Mr Plantagenet's first acquisition was Depeche Mode, which he bought from an Oxfam shop for a pound. "It was quite a bargain," he said. "Okay, it wasn't complete because the drummer was missing and the bass player was slightly scratched. That kind of thing can seriously affect the value, but I didn't care. For me it was real find."

Over the next few years Mr Plantagenet gradually built up his collection, adding the likes of Heaven Seventeen, Level 42, Wham and two different versions of Bucks Fizz. But recent eighties revivals have forced up the prices of many groups, to the point where bands like Culture Club or Erasure can change hands at auction for tens of thousands of pounds. This is most definitely out of Mr Plantagenet's price range and has seriously dented his hopes of ever owning his ultimate dream group, Duran Duran.

Simon le Pompom