Lifetime of Eric Morecambe's never-before-seen personal treasures going up for auction

A lifetime of showbiz memories and personal treasures belonging to Eric Morecambe are set to go under the hammer.

The Morecambe-born comedy legend's famous spectacles will be among the possessions to be auctioned in January in 'The Eric Morecambe Collection'.

Eric's family have made the decision to "share what was left in our home with the world at large" as the Morecambe and Wise icon's legacy, 40 years after his death aged 58.

Other treasured possessions to be auctioned include the piano he practised on to deliver a famous Christmas special TV sketch with his great friend and comedy partner Ernie Wise and the conductor André Previn – the one where Eric ‘plays all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order’.

Among the 700 lots will be the entire contents of Brachefield, Eric's former home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, which he shared with his wife Joan, who died earlier this year aged 97, and their children.

Hansons Auctioneers of Derbyshire will offer the Eric Morecambe Collection on January 10-11 2025.

It includes this portrait of Eric by Richard Stone, painted in 1978. Image: Hansons Auctioneers.

“Eric was a national treasure and yet remained humble and hungry, constantly working on his talents," said a spokesperson for Hansons.

"There are dozens of joke books, each one underlined, altered, annotated – where he’s re-working gags. He literally never stopped.

"Some people think success is down to luck. It’s not. It’s down to endless hard work and a passion for what you do. Eric had that in spades. Add Ernie Wise and their script writer Eddie Braben into the mix and magic happened.

“This collection offers a new understanding of a comedy genius. It also shines a light on Eric’s family life, likes and loves, which included country pursuits and antiques. Plus, we gain fresh insight into the rise to fame of Morecambe and Wise, Britain’s best loved comedy duo.

“We have Eric’s wife, Joan, and family to thank for enabling this important collection to be shared with the nation.  

"Joan passed away on her 97th birthday on March 26 leaving the Morecambe family’s mountain of memories perfectly intact. She lost Eric to a heart attack in 1984 when he was only 58 but loved him to the end. She never let anything go, though she outlived him by four decades. This sale allows us to complete the Eric Morecambe story.

“It’s thanks to Eric and Joan’s three children, Gail, Gary and Steven, that Eric Morecambe fans have this opportunity. The auction will celebrate their parents’ lives and a comedy career like no other.  They hope, like Morecambe and Wise’s trademark song, Bring Me Sunshine, this sale will light up lives for legions of fans. 

"The auction is also timely as the comedy duo’s centenary anniversaries are fast approaching. Yorkshireman Ernie Wise was born in 1925 and Lancashire’s Eric Morecambe in 1926.”

Sale manager Victoria Sheppard said: “The sale of the contents of Brachefield, a red brick 1930s Arts and Crafts property, closes the chapter on a family home which has stood still since Eric’s passing in 1984.

"I cannot describe how it felt to enter the house not long after Joan had died. Reminders of Eric were everywhere. It was like a shrine to him. I was in complete awe.

“What we found was truly magical. As a Fine Art valuer I was immediately impressed by the antiques. The formal lounge was packed with 17th to 19th century paintings, mainly landscapes, both Dutch and English. This was mixed with 18th and 19th century furniture, clocks and porcelain. And in the centre of the room was Eric’s Challen baby grand piano (pictured below, image from Hansons Auctioneers).

“Fascinating finds include loving letters from Eric’s parents and a poignant message from Ernie Wise revealing how close the pair came to splitting up. Ernie explained that, with a very heavy heart, he wanted to break up the duo before they continued and became massive. He signed it ‘your best pal’. Thankfully that never happened. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Eric’s death from a heart attack in 1984.

“Everyone loved Morecambe and Wise. Consequently, there are telegrams from Prince Philip and letters from King Charles,  former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and comedy legends Ronnie Barker and Tommy Cooper.

“Nostalgia abounds thanks to playbills and posters, right from the beginning, as well as photographs and scrapbooks of cuttings, documenting his very first performances and reviews when he was a child.

“There are thousands of photos of Eric with celebrities of the day, some signed and inscribed, including actor Cary Grant. We’ve found costumes from memorable sketches and numerous props including Eric’s famous ventriloquist dummy, Charlie, below. Eric and Ernie took Charlie to America to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. The dummy was even in an episode of TV crime series The Sweeney. Every find, every little piece of paper is important. It’s truly remarkable.”

