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pride
of manchester -
eric sykes |
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"I'm proud of being a vaudevillian,
the last of my line. A lot of people think my entertainment is candy-floss.
Well, entertainment is too aggressive these days, all in your face!"
- Eric
Sykes |
One
of the most respected of all British comedians, born in Oldham on
4th May 1923, Eric Sykes was one of many comedians to get smitten
by the entertainment bug whilst serving in the Army, during the
Second World War.
When he was demobbed from the Army
he tried his hand at comedy without much success, but got a major
breakthrough when he was asked to write scripts for Bill Fraser
(a pal from his time in the Forces). He was soon in demand writing
for Fraser and Frankie Howard and both Radio and Television. During
the mid-50’s he co-scripted, with Spike Milligan, 24 Goon
Shows and was particularly successful with his writing for the popular
Educating Archie.
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His writing eventually
helped him to kick-start a career performing on stage and TV, mainly
in variety-comedy shows, where he often played the part of a harassed
producer struggling to put on a show.
Shrugging aside a serious hearing
handicap (which eventually resulted in total deafness), he hit the
big time in 1960 when he starred alongside Hattie Jacques in a TV
sitcom 'Sykes and a….', written by himself and Johnny Speight
(of Alf Garnett fame). The instant rapport that Eric and Hattie
formed, as brother and sister, was the basis for one of Britain's
best loved comedy series partnerships and one that endured for two
decades and 128 episodes, until it came to a close when Hattie died
in 1980.
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One
of the episodes from the series Sykes and a Plank was later re-made
for cinema in 1967, co-starring Tommy Cooper, and again as a TV
special in 1979. Over the years, Eric created other memorable TV
specials including Rhubarb Rhubarb! in 1980, another re-make of
a cinema release.
He has made numerous Film appearances
including the following:
Watch Your Stern, 1960; Invasion Quartet, 1962; Kill or Cure, 1962;
Heaven's Above (with Peter Sellars) 1963; One Way Pendulum, 1965;
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (with Jack Lemmon
& Tony Curtis), 1965; Rotten to the Core, 1965; The Liquidator,
1966; The Spy with the Cold Nose, 1966; The Plank, 1967; Shalako,
1968; Monte Carlo or Bust, 1969; Rhubarb, 1970; The Alf Garnett
Saga, 1972; Theatre of Blood, 1973; Boys in Blue (with Cannon &
Ball) 1982; Splitting Heirs 1993 and The Others (with Nicole Kidman)
2001.
Interestingly, it is Eric who says
the word "Teletubbies!" at the end of the Teletubbies
title sequence.
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His Theatre appearances are cherished
by anyone privileged to see them: invariably he steals the scene
whether it be in a farce such as Run For Your Wife 2002, the Chekhov
drama The Three Sisters 2003, or Shakespeare’s As You Like
It 2003.
Just to round things off, Sykes
has recently added three novels to his output: 'The UFO's Are
Coming Wednesday', 'The Great Crime of Grapplewick' and 'Smelling
of Roses'. On the non-fiction front, in October 2003 he released
a highly readable, very well-presented tribute to fellow comedians
entitled Eric Sykes’ Comedy Heroes.
In short Eric is a remarkable octogenarian,
indefatigable, virtually stone-deaf, almost blind – but
a colossus and a National Treasure.
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