Early Life
Hancock was born in London. His mother, Kitty, is Romanichal; his father, Reginald (Redžo), was part Romungro, the descendant of a Hungarian speaker of North Central Romani named Imre Benczi. He acquired the surname Hancock through Imre's daughter Maria, who married a member of an English West Country showman family of that name.
In the late 1960s, he became a Romani rights activist after reading reports about anti-Romani discrimination in Britain. In particular, he took up the cause of Romani rights after reading about an incident in which Romani children left unattended by their parents, who had been arrested, started a fire by knocking over a paraffin lamp. 1971, he graduated with a Ph.D. in linguistics.
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