Eric’s son Gary Morecambe, 68, said: “The idea of others enjoying entertainment history, which for us was in fact our family belongings, while striking a gently melancholic note, simultaneously signals a whole new beginning, both for the memorabilia itself and for us, the Morecambe family of Gail, Steven and myself.

"We are genuinely so excited by the forthcoming auction of our mother and father’s lifelong possessions, and those related to our father’s legendary comedy partnership with Ernie Wise.

“While these wonderful items are undoubtedly valuable memorabilia, for us they have been the items we have lived with, and through, for much of our own existence – from childhood to parenthood, to grandparent-hood! Seeing them about to go to new homes, in many varied directions, marks the definitive end of a wonderful era – an era that certainly, for Gail and I at least, began in the 1950s.

“I think what makes it such a unique occasion, and such a momentous time in our lives, is that our mother barely touched anything in the house after our father’s death 40 years earlier. Hence we have had everything quite literally under the same roof for 56 years. They took ownership of the property in 1968. One never expects this day to arrive, but arrive it has, and now we celebrate a remarkable legacy created by the genius of Morecambe and Wise.

“When thinking about my father, it’s always easy to contemplate the great comedian he unquestionably was to the detriment of the other side of his life – the home-loving man, who had a serious passion for the natural world.

“This ‘other side’ to him, away from the television studios, the public and comedy itself, was mostly seen through two specific countryside interests – fishing and birdwatching. Sure, he collected clocks and fob watches, the former adorning his house up until we had to clear it.

“It was, however, outside the house that his true passions lay. It began with photography, something he was quite good at, and as an interest he never fully deserted. But it was the photography that led him into the back of beyond, where feathered creatures really began to capture his imagination, both at home and abroad. Birdwatching was key to everything, always taking walks with his binoculars and note book; a true ornithologist.

“Like fishing, these outdoors pursuits had begun in childhood through his father, who had the same passions. Maybe it was show business getting in the way for many years, but following his heart attack of 1968, he returned to his boyhood memories, recalling what pleasure nature had given him, and given his father, too

“In the early 1970s, my father found a countryside compatriot in the artist and naturalist Gordon Beningfield. Gordon inspired him, partly through fishing together, and taking countryside rambles, but also through his wonderful watercolours – scenes of kingfishers and dormice, pheasants and owls. 

“In terms of collecting, one could add to my father’s list fishing flies – practical as well as colourful – and fishing rods. While many have now gone, some still remain. Add to this his collection of smoking pipes. In all these aforementioned items one sees the complete man.”

Eric’s daughter Gail Stuart, 71, said: “It has been an interesting year! One of those years where you have a real sense of it being the end of an era.  A dawning realisation that we have to make difficult decisions about the family home and all the contents.  

“I was 12 when we moved into Brachefield. We all knew very quickly that this house had a magic to it that mum and dad only added to.

"To say dad loved living there is an understatement. He thrived there! His creative juices flowed there.

"For mum it was the garden. She loved the house but she LOVED the garden, spending many hours out there planting out the beds and all the pots. Dad loved looking at the garden but he LOVED having space for his hobbies. Mum always said hobbies were his hobby.

Eric's family home is pictured below. Image from Hansons Auctioneers.

“To be able to have ticking, chiming clocks all around the place. To hang some wonderful paintings all around the place. To have room for a baby grand piano he could play and to have his own office where he could write. This was very special and never taken for granted.

“Growing up you have no idea your childhood is blessed not just with the material surroundings but blessed to have two such special individuals as our parents. Both had great gifts, both made their lives about family, both were always kind, humble, honest.  Both received an OBE.  All my memories are in glorious technicolor.

“We grew up sharing dad with the British people, the amazing fans.  It wasn’t until dad died that I realised the affection for dad and for Morecambe and Wise ran so deep. Knowing it made sharing him through my childhood feel OK. It has helped to inform this decision to share what was left in our home with the world at large. Dad would love that. That is the legacy.”

John Eric Bartholomew, aka Eric Morecambe, is one of the best-known comedians Britain has ever produced.

Having taken his stage name from his home town, he was co-star of the television series The Morecambe and Wise Show alongside Ernie Wise.

The programme gained UK viewing figures of more than 28 million people at its peak for the 1977 Christmas show.

The Eric Morecambe Statue was unveiled in his home town in 1999, celebrating its 25th birthday earlier this year.

Auction lots will be available to view online from December 2, 2024 and hard copy catalogues can be pre-ordered ahead of distribution in December. To find out more, visit HERE.