Who are Morecambe and Wise? Links Merchandise Desktop Theme Frames No Frames

Welcome to a web site dedicated to providing original quality Desktop Themes for you to download and enjoy. With over 35 fun TV and soccer desktop themes to choose from be sure you visit the rest of the website before leaving - click on Frames or No Frames to access the main menu. This then is my tribute to two of the very best comedians ever produced by Britain - Morecambe and Wise.

Not so much a comic double act more a British institution!

Eric Morecambe (born John Eric Bartholomew) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman) began their partnership in 1941. It was then interrupted by Morecambe's wartime service as a miner, but resumed in 1947 as part of Lord George Sangers's Variety Service, the duo making their way to the new medium of television in 1951 as part of BBC's The Youth Parade. A show of their own followed in 1954 (Running Wild) but was not a success. For the next 7 years or so Eric and Ernie perfected their comic timing by touring UK until 1961 when they were given another chance by ATV - they did not waste it. Playing their stage personae of Eric the mischievous pipe-smoking skeptic and Ernie the pompous short-fat-hairy-legged foil (with "twenty-three A-levels, all of them in maths"), they joked and sight-gagged happily, in between introducing musical artists which included the Beatles.

In 1968 the duo were poached by the BBC, where they produced some of their finest work; the catch-phrase "You can't see the join" (a reference to Ernie's Wig); Eric's pretence of being strangled behind the stage curtain; Ernie's plays "wot I wrote"; Eric's skewed specs. Also from this period are such memorable sketches as the classic Breakfast sketch in which Eric and Ernie prepare breakfast to the music of "The Stripper". It was also at the BBC that Morecambe (the name was taken from Bartholomew's home town) and Wise produced their legendary Christmas Specials, which entrapped TV and film celebrities in affectionate antics. Peter Cushing was never paid! Angela Rippon (popular TV newscaster of the day) stepped out from behind her desk to high-kick her way through Let's Face the Music and Dance and Shirley Bassey tried to sing Smoke get's in your Eyes while Eric and Ernie pulled her foot from a hole in the stage, then replaced her dainty footwear with an army boot! Such was the success of these shows (the 1977 Christmas Special attracted an audience of 27 million) that they became as much a part of Christmas as Plum Pudding and the Queen's Speech.

In 1979 the duo moved across to Thames TV but their sojourn there was plagued from the outset by Morecambe's poor health. Morecambe died in 1984 of a heart attack. Ernie soldiered introducing re-runs of the shows with anecdotes as fill-in's. The work of Morecambe and Wise however continues to live on in repeats and videos, not to mention the living homage that is Vic Reeves (Vic Reeves' Big Night Out). Ernie Wise died in 1999 and with him the end of an era of British Comedy that is sadly missed. Likeable people, Perfect timing, clever scripts and clean jokes!

Links to other Morecambe and Wise web sites!

Here are a few links to other Morecambe and Wise web sites I have found on the net. If you find a worthy link please drop me a line so that I can add it to this links list for subsequent visitors to explore.

Visit Tim Lomas's Morecambe and Wise web site - a true shrine!

Another shrine page from Tim this time featuring Eric Morecambe at dircon.com

Another web page by Tim, this time a Radio and TV Guide

Just to prove Tim does not hold a monopoly a tribute to Eric Morecambe from planetcomedy!

Carry On Videos and DVDs

The Morecambe and Wise Desktop Theme is my tribute to the comic duo from the 60's, 70's and 80's. The Theme features themed start-up and shutdown screens, choice of two different hi-colour (24-bit) desktop wallpaper, animated cursor set and new desktop icons. Also included are new event sounds taken from various Morecambe and Wise comedy sketches. As if that was not enough, we have included a full feature screensaver made using Screen Saver by Tim Lomas at the web's premier Morecambe and Wise web site. Full installation instructions are provided in the Readme file and the whole theme is available in a convenient zip file to download.

If you don't have a copy of Microsoft Plus! help is at hand in the form of Desktop Themes, a shareware desktop theme manager published by Jonathan Potter at Left Side Software. Click on to get your copy.

The following thumbnails will give you an idea of the screens used in this theme.

Click here to download the Morecambe and Wise Desktop Theme Version 1.0 (2.4Mb)

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You can now use GetRight.Com's downloading Utility GetRight for Java to download this desktop theme. Click on the GetRight Download button that follows to download the Morecambe and Wise Desktop Theme using GetRight for Java instead of your browsers usual download tool. Check out my Download Problems page to find out how to use this facility and for more great tips on how you can improve your downloads using Net Vampire.

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