appearances on British television until 1967, including a 50 minute show for BBC2 from the Royal Festival Hall, which was poorly received. By then his alcoholism was seriously affecting his performances. Two unsuccessful variety series for ABC Weekend TV, The Blackpool Show (1966) and Hancock's (1967), were his last work for British television. He tried a role in a Disney film - The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin - but was sacked after reportedly having trouble with the mock-Shakespearian dialogue. He collapsed with a liver attack on 1 January 1967 and was told he would die within three months if he continued drinking. In December 1967, while recovering from a broken rib from a drunken fall, he became ill with pneumonia. His final television appearances were in Australia under a contract to make a 13-part series for the Seven Network. However, after arriving in Australia in March 1968, he completed only three programmes, which remained unaired for nearly four years. These shows are the only existing television footage of him in colour, as all his shows up to this point had been made for black-and-white television. Personal life In June 1950 Hancock married Cicely Romanis, a Lanvin model, after a brief courtship. Freddie Ross worked as his publicist from 1954 and became more involved in his life, eventually becoming his mistress. He divorced Cicely in 1965 and married Ross in December of that year. This second marriage was short-lived. During these years Hancock was also involved with Joan Le Mesurier (née Malin), the new wife of actor John Le Mesurier, Hancock's best friend and a regular supporting character-actor from his television series. Joan was later to describe the relationship in her book Lady Don't Fall Backwards, including the claim that her husband readily forgave the affair; he is quoted as saying that if it had been anyone else he would not have understood it, but with Tony Hancock it made sense. In July 1966 Freddie took an overdose but survived. Arriving in Blackpool to record an edition of his variety series, Hancock was met by pressmen asking about his wife's attempted suicide. The final dissolution of the marriage took place a few days before Hancock's own suicide. Cicely developed her own problems with alcohol and died from a fall in 1969, the year after the death of her former husband. Freddie Hancock survived her broken marriage and resumed her career as