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Product Description
Product Description
Tony Hancock stars in two long-lost episodes from the classic "BBC Radio" series. "Sid James' Dad" (28 October 1956) & "The Diet" (7 December 1955). Broadcast live, these rare recordings are made available for the first time in over fifty years. In "Sid James' Dad", Sid is expecting a visit from his father. Being ashamed to admit his true profession, he has explained his regular appearances in court by telling the old man he is a judge. "The Diet" sees Hancock being offered the lead role in a romantic film. Unfortunately, the American producer Mr Stroud (Kenneth Williams) tells Hancock he's too fat for the part and tells him to diet. Including special sleeve-notes detailing the making of the original productions, these episodes celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Galton and Simpson writing partnership.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I am something of a Tony Hancock fan - and particularly enjoy his radio work on Hancock's Half Hour (HHH) with Galton and Simpson's peerless writing and the superlative casts (Hancock, James, Kerr, Williams, Jacques)- so had to get this, in full knowledge that the sound quality would be poor. It was. It's like listening to a conversation in the next room with socks in your ears. Yes, you can understand most of what's said - but this mainly serves to frustrate you that an enjoyable couple of episodes of HHH are rendered irritating by the BBC's lack of foresight in holding onto the mastertapes in the first place. The irony is they are probably now digitally storing a host of shows which could happily be lost forever as the vast majority of their new "comedy" shows aren't worth saving.
Recommended for diehard fans only.
Recommended for diehard fans only.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Like many people I was aware that discovered recordings of long thought lost forever programs are often poorer than the bulk of a show that had been preserved, being only as good as how the recording was made, equipment/tape quality and storage over the years. No suggestion of a degraded copy was voiced in the CDs blurb, or Amazon advert, which could trip up the less knowing listner. I feel a little information on how it was found, restored and effort made it restore it to listenable quality (just in places) would have been not only honest but very interesting; I bet the original state was awful. The shows are worth a listen even if at times the dialoge is indestinct as they are all we have, unless better ones are found, of to hear of these wonderful shows. It is very sad how short sighted it was to have destroyed so many radio and tv recordings, but at the time they were only seen by the BBC as an old product that had been used up and was nolonger needed, not the art of performance, piece of history that would still be cared for by many future generations as has proved. Yes the intro, closing and linking music is very good but as it was often used in the other shows (intro/closing obviously)it seems clear that these were borrowed from other episodes that had survived well and edited in to replace the poor sections. This might clash between the poorer dialoge but why waste time trying to restore linking music that you can find in good condition already to hand, they could well have been beyond salvage too. Forgive them their flaws, laugh with the fun and have a look at those old tapes in gran's attic cos you never know what you might find.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
- and preferably ones with a lot of patience, excellent hearing, a top quality set of headphones, a home mixing board and a notebook to transcribe the episodes word by word to read back later. While the shows themselves are probably fine, the sound quality on this CD is so incredibly poor that it's hard to tell: taken from well-worn, poorly stored home recordings that seem to have gone through absolutely no enhancement whatsoever before being released on CD, it's such hard work listening to them that you have to be a devoted fan to get much out of it. Yes, the material is rare - but as usual the BBC haven't even bothered to include anything in the way of liner notes to at least give you an idea of what's happening in the many sections where the disc is all but inaudible. Buyer beware!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Why add extra sounds, including one from Audible.co.uk?
First off, as many people have already said, the audio quality is poor, and, yes, some idiot has decided to replace the music cues with far better quality ones, so your ears have... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr J Vincent-Rudzki
Nicky
These audio cassettes are bought for my blind, disabled niece, who loves them! Thought I'd ordered a cassette tape though.
Published 12 months ago by Puddy
Not worth buying
The sound quality on these episodes is so poor that you will struggle to understand most of what is going on. Read more
Published 13 months ago by UK Scribe
I can't believe the Beeb are daring to charge for something you can...
I ordered this CD when it was first released (yeah, it's taken me all this time to write a review!), before there were any reviews to go by to warn me of how bad the quality of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Gathergood
More recovered Hancock
Tony Hancock's days in radio were definitely his best. This doesn't take anything away from his physical comedy, but everything just seemed to gel with Hancock and his supporting... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Mr. J. C. Clubb
Such a shame
It is such a shame that the recording is so bad that the only way I can listen to the episodes is by using my PC on which I can significantly adjust sound reproduction and even... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ecce
cheap copy
Why with all the new processes we have, is the sound level so bad on Hancock CDs?.
I have many cassettes of Hancocks half hour, collected over the years and the sound is far... Read more
I have many cassettes of Hancocks half hour, collected over the years and the sound is far... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2010 by Graham Ellis
All expense spared.
It has on the rear sleeve of this CD, the usual warning for this type of product: " due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2010 by Colin Brown
Warning- dire sound quality
These two Hancock shows have been rescued from amateur tape recordings made by an enthusiast in the 1950s, using a reel-to-reel domestic recorder with the mike propped up against a... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2009 by R. J. Warner
Treasure from the vaults
An opportunity to hear some classic comedy long thought lost. But be advised the sound quality is poor - best heard on headphones. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2009 by Lanyon
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