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Trivia

The world's first national vehicle registration system was introduced in Holland in 1899. Britain followed in 1903. The first plate issued in London, was A 1.

Although the number plates 7 ONY AND CHE 21E are available, the Prime Minister and his wife are unlikely to buy them, for security reasons.

Cherie Blair is reported to have bought a bed for their youngest child Leo, in the shape of a Lamborghini, together with the Downing Street plate LEO 10.

HM The Queen owns A 7, whilst her daughter, Princess Ann used to hold 1 ANN on her car, but had to take it off for security reasons.

HM The Queen Mother had NLT 2 and her son-in-law HRH Prince Philip has OXR 1.

3 GXM was Princess Margaret's plate and YR 11 is the Duke of Kent's.

DS 500 is owned by the former Liberal party leader David Steel. I wonder if Jeffrey Archer still owns ANY 1.

The earliest known celebrity cherished number plate was T 8, owned by Harry Tate (1873-1940) a Music Hall Artist. It is now owned by Johnny Tate of the sugar company Tate & Lyle.

Barry Fry, the manager of 'The Posh' Peterborough United, bought POS 11 from us. He thought David Beckham might like to buy it from him for his wife Victoria 'Posh Spice', but Becks said she dislikes her nickname. In any case they already own W77 DVB and D7 DVB.

Convicted sex offender, Jonathan King, is reported to have lured boys to his bachelor pad, driving them there in his brown Rolls Royce with the private plate JK 9000.

Entertainer Max Bygraves, sold his beloved MB 1 to us, along with the Rolls Royce it has been on for over 30 years. It has now been sold to a private collector.

One of our salespeople was sickened to receive an enquiry for the plate 11 SEP, just days after the terrorist attack in New York.

VIP 1 was originally issued for the Pope's visit to Ireland. Sold by us in 2001, it is back on the market again.

MG 1 is the most expensive number plate on today's market, priced at a cool £275,000.

MS 1 was first owned by Henry Adolf Salvesen - he acquired it on 28 December 1903. It is on today's market for £250,000.

The DVLA have issued many 'naughty' plates: PU51 SUC, SHA 61N, P9 RNO, EA51 LAY and PEN 15 (bought by Steve Parrish, former British motorcycle champion.

The plate J1 HAD (Jihad being the Muslim name for a holy war) was banned as soon as the J registrations came out in 1991.

Jimmy Tarbuck is the envy of every comedian in the UK with his number plate COM 1C.

Lennie Bennett, the comedian and television quiz show host, had the last laugh with GAG 22.

Controversial funny man Bernard Manning owns BJM 1, 1 LAF, and 11 LAF.

Mike Reid who played Frank Butcher's son Ricky, has the plate 360 SYD.

Patsy Palmer, who played Ricky's cheating wife, has P17 TSY.

Mrs Naseem Hirani from Bristol was delighted when her husband secured the number plate NA51 EEM for her. It could make boxer Prince Naseem Hamid wish he'd kept on his toes. He'll have to stick to NAS 1 for now.

1 KO and 111 KO are the knock out number plates of Chris Eubank, supplied by us.

Mark Skeggs, a fireman from Hertfordshire, has the number plate F14 MES on his red Ferrari.

POT 73R, a magical plate for all Harry Potter fans, has come on the market for £15,000.

Ventriloquist Keith Harris paid £2,100 for his feathered friend's name plate ORV 1L.

In the Koran the number 786 has a special religious significance for Muslims who will pay high prices for any plates containing these numbers.

In the USA, vanity plates, as they call them, are even more popular than in the UK. Nearly any combination is allowed.

American fitness club owner Sean Phillips bought BRA 5H because he says, he is a 'brash American' now living in England.

Kent meat importer Alan Burke's wife Sue refused to get into his car after he bought ORG 45M. When it no longer aroused him, he put it up for sale.

Leisure company director Linda Downs is happy to drive between her clubs in the Manchester area with the plate B1 NGO on her car.

Producers of the 20th Bond film just missed out on the ultimate plate 8 OND. It was sold in January 2002 to a James Bond fanatic who collects 007 memorabilia.

CUB 1 has featured on a Rolls Royce in a few of the Bond movies. It belonged to the late 007 producer Cubby Brocolli.

