Tommy Handley

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name = Tommy Handley


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birth_name = Thomas Reginald Handley
birth_date = birth date|1892|01|17|df=y
birth_place = Toxteth Park, Liverpool, Lancashire
death_date = death date and age|1949|01|09|1892|01|17|df=y
death_place = London
death_cause = cerebral haemorrhage
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nationality = British
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occupation = comedian
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Tommy (Thomas Reginald) Handley (1892 January 17– 1949 January 9) was an English comedian mainly known for the BBC radio program "ITMA" ("It's That Man Again").

Born at Toxteth Park, Liverpool in Lancashire.

He served in the British Army during World War 1 and went on to work in variety, and in the infancy of radio became known as a regular broadcaster. He worked with people such as Arthur Askey and Bob Monkhouse, and wrote many radio scripts, but it is the BBC comedy series "ITMA" for which he is best known. He later starred in the "ITMA" film in 1942 and in "Time Flies" in 1944.

In later years, he suffered with high blood pressure, the result of his driving commitment to "ITMA", and died suddenly on 1949-01-09 from a brain hemorrhage. He was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium. In a eulogy at his memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, the Bishop of London, John W C Wand, said that "he was one whose genius transmuted the copper of our common experience into the gold of exquisite foolery. His raillery was without cynicism, and his satire without malice...".

The BBC decided that he was such a key figure of "ITMA" that the show must die with him.

On 2006-11-07, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a review of one of his partnerships, "Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom": "The story of Tommy Handley and Ronald Frankau, a comedy partnership which had its heyday in the 1930s world of radio. There was no straight man, so the partnership was a rare one. Tommy was a fast talking Liverpudlian, while Ronald in contrast was upper class and Eton-educated. Presented by Nicholas Frankau, actor and grandson of Ronald." [cite web
title = Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom
work = BBC Radio 4: Arts and Drama
publisher = BBC
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/pip/cqry9/
accessdate = 2007-12-16]

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Persondata
NAME = Handley, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Handley, Thomas Reginald
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Comedian
DATE OF BIRTH = 1892-01-17
PLACE OF BIRTH = Toxteth Park, Liverpool
DATE OF DEATH = 1949-01-09
PLACE OF DEATH = London