UK

With hindsight, the boast made by the Flying Steam Company – 'To China in Twenty-Four Hours Certain' – was a tad ambitious.

A note penned in December 1963 by Mary Elizabeth Smith from The Mendips, Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, to a Miss V Stoker of 54 Pirton Road, Hitchin, sold for £1300 to a UK online bidder at Wolverhampton saleroom Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 19.

Classic Hammer Horror film posters are always popular at auction. This example below was probably the first UK quad release of The Hound of The Baskervilles (1959) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

While the Grand Hotel, Birmingham, may not have the same ring as Hotel California, in the Sixties it was the place to check in. And even leave afterwards.

The late Michael Armstrong was such a film fanatic that when the local cinema closed in his home town in 1993 he opened his own mini replica in his garage, complete with recycled fixtures and fittings.

Talented amateur artist enjoyed riding excursions with the author to antiquarian sites

A highlight of the Omega (28% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Punk, Indie & New Wave auction on January 26 was an original listing poster for the Sex Pistols’ ill-fated 1976 Anarchy tour.

Three previously unheard tracks by the band that went on to become Radiohead surfaced thanks to a demo cassette that sold at Merseyside auction house Omega (28% buyer’s premium inc VAT).

More Mod Brit delights from the Freer collection kept in a house full to bursting point

Portraits boosted takings at Mallams’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest picture sale in Oxford.

The Affordable Art Fair has announced its live show dates this year in London, New York, Melbourne, Hong Kong and cities in Europe.

While the Museum of Power at Maldon in Essex does not yet have a firm date for reopening – to gaze at the original mighty steam-pumping machines – Steve Haddon of Haddon Events can still make use of the site.

“We are super-excited to be reopening our Flea London again on Saturday, April 17, after so long and we are planning on 27 stalls and 10 container shops here at Vinegar Yard,” enthused Christian Scrimgeour about her fleamarket held a few minutes from London Bridge Station.

They sang about a Champagne Supernova but ‘24 large cans of quality lager’ were more to their taste when Oasis stipulated their needs for band and crew at an early gig.

American film producer Elliott Kastner (1930- 2010) was responsible for many well-known movies including The Long Goodbye (1973), The Missouri Breaks (1976) and Angel Heart (1987).

Thirteen lots in the exotically named Dr Atomicas Journey into Cool auction at Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on May 7 have been consigned from an individual who worked for 30 years in the film industry with some of the biggest names.

Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, has been a favourite subject in art since ancient times.

First published in the UK as a ‘Collins Crime Club’ title in 1970, an Agatha Christie novel brought a bid of £850 at Claydon Auctioneers (19.5% buyer’s premium).

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

The name Abbey Road has gone far beyond its significance as a smart street in north London thanks to renowned music studios and a seminal album