Long ago we missed the 95th anniversary of the birth of Ernie Wise (born Ernest Wiseman) who was half of one of the great comedy duos of all time. When viewing choice was more limited, Morecambe & Wise shows became a national institution in the UK, particularly at Christmas. Born in Bramley, Leeds, Yorkshire he was educated at East Ardsley Boys School and was on stage in a variety act with his father from the age of seven entitled Bert Carson and the Little Wonder and he began his career in music hall, winning his first talent contest in 1936 in his home town of Morley, West Yorks, where they now have a prominent statue of him. Impresario Jack Hylton nurtured his early career, bringing him into his own show. He began the legendary comedy partnership with Eric Bartholomew aka Eric Morecambe when he was just 16, but the names of Wiseman and Bartholomew were too long for theatre marquees so they settled on Morecambe and Wise; they had considered both of their places of birth but said Morecambe and Leeds sounded “like a cheap day return”. Their first time on stage together was at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool in 1941. During WW2 he joined the Merchant Navy although with Eric was part of ENSA too, entertaining the services. In their partnership Ernie was renowned as the straight man with the “short, fat hairy legs” though he also had talent as a writer, especially in the “plays what I wrote”. So popular were they as a viewing ritual that the stars flocked to join in and be the butt of their humour eg the great Glenda Jackson in one of the plays “All men are fools, and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got” ! Both were awarded the OBE in 1976, which sounds minimal now. After Eric’s untimely death in 1984, Ernie worked occasionally and is recorded as being the first to make a mobile phone call in the UK on 1st January 1985 from St Katherine’s Dock, nr Tower Bridge to Vodafone’s HQ in Newbury but work was not the same without Eric, and Ernie spent long periods at his holiday home in Boca Raton, Florida but also lived long in Thorpe Avenue, Peterborough before moving to a luxury home on the Thames in Maidenhead, Berks. Loved being on the sea and owned a cruiser called Lady Doreen after his wife, whom he met whilst performing in a circus – they were married 46 years until his death; he had had a triple heart bypass in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1999 and was flown back to be treated where he died at the age of 73 at the Nuffield Hospital in Wexham (nr Slough) in Buckinghamshire. We believe him more than worthy of a match in his honour and hope you accept – if the numbers or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
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