Betty Boothroyd's Columbo DVDs among items auctioned off for charity

Prized possessions belonging to the first female Speaker of the House of Commons have raised more than £84,000 for charity at auction.

Jewellery and mementos from Dewsbury-born Baroness Betty Boothroyd's personal and political life were among the 224 items sold.

A programme for the 1961 inauguration ceremony of US President John F Kennedy was the highest selling item at £7,250.

Other items sold included a Columbo DVD box set.

Lady Boothroyd, who died last year aged 93, was a dancer in her youth and became a Labour MP in 1973 and was elected as Speaker in 1992.

She resigned as an MP in 2000 was given a peerage the following year.

Thomas Forrester, co-owner and director of Special Auction Services in Newbury, said it was her wish that her estate was sold at auction with the money being split between several charities.

It was hoped that her solitaire diamond ring, which was listed for sale between £70,000 to £100,000, would boost the amount for charity, but it did not meet its reserve price.

Mr Forrester said he hoped the ring would sell to a private buyer with the money going to the charities.

Mr Forrester said the JFK souvenir programme, which was signed 'To Betty Boothroyd, with very best wishes, John F Kennedy', sold for more than 20 times its estimate.

During the mid-to-late 1950s, Baroness Boothroyd worked as secretary to Labour MPs Barbara Castle and Geoffrey de Freitas.

In 1960, she travelled to the United States where she observed the John F. Kennedy campaign.

"What was so special about this programme is that she obviously looked at it a lot because it was quite badly damaged on the spine and she writes about it in her autobiography," Mr Forrester said.

"Because she writes about it and names it a lot in her book, I think it made a big difference to its value."

Also fetching much more than its expected sale price was Baroness Boothroyd's black leather dispatch box from the House of Commons which sold for £6,500 - more than 30 times its estimate of £200-300.

Prized treasures from her jewellery collection were also auctioned off, including a House of Commons brooch which sold for £2,500.

Photographs capturing precious memories from Lady Boothroyd's early political life, including on the day she was first elected as an MP in 1973, also went under the hammer.

Other possessions giving an insight into her home and personal life included a collection of board games, dominoes, playing cards and the complete series of Columbo on DVD.

More quirky items included two hardback copies of Hyacinth Bucket's books, from the sitcom Keeping up Appearances, which sold for £625 and a Buckingham Palace shower cap which went for £137.50.

Both of the Hyacinth Bucket books were signed by actress Patricia Routledge, also a friend of Baroness Boothroyd, with one note saying: 'To the Lady of the House'.

Baroness Boothroyd's collection of ornamental frogs and a Frances Segelman resin bust of Lady Boothroyd, which she disliked so much she kept in her garden, were also sold.

Mr Forrester said: "The collection was extraordinary. You could get anything from her love of Columbo to games, to the really special bits of political history, to the dispatch box but people still flocked to the weird and wacky."

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