Tony Hancock Dinner
Date: Wednesday 13th November 2024
Venue: Edgbaston Golf Club
Sponsor: Tim Elms OBE
Tony Hancock Dinner – Chairman’s Speech
Good evening everyone & welcome to our autumn dinner in honour of one of the country’s greatest comedians, Tony Hancock, who was born 100 years ago on Sunday May 12th 1924 in Hall Green, Birmingham.
Tonight, we welcome Tim Elms, who is the Secretary of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting the works of Tony Hancock.
Tim Elms proved a magnificent sponsor.
We will hear from Tim later, but first the minutes of the previous dinner. So, pour yourselves a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy the ramblings of our Dinner Minutes Secretary, Dave Travis*.
At this stage DT delivered the minutes for the “50 Not Out” Dinner in his own unique style.
thebucklandclub.uk/2024/03/06/fifty-not-out-dinner/
A few brief words from me about tonight’s menu. This evening is very much a blend of the real-life Tony Hancock and the fictitious “Tubs”. It was often difficult to see where the two separated. Fortunately, Hancock was a massive Francophile and enjoyed the finer things in life as his fame grew. However, the Saveloys and Potted Shrimps you were served upon arrival featured heavily in episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour, as did Pease Pudding. Pied de Cochon – pig’s trotter – familiar to residents of the fictional East Cheam has been repackaged. It was actually pig’s cheek and cooked to a recipe from my favourite French restaurant. I hope that you enjoyed it. The Buckland Club has devised a Black Dinner in the past, this may be a Brown Dinner, indeed we nearly had Brown Windsor Soup! Anyway, enough from me, now we will hear from our sponsor, Tim Elms.
The Saveloys proved surprisingly popular…
…as were the Potted Shrimps.
Pied de Cochon, as served at Auberge De L’Ile, L’Ile-Bouchard.
Extract from Hancock’s Half Hour – Sunday Afternoon at Home
Hancock: … I thought my mother was a bad cook but at least her gravy used to move about. Yours just sort of lies there and sets.
Griselda Pugh: That’s the goodness in it!
Hancock: That’s the half a pound of flour you put in it!
Hancock’s secretary, Griselda Pugh aka Grizzly, was played to perfection by Hattie Jacques. I love this example of dialogue although I thought it better if we didn’t need to slice the gravy. Baby’s Head and Two refers, as you will now be aware, to steak and kidney pudding served with two vegetables. I believe that writers Galton and Simpson used to eat it regularly after a script session, although that might be a figment of my imagination. Hancock loved Rules restaurant in London – he once got totally smashed there with Clive Dunn of Dad’s Army fame. The Champagne flowed. Rules currently has Steak & Kidney pudding on the menu, price £24.95 without vegetables which are £5.95 each. They also have Slow Cooked Pork Cheeks with Vegetables at £27.95 and Potted Shrimps on Toast to start, price £17.95. London prices, eh? Don’t tell Edgbaston Golf Club! Miss Pugh insisted on cooking up Cauliflower & Cheese a main dish for Hancock’s tea in the radio episode Hancock’s Car despite him not liking it. This was so she could eat it all herself!
Baby’s Head & Two.
Another nod to Miss Pugh, Cauliflower & Cheese.
The British Comedy Guide says Hancock’s character ‘was cantankerous, pompous and comically out of step with the world around him…’ ironically a charge that is frequently levelled at members of the Buckland Club committee… ‘but most importantly he was endearing, and audiences took to him immediately’.
Once again,Sunday Afternoon at Home provides perfect evidence of this. Sitting around being bored & doing nothing because there was nothing to do, unbelievably getting laughs from silence on the radio. Magnificent writing from Galton & Simpson, superbly acted by Hancock with a stella supporting cast of Sid James, Bill Kerr, Hattie James and Kenneth Williams.
Surely this influenced The Royal Family sit com on TV decades later. Steve Coughan has frequently acknowledged the debt that his creation Alan Partridge owes Hancock, as do comedians like Diane Morgan in Mandy. Morgan and comedy giant Jack Dee both speak fondly of Hancock in the recent UK Gold documentary Very Nearly an Armful which features our sponsor Tim Elms. The Bread Pudding appeared in The Radio Ham though it would normally be served cold. However, why not serve it warm and have Custard? Bill Kerr, Hancock’s Aussie straight man in the half hour radio series, has custard on his roast beef in The Gourmet. Knowing that Hancock was a Francophile, the committee failed to choose French wine, but I’m sure the lad himself would have approved. I know he would have appreciated the vodka.
Hot Bread Pudding & Custard.
APM
November 13th 2024
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The minutes for the Tony Hancock Dinner will be published after the Siege of Paris Dinner, on 3rd April 2025.
