Publisher Felix Dennis's auction raises more than £1m
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-34425729 Version 0 of 1. More than £1m has been raised in an auction of the possessions of the late publishing millionaire Felix Dennis. Portraits of the Rolling Stones went for £3,500, his golden Rolls Royce for £15,500 and an elephant statue for £2,800. More than 2,000 lots from Dennis's 12 homes were assembled in a marquee on his Warwickshire estate. Proceeds will go to a tree-planting charity set up by the founder of 60s counterculture magazine Oz. The three-day sale finished on Thursday in the village of Dorsington, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Organisers said the auction raised "well in excess" of £1m. A final total is not yet known. All the proceeds of the auction will go to Dennis's estate. The major beneficiary is The Heart of England Forest Charity. In 1989, he revealed an ambition to create a 30,000-acre contiguous forest in the heart of England, from the ancient Forest of Arden to the Vale of Evesham. David Bliss, from the charity, said: "It was everything that I wanted it to be because it brought so many local people together. "It was more like a party than an auction and Felix loved a party." Dennis died at his home in June 2014 from throat cancer aged 67. |