£1 notes signed by Elton John, Tony Blair and John Travolta to go to auction

Both of them mistook £1 notes sent to them to be signed for a collector as a donation towards their causes and kept them.

But the collector was a lot more successful with other public figures and his varied collection of £1 notes signed by world leaders, sporting champions and stars of stage and screen is set to go under the hammer at a Dorset auction house later this month.

The collection of hundreds of autographs collected over a 10-year period by a Somerset man is expected to fetch up to £4,000.

Richard Bromell, of Sherborne saleroom, Charterhouse, said the collector had sometimes sent lottery tickets or playing cards instead of pound notes.

But Mr Bromell added: “Not everyone sent a £1 note returned them. Both the Pope and Senator John McCain sent a letter back to the vendor thanking him for his kind £1 donation.”

Prime Ministers John Major, Tony Blair, Edward Heath, and David Cameron, while opposition leader, are among the political heavyweights included in the collection.

Sporting champions Sir Henry Cooper, George Best, Sir Bobby Moore, and Jack Brabham, and military heroes, Simon Weston and General Sir Mike Jackson also feature.

Pavarotti, John Travolta, Cliff Richard, and Elton John are among the representatives from the world of entertainment.

The notes will be auctioned at 10am on Friday June 25.