A lifetime of showbiz memorabilia and personal items from Eric’s former home, Brachefield in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, will go up for sale after the death of his widow Joan, aged 97, in March. More than 40 years after Morecambe died of a heart attack aged 58 in 1984, Hansons Auctioneers in Derbyshire will be offering his belongings, in 700 lots, on January 10 and 11 2025. Items include his glasses, the piano he practised on to deliver a Morecambe and Wise Christmas special sketch with conductor Andre Previn, and a painting of the star by royal portrait artist Richard Stone, as well as annotated joke books and piles of sketch ideas, some of which he wrote on an instruction manual for a stereo.
Away from comedy, he enjoyed birdwatching, fishing and collecting everything from clocks and fob watches to beer mats and antiques. Fans of the comedy star are being given the opportunity to own some of his belongings by Morecambe’s three children, Gail, Gary and Steven. Gary, 58, an author from London, said the family were “genuinely excited” about the forthcoming auction of their parents’ lifelong possessions.
He said: “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. “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 wha.
