Model maker Albert Fox has built a replica of Blackpool Tower - and he plans to have his very own Blackpool illuminations in his back garden!

Mr Fox, 72, from Somerton, near Bicester, took six months to build the 5ft 2in model of the 518ft 9in tower - exactly 1:100 scale.

He made the replica of the famous tower out of aluminium and steel, and, nearer Christmas, will deck the structure out in miniature lights.

Even the railings at the top of the model are painted gold, just like the original.

Mr Fox, who during the past 50 years has made a working television, an electric organ, a mercury barometer and several model planes, railway locomotives and wagons, said: "I'm very pleased with the model. I'll be looking for miniature lights to put around the model which I'll switch on around Christmas time.

"If I can't, then I'll get a spotlight to shine on it instead. We're at one of the highest points in the village and the tower will be seen from everywhere."

Mr Fox, who is a minister with the Deddington Congregational Church, got the idea of building the replica after visiting the Lancashire seaside resort in the 1950s.

He added: "I photographed the tower, trams and the airport using film and still photographs.

"I thought it would be a great idea to have a replica built, and after all these years, I've finally done it. It's under cover at the moment, because I don't want the lighting-up event to be an anti-climax."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.