'Britain's dullest men' launch their own calendar
Twelve members of the Dull Men's Club may have disqualified themselves by appearing in a highly-entertaining calendar.
The include a drain spotter, a milk bottle collector and an apostrophe enthusiast. January features Kevin Beresford, who travels the country taking photographs of roundabouts, while drain spotter Archie Workman appears in March.
"I find the drain covers so interesting. There's a lot of history behind them. There's a whole world underneath us that we don't realise," he tells the Daily Star.
Also featuring is 66-year-old Steve Wheeler from Malvern in Worcestershire, who has collected more than 20,000 milk bottles over the last 30 years. He appears as Mr April - the month when he cleans his collection. "Ironically I don't even like milk, I've always thought of it as baby food. But I do love glass," he says.
Many of the 12 are collectors - of traffic cones, model buses and lawnmowers. The founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society is also there, along with novelist Ken McCoy, who has sent his wife Valerie the same Valentines card for the last 35 years. Neil Brittlebank from East Ardsley in Yorkshire, who collects bricks, is featured in September.
Michael Kennedy, from Hunstanton in Norfolk, has shifted more than 200 tons of rocks over the past 14 years to prevent the erosion of the local sea cliffs. He spends two hours every day, except Saturdays on the job. "'I started moving rocks and now I can't stop," he says. "It's better than sitting in an armchair. I'll do it for as long as I'm healthy."
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Meanwhile Mr June, Peter Willis, loves to photograph post boxes; and hedge enthusiast Hugh Barker does the same for hedges, and has written a book on the subject.
The Dull Men's Club, which started in the US, has over 5,000 members. Its organisers say their greatest accomplishment is "remaining dull in spite of the ever-increasing pressures from advertising, the media, and elsewhere to change".
The club, they say, is "a place where dull men share thoughts and experiences, free from glitz and glam, free from pressures to be in and trendy - free instead to enjoy simple, ordinary things."
Last week, members took part in the Stone Skimming orld championships in Scotland; this week, they'll be celebrating National Walk Your Dog Week in the US. Coming up next year are the World Snail Racing Championships in Norfolk and the Marmalade Festival in Cumbria.
Not all the stars of the calendar agree that they really belong.
"I had mixed feelings when I was asked to be in the calendar as I don't consider myself dull," Ken McCoy told the Daily Mail. "But it's a fun thing, and all quite amusing."
Click on the images below to scroll through the calendar - if you can keep your eyes open!
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