, click here

Side 1

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.

Side 2

The Radio Ham - 'Mayday! Mayday!' A motor yacht is holed beneath the waterline off the coast of Sierra Leone. The good news for the stricken vessel is that it's desperate messages have been picked up by a keen radio ham in England. The bad news is that it's the lad himself at the receiving end.

 

The Best Of Tony Hancock - UK pressing
PICKWICK / HALLMARK
First published 1975
HMA 228 - Stereo (Electronically Created)

Side 1

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.

Side 2

The Radio Ham - 'Mayday! Mayday!' A motor yacht is holed beneath the waterline off the coast of Sierra Leone. The good news for the stricken vessel is that it's desperate messages have been picked up by a keen radio ham in England. The bad news is that it's the lad himself at the receiving end.

For the sleeve notes, on the back cover of this LP - penned by Galton & Simpson, in their imitable style, click here

Sleeve notes for HANCOCK - (NPL 18068 & SPL 18068)

You are now the owner (or borrower) of a very unique record. This is the first time in the history of entertainment that two television programmes have been issued on a gramophone record. Yes, television programmes . . . think of it. You are now able to enjoy these two highly successful TV shows without the tedium of actually having to watch them. Plus the added advantage that they can be played on an ordinary gramophone. The mind boggles. This is indeed a breakthrough. This gigantic revolutionary step forward was the result of a remarkable piece of ingenuity by that merchant prince, that colossus of industry and empire builder, Mr. Alan Freeman of Pye Records. Mr. Freeman, like so many lesser mortals, was sitting at home one night watching television. Half way through The Blood Donor he started to doze off. His eyes closed and through the hazy mist of sleep, smoke and cheap drink only the drone of voices could be heard. Mr. Freeman leapt from his chair crying 'Eureka, I've found another way of making a few bob!' And so one autumn Sunday evening in the backwaters of St. Marylebone, history was made. Two Television scripts, without much re-writing worth talking about, were successfully adapted and re-recorded in front of a specially invited audience of hysterical laughing Pye employees in fear of their jobs.
     Now a word about the record itself. Record lovers already entranced by the breathtaking translucency of This is Hancock and the overwhelming poignancy of Pieces of Hancock, will surely be dead chuffed by the addition of this, the third of the trilogy of three records made by this Grand Old Man of English Television. Over a period of six tremendous years he has endeared himself to the hearts of dozens of viewers with his cheerful banter and unpleasant manner, qualities which surely must earn him a place in the top ten thousand comedians of the post war years.
     The Blood Donor was first produced on BBC Television on June 23rd, 1961. Or was it October 31st, 1956? Well anyway it was round about that time. In it Mr. Hancock gives a strong savage portrayal of a man torn between the noble desire to give a pint of his blood and the primitive desire to hang on to it. The performance owes a great deal to the course Mr. Hancock took at the Actors' Studio, Stenhousemuir, where he studied method acting and how to walk across a stage carrying a book on top of your head while scratching yourself. The Radio Ham, or to give it its correct title, Side 2, shows Mr. Hancock at his dramatic best. A piece de resistance, or as the French say piece de resistance. Another strong powerful performance, rich in realism, showing an emotional depth rarely captured on record before, and calculated to batter the listener into a state of complete indifference. No-one, positively no-one will be allowed to listen to this record once it has started.

Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

Sleeve notes for Tony Hancock & The Best Of Tony Hancock - (MAL 872 & HMA 228)

     Tony Hancock died in Australia in June 1968 and the world lost a great comic.
     We first met him in a BBC recording studio in Lower Regent Street, London in the winter of 1951. He didn't say anything to us and we didn't say anything to him. After that the relationship improved. Little did we think that for the next ten years we would write practically everything he appeared in - a film, a stage revue, seventy television shows and 200 radio shows. Apart from that we didn't see very much of him.
     The last time we worked together was when we made a series of six shows for BBC Television in 1961, and the two sides of this record do in fact come from that last series. In many respects that series was the most successful one we did with him, and if we had to select one programme to take to a desert island we would have no hesitation in choosing THE BLOOD DONOR. Tony's performance was brilliant and the supporting cast were quite immaculate. It was one of those exciting occasions when everything came together to produce something quite memorable. The performance on this record was re-recorded later for Pye records. It lost none of the spontaneity of the original television production and in our view is a perfect example of the art of Tony Hancock.
     And that art was remarkable. He was a star for over eighteen years, but this did not make performing any easier for him. Every performance was a first night. He was a born worrier and a perfectionist, dedicated to his work. The more successful he was, the more demanding he became of himself and others. Never complacent or selfcongratulatory, "We can do better" were the words that continually drove him on. He was basically a shy man. With all his fame and stardom he was genuinely embarrassed about being recognised off stage. He was well loved as a performer, but never in the maudlin sticky sentimental way that would have driven him up the wall. It was strictly on his own terms. Suffice to say that W. C. Fields was one of his great heroes in this respect. He had an instinctive understanding of comedy, and unlike many comedians, had a very highly developed sense of humour. He was, however, in essence a serious man. Although his work was the overriding consideration in his life, he held strong convictions on most things. Many a script conference would develop into a discussion on philosophy, religion, politics and the human condition in general which would go on until the early hours of the morning. This facet of his character is quite clearly reflected in much of his work.
     We may be accused of prejudice, but it is our honest conviction that he was the greatest comedian to emerge from this country for many many years. Sadly, he is no longer with us, but his records, and his radio, film and television performances are. And we believe these will, like Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin, Buster Keaton and W. C. Fields before him, pass the acid test of time - which is as it should be.

RAY GALTON & ALAN SIMPSON

Railway Cuttings is the first Web site to contain this information, in detail and with pictures. The most comprehensive collection of Hancock related records anywhere on the Web, so far!
The Blood Donor & The Radio Ham - The 40th anniversary of these two Half Hours (re-recordings) has just passed. They were recorded before an invited audience on October 1st 1961.
You can see The Blood Donor EP, by clicking this link - Highlights from The Blood Donor

Click here & here - to see a couple of audio tape releases featuring these two Half Hours.

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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