Anthony Hancock (5 May 1947 – 11 June 2012) was a

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

who created literature for British far right groups and a member of such organisations in the United Kingdom.

Biography

Based in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, where Hancock owned a hotel called the Heidelberg, Anthony Hancock was the son of Alan Hancock, a veteran of the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...

who first set up the publishing firm. With his father as a leading member, Anthony Hancock began as a member of the Racial Preservation Society (RPS) and from this group he became a member of the National Front. R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', London: Grafton, 1988, p. 205 As a member of the NF, Hancock became a close associate of Steve Brady of the League of St George and followed him into the National Party in 1976. It was at this time that Hancock stepped up his printing firm and was soon producing not only for the NP and the League, but also for the

British Movement The British Movement (BM), later called the British National Socialist Movement (BNSM), is a British neo-Nazi organisation founded by Colin Jordan in 1968. It grew out of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), which was founded in 1962. Frequen ...

and later the NF and the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

amongst others. He later became a supporter of the British Democratic Party, although by and large he put his own feelings aside and continued to publish for any far right group that asked him to. A

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

, Hancock set up the Historical Review Press (based in Uckfield) which, funded by Robin Beauclair (formerly of the RPS), became the leading source of Holocaust denial publications in Britain. The Press published versions of a number of such works including

Arthur Butz Arthur R. Butz is an associate professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University and a Holocaust denier, best known as the author of the pseudohistorical book ''The Hoax of the Twentieth Century''. He achieved tenure in 1974 and curr ...

' '' The Hoax of the Twentieth Century'' and an occasional newspaper ''The Holocaust News''. Hancock was responsible for publishing ''

Did Six Million Really Die? ''Did Six Million Really Die? The Truth at Last'' is a neo-Nazi, Holocaust denial pamphlet allegedly written by British National Front (NF) member Richard Verrall under the pseudonym Richard E. Harwood and published in 1974 by neo-Nazi propa ...

'', being sued for royalties in the High Court in 1982. David Irving has also acknowledged that Hancock did some of his printing, although it has been alleged that the relationship ran much deeper and that the two men worked together on Holocaust denial seminars. Hancock was also a leading member of the Clarendon Club, a debating society active from 1979 to 1981 in which Irving and members of the League of St. George were joined by more mainstream figures such as

Harvey Proctor Keith Harvey Proctor (born 16 January 1947) is a British former Conservative Member of Parliament. A member of the Monday Club, he represented Basildon from 1979 to 1983 and Billericay from 1983 to 1987. Proctor became embroiled in a scandal i ...

. Hancock built up an extensive range of international contacts and was closely associated with

Roberto Fiore Roberto Fiore (born 15 April 1959) is an Italian politician and the leader of the party Forza Nuova, convicted in Italy for subversion and armed gang for his links to the right wing terrorism organization "Terza posizione". He self-identifies ...

for a time during the 1980s. Distributing large quantities of Holocaust denial material in Germany, he was investigated by the German police in the late 1990s, although no case was brought as he was not breaking UK law and so could not face

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

. His printing offices were raided in 1999, however, owing to a spate of

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

mailshots originating from

Colin Jordan John Colin Campbell Jordan (19 June 1923 – 9 April 2009) was a leading figure in post-war neo-Nazism in Great Britain. In the far-right circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly "Nazi" inclination in his open use of the sty ...

. On 11 June 2012, Hancock died after suffering two strokes.Gerry Gabl
"The many lives of Anthony Hancock"
, ''Searchlight'' (blog), 12 June 2012

References

External links

Historical Review Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hancock, Anthony 1947 births 2012 deaths British Holocaust deniers English neo-Nazis English publishers (people) National Front (UK) politicians People from Brighton 20th-century English businesspeople