If you think you’re the biggest Doctor Who fan there is then think again. That honour goes to Ian O’Brien, who is now the Guinness World Records holder for the largest collection of Doctor Who memorabilia.


As of 6th September last year, Ian’s record breaking collection boasted 1,573 Doctor Who items, the first of which was a yellow Newer Marx Dalek bought for him by his parents for Christmas in 1974. His haul has since increased by “another hundred or so.”

“It’s mostly Daleks, Cybermen, action figures, and all the DVDs,” Ian tells RadioTimes.com. “I have all the Doctor Who annuals there have been, apart from the 1970 Jon Pertwee one which is hyper hyper rare! But it’s a fortune on eBay. It’s £225, whereas you can get the first Pertwee annual for £25!”

Ian adds to his collection mainly through eBay, although is constantly on the look out for a deal.

“If I’m out and about I’ll usually be after bargains. So this morning I got a bargain in Tesco. I got a Dalek playset for £2.50, that was down from a tenner! I don’t want to add up [how much I’ve spent]! Although if you miss something out years ago, patience can prevail. I got something last week produced in the ’90s, a remote control Davros figure that was about £30/40, but I got it for £20.50, new in the box.”

To have his collection considered by Guinness World Records, Ian had to take pictures of every single item of his collection, which took him over a fortnight.

“I had to unwrap all my figures – great! It took me about two and a half weeks. And you have to take individual pictures of every single one. And then you put it on your laptop and think, ‘eurgh!’, so you had to redo half the shots too. But they all had to be different. Do you remember when Radio Times did a sticker book when David Tennant was the Doctor? I had 78 individual stickers I had to list manually on a database, and list every single one.”

Beyond the sought-after ’70s Pertwee annual, there is another item that has so far eluded Ian: a full-size, £3,495 Dalek.

“It’s something I would love, but I don’t have the money or space! I have to be selective on what I have on display. I have a lot in my cupboard and storage boxes.”


Guinness World Records 2015 is out now