From posters advertising Ben Hur to The Great Escape, Hartlepool man Brett Childes had amassed a huge collection of big screen mementoes before his death at 68 in October last year.

Keen collectors gathered at an auction house in Newcastle on Thursday to bid for everything from posters of Braveheart to the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker.

In all, 48 lots were up for auction with an estimated asking price of around £3,000. The lively auction saw umpteen bidders in the room as well as via telephone.

But they fetched £4,000, with some fetching way beyond their expected amount.

One poster for the Great Escape had a price estimate of £200 to £300 and sold for £850.

Another for The Day of the Triffids made £160 while Reach for the Sky was sold for £290.

Fine art auctioneers Anderson & Garland held the sale at their base in Newbiggin Lane, Westerhope, in Newcastle.

John Anderson is the partner in the company and the man who originally viewed the collection at Mr Childes' home.

He said: "Most things were making more than their estimate.
There was a strong attendance and strong interest in the auction including four telephone bidders.

"We had three or four people who came from the south of England and one man from Birmingham who was there from 8am to view the sale."

Mr Childes, of Thornhill Gardens, in Hartlepool, died from acute myeloid leukaemia.

He left a collection including books, posters and other goodies in his loft and bequeathed it all to a close friend Reuben Clarke, also 68, from the outskirts of Hartlepool, who had cared for Mr Childes in the final years of his life.

Mr Childes was manager of the Odeon Cinema, in the town, from April 1968 until June 1979 before moving to the Odeon, in Sunderland.

He never married or had children and left his entire estate to his friend.

He was manager of picture houses all over the region and his posters had prices of anything from £40 to £500 in auction.