Andrew Broughton still remembers the first celebrity autograph he ever got. “It started by accident,” he says, when he was 13 and doing a project about horror films at school. “I love Hammer horror. I wrote a letter to [actor] Peter Cushing and sent it to the BBC. A large envelope came back and a lovely letter. He sent me some signed film stills. So I got the bug. I just thought: there’s nothing to stop me writing to anybody.”
Since then, Broughton, 62, has collected autographs from some of the biggest stars in TV, film, music and sports, as well as royalty, politicians and world leaders. The walls of his home in Derby are covered in framed signed photos from the late queen, King Charles, Diana, Princess of Wales, Brigitte Bardot, John Travolta, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Muhammad Ali. Broughton supplements the signatures he requests with ones he has bought at auctions and private sales. He estimates he has 10,000 in his collection.
