- His television show, locally produced in Oklahoma City in the early fifties, 'The Hank Thompson Show' was the first variety show telecast in colour.
- His number one hit "the Wild Side of Life", released in 1952 [15 weeks #1] was answered later the same year by Kitty Wells with her first #1 release, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Women" [6 weeks #1]
- The name of his band is the Brazos Valley Boys.
- Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
- Hero was Gene Autry.
- His band won Billboard Magazine's Touring Band of the Year award 14 consecutive times.
- Life-long fan of Gene Autry.
- He has 29 Top Ten hits between 1948 and 1975.
- Performed on a local radio show, when he was just out of high school, as "Hank the Hired Hand".
- Studied electrical engineering at Southern Methodist University, University of Texas, and at Princeton.
- Served in the United States Navy.
- October 8 is "Hank Thompson Day" in his hometown Waco, Texas.
- While performing, he caught the attention of Tex Ritter who helped him obtain a contract with Capitol Records.
- With his background in electronics, he was an innovator, with several firsts to his credit: first act to tour with a sound and lighting system; first with corporate tour sponsorship; first to record a live album ("Live at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas", 1960); first country music show to play Vegas; and first to record in hi-fi stereo.
- He and his band started out playing in small clubs and honky-tonks, but their success took them to Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Palladium, the Smithsonian, and Las Vegas.
- He helped popularize the style of music called Western Swing, a combination of big-band sound with fiddle and steel guitar. He became known as "the King of Western Swing".
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