1 DLT is DJ Dave Lee Travis's number. D1 DDY is David 'Diddy' Hamilton's.

BS 1 was recently sold to Bill Spence from Orkney, where the plate was first issued. It was owned for many years by Billy Smart (Junior) of circus fame, who gave permission for it to be used in the 70's television series 'The Persuaders'.

FU 2 is owned by Hanna Smart, wife of Billy Smart (Junior). X-rated model Fiona Richmond persuaded Hannah to buy it from Fiona's former boyfriend Paul Raymond (known as the Duke of Soho and owns PR 11). Fiona told Hanna she hoped to buy it back from her some day. Hanna still owns it.

S8 RRY was sold to Robbie Williams for a new Ferrari. 'Sorry' was a message to his fans for spending so much money on a car. He couldn't bring himself to do it in the end and bought a moped instead.

In the second episode of the new series of The Vice, two characters had matching number one plates with their initials - N1 KFB and N1 CFB, supplied by us.

Magician Paul Daniels gets one up on Harry Potter with his MAG 1C plate.

Snooker legend Joe Davis once owned CUE 1 and 1 CUE is currently up for sale.

M19 CUE is owned by snooker player John Higgins and CUE 130Y is owned by Ronnie O'Sullivan.

A romantic London Businessman, Stephen Ouvaroff, paid £46,500 for APR 1L in an auction in 1990. He gave the plate to his wife April.

A 1903 De Dion Bouton with the number plate C 5 completed the London to Brighton run 27 times.

Any number plates with the letters SEX have been banned.

A Ms. Lenanton of Dorset managed to find a close one though with S5 EXX.

B1 BLE and J3 SUS are also forbidden, althought it is possible to have JE51 USX and JE51 USC.

Aaron Davies, company director of The One Stop Van Shop in Dunstable, couldn't believe his luck when he found that the number plate TIL 44 on the car he bought was worth £2,000.

The number plate HER 41D sold in March 2000 for £2,700. It is now worth nearer £15,000.

A 'clever clogs' worked out that if he paid £4,400, he could walk away with the plate MEN 5A.

Companies love to use cherished number plates to advertise their name, such as the whiskey company that owns VAT 69.

The Pimlico Plumbers in London are collecting number plates for their company vans. So far they have bought DRA 1N, LAV 1, and BOG 1.

1 KEG and A1 KEG were bought by Alan and David Morrow of Morrow Brothers Ltd, the largest seller of stainless steel beer kegs in the UK.

A company in Sussex, D. Sankey Pest Control Services own M1 CED, M1 TES and L1 CES, amongst others, as an investment.

Patrick Clacy's upmarket bed business 'And So To Bed' in the centre of Oxford bought CO51 BED for the company van.

Although F15 ONS has never been released, BUX 70N has - a perfect number for the British mineral water company.

GEN 11 was used on the car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the film of the same name.

GEN 22 was bought by a man from Lancashire, for the replica he is building of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.

FAB 1, another famous plate was used on Lady Penelope's pink Rolls Royce in Thunderbirds.

ST 1 was used in the series The Saint, on a Volvo P1800 sports car.

Phillip Haslam from Derbyshire was astonished to find the plate ALW 1 in one of our adverts, originally belonging to his 1933 Aston Martin le Mans, both of which were first owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell.

B1 LKO was bought at auction by a fan of the TV series.

British actor and director, Richard Attenborough, knighted in 1976 and made a Lord in 1994, owns RA 1.

Richard Pearson from Lincolnshire is going where no man has gone before at Warp 8 speed in his Honda Accord with the plate W4 RPB.

5 POK was not bought by Star Trek fans, but by Mr and Mrs Borkett, from Bedfordshire, for their alien looking dog called Spok.

Michael Christie thought that the plate M4 TCH would suit his 10 year old football mad son Myles. Myles said "It's a really cool plate because it is about football - and that's my life."

Soccer star Robbie Fowler missed out on the plate FOW 13R last year, and he'll have to hurry to secure ROB 131E because Robbie Williams is already interested.

7 SM is owned by Stirling Moss. His lucky number is 7, which he had on his racing cars whenever he could. On Easter Monday 1962, his yellow Lotus went careering out of control at 140mph, on the Goodwood race circuit. 777 M was later specially issued to him.

