As an obsessive hoarder, I am often asked: "Why do you hoard things? What is your favourite thing to hoard? and Have you ever been on Going for a Song?"
For someone whose condition is borderline obsessive-compulsive-competative-completist (OCCC) these are not easy questions to answer but, forced into a corner (where I find 27 identical pristine copies of the The Poxwell Parish Magazine each in its own individual protective plastic sheath) I would reply: It's my mother's fault, newspapers and frequently but never with Arthur Negus.
Whilst the condition can be inconvenient (I haven't found the bathroom door since 1986 and would now desperately like to) and even debilitating - I have been in a state of hypertension since I discovered that the Corfe Mullen Christmas Annual had a Supplement to the 1975 edition, the absence of which has forever ruined any pleasure I might have derived from an otherwise complete 1886-2017 run - it can have its advantages. Only last week I was asked "Do you have a copy of the Goathill Daily Gerald for Monday October 19 1962?"; to which I was able instantly to respond: "Indeed I have... would you like the lunchtime or early evening edition?"
Those who have never suffered from this strange yet fascinating disorder (TSYFD) will find it hard to believe that this is the case, so the edition in question is reproduced below to remove all doubt. If anyone out there has the late evening edition of the same, I would be pleased to hear from them. I owned it once but foolishly lent it to my wife to read shortly before she disappeared in late October 1962. No trace has been found of her - or more worryingly - the newspaper in question. I took out an advertisement at the time which I remember well: "Wife and newspaper missing. Reward for newspaper." There was a poor response.
Front page of The Goathill Daily Gerald of Monday October 19 1962 which records the marriage of former Radio Thrupiece presenter Hester Nicely-Pointy to Gerald, Lord Garden. It is amongst OCCC sufferer Will Self-Storage's 2.34 million most prized items.
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