Bowled over by Oddjob’s hat weapon

BOND villain Oddjob’s deadly bowler hat, capable of cutting through steel and stone, has turned up on Antiques Roadshow.

The weapon from 1964’s Goldfinger was given to Peter Davies, who drove star Sean Connery to and from Pinewood Studios in an Aston Martin DB5.

Roadshow expert Marc Allum said he was “shaking with anticipation” about the iconic prop, which had its metal rim removed.

A similar hat sold for £60,000 at auction.

The value of this one will be revealed on Antiques Roadshow, from the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire, tonight at 8.15pm.

Huge room for entertainment

Pool area and sauna

FORGET keeping up with the Joneses – in this street a humble £38,000 house stands right next door to one worth £2.3MILLION.

The two radically different properties only yards apart are both on the market.

Business couple Mike and Jules Keen own Tindale Towers, an award-winning Art Deco mansion featured on Channel 5’s I Own Britain’s Best Home.

But it could just as easily appear on another C5 favourite – Rich House, Poor House.

It has five bedrooms, a pool, a sauna, a gym, a badminton court, a dance floor, a bar for 50 people and a six-car garage.

Other features include electronically-operated soft furnishings and self-cleaning glass.

By contrast, a pebble-dashed two-up, two-down next to it in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham is worth barely more than the UK’s average yearly salary and is said to need “cosmetic upgrading”.

The modest home has stood empty for some time and is thought to be owned by a London-based investment firm.

Now Mike and Jules, who own a furniture business but admit they need the money from the house sale, can’t wait to see

It’s a beautiful house and gives town a good image... but we need the money

WHO IS SELLING £2.3M TINDALE TOWERS HOME

which property goes first. Tindale Towers was put up for sale in 2016 for £3,650,000 but the couple took it off the market.

Its new lower price tag is still well over three times the cost of the next dearest house currently listed by the same estate agents – and 18 times the £128,000 average value of local homes.

The agents’ blurb says all floors can be reached via an airy spiral staircase – or a lift.

Mike, who says he is “skint”, said: “We’re still paying the bills but we’ve needed the money for a while. It’s a beautiful house, it gives the town a good image.”

The Keens built Tindale Towers 13 years ago on the site of their bungalow after buying an adjoining plot of land.

It was inspired by beach villas seen in France and Florida and named after Tindale Mill, where their business was first based.

Major selling points of the house next door, which is described by agents as “an ideal investment opportunity”, include a feature fireplace and heat-resistant worktops.

Kathryn Winter, who lived there for 26 years with partner Brian Shaw, described the Keens as “a lovely couple”. She added: “Their house is beautiful. I just wish ours was worth £2million.”