Warwickshire Star Wars fan collects thousands of toys

A long time ago in a city far, far away, a young boy began collecting Star Wars stationery – nearly four decades later, he now lives in Warwickshire and has one of the most extensive collections of vintage memorabilia in the country.

Craig Spivey, 44, has been collecting memorabilia from the $28bn film franchise for 38 years and has since amassed thousands of valuable toys, stationery sets, costumes, set pieces, novelty gifts and books - and part of the original Millennium Falcon.

The creative director started collecting Star Wars stationery aged just seven years old, when the first film hit the silver screen.

The sci-fi enthusiast’s passion for collectibles really began when he moved to Coventry for university, where he saw two figures in an Oxfam shop. He says that at the time it was still cheap to collect Star Wars figures.

The latest film in the saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is released today, and super-fan Craig will obviously be going to watch it.

He says his children do appreciate the films, having grown up around them, but that there are lots film franchises that Star Wars has to compete with these days.