Laurel and Hardy Museum

If you're heading to The Lakes, make sure you visit Ulverston and see the unique item I've loaned to the museum

I've always been a fan of early film comedy, particularly Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. In around 2004 Stan Laurel's nephew auctioned off his collection of personal items, the star lot being a silver flask.

So determined was I to have something that once belonged to one of my heroes, I bid. And bid. And bid again. There was stiff competition and even though my head told me "I'm out" my heart kept on bidding. Eventually, it came down to me (on the phone) and a bidder in the room. My adversary was clearly not going to give up. Realising this I thought I'd make him/her pay by pushing up the price even more. So I bid. And bid. And bid again. "One more, that'll show them!" At which point there was silence. The voice on the phone said, "It's with you at £XXXX - while in the background I could hear, "Going once, twice, going three times - SOLD!" I managed a limp "Wonderful" and then felt ill thinking how I'd explain such a purchase to my then girlfriend.

Well, anyway, it's years down the line now and I'm glad I bought it. Items like this don't come around often. Recently I decided it should be enjoyed by everyone and offered it to the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Ulverston, the town Stan was born in 1890, where it's now on loan.

The description in the auction's brochure reads: A three and a half inch silver-plated spirited flask formerly the property of Stan Laurel's father and later Stan Laurel himself, inscribed "To Uncle Jeff from a few Pals of the Eden [he was a theatre manager, and this was the Eden Theatre in Bishop Aukland] April 29th, 1925, Bishop Aukland" and later inscription "To my dear son, Stan, from Dad, Aug: 1932".