The late Rob Walker, who witnessed the fatal car crash of his friend Mike Hawthorne, Britain's first Formula One World Champion, owned ROB 2, R 8, and E 53.

Rob had also secured ND 1 for his father-in-law, Mr N Duncan. He had to return it when it was found that it had already been issued to a Nora Docker of the wealthy banking family.

The Registration Numbers Club (RNC) was founded in 1977 following two civil service unions imposing a ban on number plate transfers. After intense lobbying by dealers and cherished number plate owners, the dispute was resolved and new rules were introduced. The changed included the government introducing legislation to permit cherished transfers.

The ban on transferring plates from motorbikes and mopeds to cars was lifted in October 2001.

A father from Cornwall bought a pair of plates, WET 1 and 1 WET as a sound investment for his children, with money left by their grandparents.

Kriss Akabusi, Gold Medallist in the 1990 European Championships when he beat David Hemery's 22-year-old British Record, purchased a 'Mister' plate with his initials, M12 KDA.

Ex-Aston Villa manager, John Gregory, paid £44,000 for V1 LLA in 2000.

Doug Ellis, Chairman of Aston Villa, owns AV 1.

AFC 1 is owned by Arsenal Football Club and one of their biggest fans recently bought AR51 NAL.

1 TEL is the number plate of former England football coach, Terry Venables. TEL 1 was bought recently by a man from Essex.

Footballer Dwight Yorke was hoping that Hastings Borough Council would sell him DY 1, but they have said it is no longer for sale. He will have to settle for Y10 RKE or Y9 RKE.

Footballer Andy Cole owns C6 LES and C9 LEY but missed out on C8 LEY, which was bought by a Mr Ian Cole from South Humberside.

Roy Keane of Manchester United also owns a couple of plates: 111 RK and J60 ROY. Perhaps K3 ANE or 1 UTD were a bit too pricey for him.

S4 LEM sold at auction in 2002 for $10,800 after fierce and rapid bidding. Salem has Biblical and Welsh connections and in English means 'Peace'. 80 SS (Boss) sold just after £31,000.

Top jockey Frankie (Leofranco) Dettori's number is X777 LEO.

Iwan Thomas, Olympic 400m gold medallist owns R4000 RUN. His team mates Katharine Merry and Jamie Baulch recently followed suit with M400 RUN and J400 RUN.

Former champion jockey Willie Carson will no longer have problems recognising his Isuzu Trooper in a field of 4x4's, now that he has added his own unique personal number plate, N1 WHC to the vehicle.

On 14 December 1989, 1 A fetched £160,000 at auction.

A suitable plate for material girl Madonna is M4 DGE. It's just a shame the Pop Queen hates her nickname.

Ivan Scott from Burnley in Lancashire owns the ultimate England Cricket ground plate, OVA 1.

E6 YPT was bought at auction for £5,000, but J4 PAN is still on the market at £15,000.

Former Kent and England fast bowler Dean Headley had to retire at the young age of 33 due to a back injury. He purchased M12 DML to go with his new company Deano Management Ltd.

Perhaps his friend, former England Cricket Captain Nasser Hussain, will be bowled over by NA51 SER or HUS 54IN.

Paul Sissons from Derby bought D3 RBY because he is very proud to come from Derby and is mad about the football club.

John Savage from Peterborough got his UND 1S in a twist when he saw the plate. The avid memorabilia collector proudly displays it on his Ford Thunderbird.

In 1990, Haggis maker David A. Hall Ltd from Dumfries in Edinburgh, paid £18,000 for HAG 1S.

Jon Culverhouse from Luton says that his plate 5 NOV is excellent for promoting his business, Fantastic Fireworks.

Mr and Mrs Beresford from Cheshire promised their daughter Zoe that if she never took up smoking they would buy her a car for her 17th birthday. They bought her a new style VW Beetle with the plate DO51 ZOE.

Devoted parents Stuart and Teresa Taylor from Glouceter bought their son Otis a number plate with his initials 920 FRT, for his 21st birthday. Except Otis is only three! They said it is a good long-term investment.

Mr Neufville from Hertfordshire took 20 years to find his ideal 'Mister' number plate with his initials, M12 SPN.

The aristocratic 10 RD, 14 DY and BUT 13R plates prove that three is not always a crowd.