From the Archive Episode 4: Tristan Brittain-Dissont pt. 2

We are very excited to present an EXTENDED LENGTH edition of this podcast. We have many rare clips included in it that we are proud to be able to present here. First and foremost, we continue our conversation with Tristan Brittain-Dissont. Tristan is the archivist for the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. He brought a ton of wonderful and rare Tony Hancock audio clips that put some perspective not only on his career and his work habits but also the rise of the comedy writing legend duo Galton & Simpson. Some of the clips included are bits cut out of HANCOCK HALF HOUR radio episodes such as “Fred’s Pie Stall”, we have audio recorded by Tony himself that he used for learning his lines and we include a wonderfully long segment clocking in over 7 minutes from the rare radio series CALLING ALL FORCES that features Tony in this clip. There are some great clips from the series HAPPY GO LUCKY featured too.

Just as we were working on this episode, we got call from Tristan who told us more material of interest had been found and would we mind talking about them on this podcast? The answer was, of course, YES! So, we have a quick conversation with Martin Gibbons who is the Social Media Manager for the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society. He dazzled us with audio clips recorded from the original transmission of the first broadcast episode of THE BLACKPOOL SHOW from June 1966 where Tony does a little singing and then forgets the first act he is supposed to introduce! We share an audio clip from another recently found domestic audio recording of COMEDY PLAYHOUSE starring Harry H. Corbett. Perhaps the most baffling is the material discovered from off-air audio recordings of STEPTOE AND SON from 1963. This is really worth listening to and makes you wonder about the completeness of the versions released on DVD.

Finally we say farewell to Alan Simpson who has given many of us so many laughs over the years with his writing partner Ray Galton. We put together a little tribute to him using audio in his own words along with audio from Ray Galton and even Dennis Main Wilson. Equally exciting is we tie it all back to where their career started by playing a recording of the first joke they ever sold to the BBC. We are extremely proud to present this episode and we hope you enjoy it! It may not be able to all be heard in one sitting and it certainly needs listening to more than once!

If you have feedback or questions you would like to have read on the podcast or general inquiries, please contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! This podcast is a co-production between From the Archive: A British Television Blog and Kaleidoscope. Thank you for listening.