A film fan turned his Midland home into a unique 15,000-strong movie archive – and now it’s going under the hammer.<\/p>\n
Award-winning cinema writer and impassioned film champion, Anthony Sherratt, not only wrote the features he watched \u2013 he collected them \u2013 almost all of them!<\/p>\n
The 90-year-old worked on BirminghamLive\u2019s sister title, the Tamworth<\/a> Herald, for most of his working life and collected more than 15,000 DVDs, Blu-rays, LaserDiscs and film soundtracks.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Best pub in UK’ hoping to make history once again<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n He also built comprehensive collections of movie publications and reviews, turning his home into a treasure trove celebrating a century of the silver screen.<\/p>\n The collection is a film buff\u2019s paradise, encompassing everything from Hollywood classics to modern blockbusters.<\/p>\n His collection includes westerns, science fiction, action, romance, drama, musicals, comedy, crime, film noir, thrillers, horror, disaster movies, fantasy, superhero, animation, adventure, war, historical epics.<\/p>\n Some of Anthony Sherratt’s DVD collection<\/p>\n His own favourites were Francis Ford Coppola mafia-inspired Oscar winner, The Godfather and musical comedy, My Fair Lady. The collection also includes numerous signed photos from movie stars and directors, mainly from the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n Mr Sherratt died on July 1 and now his archive is being offered by Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Lichfield<\/a> Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park.<\/p>\n Read more: Man charged with killing woman, controlling behaviour and attacks<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Given the size of the collection it is being auctioned in instalments, which are expected to be sold over three to four months, going under the hammer every week from Monday, October 20.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was passionate about film and had an extensive collection of films on every format, thousands of vinyl soundtracks, and film publications,\u201d said Mr Sherratt\u2019s nephew Jason Garbett.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d go round and there would be a different film on every time \u2013 it was a treasure trove of movies. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema and would put together lists matching up double features and tributes to Hollywood stars.<\/p>\n \u201cTony was as interested in new films and modern cinema as he was in vintage classics. Right up until his dying day he was still ordering films from America.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony Sherratt worked at the Tamworth Herald’ most of his working life and became its film critic in the mid-1990s<\/p>\n Born in 1935, Mr Sherratt was at the Herald for most of his working life and became the TV and film critic in the mid-1990s, moving into a job where his passion became his work.<\/p>\n As well as the Herald, his columns were a popular feature of sister titles, including the Lichfield Mercury.<\/p>\n He spent many years travelling up and down the country visiting film festivals, press screenings and movie premieres, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty and interviewing stars and directors, including Jack Nicholson in 1998 for the Journal magazine in Sutton Coldfield<\/a> and Walsall<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anthony Sherratt interviewed Hollywood stars including Jack Nicholson<\/p>\n The longstanding Tamworth resident was well-known in the community as a champion of film and he was instrumental in bringing the UCI multi-screen cinema to the town \u2013 now an Odeon Luxe.<\/p>\n Opening in June 1991, the complex arranged a special screening of Ridley Scott\u2019s Thelma & Louise in his honour. A member of the Guild Of Regional Film Writers, Mr Sherratt won The Ainsworth Award For Film Journalism in 1994.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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