Thanks to Galton & Simpson

Came across this email on 2025/04/07 and thought it deserved capture here. I sent the following fan email to Tessa LeBars, agent for British comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. Sadly, I never received a reply. At the time, both gentlemen were still living, but both have since passed on. The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society's official Facebook group often has discussions about the cultural references in Hancock's Half Hour.

Dear Messrs. Galton and Simpson,

Congratulations on your BAFTA Fellowship!

I am writing from America to thank you for helping me to many a restful night's sleep. Most nights I put on a radio episode of Hancock's Half Hour when I lie down. I enjoy some laughs, forget whatever troubles have been weighing on my mind, and drift happily off to sleep. (I have also tried this with The Goon Show, but as soon as I begin to doze Major Bloodnok's digestion acts up, Neddie Seagoon yelps, or something explodes, and I'm awake again.) Of course, I enjoy listening when I'm wide awake, too, and although I've heard all of the available episodes many times, they never fail to make me laugh.

Colleagues from England who collect radio comedy introduced me to Hancock's Half Hour several years ago, along with Round the Horne, ISIRTA, the Goons, and many other shows from the '50s and '60s. My family loves Hancock's Half Hour, and with the advent of Radio 4 Extra online, we've been able to hear broadcast-quality recordings of all the available episodes. We've enjoyed watching many of the TV episodes online, and have even found some episodes of the first series of Citizen James.

We've eagerly awaited Radio 4's broadcasts of the Missing Hancocks these last two years. Kevin McNally and Robin Sebastian are excellent. (I do wish they'd let Mr. Simpson reprise his recurring role in the early series reacting to Tony's boastful near-monologues. It sounds strange with no one reacting at all.)

My youngest son, Matthew, is a particularly enthusiastic fan. He will often compare a real-life situation to something that happened to Tony. He loves history, too, and the topical references he doesn't get are a starting point to learn more about life in mid-20th-century Britain. We have had dinner-table conversations about pre-decimal currency and how the British system of government differs from ours. He may be the only 10-year-old in Oklahoma who knows who Val Parnell and Harold Macmillan were. When he was younger, his favorite episodes were from the first few series, I think because they're a little more surreal and cartoonish (e.g. "The Pet Dog") and more accessible to his sense of humor. Now he says that Series 1, 4, and 5 are his favorites; he likes Moira's sharp wit in Series 1, and the antagonism between Tony and Griselda in 4 and 5.

Matthew told me that he loves the way Tony works so hard to defend his rights, but his efforts always backfire in the end. He gave some examples: Tony wins his fight to park his car in the street, but it winds up being an easier target for passing train crews throwing lumps of coal. Tony defends his prize marrow against dismemberment, and then the overpass intended to protect it shades it to death. Tony wins the lawsuit against his impersonator, only to be fired from his radio show because the impersonator sounds more like Tony than Tony does.

The cultural and topical references in the show often prompt us to search for more information about the people, places, or phenomena mentioned. We've learned about pie stalls, saveloys, pre-decimal currency, and sleeping over the rope, among many other topics. While the characters are timeless, the show is full of what James Lileks calls "accidental documentary" -- capturing the character of 1950s England (and the passing of an earlier age, giving way to post-war modernity) in the background to the story. The world of East Cheam is as distant in time to my son as the end of Victoria's reign was to Hancock and his listeners. I've often thought there ought to be a book collecting cultural footnotes to Hancock's Half-Hour, episode by episode, before these terms fade from living memory. Has anyone undertaken such a project?

Warmest regards,
Michael D. Bates
Tulsa, OK, USA