Robbie Williams joked he was ‘bidding away his children’s inherence’ as he forked out £200,000 for his comedy idol Eric Morecombe’s glᴀsses and pipe.

The singer, 50, who shares four kids with wife Ayda Fields, 45, took to Instagram on Sunday with snaps of him modelling the memorabilia after BBC reported he paid a whopping ten times more than the £2,000 – £4,000 estimate.

Huge fan Robbie said he’s been left crying ‘childlike tears’ after winning the imitation tortoiseshell Metzler glᴀsses and pipe which he bought as a reward for his upcoming 51st birthday and for the hard work promoting his biopic Better Man, which bombed at the box office. 

Eric, who died 58 in 1984, sH๏τ to fame with comedy partner Ernie Wise and together were the biggest stars on UK TV, making history in 1977 when 28M viewers watched their iconic Christmas special. 

Taking to Instagram Robbie wrote:  ‘So I treated myself to a done-loads-of-promo-for-my-film prezzie. Also, with my birthday coming up I thought it might be a 2 for one. There was an auction for some of Eric Morecambe’s personal effects’.

‘Real Digital Mike who does all of my digital stuff was appointed Chief Bidder for me as I was in Los Angeles about to board a plane. As it happens, I got to watch the lot being auctioned live. My iPhone and Mike’s iPhone acting like walkie-talkies’.

Robbie Williams joked he was ‘bidding away his children’s inherence’ as he forked out £200,000 for his comedy idol Eric Morecombe’s glᴀsses and pipe last month

The singer, 50, took to Instagram with snaps of him modelling the memorabilia after BBC reported he had paid a whopping ten times more than the £2,000 – £4,000 estimate (Eric Morecambe pictured 1980)

Robbie and wife wife Ayda Fields, 45, share Teddy, 12,  Charlie, nine, Coco, five, and three-year-old Beau

Robbie and Ayda shield their children’s faces on social meida 

He continued: ‘“What should I do Ayd’s?” I nervously kept asking my wife. “Keep bidding” Ayda says with the steely determination of someone bursting through an electronics store door on Black Friday… “Keep going Mike” I say. This vignette of conversation would repeat itself several times over the next 10 minutes’.

‘To be honest, I think we would have gone down with the bidding ship. Our determination now fully on some primal compeтιтive and irrational s*** – “But darling, we’re now going through the children’s inheritance”…….”F*** em”’

‘In short we “Won”. Real Digital Mike kept pressing the bid ʙuттon and the internet responded in kind by logging his request. “going once, going twice……Sold to the bidder on the internet”’.

‘Then tears, Mine. Happy childlike tears. You see, I guess we all need friends-we-never-meet from off the telly. Eric has always been mine. An Uncle of sorts. To the very core of me, Eric Morecambe’s spirit has been salve for my soul. How Eric made me feel is how I want to make people feel. What a gift to be able to create such joy and have that joy be present just by thinking of them’.

‘I will commune with Eric’s Glᴀsses, ask questions and maybe get some answers. “What Would Eric Do?” Now I can ask him. Eric, you were and are the very best of the very best. That sunshine you asked for. You gave to me. Your Fan, Robert x’.

Better Man is a semi-biographical movie follows the star’s meteoric rise to fame as a member of Take That and subsequent dramatic fall, as he battled with his personal demons and the challenges that success can bring.

But in a twist on the genre, the pop star is portrayed as a chimpanzee in the film, while everyone else is human, with Jonno Davies acting the movements via motion capture technology and Robbie doing most of the voice work.

While it’s been hugely popular with critics and reached number five at the box office in the UK, international audiences haven’t been convinced.

Huge fan Robbie said he’s been left crying ‘childlike tears’ after winning the imitation tortoiseshell Metzler glᴀsses and pipe 

He said he bought them. as a reward for his upcoming 51st birthday and for the hard work promoting his biopic Better Man, which bombed at the box office

Taking to Instagram Robbie wrote: ‘So I treated myself to a done-loads-of-promo-for-my-film prezzie. Also, with my birthday coming up’

After its release, the film was considered a box office bomb in the US as it made $1.1 million despite a budget of $110 million. The film did however perform better in the UK, but still not as well as predicted. 

As clips from the film have started circulating on social media, baffled Americans are admitting they have ‘never heard of him’ – and Brits could not believe it.

Read More Robbie Williams thanks his ‘lower than average sized-penis’ in wild acceptance speech at AACTA Awards as biopic Better Man sweeps up at Aussie Oscars

Taking to X, Americans quipped: ‘What the hell is up with this “Robbie Williams” monkey CGI movie Nobody in America has a CLUE who that is…. And like me probably got excited for Robin Williams then was like oh…. Why’re they advertising like this is a big deal.’

‘Who is Robbie Williams and why does he have a biopic where he is a cartoon monkey?’

‘Who tf is Robbie Williams? Why are people mad that Americans are not interested in whatever movie he’s ᴀssociated with?’

‘I had to look up who Robbie Williams is. Apparently he is some British guy who sings.’

‘In the trailer Robbie states he’s one of the biggest pop stars in the world. I literally never heard of him. Nor do I want to watch biopic of him.’

But, British fans were quick to explain and furiously defend the pop star, writing: ‘That’s insane. Idk how you haven’t heard of him or take that.’

‘Just recently discovered that americans have no idea who robbie williams is and that’s absolutely blown my mind because how.’

‘375,000 people over 3 nights went to knebworth just to watch Robbie Williams, he broke out in Europe, Asia, South America, his tours have grossed over $600 million. But Americans make fun of him and question his popularity because he wasn’t as big in North America? Get a grip.’

Eric (L) who died 58 in 1984, sH๏τ to fame with comedy partner Ernie Wise  (R) and together were the biggest stars on UK TV, making history in 1977 when 28M viewers watched their iconic Christmas special

Better Man is a semi-biographical movie follows the star’s meteoric rise to fame as a member of Take That and subsequent dramatic fall, as he battled with his personal demons and the challenges that success can bring 

While it’s been hugely popular with critics and reached number five at the box office in the UK, international audiences haven’t been convinced 

‘Americans: “who even is robbie williams” robbie williams: biggest selling solo artist in the uk, most brit awards of any artist, every album getting to number 1, numerous guinness world records, one of the biggest selling music artists of all time…’

‘Americans slandering Robbie Williams for Rock DJ as if it is not one of the best songs ever made.’

‘I don’t understand why the robbie Williams movie is getting so much hate from Americans lol just don’t watch it?’

‘Need the hating ᴀss americans to keep robbie williams’ name out of their mouths tbh if you dont get it then thats on you the man is a superstar.’

And over on TikTok, another Brit posted a TikTok sticking up for the star, which has racked up a whopping two million views in just days.

The user, who posts under the handle @sophiegotsleeved, wrote: ‘Americans bullying Robbie Williams but what they fail to understand is he signed the biggest recording deal in British music history (£80m) making him one of the highest paid singers in the world.