Comedy legend's showbiz collection could fetch £50,000

'It's such an insight into, not just grandad's world, but that of 20th-century comedy in general'

- By COURTNEY EALES ECHO Correspondent

COMEDY legend Arthur Askey’s lifetime collection of showbiz memorabilia from his 60-year career could make £50,000 at auction.

The special collection of items are being sold by his three grandchildren, 43 years after the death of the Liverpool-born star.

The collection consists of more than 220 pieces of memorabilia and is made up of annotated scripts, clothes, jewellery, photographs as well as letters from everyone from Prime Ministers to felllow comedy icons.

The archive is expected to fetch between £30,000 to £50,000 when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on November 13.

It includes letters from comedians such as Stan Laurel and the actor Sir Laurence Olivier as well as PMs Margaret Thatcher and Ted Heath. Hansons Auctioneers’ Victoria Sheppard said: “It is difficult to overstate how big a comedian Arthur Askey was in his day and what a trailblazer he was for British comedy.