By Drop The Dead Donkey star

A collection of rare radio scripts recorded by the likes of Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, and The Goons is to be put up for sales.

The collection is being sold by Neil Pearson – the former Drop The Dead Donkey star and a keen collector of rare books.

He has around seven scripts for episodes of Hancock's Half Hour, which no longer exist as recordings, plus early Goon Show episodes, including one from the first series when it was called Crazy People.

But Pearson pointed out to the BBC: ‘People are not buying the copyright, they're buying the artefact... What collectors are buying is that direct link back to the time when the show was made.

‘I've spent my professional life around this kind of material and somehow this fabulous collection has made its way to me.’

The Hancock scripts include one in which Hancock dreams he is Santa Clause, being prosecuted in court for not carrying out his duties properly.

The collection also includes script for the only episode of Terry's Topics, a 1947 attempt to launch Terry-Thomas as a radio star, which was recorded as a pilot but never transmitted, and is now lost.

But buyers might need deep pockets. Although Pearson has not yet added these lost scripts to his online catalogue, he is selling writer Compton Mackenzie’s personal dog-eared script for the 1949 Ealing comedy Whisky Galore! for £6,000.

Published: 3 Dec 2012