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I know it's only rock`n'roll, but I don't like it

David Lister,Arts News Editor
Wednesday 06 August 1997 23:02 BST
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A woman who says she does not particularly like rock music has won thousands of pounds worth of rock memorabilia in a competition and now faces a hefty insurance bill for the mini-museum she will now have in her living room.

Julie Morris, 29, a manager with an educational supplies unit - at the urging of her husband (also not a rock fan) - won a competition on the Atlantic 252 radio station and earned as her prize the gold eagle from Michael Jackson's jacket, a personalised platinum Spice Girls disc, a keyboard from The Lightning Seeds, a pair of shoes from Boyzone, Gary Barlow's piano stool and Sheryl Crow's Fender Telecaster guitar.

A slightly bewildered Mrs Morris said yesterday she liked middle-of-the- road music, and had a hankering for Wet Wet Wet. She had rearranged her living room in Swinton, Manchester, to put the Jackson eagle in its glass case neatly over the fireplace and Barlow's piano stool by the window. The Spice Girls disc went with the wallpaper - more or less.

"I imagine I will have to insure it all," she sighed. "I'm slightly worried. It's a bit strange having all this in a three bedroom semi. I suppose I could always open a rock museum and charge people pounds 3 an hour."

Henry Owen, station manager at Atlantic 252, added: "We always try to come up with an idea that is a little off-the-wall and offer our audience something money can't buy. So as we interviewed each star we got a little something from them. The guitars alone are worth pounds 2,500 each, so yes I suppose insurance is something that Julie will have to consider."

Other memorabilia that Mrs Morris will have to find space for in her living room include: a fishing rod from Cast; a dress from Alisha's Attic; a bass guitar from Ocean Colour Scene; Skunk Anansie's gold disc, and an autographed, limited edition Erasure box set.

Atlantic 252's brand manager, Darren Thomas, said: "We'd never go so far as to suggest that Atlantic 252 can change your life. But it can certainly change your living room."

The Morrises will, it seems, have to admire their mini museum themselves. If they were to open it to the public it would constitute a change of use for the house, and planning permission would be required.

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