Listening to some of Roy Plomley’s Desert Island Discs archive recordings put me in mind of John Freeman, another BBC interviewer with a distinctive style who was himself a castaway of Plomley’s show in 1960.
Freeman was a Labour politician renowned for a technique that was more like a rigorous interrogation. A famous example is his controversial Face to Face interview with comic Tony Hancock which was first broadcast in February 1960..
You can watch this on You Tube and see how Freeman fires questions rapidly like a therapist working to a tight deadline – “Why do you worry so much?” ……”Is your health a bit ropey?”….. “Are you religious?” …….“Why don’t you want children?”etc. etc.
He persists despite the fact that Hancock looks decidedly vulnerable and constantly on the verge of tears; the way he makes three attempts to light his cigarette shows how nervous he was.
Hancock reveals that he felt too much like his on-screen persona, a man uncomfortable around women, conscious of his lack of education and someone who finds it impossible to relax. He states that the purpose of his comedy was to debunk pomposity and affectation but he never felt he succeeded. It is obvious from his replies and body language that his feelings of inadequacy bordered on self-hatred.
Hancock was married twice but there were persistent rumours that he was gay; if so, he certainly wasn’t particularly glad about the fact.
Throughout the interview there is a strong sense that he was tortured by some inner demons. He attempts to answer each question candidly, even to be point of being painfully frank. He is not, for instance, able to pretend that he is content by the fame he has achieved or the money he has earned. “Are you happy, or not?” demands Freeman crisply and Hancock struggles to respond, ultimately saying that he doesn’t think happiness is possible. “Something seems to be eating you” pursues Freeman relentlessly.
Whatever it was that troubled Hancock so greatly was never resolved. He took an overdose in Sydney, Australia on 24th June 1968 aged 44 – “Things just went wrong too many times” he wrote in his suicide note.
