Robbie Williams bought Eric Morecambe’s glasses for £20,000 at auction

A lifetime of showbiz memorabilia and personal items from the comedian's former home, Brachefield in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, were sold in January.

The imitation tortoiseshell Metzler glasses and pipe went for far in excess of their £2,000 to £4,000 estimate - fetching £20,000.

The glasses were sold alongside Eric’s Barling briar pipe and two black-and-white photographs of him with the spectacles.

In a post on social media, Williams said he treated himself to the items ahead of his 51st birthday.

"I guess we all need friends-we-never-meet from off the telly. Eric has always been mine. An uncle of sorts," he said in the post.

Williams, who has spent recent months publicising his new semi-autobiographical film Better Man, said he appointed one of his team to be "chief bidder", as he was in Los Angeles and about to

board an aeroplane when the bidding began.

He managed to watch a lot of the auction online, spurred on by his wife Ayda Field Williams who told him to "keep bidding" when he had doubts.

He admitted to crying "happy, childlike tears" when he won the bidding war.

Williams continued: "Eric, you were and are the very best of the very best.

"That sunshine you asked for, you gave to me."

Morecambe met comedy partner Ernie Wise in 1940, aged 14, and despite a wartime separation formed an enduring double-act.

They had many lean years touring theatres before they broke into TV, appearing on both ITV and the BBC, and by 1977 their Christmas BBC special was watched by 28 million viewers, at a time when there were only three channels in the UK.

The comedian died of a heart attack aged 58 in 1984 and his family home's contents were put up for sale after his widow, Joan, died aged 97, in March.

Their daughter Gail Stuart, who lives in Northamptonshire, said she and her brothers Gary and Steven decided to give fans the opportunity to own some of his belongings, more than 800 of which went under the hammer.