Birmingham born Tony Hancock is probably the best known comedian of the 1960s - a comic genius who's formed and influenced many of todays top comedians.

Best known for his classic radio and TV series Hancock’s Half Hour, he was recently voted Britain's Favourite Comedian.

Modern-day creations such as Alan Partridge and David Brent owe much of their success to mimicking dominant features of Tony Hancock’s character.

He was born at 41 Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, on 12th May, 1924.  Later the family moved to Bournemouth and his father kept a public house where theatrical people, like Elsie and Doris Waters, used to stay.

He served in the forces throughout the Second World War, from 1942, as a member of the Royal Air Force. Before he became a part of Ralph Reader's RAF Gang Show he had had some experience as a youthful amateur entertainer, and after his demob in 1946 he was experienced enough to find himself continual engagements in pantomime, in summer seasons in the holiday resorts, and occasionally as a straight actor.

In 1948 he was employed by the 'Windmill Theatre' which led to radio and then to television. From 1951 to 1953 he added a new voice to the Radio Show, Educating Archie and then in 1954 his lugubrious character appeared on radio in Hancock's Half Hour, and then from 1956 to 1960 on television with superb scripts written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

in 1963, Hancock went to ATV for a series of 13 comedy shows thatwere reasonably well received, though the scripts were mediocre and bymischance, the shows were broadcast at the same time as Steptoe andSon - then at the height of its long-running success. Hancock returnedto his stage career and made several tours of the UKwith some of his former BBC colleagues: Alec Bregonzi, Mario Fabriziand Johnny Vyvyan.  Alec Bregonzi would later appear in the first production of Hancocks Finest Hour.

He left Britain in March 1968 to work on a proposed comedy series for Australian television but was found dead in his Sydney flat on 26th June 1968 with an empty vodka bottle and an empty bottle of sleeping pills at his side.

A commemorative plaque on the exterior of 41 Southam Road commemorates his birth. A statue in his memory stands in Old Square - appropriately the former home of the Birmingham Blood Transfusion Service. The statue was unveiled by Sir Harry Secombe in 1996. It has since been moved a few yards, to the centre of Old Square.

In 1988 Colin Bennett wrote the comedy drama Hancock's Finest Hour, a play intended to celebrate Hancock's life, rather than his death. It had a successful national tour and West End run the following year.  When proud Brummy and Hancock fan (and former Gang Show member!) Nick Hennegan was given the script by director Chris Hayes in 2006, Nick approached another proud Brummy, actor Paul Henry, with a view to performing as Our Tone.  Colin revisted and revised his orignal script and Hancock's Finest Hour is set to delight audiences again throughout the UK from Spring 2010.