Eddie Braben (born 31 October 1930) is a comedy writer and performer who has provided material for such figures as David Frost and Ronnie Corbett, and who is most famous for having written for Ken Dodd and Morecambe and Wise.

Braben was born in Liverpool, England on Halloween 1930. As a child he was entranced by radio comedy and particularly that of Arthur Askey. After school he followed his parents into market trading, manning a fruit and veg stall. In spare moments he wrote jokes, frequently on the back of the brown paper bags he used to package his goods.

Braben is married and lives in North Wales. He has three children and five grandchildren. His grandson, Owen Braben, is a TV producer at ITV

Although shy, he sent jokes to whichever comedians were appearing in Liverpool. His first was sold to Charlie Chester for 2s 6d, but his first major success was with Ken Dodd, with whom he worked for 12 years. Dodd's style was good training for Braben because his relentless delivery averaged around seven jokes a minute. Writing a five or 10-minute set was hard work.

Miranda Katharine Hart Dyke (born 14 December 1972), known professionally as Miranda Hart, is an English actress, writer and stand-up comedienne. She writes and stars in the BBC sitcom Miranda. She also appeared in French and Saunders, the BBC television series Hyperdrive and her semi-autobiographical sitcom Miranda Hart's Joke Shop on BBC Radio 2. In 2012, she began appearing in the BBC drama Call the Midwife as "Chummy Browne".

Born in Torquay, Devon, to Royal Navy officer David Hart Dyke and Diana Margaret Luce, Hart grew up in Petersfield, Hampshire. She was educated at Downe House, Berkshire, an independent girls' boarding school, where she was a contemporary and friend of the sports presenter Clare Balding, who was head girl. She graduated with a 2:1 degree in political science from the University of the West of England, followed by training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. Despite reading Politics at University, she always wanted to be a comedienne. In 2002, she did a solo show in Edinburgh, and in 2004 she pitched a comedy show to the BBC. At her read-through for BBC executives, Jennifer Saunders was there, laughing throughout.

John Eric Bartholomew OBE (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the award-winning double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death of a heart attack in 1984. Eric took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe.

He is best remembered for the television series The Morecambe & Wise Show, which for some of its Christmas episodes gained UK viewing figures of over twenty-eight million people. The duo's reputation enabled them to have a number of prestigious guests on the show, including Angela Rippon, Cliff Richard, Laurence Olivier, John Mills, the Dad's Army cast, Glenda Jackson, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Elton John, The Beatles and even former Prime Minister Harold Wilson.^{[citation needed]}

Eric Morecambe was born as John Eric Bartholomew to George and Sadie Bartholomew. Sadie was determined to see her only child make a success of his life, and took work as a waitress to raise funds for his dancing lessons. He didn't enjoy these lessons at the time, although they were to come in handy during his later life. During this period, Eric Bartholomew won numerous talent contests, most notably in Hoylake in 1940, the prize for which was an audition with Jack Hylton. Also present was another young talent named Ernest Wiseman, already a familiar voice from Arthur Askey's radio series Band Waggon.^{[citation needed]} This was the first meeting of what was to become one of the United Kingdom's most loved comedy partnerships, although it was to be a further two years before they would team up. Three months after the audition, Hylton invited Eric to join a revue called Youth Takes a Bow at the Nottingham Empire, where once more he encountered Ernie. The two soon became very close friends, and with Sadie's encouragement started to develop a double act. In 1940, Eric left school at the age of 14.^{[citation needed]}