Nick Hancock - Early Life

Early Life

Hancock grew up with three elder sisters, with father Ken, a builder. He was educated at Yarlet School in Staffordshire and later Shrewsbury School. He later went on to earn a 1st Class Degree in Law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and later a 3rd Class Degree in Education at Homerton College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge, Hancock was a member of the Footlights where he first collaborated with Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt and became president in 1983 with Punt as vice president. He was also a founding member of the Homerton College Blaggards.

After graduation, Hancock became a PE teacher and practised stand-up comedy as a hobby. He formed a double act with Neil Mullarkey, another former Footlights member, and the duo mostly did satirical spoofs of television shows' title sequences to accompanying music, several times on television. This included Doctor Who, Kojak, and Dad's Army. One of his earliest TV breaks was presenting La Triviatta, a comedy/chat show about trivia for the short lived British Satellite Broadcasting station.

In 1990, he appeared in a series of advertisements for Randall's beer, that were originally only shown in Jersey. These were later lampooned by Angus Deayton in his TV show Before They Were Famous.