Antiques and Collectables

Collecting things is the world's biggest hobby: there are very few people who do not collect something, consciously or otherwise. The perennial popularity of such television programmes as Antiques Roadshow and Bargain Hunt - watched and enjoyed by tens of millions of Britons - is eloquent testimony to its enduring appeal. As a compulsive collector of items as diverse as comics, coronation mugs, British prime ministerial autographs, football memorabilia and wickerwork from Botswana, Hunter Davies is well placed to write about the fascinations and frustrations of 'treasure-hunting'. In Confessions of a Collector he writes affectionately about fifty different collections that he has built up over the years - from first issues of magazines and newspapers to Beatles memorabilia, and from biscuit...