Fork Handles For Sale

The actual hand-written script for arguably the greatest British comedy sketch of all time is to go under the hammer.

Written by Ronnie Barker in the 1970s on four pages of A4 lined paper under his alias, Gerald Wiley, 'Fork Handles' (or 'Four Candles') was first aired on The Two Ronnies show on 4th September 1976 and has since gone down in TV comedy folklore as one of the truly iconic moments in television history.

Now, the sketch is to be auctioned by memorabilia specialist, The Original Memorabilia Company, and is expected to reach at least £50,000.

The script first came to light in 2006 on BBC1's Antiques Roadshow. The BBC Antiques expert Mark Allen said, "I literally can't contain my excitement...I'm possibly about to hold something very historic...the thought that he actually sat down and wrote this is absolutely amazing."

The BBC subsequently recorded a follow up with the greatest finds of the series and the script headlined the show with a five minute piece with Ronnie Corbett confirming its authenticity.

"It was quite sweet for me to see his handwriting again...it certainly is his handwriting," said Ronnie Corbett.

For 30 years The Two Ronnies entertained us in a career spanning 98 television shows, 12 series, several Christmas specials and numerous 'Sold Out' London stage shows. Of all the sketches they ever performed, the British public voted 'Fork Handles' The Greatest Sketch Of All Time.

Away from the TV camera, Ronnie Barker was a very private person and would often decline requests for personal appearances, instead preferring to give personal items away. The Fork Handles script, or Annie Finkhouse to give it its original title, is one of a number of original items believed to have been given away by Ronnie Barker in the late 1970s, long before works of this type were regarded to have any value.

Ronnie Barker's widow Joy, has also confirmed she does not have a hand-written copy of 'Fork Handles' in her collection and was happy for this script to be sold.

The script is neatly written in red ink and takes up four sheets of A4.

For the uninitiated, the sketch features Ronnie Corbett as a shopkeeper in a hardware shop becoming increasingly frustrated by a customer, played by Ronnie Barker, because he continually misunderstands what the customer is requesting.

Hand-written letters and personal documents continue to attract very large prices at auction. George Harrison's handwritten lyrics to the Beatles' song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, fetched £152,552 in a US memorabilia auction. A letter of surrender signed by Irish rebel Padraig Pearse at the end of the 1916 uprising has sold for almost £500,000 at a Dublin auction and Marlon Brando's personal copy of the screenplay for The Godfather went for £176,000.

"The Two Ronnies are a national institution and Ronnie Barker, a comedy genius," says Peter Spicer from The Original Memorabilia Company. "We are absolutely thrilled to be auctioning his finest piece of work. To say this is the television equivalent of Lennon's lyrics to 'Imagine' would not be an unreasonable comparison. We expect it to sell for at least £50,000."

The auction of the Fork Handles sketch is to take place via the company's website www.originalmemorabilia.co.uk with bids being accepted up to Thursday 20th December 2007 at 5pm.

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