A Calming Prayer from Tony Hancock, Patron Saint of Misery

I posted this Hancock tribute just under a year ago and it still stands true! You know, when things feel slightly at an angle to the universe (to borrow eternally from Forster), I either sedulously avoid or devotedly enjoy a bit of “Hancock’s Half Hour” (1954 - 1961), and for times like this it might just be the right prescriptive remedy for what ails. For moments that require a kind of hilariously tearful hope-against-hope optimism (and for those looking for extended patience), we can look again to that patron saint of living misery and idiotically calming agency, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock.

This specific prayer comes again from a favourite, "Hancock's Half Hour: the Bedsitter," near the end of his evening when nothing seems to be just right (of course). After hours of boredom and getting ready for a party that falls through, and after even his TV set fails him, Tony loses it, and begins laughing, crying, before getting up, ranting madly before turning it all off and picking up his cigarettes, accepting defeat once and for all. 'I think I'll have to turn it in… me eyes…' He decides, with no despondency now only tearfully, irrationally calm resignation, pathetically hopeful, 'There’s ANOTHER big day tomorrow… have me teeth seen to, and my eyes… it’s all going… Not enough hours left in the day' (haha). He tries once more to read a sensible edifying text, one last attempt of this man to take control of his life, but he stops and shrugs bravely giving up, 'No, I'll read it tomorrow.' And we end where we started, Hancock blowing smoke-rings with a strange calm. A kind of topsy-turvy Taoist, Kübler-Ross meditation this one, but thank goodness for British humour that makes light of frustration and embarrassment, a forgiving humour helps ease the pain, for one more quiet chance 'tomorrow' Xo