News about Tony Hancock

DAVID BLUNKETT: For those who are unfamiliar with the comedian Chris McCausland, his appearance on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing will have come as a revelation. Many will already be familiar with his tremendous sense of humour, irrepressible personality and willingness to have a go at anything. Some may have seen him in the Channel 4 reality show Scared Of The Dark, where contestants lived in a house devoid of light for eight days. Others may have tuned into BBC Radio 4 for You Heard It Here First, where he asks a panel of comedians to guess an object from sound only.  Programmes like these are close to my heart because, of course, the one thing that Chris and I have in common is that neither of us can see.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: A pint?! That's very nearly a tail-full . . . as Tony Hancock might have said, if his dog had been the blood donor instead of him. Bear the Great Dane regularly donates blood for transfusion to other dogs undergoing surgery. In fact, even an animal as big as Bear can't give more than a tenth of a pint at a time, but that's enough to help four other pets. He's one of the Super Dogs With Extraordinary Jobs, and he makes an ideal donor because of his soppy temperament. Laidback and gentle, he loves a tummy tickle, and is happy to lie on the vet's table with an extraction needle in one vein (without any sedative) as long as he's getting plenty of fuss. Bear's blood helped save a poorly miniature dachshund named Otto from a bout of jaundice. Once the little sausage dog was on the mend, their owners brought the two pets together, hoping they'd be instant pals. It didn't quite work out that way. Otto wouldn't stop barking at Bear, who is ten times his size. That's to be expected of course - Germans and Danes never did get on. It's something to do with the Schleswig-Holstein Question.

Alex Salmond was on the Scottish affairs committee for almost three hours. He did not mention the name 'Nicola Sturgeon' twice in all of his lifetime. MPs kept referring to her, but the old bruin himself would not spit out the dread syllables. If you say 'Macbeth,' actresses are afraid of a hex.' Harry Potter characters avoid discussing Voldemort, the dark lord. Maybe Mr Salmond feared something similar; or perhaps, despite posing as a hero in nos jours, Big Eck's one-time deputy, who served him as Scotland's first minister and later refused to oust him.

It was a call that struck at all patriotic young men: Your Country Needs You. These words, which accompanied Army chief Lord Kitchener's face on posters all around the country, had helped to encourage one million people to participate in the First World War in January 1915. However, with casualties in their hundreds of thousands, the tide of volunteers was not strong, and so, in January 1916, conscription was introduced amid widespread resistance in some quarters. Some 2.5 million men had been ordered to serve by law by the time the Great War came to an end in 1918. As the government begins to'mobilize the troops' in the event of a wider conflict against Russia in the midst of Ukraine's war. Both men aged between 18 and 41 were called up in 1939, 1939, before unmarried women and widows of the age of 30 were also encouraged to serve in some manner. And although the war against Hitler came to an end in 1945, the National Service, which was based on a different name, was launched in 1947 and continued until 1960. More than: Men enlisted in 1916 (left); new recruits queuing to join conscription in 1939 (top right); National Service recruits in 1953.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Diversity! It's the 'abracadabra' that opens all doors at the BBC, as perjuror's magic word. Every show must demonstrate diversity, implying an all-inclusive range of races, body types, and genders. The rule applies to every form, from documentaries to sitcoms. There are unwritten quotas to fill on BBC websites, ensuring that gay couples, trans people, refugees (especially from Europe), and those with physical disabilities are prominently displayed. In particular, anything with the word "Great Britain" in the title must include French, German, or Italian contestants, undermining the fact that, although Auntie is concerned, Brexit never occurred.