AS a former art student and vintage film poster collector I was thrilled to read that Vectis, the Thornaby-based auction house, is to auction 38 lots of classic film posters on August 26, including a rare advanced version of Raquel Welch in the 1966 Hammer film One Million Years BC.

People are beginning to appreciate the importance of film poster art. But it wasn't always like that.

In the mid-1990s a friend of mine was travelling in a remote part of America and noticed an elderly gentleman on the roadside selling raw meat.

He was wrapping the meat up in what seemed to be magazines, but were in fact original American 1-sheet movie posters from the 1950s, mostly sci-fi and incredibly rare.

Over 100 film posters had been damaged this way with the few remaining stained beyond all recognition,

mushed to a pulp with soggy meat.

All that was left was... The Blob.

Stephen Dixon, Redcar.