Galton and Simpson Comedy Archive Acquired by University of York

A fundraising campaign launched by the University of York to secure the archive of scriptwriting duo Ray Galton and Alan Simpson who are credited with inventing the British sitcom has successfully reached its target.

The two scriptwriters were influential figures in the history of British comedy, writing classics such as Steptoe and Son and Hancock’s Half Hour.

The archive - which was previously kept in Galton's cellar - includes rare early drafts of scripts, unmade films for Tony Hancock, Harold Steptoe’s scarf, and scripts for shows unseen for more than 60 years, as well as contracts, press cuttings, recordings, and correspondence. Highlights include the script for The Blood Donor an episode of Hancock first broadcast in 1961 which remains one of the best-known sitcom episodes broadcast in the UK, Simpson's 1951 typewriter, and a series of discs labelled 'Noah' which are believed to contain music for a never-produced Hancock musical.

The university’s archives include other British comedy legends such as Frankie Howerd, Ernest Maxin, and Eric Morecambe.

“This archive is so significant because Galton (1930-2018) and Simpson (1929-2017) invented modern British comedy as we know it, with their wit and humour leaving a profound and lasting imprint on the shows we watch today," said Gary Brannan, Keeper of Archives and Research Collections at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the university which now houses the new acquisition. “Writing in the early 1950s they would empty pubs as people rushed home to watch their shows. Real-world or situation comedy simply didn’t exist before them.”

Galton and Simpson first met as teenagers in 1948 while recovering in hospital from tuberculosis. Their collaboration began with writing and performing scripts for the hospital radio, before submitting material to the BBC in 1951, catching the attention of comedian Derek Roy, who hired them as gag writers for his radio show, Happy-Go-Lucky.