Devon couple build ultimate Elvis Presley shrine in family home
Watch: This Elvis Cuckoo Clock plays a new song every hour (credit: BPM Media)
A pair of Elvis Presley fans have turned their home in Devon into a shrine in dedication to the artist.
From belt buckles to cardboard cut-outs, Marcus and Marina Weetman have filled their home in Southway, Plymouth, with memorabilia of ‘The King’ but Martin’s favourite is the cuckoo clock.
It was bought for him by his parents and Elvis pops out the doors with a new song when the clock strikes the hour.
They have collected roughly 12,000 recordings of various tracks along with diamond paintings but have limited their collection to one room to avoid it taking over their home.
Marcus said: "A lot of fans have it all over the house but I think you've got to have a little bit of conformity.
"It's no good having Elvis pictures all over your living room and having people coming in like 'oh God'.
"I've got my room upstairs where I can lock myself away."
The pair run Devon and Cornwall’s Official Elvis Presley Fan Club, which has put on events and gigs in the area for the past four years.
They have been unable to run any events in the past 18 months because of the pandemic but they are committed to holding a series of gigs in the coming months.
Marcus’ journey to the Fan Club began in 1969 when he first started idolising Elvis.
He said: "I don't know how I got into it really because my parents were all into country and western. I think it's because I saw a concert on the TV and that was it.
"It's everything, it's the whole package. He was a very generous person.
"It's the charisma he oozes when on stage or in some of his films.
"His love of music obviously, he likes country, he likes blues but his favourite music is gospel.
"Sometimes I go upstairs and put on a gospel album and just drift away.
"He looked good from the early days and I think it got better in the early seventies when he started doing Vegas, he looked absolutely amazing then."
Astonishingly, Marina was not even a fan of Elvis before she met Marcus at a darts competition at Butlins - but her fascination developed as their relationship grew.
She said: "Before I met him, I wasn't a fan.
"I married him 24 years ago and it was like marrying Elvis, we actually had a rock and roll wedding.
"All our friends dressed in rock and roll gear, we hardly saw each other all evening because he's a fantastic rock and roll dancer.
"I couldn't dance so he was out there dancing with all the girls and I was amazed by him.
"What he knows about Elvis is amazing, there's nothing that he doesn't know, down to his army number and everything, he's a massive fan."
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