Tony Hancock has been voted number one by radio listeners in a BBC 7 "top seven" poll to find the greatest comedian ever.

Approximately 5,000 listeners cast their votes, with Hancock claiming 13% of the total nominations. The poll marks the launch on Sunday 15 December of the new BBC digital radio station BBC 7. A pure entertainment network, BBC 7 features the best of BBC comedy, drama and books from the archive, together with a daily live kids' programme.

The programme that established Tony Hancock's reputation, the radio classic Hancock's Half Hour, is one of the highlights of the BBC 7 schedules from launch week, as are more recent radio comedy gems such as Dead Ringers, Alan Partridge and The League of Gentlemen.

Comedians from the golden age of radio comedy – Hancock (number 1), The Goons (number 2), Kenneth Horne (number 3), Kenneth Williams (number 6) – dominate the top seven list.

BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue team (Humphrey Lyttelton, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer) are at number 4 and are the only current day comedians featured.

TV favourites Morecambe and Wise claim position number 5, and the late, great Spike Milligan appears twice – once, at number 2, as a member of The Goons, and again, at number 7, as a solo talent.

1. Tony Hancock
2. The Goons (Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers)
3. Kenneth Horne
4. I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (Humphrey Lyttelton, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer)
5. Morecambe and Wise (Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise)
6. Kenneth Williams
7. Spike Milligan

Mary Kalemkerian, Head of Programmes, BBC 7 said: "Classic comedians such as Tony Hancock and The Goons are obviously still firm favourites with BBC radio listeners. Age doesn't seem to matter – if it's funny, it's funny.

"Being in charge of programming at BBC 7 gives me a terrific opportunity to bring these great comic talents to a new generation of listeners, as well as playing top contemporary comedy acts from the best archive in the world."

Comedy legends Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, writers of the original BBC Radio Hancock's Half Hour series, draw parallels between Hancock's comedy character and modern day comedy anti-heroes Alan Partridge and David Brent (The Office).

"The thing they've all got in common is self delusion," says Alan.
"They all think they're more intelligent than everyone else, more cultured – that people don't recognise their true greatness. Self delusion in every case.
"And there's nothing people like better than failure."

Ray adds: "There's nothing intrinsically funny in success.
"It's very gratifying that these [Hancock] shows have lasted. I suppose it's because we were writing things that were permanent, indestructible facets of all our collective natures."

Hancock's Half Hour, The Goons, Round The Horne, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Spike Milligan, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Horne can all be heard on BBC 7 in the classic comedy slot, daily from noon to 1.00pm, repeated 7.00 to 8.00pm.

Tony Hancock is best remembered for his bombastic and self-deluding alter ego Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, resident of 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, and star of Hancock's Half Hour.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock's Half Hour went out on BBC Radio from 1954 to 1959 and on BBC Television from 1956.

A comedy performer with one of the most instantly recognisable voices in broadcasting, Kenneth Williams starred in the radio comedy classics Round The Horne, Just A Minute and Hancock's Half Hour.
His famous catch phrase "Ere, stop messin' about" was first coined in Hancock's Half Hour.