The Two Ronnies - Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett - were one of Britain's best-loved comedy duos, and worked together for forty years, from 1965 until Ronnie Barker's death in October 2005.
Ronnie Barker was a comedy genius, and wrote many of the duo's sketches, including the hilarious "Four Candles/Fork Handles" sketch which, in 2005, was voted one of the greatest British comedy moments of all time (Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch was voted the greatest). One of Ronnie Barker's strengths was to play around with words, and this is what he did in the "Four Candles" sketch. The sketch sees a workman (played by Barker) enter a store, the store assistant being played by Corbett. Barker then proceeds to read from a list everything that he requires, but Corbett always misinterprets whar he says and gets him the all the wrong items.
Now this classic sketch, one of the best in British comedy history, is being sold at auction and could fetch £80,000. The sketch was written by Barker under the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, and you can read it at the bottom of this article...
Two Ronnies script up for auction
The Two Ronnies in the classic "Four Candles/Fork Handles" sketch, which was voted one of the greatest British comedy moments of all time in 2005 (Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch was voted the greatest)
The handwritten script of The Two Ronnies' famous Fork Handles sketch could fetch up to £80,000 at auction.
The script, penned by the late Ronnie Barker in the 1970s, went on to be voted the greatest Two Ronnies sketch in a TV special.
The highest bid for the script currently stands at £32,500, while the invitation for written bids closes on 20 December.
The script first came to light in 2006 on BBC One's The Antiques Roadshow.
Authentic
The sketch features Ronnie Corbett as a shopkeeper who becomes irritated by workman Ronnie Barker with his requests for items with double meanings.
It includes the classic opener where Corbett produces four candles when Barker insists he actually wanted fork handles.
The script is credited to Barker's pseudonym Gerald Wiley
The sketch is written on four sides of A4 lined paper in red ink and features the sketch's original title, Annie Finkhouse.
After its discovery on the Antiques Roadshow, the privately-owned script was taken to Corbett who confirmed its authenticity on television earlier this year.
"It was quite sweet for me to see his handwriting again," he said.
Barker died in 2005. His widow does not have a handwritten copy of Fork Handles but has said she is happy for the piece to be sold.
Barker first worked with Corbett in The Frost Report and Frost on Sunday, programmes for which he also wrote scripts. In 1971 they teamed up for the first Two Ronnies.
A total of 12 series of the comedy show were made. At its peak, more than 17 million viewers tuned in to see the programme, which aired until 1987. The duo reunited for The Two Ronnies Sketchbook shortly before Barker's death.
Here is the Four Candles sketch:
An old ironmonger’s shop. A shop that sells everything — garden equipment, ladies’ tights, builders’ supplies, mousetraps — everything. A long counter up and down stage. A door to the back of the shop up left. The back wall also has a counter. Lots of drawers and cupboards up high, so that Corbett has to get a ladder to get some of the goods that Barker orders. RC is serving a woman with a toilet roll. He is not too bright.
Ronnie Corbett: There you are. Mind how you go.
(Woman exits. RB enters — a workman. Not too bright either.) Yes, sir?
Ronnie Barker: Fork 'andles.
RC: Four candles? Yes, sir. (He gets four candles from a drawer.) There you are.
RB: No, fork 'andles.
RC: Four candles, That’s four candles!
RB: No, fork 'andles — handles for forks.
RC: Oh, fork handles. (He gets a garden fork handle from the back of the shop.) Anything else?
RB: (Looks at his list.) Got any plugs?
RC: What sort of plugs?
RB: Bathroom — rubber one.
(RC gets box of bath plugs, holds up two different sizes.)
RC: What size?
RB: Thirteen amp!
RC: Oh, electric plugs! (Gets electric plug from drawer.) What else?
RB: Saw tips.
RC: Sore tips? What you want, ointment?
RB: No, tips to cover the saw.
RC: Oh. No, we ain’t got any.
RB: Oh. Got any hoes?
RC: Hoes? Yeah. (He gets a garden hoe from the garden department.)
