Editing Eric Morecambe (section)

==Early life and childhood career==
{{Moresources|section|date=December 2022}}
Eric Morecambe was born at 12.30pm on Friday, 14 May 1926 at 42 Buxton Street, Morecambe, Lancashire<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.zani.co.uk/archive/film-archive/item/317-the-legendary-eric-morecambe-and-ernie-wise-part-one-of-two|title=The Legendary Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Part One of Two|last1=Marcus|first1=Laurence}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8142000/8142137.stm|title = Eric statue brings lasting sunshine|date = 9 July 2009}}</ref> to George and Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" (née Robinson) Bartholomew. He was christened on 6 June as John Eric Bartholomew.<ref>Eric Morecambe Unseen: The Lost Diaries, Jokes and Photographs – William Cook</ref> Sadie took work as a waitress to raise funds for his dancing lessons. During this period, Eric Bartholomew won numerous talent contests, including one in [[Hoylake]] in 1940 for which the prize was an audition in Manchester for [[Jack Hylton]]. Three months after the audition, Hylton invited Morecambe to join a revue called ''Youth Takes a Bow''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sellers, Robert.|title=Little Ern! : the authorized biography of Ernie Wise|date=2011|publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd|others=Hogg, James, 1971–|isbn=978-0-283-07150-8|location=London|oclc=730403484}}</ref> at the [[Nottingham]] Empire, where he met [[Ernie Wise|Ernest Wiseman]], who had been appearing in the show for some years as "Ernest Wise".<ref>Theatre Programme: 10 July 1939, London Palladium, ''Band Waggon'', a revue which incorporated a segment "Youth Takes a Bow" featuring "Ernest Wise".</ref> The two soon became very close friends, and with Sadie's encouragement started to develop a [[double act]].

When the two were eventually allowed to perform their double act on stage (in addition to their solo spots), Hylton was impressed enough to make it a regular feature in the revue. However, the duo were separated when they came of age for their [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|War Service]] during the final stages of the [[World War II|Second World War]]. Wise joined the [[Merchant Navy]], while Morecambe was conscripted to become a [[Bevin Boy]] and worked as a coal miner in [[Accrington]] from May 1944 onwards.