Penned by Ronnie Barker, the single sheet – handwritten in red ink – is expected to fetch up to £40,000 at auction

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A rare slice of British comedy history is up for grabs with The Two Ronnies’ original “fork handles” script due to go under the hammer.

Penned by Ronnie Barker, the single sheet – handwritten in red ink – is expected to fetch up to £40,000 at auction. The famous sketch employs wordplay to comic effect when Barker’s character goes into a hardware store, run by Ronnie Corbett, with a seemingly simple request for “fork handles”, and ends up with four candles instead.

Also known as The Hardware Shop or Annie Finkhouse skit, the short performance frequently charts as one of the nation’s best-loved comedy scenes. Since first airing in September 1976, it has been immortalised by a pub named The Four Candles in Barker’s home-town of Oxford.



At the comedian’s funeral, vergers held four candles rather than two. The sketch was apparently inspired by a real event which took place in a shop in Broadstairs, Kent.

The script previously sold for £48,500 in 2007, after surfacing on an edition of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow the previous year. It was authenticated by Corbett who surmised that Barker, who rarely wrote in red ink, may have penned it for a charity auction as he was sometimes uncomfortable with public appearances.

The consultant for Hansons Auctioneers and TV antiques expert Marc Allum said: “I saw the script in 2006 and filmed it for the Antiques Roadshow at Carters Steam Fair in north London.

“It was then subsequently shown to Ronnie Corbett who confirmed its authenticity. On the day when I filmed it, I was completely amazed. To hold Ronnie Barker’s handwritten script for one of the most iconic comedy sketches in history was beyond words.”

Jim Spencer, manuscripts expert at Hansons in Etwall, near Derby, said cataloguing the lot was an honour.

“The four candles sketch is one of the greatest, most memorable, most iconic comedy sketches of all time.

“It’s as familiar as Del Boy falling through the bar on Only Fools and Horses, or ‘don’t mention the war’ in Fawlty Towers. Reading the script, I couldn’t help chuckling aloud.

“This ink on paper is the conception of something that has raised millions of smiles and continues to entertain people to this day.”

The script will be sold along with other lots, including a pair of spectacles used in a Two Ronnies show, a letter signed by Barker, an authentication certificate and a print of the four candles sketch signed by Corbett and Barker.

All the items go under the hammer on 20 December.