A SELF-CONFESSED nutter will be displaying his collection of coathangers on television next week.

Retired post office manager Bob Browning will show his famous collection to the nation to put Malmesbury under the spotlight again.

The town made national news during last month's flooding, and Abbey House Gardens, Malmesbury Abbey and other historic Malmesbury sites were featured in television programmes earlier this year.

Now it is the turn of Mr Browning, 62, who will appear next Thursday on ITV's Antiques Trail at 7.30pm.

The programme will focus on the collection of around 600 coat-hangers which Mr Browning has gathered over the past ten years.

The collection is made up mainly of wooden coat-hangers dating from the late 1800s when coat-hangers were first invented, to designs in the early and mid-20th century.

It includes coat-hangers from long-forgotten hosiers, hatters, tailors and dry-cleaners; defunct shipping lines, trains, railway hotels and airline companies; military regiments and famous old hotels.

There are also examples of modern fold-up coat-hangers, inflatable coat-hangers, decorative children's coat-hangers and even designer coat-hangers from Gucci and Georgio Armani, and Anne Summers.

Mr Browning said: "They have to be a bit different for me to collect them.

"What really fascinates me is the social history and stories behind each coat-hanger."

He said he began his collection when he spotted a German coat-hanger in a cupboard in a Portuguese hotel.

He said: "Finding a German coat-hanger in Madeira and bringing it back to England appealed to my nutter's sense of humour."

He said his favourite coat-hangers were cardboard representations of former Beatles members, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

He said: "It's such a pity I don't have the other two."

The coat-hanger collection will be on display at Corsham Library next month.

Mr Browning said he first started collecting as a child, gathering cheese labels and matchboxes.

He said: "Collections give me such a buzz. There's something a bit mad and different about collectors. I like eccentricity and take it as a compliment. I so dislike grey and ordinary."

Mr Browning's other collections include around eighty walking sticks, more than 200 sick-bags with logos from various airlines, and about fifty bricks from all over the United Kingdom which he has used to create a path in his garden.

Mr Browning said: "You're either a collector or you're not. People who don't collect will never understand people who do, while collectors can't understand people who don't."

Mr Browning gives talks about his collections to about 40 clubs and organisations each year. He also carves Welsh love-spoons, and is publicity officer for Malmesbury and District Link, which provides transport for the elderly and disabled.

He moved from Swindon to Malmesbury to work as postman in 1970 and was manager of the High Street sorting office from 1991 to 1996.