IN THE ANNALS of irritating TV robots, Metal Mickey, above, has to top the list, ahead of such cybobores as K9 and the robot from Lost in Space. One person who might not have erased from his memory banks this dire 1980s sitcom (with the theme song “He’s a lot of fun/ He weighs half a tonne”) is the former Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz, who directed it.
Dolenz once lived in a five-bedroom brick house with two acres of garden in Stanton on the Wolds, Nottinghamshire, which is now for sale with Strutt & Parker (01858 433123) for £775,000. While he was there, Dolenz also created Luna, an even more forgettable sitcom starring Patsy Kensit, billed as “The Jetsons meets Happy Days”. Can’t wait for the DVD.
GREY HOUSE FOR SALE: It might not be the most exciting selling point, but you could own the only grey Huf Haus in the country. Some 40 or so of these post-and-beam German chalets, which look like a cross between a Bond villain’s lair and Heidi’s home and have a two-year waiting list, have been built in Britain but all except one in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, are black or white. The four-bedroom grey Huf is being sold by Norgans (01462 455225) for £1 million.
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GET YOUR OFFERS in for the annual Estate Agent of the Year Awards, which are being sponsored by the Property Search Group. If your agent has done a fine job with the tape measure and calculator, encourage him or her to put their name forward. Closing date for entries is February 25.
ONLY 40 OF THE 201 apartments in the Alexandra Tower in Liverpool, launched yesterday, are being offered to the UK market, the rest being sold overseas. Given that AFL, the architects of the tower, are also designing the new Liverpool football ground, could the Merseyside club be planning to buy 160 foreign footballers in exchange for the profits they will make this summer from selling Steven Gerrard, the midfield player, to Chelsea?
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WHILE THE MARKET TRADERS of Albert Square celebrate their 20th anniversary this week, it is the folk of Emmerdale who can claim house-price bragging rights in soapland. The Halifax has worked out that property prices in Skipton, the closest location to the fictional Emmerdale, have increased by 714 per cent over the past 20 years. Homes in Brookside Close went up by 394 per cent, while a Lancashire terrace as in Coronation Street rose 335 per cent. EastEnders homes went up by just 317 per cent over 20 years. Those nasty Mitchells must be scaring off buyers.
Patrick Kidd
patrick.kidd@thetimes.co.uk