Staverton man John Baker admitted he was sad to part with a treasured diary written by the wife of Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy, famed for captaining the HMS Beagle on a five-year voyage with Charles Dawrin on board.

Mr Baker, of Swan Drive, saw his heirloom sell for £480 at Henry Aldridge and Son auction room in Devizes on Saturday, as part of the BBC show Flog It!

He had taken the diary to the Flog It! valuation at Warminster Assenbly Rooms in November.

The diary, which attracted the attention of Aldridge’s auctioneer Alan Aldridge, sold at the top end of its guide price of between £300-£500.

Mr Baker said: “I am very pleased with the way the sale went, it went for about £480. However I am quite sad to see it go.

“I have had it for 40 years, ever since my aunt gave it to me.”

He said his aunt had worked at Chantmarle Manor (in Dorset) where Mary O’Brien, the Vice-Admiral’s wife, once lived.

Auctioneer Mr Aldridge said: “I think this was my favourite item out of the whole auction because it was just so personal.

“It contains her son’s drawings. He was a jolly good artist.”

Sally Taylor, of Victoria Gardens, Trowbridge, was also at the auction with the Flog It! team to see her sign from the old Belle Vue circus in Manchester go under the hammer.

She found the sign in her attic, part of a collection of circus memorabilia which belonged to her late husband Ivan.

"It sold for £50, which was the reserve price. We were quite pleased it sold, it was great fun being at the auction," she said.

"Ivan used to collect circus things and I hope it has gone to another collector. I wish I knew who had bought it, but it was so crowded in the saleroom you couldn't really see. We were so excited, being part of it all. It was quite an experience."

Other items sold on the day included football programmes, which went for £620.

In the general section of the sale, a huge collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia attracted interest from all over the world.

A home movie, including shots of Lisa Marie, Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s daughter, being brought home from the hospital, went for £3,680, while registration documents for Elvis’s Harley Davidson motorbike fetched £1,500.

In addition bound copies of the Wiltshire Times dating from April to December 1932 and January to June 1934 sold for just over £100.

The Flog It! episode filmed in Warminster and the auction house in Devizes is scheduled to be shown in the spring.