George the Hofmeister Bear Outfit

Beer bellies whose brains aren’t yet addled by the stuff will remember the TV ads for Hofmeister lager. Having left his native Bavarian forest, their star, George the Bear, affected a Mockney accent, Jack the Lad swagger, pork pie hat and an yellow satin bomber jacket whose embroidered slogan urged us to ‘follow the bear.’ And many did, until the fashion for stronger, sexier brews consigned Hofmeister to the pub industry equivalent of Room 101. Complete with its original mechanical head, beery nostalgia fans will fancy one of the actual George costumes used in a string of 1980s commercials. Hurry! It’s a one-off. The price? A bear-ly believable £1,995.   

http://tinyurl.com/4rye9nu   

TV Merchandise To Treasure? Masterchef Gift Set

Masterchef at Home book and apron set.

Given some of the early efforts in the current series of Masterchef, instructions as to how to open and heat a can of baked beans might come in handy for some of the clueless culinary klutzes mercifully culled in round one. Chef Torode - who must think he’s walked into the wrong studio, and is now co-hosting Britain’s Got No Talent -  looked suitably concerned. The other bloke - a former Sarf London costermongerer, I’m told, and therefore uniquely positioned to pontificate on all things masterchefferly - looked like he was about to cry out ‘never mind my darlin’, how abaht a lovely pahnd a’ plums for a pahnd?’ by way of consoling the rejected wretches. For the more advanced home cook, over 200 recipes from last year’s three series are contained in Masterchef at Home so ‘you too can cobble together your very own ‘real show stopping feast.’ Better get that apron on pronto and hope that one size fits all. On which note: has Gromit’s baldy sidekick Wallace, cruelly christened ‘Sausage Dalek’ by one cheeky wag on Twitter, been piling on the beef lately? It might be down to my new widescreen TV: I don’t imagine he’s been filling his face with many of this year’s recipes.

£28.95 at  http://tinyurl.com/5t5tszq