The Comedy Wit of Tony Hancock Quiz

Answer: A belisha beacon.

"In the Police" was first broadcast in February 1957.

Tony Hancock and Bill Kerr join the police because they are unemployed. Although not answering to any of the job requirements, the two report for duty. On the beat at night, Hancock mistakes a belisha beacon (a traffic sign) for an intruder. He is also sent to check that the bars close on time but is found hours later, "on top of Eros, singing bawdy songs." The statue of Eros stands in Piccadilly Circus, London.

All the scripts were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Answer: Join him for golf.

"The Diary" was first broadcast in December 1956.

Hancock starts keeping a diary and dreams of the things he is going to accomplish during the year. After cutting his finger and putting a bandage on it, he believes he can become a surgeon. As a doctor he handles even the most complicated operations by himself and in record time.

Answer: Look back in Hunger

The first play is "Jack's Return Home" followed by "Look back in Hunger" and lastly "The Life of Beethoven." Jimmy is a disillusioned young man who wants to broaden his horizons. He wants "food for my mind" but his mother believes that tea will make him feel better. Unfortunately Hancock has to prompt him, starting with "Hello Mum" and following it up with "Hello Dad."

"The East Cheam Drama Festival" was first broadcast in April 1958.

Answer: Lord's

When Sid James advises Hancock to buy a farm, he famously exclaims: "Buy a farm? I can't even afford a window box!" When the cricket team arrives at Lord's, Hancock believes they are milkmaids but protest that their gloves will curdle the milk.

"Agricultural 'Ancock" was first broadcast in February 1957.

Answer: A deck chair.

"Old School Reunion" was first broadcast in December 1956.

It turns out that Hancock was not a star student at the exclusive boarding school but rather employed as a janitor.

Answer: An unexploded bomb.

"The Unexploded Bomb" was first broadcast in February 1958.

When the vicar asks Sid James if he wore a uniform during the war, Sid admits that his uniform "had arrows all over it." When the bomb is discovered in the cellar, Hancock laments the possibility of losing his house with the "asbestos conservatory, imitation grapevine and mock Tudor gable." When the bomb is examined by the bomb squad, the label reads "Property of the BBC scenery department."

Answer: American soldiers

Sid James expects the dollars to roll in when over four hundred American soldiers move into East Cheam. He persuades Hancock to rent out his house at inflated rates. To promote the lodgings, Hancock identifies several historic furniture pieces in his house, including the chair belonging to Oliver Cromwell and the table where the battle of Waterloo was planned.

"The Americans hit Town" was first broadcast in March 1958.

Answer: A tandem crash.

Camping out on Clapham Common, the so-called forest that Sid James rents out, Hancock meets Kenneth Williams who identifies himself as "the sole survivor of a tandem crash."

"Wild Man of the Woods" was first broadcast in January 1957.

Answer: The vet

"The Insurance Policy" was first broadcast in December 1958.

The vet is Kenneth Williams who asks Hancock to stand on all fours for the examination, "so that I'll know where everything is." Needless to say, the insurance policy is just as much of a farce as the examination.

Answer: A coach

"Sid's Mystery Tours" was first broadcast in November 1959.

Hancock quips that the only mystery is that the police had not yet caught on to Sid's schemes. After Hancock is swindled into buying a controlling share, he has to buy a coach to run the tours. Bill acts as the driver, posing as an English lord, dependent on the tips to maintain his castle. Since the coach is a stolen vehicle, the two men end up in jail. Sid then includes the jail as a point of interest on his next tours.