website home_town nationality known_for article_title name occupation
http://www.whaah.com/ sligo , county sligo irish music memorabilia collection gavin walsh
 gavin walsh programmer
gavin walsh

gavin walsh -lrb- born 1965 or 1966 -rrb- is an irish computer programmer , non-fiction writer , and collector of rare music memorabilia .
walsh began collecting music memorabilia at age 14 , travelling from his home town of sligo to dublin to purchase rare records and working in hotels to fund his hobby .
he is `` one of the largest record owners '' in the world and , , had amassed a collection of approximately 25,000 memorabilia items -- up from roughly 20,000 in 2002-2003 .
the collection includes memorabilia related to the beatles , dervish , madonna , and u2 , among others , and contains around 1,100 posters , which walsh has estimated to be worth as much as $ 1,000 each .
in 2002 , he ordered construction of a concrete bunker in his back-garden to hold his collection ; the bunker is bomb - and earthquake-proof .
walsh owns the world 's largest collection of records and memorabilia linked to the 1970s punk rock group sex pistols : in 2002 , it included roughly 11,000 items .
he has also written two books about the sex pistols .
in 2003 , he published `` god save the sex pistols '' as a `` definitive guide '' to `` sex pistols memorabilia '' ; two years later , in 2005 , he published `` the greatest sex pistols collection '' .
walsh has published one other book , titled `` punk on 45 : revolutions on vinyl 1976-79 '' , which explores album art on punk rock records in the late 1970s .
in 1999 , the royal festival hall took walsh 's collection on an international tour .
in 2004 , a portion of his collection relating to pop band westlife were placed on display in church street gallery in sligo .
the exhibit included items from 60 countries and rare items that even the band 's members did not possess .
in addition to his collecting , walsh operates an internet firm .
