Old Clothes

I was sitting in front of the TV a couple of days ago just watching as I ate my breakfast, when I stumbled onto Bargain Hunt - I know Bargain Hunt is on after mid-day but I have late breakfasts - and Tim Wotchermicallhim told us about a sale item - a pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers. The sellers declared that these had actually been worn by the monarch; expected selling price about £300. The extraordinary things to me were [1] if you bought a pair of Queen Victoria's old pants, what would you do with them and [2] their extraordinary size. They were of tent like proportions. I know Queen Victoria did not suffer from anorexia but these garments were vast beyond belief. The queen was only just over 5ft tall and these pants would have fit snugly around a 5ft waist. Anyway, somebody did buy they - for £4,000. Who was the buyer? Who had so much money to burn? They should be in a museum but I hope it was not a museum that spent so much buying them.

Selling old clothes worn by celebrities has become something of a minor industry in recent years. It is some time now since Arnold Schwarzenegger told us that a lady fan had asked him for a pair of his posing pants. He agreed to send her a pair but he would give them a good wash first. She did not want them washed. She wanted them in as worn condition smelling of sweat and posing oil.

Craig Titus - a great bodybuilder but an appalling man, now locked up for ever for murdering a fitness model with whom he lived and shared a bed [along with his wife] - when he was at the top of his game, realised the potential for selling clothing that he had worn, and offered it for sale on his web site. In fact so much was available in the form of posing trunks, training tops, vests, shirts, etc that we have to wonder if he employed a team of young men who wore the clothing for him so that he could generate enough to make good money. Would you recognise Craig Titus's own personal sweat smell?

I don't think that I have ever felt that i needed to own some sweaty clothes but if I were training hard to reach the top would the smell of a top bodybuilder's sweat spur me on? I don't think so. I think pictures would be the best inspiration still.

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