At the TB hospital where they met

Hancock and Steptoe and Son writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson are to be honoured with a blue plaque at the hospital where they met.

The British Comedy Society will unveil the tribute at Milford Hospital near Godalming in Surrey on June 1.

It is there that they met in 1948, where they were both being treated for tuberculous, which required long and painful procedures. They were the youngest patients there, and Galton had not been expected to survive more than a few days after admission.

After discovering a shared love of US comics such as Jack Benny and George Burns, their first collaboration was on   a comedy series for the hospital's radio station called Have You Ever Wondered?

After they left hospital in 1950 and 1951, they decided to try to make a career as comedy writers, and came to  create two of Britain’s most enduring series. They were were both awarded OBEs in 2000 for their contribution to British television, and won the lifetime achievement accolade at this year’s Chortle awards.

Both writers – now 82 and 83 – are expected at the plaque unveiling along with Paul Merton Barry Cryer and producer Beryl Vertue, who started her career in the Associated London Scripts office Galton and Simpson shared with Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight and Terry Nation.

Fans are invited to the event – and the ensuing lunch, which costs £25. Email John Gatenby at britishcomedysociety@yahoo.co.uk

Published: 19 May 2013