British man's hit songs collection will pay for trip to NZ

A British man is selling of a rare collection of original No 1 music singles just so he can visit New Zealand before he dies.

Ray Spiller, 52, has a complete collection of Britain's 999 No 1 hits to date, beginning with Al Martino's Here in my Heart, which topped the first singles chart in November 1954, and ending with the current Band Aid 20 charity song.

However, he decided recently that visiting family in New Zealand and Australia took a higher priority.

"We've got cousins out there we haven't seen for 20 years and we've always said we'd love to go out there, so I finally said I must see it before I die," Mr Spiller told NZPA.

"There's no other way we could afford to do it and this way we get to travel in a decent class and live the high life for five or six weeks without having to worry about the credit card bill when we get back."

Mr Spiller only began collecting the singles in 1995 when Robson and Jerome had a No 1 hit with Unchained Melody.

"I heard it was No 1 in 1955 as well and I thought it might be a bit of fun to see if I could get all the No 1s."

Three-and-a-half years and £3500 ($9735) later, Mr Spiller had all the originals, from 78s, 45s or CDs.

He admits wife Sheila wasn't too impressed with the initial outlay but she was happier when he made it into a fulltime business, giving talks to schools and clubs, and doing DJ work for weddings and parties.

And that work will continue after the collection has sold, as he has copied them all on to CDs.

However, he predicts there might not be many more singles in the future.

"A lot of the major stores have stopped selling singles and with everybody downloading music from the internet, I think that's almost the final nail in the coffin."

The collection is on online auction site eBay for £5000 and Mr Spiller said he has had some strong interest so far.

"It will be a real wrench (when it goes) -- it'll be like saying goodbye to an old friend.

"I imagine there'll be a little lump in my throat when they go out the door but everything comes to an end."

- NZPA