RB: No — hose.
RC: Oh, hose. I thought you meant hoes. (He gets a roll of garden hose.)
RB: No, hose.
RC: (Gives him a dirty look.) What hose? (He gets a packet of ladies’ tights from a display stand.) Pantie-hose, you mean?
RB: No, ‘O’s! — letter ‘O’s — letters for the gate.
RC: Why didn’t you say so? (He gets ladder, climbs up to cupboard high up on wall, gets down box of letters.) Now, ‘O’s — here we are — two?
RB: Yeah.
RC: Right. (He takes box back up ladder and returns.) Next?
RB: Got any ‘P’s?
RC: Oh, my Gawd. Why didn’t you bleedin’ say while I’d got the box of letters down here? I’m working me guts out here climbing about all over the shop, putting things back and then gettin’ em out again. Now then. (He is back with the box.) How many — two?
RB: No — peas. Three tins of peas.
RC: You’re having me on, ain’t yer? Ain’t yer! (He gets three tins of peas.)
RB: No, I ain’t. I meant tinned peas.
RC: Right. Now what?
RB: Pumps?
RC: Pumps? ’And pumps or foot pumps?
RB: Feet.
RC: Foot pumps. Right. (He goes off, returns with foot pump.) Right.
RB: No, pumps for your feet! Brown pumps, size nine.
RC: You are having me on. I’ve had enough of this. (He gets them from drawer.) Is that the lot?
RB: Washers
RC: (Exasperated.) Windscreen washers, car washers? Dishwashers? Hair washers? Back scrubbers? Lavatory cleaners? Floor washers?
RB: Half-inch washers!
RC: Tap washers! Here, give me the list. I’m fed up with this. (He reads list and reacts.) Right! That does it. That’s the final insult. (Calls through door.) Elsie! Come and serve this customer — I’ve had enough!
(RC stalks off. Elsie enters — a big, slovenly woman with a very large bosom. She takes the list. Reads it.)
Elsie: Right, sir — what sort of knockers are you looking for?
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Ronnie Barker was a comedy genius, and wrote many of the duo's sketches, including the hilarious "Four Candles/Fork Handles" sketch which, in 2005, was voted one of the greatest British comedy moments of all time (Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch was voted the greatest). One of Ronnie Barker's strengths was to play around with words, and this is what he did in the "Four Candles" sketch. The sketch sees a workman (played by Barker) enter a store, the store assistant being played by Corbett. Barker then proceeds to read from a list everything that he requires, but Corbett always misinterprets whar he says and gets him the all the wrong items.
Now this classic sketch, one of the best in British comedy history, is being sold at auction and could fetch £80,000. The sketch was written by Barker under the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, and you can read it at the bottom of this article...
Two Ronnies script up for auction
The Two Ronnies in the classic "Four Candles/Fork Handles" sketch, which was voted one of the greatest British comedy moments of all time in 2005 (Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch was voted the greatest)
The handwritten script of The Two Ronnies' famous Fork Handles sketch could fetch up to £80,000 at auction.
The script, penned by the late Ronnie Barker in the 1970s, went on to be voted the greatest Two Ronnies sketch in a TV special.
The highest bid for the script currently stands at £32,500, while the invitation for written bids closes on 20 December.
The script first came to light in 2006 on BBC One's The Antiques Roadshow.
Authentic
The sketch features Ronnie Corbett as a shopkeeper who becomes irritated by workman Ronnie Barker with his requests for items with double meanings.
It includes the classic opener where Corbett produces four candles when Barker insists he actually wanted fork handles.
The script is credited to Barker's pseudonym Gerald Wiley
The sketch is written on four sides of A4 lined paper in red ink and features the sketch's original title, Annie Finkhouse.
After its discovery on the Antiques Roadshow, the privately-owned script was taken to Corbett who confirmed its authenticity on television earlier this year.
"It was quite sweet for me to see his handwriting again," he said.
