Willy Wonka superfan's £150,000 collection includes exclusive merchandise from the new movie
A Willy Wonka superfan's £150,000 world of pure imagination includes exclusive merchandise from the new movie ahead of its release.
Nick Anderton, 44, started collecting memorabilia from the film franchise in 2005 and now has around 2,500 items in his 'Wonka Wing' at his home.
His collection features the handprints of Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 film and he even has an original Wonka Bar from the 1971 version of the film.
And he has now been given merchandise from the new film - called Wonka - which will be released on December 15 and stars Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka.
Part of the film was filmed in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and features a boat where Timothée goes on the boat to capture Oompa-Loompas.
Nick, of Warrington, Cheshire, has already been on the boat and given sections of the boat rivet by the crew, so he thinks he's the first person to have memorabilia from the new film.
He said: "I've even been in a bit of the boat already and had a trip on it.
"I was taken into the basement of the boat where they filmed Timothée going up and down singing.
"I think he captures the Oompa-Loompas on the boat.
"I'm so excited they are using songs from the 1970 film because Gene Wilder is the ultimate one but Timothée does kinda look like a young Gene Wilder.
"If I was a big Hollywood producer and I had the rights to the story, I would be bringing out a film every ten years to get the new market in.
"I'm hoping for more."
Nick decided to start collecting merchandise after he watched the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was directed by Tim Burton.
The attraction manager now has prints from the film, pencils, pencil cases, DVDs,
and over 200 versions of the book in different languages in his collection.
Nick, who runs Facebook group Willy Wonka fanatics, said: "I remember watching it when I was around seven or eight and liking the imagery of the film.
"I was just blown away by it all.
"Then the Johnny Depp film was released was released, which is when I started collecting.
"I did want some things from the original film but I thought I would never be able to afford it.
"But I managed to get some things such as candy canes from the film and it went from there."
Because of his collection, Nick has even became friends with Julie Dawn Cole, 65, who played Veruca Salt in the 1971 film and she sold him her Wonka Bar.
The bar was given it her on her 13th birthday by film director Mel Stuart but she decided to sell it to Nick after her family decided they didn't want it.
Nick, who is married to husband Donnie, 50, said: "She phoned me up the day that Gene Wilder died about six years ago and let me know.
"She then phoned me the next day and I thought it was by mistake.
"She then explained that when I first met her at Comic Con, she said she would sell the bar to me one day because she knew I wouldn't sell it.
"It was like she was giving me the keys to chocolate factory - it's a great gift.
Nick Anderton, 44, started collecting memorabilia from the film franchise in 2005 and now has around 2,500 items in his 'Wonka Wing' at his home.
His collection features the handprints of Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 film and he even has an original Wonka Bar from the 1971 version of the film.
And he has now been given merchandise from the new film - called Wonka - which will be released on December 15 and stars Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka.
Part of the film was filmed in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and features a boat where Timothée goes on the boat to capture Oompa-Loompas.
Nick, of Warrington, Cheshire, has already been on the boat and given sections of the boat rivet by the crew, so he thinks he's the first person to have memorabilia from the new film.
He said: "I've even been in a bit of the boat already and had a trip on it.
"I was taken into the basement of the boat where they filmed Timothée going up and down singing.
"I think he captures the Oompa-Loompas on the boat.
"I'm so excited they are using songs from the 1970 film because Gene Wilder is the ultimate one but Timothée does kinda look like a young Gene Wilder.
"If I was a big Hollywood producer and I had the rights to the story, I would be bringing out a film every ten years to get the new market in.
"I'm hoping for more."
Nick decided to start collecting merchandise after he watched the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was directed by Tim Burton.
The attraction manager now has prints from the film, pencils, pencil cases, DVDs,
and over 200 versions of the book in different languages in his collection.
Nick, who runs Facebook group Willy Wonka fanatics, said: "I remember watching it when I was around seven or eight and liking the imagery of the film.
"I was just blown away by it all.
"Then the Johnny Depp film was released was released, which is when I started collecting.
"I did want some things from the original film but I thought I would never be able to afford it.
"But I managed to get some things such as candy canes from the film and it went from there."
Because of his collection, Nick has even became friends with Julie Dawn Cole, 65, who played Veruca Salt in the 1971 film and she sold him her Wonka Bar.
The bar was given it her on her 13th birthday by film director Mel Stuart but she decided to sell it to Nick after her family decided they didn't want it.
Nick, who is married to husband Donnie, 50, said: "She phoned me up the day that Gene Wilder died about six years ago and let me know.
"She then phoned me the next day and I thought it was by mistake.
"She then explained that when I first met her at Comic Con, she said she would sell the bar to me one day because she knew I wouldn't sell it.
"It was like she was giving me the keys to chocolate factory - it's a great gift.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 So my name's Nick Anderton and I own the world's largest Wonka collection, surrounded by over
00:08 2,500 items currently and growing by the day.
00:12 So the Wonka collection grows each and every day.
00:15 Currently I'm tipping about 2,500 items.
00:18 The collection began in 2004/2005 when the Johnny Depp film came out and I started collecting
00:24 Wonka bars from that film, thinking I'd never be able to earn anything from the original
00:28 film.
00:29 Over time I managed to go to Comic Cons and to set up a group online, Wonka Fanatics.
00:36 So there's over 3,000 people in that group and they all find things all over the world
00:40 for me and for their collections.
00:42 So that's how the collection's grown pretty quickly over the last 15-20 years.
00:47 So this was originally called the Wonka Room.
00:50 It's a spare room in my house and for me to be actually sat here I've had to move all
00:55 the boxes and crates that are full of more memorabilia out of here to actually fit in
01:00 the room.
01:01 So yeah, this is the Wonka Wing.
01:03 It's nice candy-striped wallpaper.
01:05 It houses the collection pretty nicely.
01:07 The idea was to have it as a bit of a candy shop.
01:12 So yeah, over time it's got bigger and bigger.
01:13 I've got these nice cabinets.
01:15 So my top three favourite things in the collection are Gene Wilder's handprints.
01:19 I've also got a chair back that Gene Wilder used on the set of Alice in Wonderland in
01:23 the 90s and also this screen-used Wonka bar.
01:26 A similar one sold at auction in 2022 in December for £23,000.
01:33 So everything kind of holds its value.
01:35 Currently if the entire collection was to be sold at high-end prices at auction to real
01:40 collectors out there, you'd be looking at about £150,000.
01:45 So I've got many golden tickets.
01:48 This one is signed by Veruca Salt, Julie Dawn Cole.
01:51 Personally I'm not a massive fan of chocolate.
01:54 Shock horror.
01:55 I'm going to stick to my pressed cardboard ones used from the film to be honest.
02:00 Chocolate I can kind of live with it, live without it.
02:04 But yeah, it's a confectionary...
02:07 What did they say in the film?
02:08 It's everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionary factory of fun.
02:13 That's what they said when the film came out.
02:15 So this is my own Wonka Wing of fun, if you will.
02:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]