A Hull of an auction

How could any car lover ever forget that famous moment in 2014 when Jaguar Land Rover announced they had purchased the entire car collection amassed by dentist Dr James Hull for a rumoured £100 million? This was believed to be the country's largest private collection and consisted of no less than 543 cars, which Dr Hull would only sell as one lot as he wanted it to remain intact with the new owner. Four years on, there was much excitement when news broke in February that a hundred surplus vehicles from this collection would be sold in a dedicated 'Affordable Classics' sale by Brightwells at Bicester Heritage on 21st March.

Just a small selection. Not what you might have expected from Dr Hull's collection.

I unfortunately wasn't able to attend in person but I've crunched some numbers and come up with my analysis of the auction. All figures quoted are the hammer prices, to which VAT and a 10% premium had to be added so the final costs were significantly higher.

Corneal surgery update

There's been another long absence from the blog but this time with good reason. Long-time readers may remember the corneal graft surgery I had way back in November 2016. As that was so long ago, you can be forgiven for thinking I was fully recovered by now but you'd be wrong as healing is a very slow process where eyes are concerned. On Monday 5th March I finally had the stitches removed from the graft, almost 18 months after they were put in, which meant another operation at the John Radcliffe Hospital, but this would be a day case under local anaesthetic.