Morecombe and Wise Statue

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Dr Jimmy Whittaker kindly sent the following (in September 2018):

In 1997, Nick Monro was commissioned by the Arts Council to produce a statue to commemorate “British Genius” at an exhibition to be held at Battersea Park, South London.

The statue he produced was a larger-than-life sculpture of the comedy duo Eric Morecombe and Ernie Wise. It subsequently could be seen standing in a field beside the A4 close to Hopgrass with a notice which read: "This fibreglass sculpture was commissioned for the British Genius exhibition in Battersea in 1977”.

The artist, Nick Monro, was then invited to include it in a major sculpture exhibition in Regents Park. After residents had petitioned for its removal as being "too vulgar" it was then shown in Sheffield.

Around 1980, the statue was given to John Makepeace, the furniture designer, who had it installed in the grounds of Parnham House, Dorset where it remained until it returned to a field close to Hopgrass Farm House around 2001.

The statues was last seen around 2010 in a field in South Wales according to the Morecombe and Wise website.

An article in the NWN was entitled "Remember when Eric and Ernie brought us sunshine?", NWN 20 Sep 2018.

Other well-known works by Nick Monro include "Six Max Walls", "Two Grand Pianos", "Morris Dancers" and "The Waiters’ Race."

Photo Gallery:

Hopgrass Farm Morecombe and Wise 1977

Hopgrass Farm Morecombe and Wise 1978

Nick Monros King Kong 1972

- Morecombe and Wise Statue at Hopgrass Farm, 1978 (kindly sent by Dr Jimmy Whittaker, Sep 2018)

- Nick Monro's King King Statue, 1972 (kindly sent by Dr Jimmy Whittaker, Sep 2018)