The Josephine Tewson Collection

Featuring in our forthcoming Collectors’ Sale on 11th-13th March is an iconic piece of comedy history. Featuring in The Frost Report in 1966, ‘Three Men’ (often known as the Class sketch) was written by Marty Feldman and John Law and starred John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in a brief skit which has become one of the best loved comedy moments of British television. This original script is estimated at £300-500 and is from an extensive collection of scripts, press photograph and ephemera in this auction from the estate of actress Josephine Tewson (1931-2022). Tewson was a regular feature on the Frost Report and many other subsequent Ronnie Barker projects, becoming his lead female comedy foil. During a career which spanned seven decades Tewson starred in T.V. series’ including Z-cars, Keeping up Appearances, Last of the Summer Wine, The Two Ronnies, Heartbeat and Midsummer Murders, in her private life she was briefly married to Leonard Rossiter. 

The ‘Class sketch’ script is one of many 1960s comedy scripts in the collection, with writers including Ronnie Barker writing under his own name and pseudonym, members of the Monty Python team (prior to their Python fame) and many of the leading comedy lights of the day. The collection offers a window into a golden era of British comedy.