Somewhat related to the Peter Dean/Beal thread, where I realised I had been sadly misled about the deadness of said gentleman, I was watching John Rogers on YouTube earlier, where he visited Tony Hancock's memorial stone. 'Of course, he committed suicide...' said John. Surely not, thought I. He fell downstairs drunk and died.... So I went to check.
Bugger me, am I the only person in the world who didn't know TH used drink and pills to end his life? I was absolutely convinced that he fell downstairs. The only reason I can think of is that I was only eight when he died - he was a great hero of my parents so I assume that I heard the news, knew who he was, and asked how he died and that my parents didn't want to tell me the actual way, so told me he fell downstairs? It's quite odd because I have a very clear mental picture of a staircase and his wife screaming (but that will have been childhood imagination playing on the scene).
But yes. Knew he was dead, but it was the how that flummoxed me.