The Morecambe and Wise reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Morecambe and Wise

Morecambe and Wise was a famous British comic double-act comprising Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. It lasted four decades, until Morecambe died in 1984.

The two joined forces in 1941, and they became one of Britain's greatest comedy acts. They made their name in radio, transferring to television in 1955. They had a series of shows over twenty years on both ITV and BBC. In 1976, they were both appointed OBEs.

Morecambe and Wise developed a format for their shows which involved hiring celebrities to appear in a "play" ostensibly written by Ernie himself, complete with bad grammar and cheap props. Guests who participated included Flora Robson, Glenda Jackson, Peter Cushing and Frank Finlay. Morecambe and Wise would generally pretend not to have heard of the guest, or confuse them with someone else. The format could be varied by including another type of finale, such as a song-and-dance number (Angela Rippon and Glenda Jackson -- her second appearance) famously appeared in these sequences. Several television presenters, such as Michael Parkinson, Patrick Moore, Eddie Waring and Frank Bough, made cameo appearances in the Christmas special, which became such an institution during the 1970s that no British family would dream of missing it.

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