ERIC SYKES (NOTEPAD JULY 2012)
Eric Sykes is one of my comedy heroes. And when he died in 2012 I doodled a sort of memorial inspired by The Plank, one of his most famous films.
I thought it was a nice simple idea, so I drew a slightly neater version, scanned it and using my seriously limited computer skills, just about managed to add some colour. I printed it out and stuck it in a cheap A4 picture frame and plonked it on my desk.
Then I had the idea to get the plank made for real. A quick google led me to a master wood carver called Charles Oldham. Eric Sykes was born in Oldham, so I took this coincidence as a good sign and contacted Charles. Normally he does restoration work for churches and historic buildings like Hampton Court and Windsor Castle, so I wasn’t sure if he’d be interested in carving an old plank of wood. Luckily he was also an Eric Sykes fan and he liked my idea. So, what was once a quick scribble in my notepad, is now a beautifully engraved tribute to one my writing heroes, which hangs on my office wall.