A LIFE-SIZE bronze cast of Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, stalwart of Dad’s Army, has been unveiled in Thetford, Norfolk, where many of the scenes were filmed.

It seems that every town and city worth its salt now has a statue of a comedy star.

In Morley, West Yorkshire, there’s one of Ernie Wise, while his comedy partner Eric Morecambe is immortalised in his home town of Morecambe.

In 2008, Sir Anthony Hopkins unveiled a statue of Tommy Cooper in Caerphilly, South Wales.

There are hopes too for a seven-foot statue of comedian Benny Hill in his birthplace of Southampton.

Although the tragic entertainer Tony Hancock already has a memorial in Birmingham, there’s surely a strong case for a similar tribute in Bournemouth.

Despite being born in Birmingham in 1924, “the Lad Himself” grew up in Bournemouth, where he learned his craft and first took to the stage.

Every year, Members of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society converge on Hotel Celebrity in Gervis Road, where Tony grew up (it was then the Durlston Court).

He made his debut entertaining troops at the Sacred Heart Church hall on Richmond Hill in 1940, when he was billed as the Confidential Comic.

Unfortunately, Tony’s act was too risqué for the audience... and he never told a blue joke again.

At the height of his fame – when almost the whole country was tuning in to his radio and television shows – Hancock often returned to Bournemouth to visit his mother Lil.

His last-known visit to Bournemouth ended in January 1968. Fewer than six months later, Lil heard her son had committed suicide in Australia, aged 44.

Keith Mason, archivist of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, says: “He always said he was born in Birmingham whenever anybody asked but I suppose he did regard himself as coming from Bournemouth because he spent such a long time there and both his parents lived there until they died.”

Bournemouth’s Malcolm Chapman, a foremost authority on the star, has argued that the town should have a Tony Hancock museum.

“Other towns have Morecambe and Wise, Dad’s Army and Laurel and Hardy museums, so why not Bournemouth?” he asked in a letter to the Editor of the Daily Echo in 2008.

  • Hancock’s Half-Hour will be celebrated with two interactive script readings at a performance at The Winchester, Poole Hill, on July 15 and 20 at 8pm.