Pop star Robbie Williams has revealed he was the person who bid £20,000 at auction for Eric Morecambe’s iconic glasses and pipe.
As Beyond Radio reported last month, bidding for the imitation tortoiseshell Metzler glasses and pipe, which had a sale estimate of between £2,000 and £4,000, began at £9,000, and they were eventually sold for £20,000 by Hansons Auctioneers.
More than 800 lots from the house Eric shared with his wife Joan and their children Gary, Gail and Steven, went under the hammer.
In a post on social media, Williams said he treated himself to the items ahead of his birthday, after finishing the promotion for his semi-biographical film, ‘Better Man’.
In the post, he revealed he cried ‘happy childlike tears’ after securing the lot.
‘’So I treated myself to a done-loads-of-promo-for-my-film prezzie. Also, with my birthday coming up I thought it might be a two for one,’’ the pop icon said.
‘’There was an auction for some of Eric Morecambe’s personal effects.
‘’(One of my team) who does all of my digital stuff was appointed Chief Bidder for me as I was in Los Angeles about to board a plane. As it happens, I got to watch the lot being auctioned live. My iPhone and Mike’s iPhone acting like walkie-talkies.
‘’In short we won. He kept pressing the bid button and the internet responded in kind by logging his request. ‘Going once, going twice……sold to the bidder on the internet.’
‘’Then tears, Mine. Happy childlike tears. You see, I guess we all need friends-we-never-meet from off the telly. Eric has always been mine. An Uncle of sorts. To the very core of me, Eric Morecambe’s spirit has been salve for my soul.
‘’How Eric made me feel is how I want to make people feel. What a gift to be able to create such joy and have that joy be present just by thinking of them.
‘’Eric, you were and are the very best of the very best. That sunshine you asked for. You gave to me.’’
John Eric Bartholomew OBE (1926-1984), known by stage name Eric Morecambe, took his name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe.
He was the co-star of BBC television series The Morecambe and Wise Show, which for the 1977 Christmas episode gained UK viewing figures of over 28 million people.
One of the most prominent comedians in British popular culture, in 2002 he was named among the top 40 Greatest Britons in a BBC poll – placed above David Beckham and Henry VIII.
Eric died in 1984, aged 58, after a heart attack following a stage show in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
His wife Joan continued to live in their home Brachefield in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, until her death last year, aged 97.
Gary, Gail and Steven decided to give Eric's fans a chance to own a piece of his legacy, through the auction.
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