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Hancock's Half Hour: Series 4
Hancock's Half Hour: Series 4
Aug 3, 2025 1:18 PM

Author:Ray Galton,Alan Simpson,Tony Hancock,Sid James,Full Cast

Hancock's Half Hour: Series 4

The fourth series of the legendary BBC Radio comedy series starring Tony Hancock

Created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1954, 'Hancock’s Half Hour' was the radio vehicle that made Tony Hancock a household name. Each week listeners would be admitted to the sometimes fantastical, sometimes mundane life of “the lad ‘imself”. Aided and abetted by Sid James, Bill Kerr Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques, Hancock would enter into the spirit of each episode with characteristic dolefulness.

This volume contains all 20 episodes from the fourth radio series, collected together for the first time. In these hilarious Half Hours, Hancock moves from 23 Railway Cuttings to the dosshouse to a Scottish castle; acquires a secretary; visits the ballet and tries his hand at a multitude of professions including agricultural labourer, coffee bar owner and policeman...

The episodes included are: 'Back from Holiday', 'The Bolshoi Ballet', 'Sid James' Dad', 'The Income Tax Demand', 'The New Secretary', 'Michelangelo 'Ancock', 'Anna and the King of Siam', 'Cyrano de Hancock', 'The Stolen Petrol', 'The Expresso Bar', 'Hancock's Happy Christmas', 'The Diary', 'The 13th of the Series', 'Almost a Gentleman', 'The Old School Reunion', 'The Wild Man of the Woods', 'Agricultural 'Ancock', 'Hancock in the Police', 'The Emigrant' and 'The Last of the McHancocks'.

Reviews

'Johanna Lindsey creates fairy tales that come true...She understands a woman's secret fantasies'

—— Romantic Times

Robert Harris’s Cicero trilogy ends in grand style…the culmination of 12 years work and a remarkable literary achievement

—— Observer

The book works…more than that; at times it sings… Thrillers are supposed to thrill, but few really do raise your heart rate and short-circuit your critical faculties…Exhilarating…This trilogy deserves the highest compliment that can be paid to a work of historical fiction

—— The Times

Robert Harris completes his wonderful trilogy based on the life of Cicero. I haven’t enjoyed Roman history more since Robert Graves’s I, Claudius

—— Anthony Horowitz , Guardian, Book of the Year

Harris’s fascination with politics galvanises his impressive knowledgeableness into compulsive fiction

—— Peter Kemp , The Sunday Times, Books of the Year

Harris is brilliant at the political then-as-now, giving Caesar with a hint of Blair – and also of Thatcher

—— Peter Stothard , Spectator

Staying close to the sources, Harris picks his way masterfully through Cicero’s personal and political dilemmas…superb…does full justice to one of Rome’s most interesting complex and humane statesmen, whose pragmatic political treatises proved so influential during the renaissance and enlightenment

—— Evening Standard

Harris skilfully navigates these fraught years in Cicero’s life … Dictator triumphs

—— The New Stateman

A superior historical thriller

—— Fiona Wilson , The Times, Books of the Year

Harris’ version of Cicero is a tremendous creation

—— Independent

[Dictator's] gripping dramas and powerful themes - the fragility of democracy and the fallibility of human beings among them - richly illuminate the conflicts of its era and our own

—— Publishers Weekly

Superb…confirms Harris’s undisputed place as our leading master of both the historical and contemporary thriller

—— Daily Mail

Harris is a masterful storyteller. I’m currently experiencing that terrible phase of cold turkey after finishing something superb

—— Alastair Moffat , Herald

Contemporary echoes abound in this endlessly fascinating exploration of power struggles

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year

Triumphant

—— Sunday Times

A masterful story of political intrigue…a fascinating and absorbing novel

—— Financial Times

Robert Harris is an incomparable storyteller... It's a brutal tale of murder and mayhem and a tour de force of research and imagination...

—— The Express

I’m a big fan of Robert Harris so I’d like to read his latest, Dictator… Robert is very good at politics and evoking a period

—— Melvyn Bragg , Good Housekeeping, Books of the Year

Sinuous, clever and compelling…A fitting end to a magnificent trilogy

—— Metro

A riveting read

—— Sunday Express

Robert Harris brings his Cicero trilogy to a triumphant, compelling and deeply moving conclusion…The three novels are surely the finest fictional treatment of Ancient Rome in the English language…distinguished by a mastery of the sources, sympathetic imagination, political intelligence and narrative skill

—— Yorkshire Post

Harris’ Cicero is a bit special – a mix of genius and craft, kindness and pomposity, ambition and principle

—— Daily Mail (Scotland)

Penetrating and utterly compelling

—— Claire Allfree , Metro, Books of the Year

In Dictator, Robert Harris brings his trilogy on Cicero to a triumphant end. As one who has himself written novels set in the last years of the Roman republic and the first century of empire, I am happy to say that Harris reigns supreme. His Cicero is magnificent; couldn’t conceivably be done better

—— Alan Massie , Spectator, Books of the Year

Baume’s writing is poetic, delicate and inventive … and despite the undertow of humour, there’s not one whiff of sentimentality – you’re left with the sadness and chronic fearfulness of the truly lonely

—— The Times

[A] skilful debut … lyrical and impressive.

—— Literary Review

An extraordinarily fresh style …this is an atmospheric novel …Baume is undoubtedly an exceptional new talent.

—— The Phoenix

Ambitious.

—— Sunday Times

There is a lovely, lilting cadence to the novel… Stylishly done…. Winterson manages against the odds to keep us gripped.

—— Sarah Crown , Guardian

Winterson is on sparkling form in this highly intelligent and daringly imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale... Witty, clever and bold.

—— Mail on Sunday

Winterson is incapable of being dull, and The Gap Of Time is a fitting addition to her uniquely inventive catalogue.

—— Ellis O'Harrison , Irish Independent

She deftly captures all the magic and raw emotion of the original.

—— Irish Times
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