Barker died in 2005. His widow does not have a handwritten copy of Fork Handles but has said she is happy for the piece to be sold.
Barker first worked with Corbett in The Frost Report and Frost on Sunday, programmes for which he also wrote scripts. In 1971 they teamed up for the first Two Ronnies.
A total of 12 series of the comedy show were made. At its peak, more than 17 million viewers tuned in to see the programme, which aired until 1987. The duo reunited for The Two Ronnies Sketchbook shortly before Barker's death.
Here is the Four Candles sketch:
An old ironmonger’s shop. A shop that sells everything — garden equipment, ladies’ tights, builders’ supplies, mousetraps — everything. A long counter up and down stage. A door to the back of the shop up left. The back wall also has a counter. Lots of drawers and cupboards up high, so that Corbett has to get a ladder to get some of the goods that Barker orders. RC is serving a woman with a toilet roll. He is not too bright.
Ronnie Corbett: There you are. Mind how you go.
(Woman exits. RB enters — a workman. Not too bright either.) Yes, sir?
Ronnie Barker: Fork 'andles.
RC: Four candles? Yes, sir. (He gets four candles from a drawer.) There you are.
RB: No, fork 'andles.
RC: Four candles, That’s four candles!
RB: No, fork 'andles — handles for forks.
RC: Oh, fork handles. (He gets a garden fork handle from the back of the shop.) Anything else?
RB: (Looks at his list.) Got any plugs?
RC: What sort of plugs?
RB: Bathroom — rubber one.
(RC gets box of bath plugs, holds up two different sizes.)
RC: What size?
RB: Thirteen amp!
RC: Oh, electric plugs! (Gets electric plug from drawer.) What else?
RB: Saw tips.
RC: Sore tips? What you want, ointment?
RB: No, tips to cover the saw.
RC: Oh. No, we ain’t got any.
RB: Oh. Got any hoes?
RC: Hoes? Yeah. (He gets a garden hoe from the garden department.)
RB: No — hose.
RC: Oh, hose. I thought you meant hoes. (He gets a roll of garden hose.)
RB: No, hose.
RC: (Gives him a dirty look.) What hose? (He gets a packet of ladies’ tights from a display stand.) Pantie-hose, you mean?
RB: No, ‘O’s! — letter ‘O’s — letters for the gate.
RC: Why didn’t you say so? (He gets ladder, climbs up to cupboard high up on wall, gets down box of letters.) Now, ‘O’s — here we are — two?
RB: Yeah.
RC: Right. (He takes box back up ladder and returns.) Next?
RB: Got any ‘P’s?
RC: Oh, my Gawd. Why didn’t you bleedin’ say while I’d got the box of letters down here? I’m working me guts out here climbing about all over the shop, putting things back and then gettin’ em out again. Now then. (He is back with the box.) How many — two?
RB: No — peas. Three tins of peas.
RC: You’re having me on, ain’t yer? Ain’t yer! (He gets three tins of peas.)
RB: No, I ain’t. I meant tinned peas.
RC: Right. Now what?
RB: Pumps?
RC: Pumps? ’And pumps or foot pumps?
RB: Feet.
RC: Foot pumps. Right. (He goes off, returns with foot pump.) Right.
RB: No, pumps for your feet! Brown pumps, size nine.
RC: You are having me on. I’ve had enough of this. (He gets them from drawer.) Is that the lot?
RB: Washers
RC: (Exasperated.) Windscreen washers, car washers? Dishwashers? Hair washers? Back scrubbers? Lavatory cleaners? Floor washers?
RB: Half-inch washers!
RC: Tap washers! Here, give me the list. I’m fed up with this. (He reads list and reacts.) Right! That does it. That’s the final insult. (Calls through door.) Elsie! Come and serve this customer — I’ve had enough!
(RC stalks off. Elsie enters — a big, slovenly woman with a very large bosom. She takes the list. Reads it.)
Elsie: Right, sir — what sort of knockers are you looking for?
news.bbc.co.uk
timesonline.co.uk
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