A PLAQUE will be unveiled in memory of Bournemouth-raised comedy legend Tony Hancock at a celebrity ceremony this weekend.

Dave Davies, former lead guitarist with the Kinks, will unveil the plaque and TV star Richard Briers will also be in attendance at the Avon Social Club in Avon Road, Springbourne, in Bournemouth.

The plaque will commemorate the fact that Hancock made his first professional appearance there, in 1940, when it was known as the Labour Halls.

The stage where Hancock would have performed is still there.

The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society has organised the event on Sunday at 3pm. It coincides with the society’s annual reunion in the town, which happens at the Queens Hotel.

Born in Birmingham, Tony Hancock moved to Bournemouth at the age of three when his family took over the Mayo Hygienic Laundry in Winton.

They later moved to run the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road and the Swanmore Hotel in Gervis Road, which they renamed the Durlston Court.

It is now called the Celebrity Hotel.

The Labour Halls saw Hancock embark on a career which would see him become the biggest radio and TV comic of his day.

Millions were shocked by his suicide in 1968 at the age of 44.