PHOTOGRAPHS and memorabilia belonging to a surviving relative of North-East comic legend Stan Laurel have sold for more than £24,000.

The family snaps and documents trace the showbusiness career of one of the world's most influential and best-loved comics, from his humble roots in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, to fame and fortune as a movie star.

The collection was sold by Laurel's 81-year-old nephew, Huntley Jefferson Woods, who lives in Blyth, Northumberland.

It fetched £20,460 (plus buyers' commission and VAT) at auctioneer Anderson and Garland, in Newcastle, having attracted collectors from across the UK.

An inscribed silver-plated spirit flask, which was given to Laurel by his father, made £2,100, while an unframed Laurel and Hardy photograph, dated 1947, went for £1,900.

The auctioneers had estimated that the sale would fetch up to £5,000.

Mr Woods said: ''I am very pleased at the way it has gone. I never expected that the pieces would go that high.''

He has kept a few personal mementoes from the collection, and said: ''I always feel a loss to part with things like this, but I am 81, and as I get older, the collection becomes more difficult to look after.

''I was worried what would happen when I pass on, and at least they have been sold to collectors who will care for them."

The company's collectibles specialist, John Anderton, said: ''When Mr Woods came into our salesroom, we just could not believe that such a unique selection of memorabilia could have been sitting in a house only a dozen or so miles from our premises, unknown to all but a few of his friends and Laurel and Hardy enthusiasts.

''We have sold several autographed photographs of Laurel and Hardy over the years, but not only does this collection include examples of those, but also has much rarer photos of Stan without Oliver, from the age of ten, until his first meeting with Mr Woods in 1952 at Newcastle's Empire Theatre on the pair's last-but-one British tour.''

Mr Woods' mother, Beatrice, who was Laurel's sister, was born in Bishop Auckland, while the star was born in Ulverston, Cumbria.

Laurel studied at Gainford stage academy before he sought fame in the fledgling film industry in Hollywood.

Mr Woods grew up fascinated with tales of his famous uncle's exploits and, as a child, spent hours looking at the family's growing collection of photographs sent to his mother from the US.