IN PICTURES: Carried away: Collecting is just John's bag

Names range from Beatties to the House of Lords and each one shines a light on a specific place and time.

John Sparry's collection of carrier bags has taken more than 15 years to put together – resulting in more than 300 examples.

It began after the second-hand book shop owner began picking up more and more bags left behind by people dropping off novels.

"Some of the bags just intrigued me from the off," he says.

"People came in and offered bags with second-hand books in but sometimes more often than not the bag was more interesting than the books.

"The different colours, shapes and sizes fascinated me, so I actually started collecting the bags people brought back in.

"I began to search around myself and found some wonderful types of bags.

"What I think makes them so authentic is that some of the brands on the bags are no longer in business, so there's a bit of originality to it."

When asked about the new 5p rule to purchase carrier bags in all shops, John said: "Well I think it's a great idea and a sign of moving with the times perhaps.

"Bags don't have the same authenticity they once did but with people now paying for bags, maybe they'll think twice about which bags are worth purchasing in terms of design and make.

"I feel my collection is as varied and diverse as you can get and I don't really have any plans to stop collecting them, you just never know what's going to come through the door."

He added: "I did put the idea forward to one or two galleries as I thought it could make an effective display, but in the end I just decided to show the selection in my own shop, and customers have been more than entertained having a look at them all.

"I've always tried to adopt a very authentic and old-fashioned nature to things and I suppose with collecting these bags and moving into the new age, I feel they represent a time that was.

"I only got a telephone installed just before 2000, but still don't have TV, I've never owned one."

John, of Wall Heath, is also a writer, musician, broadcaster and historian.

He has lived most of his life in the very house in Enville Road that hosts the bookshop in its front room.

The house, which was brought by his grandparents for £106 in 1910, has not changed much.

The back kitchen still features a black iron range, a stoneware sink and washing boiler. There is even a wall-mounted 1940s-style telephone. It is in this old-fashioned manner John has always chosen to live his life. Looking after his mother Daisy at the house until her death in 1979, he said: "I choose to live the way I do and I am perfectly content with a very simple way of life.

"This house is pretty much all I have known all my life and is the same as it was when it was built in the 1860s, apart from a lean-to kitchen which was added at the time of the First World War.

"You don't need all the mod-cons to be happy – I have a lot of friends and they bring me pleasure."

Notable bags amongst his collection are The Hollywood Reporter, a news style design print all the way from LA and one in which you could be forgiven in thinking is a newspaper itself rather than a carrier bag.

Another is a Langer's Army and Navy Stores yellow bag, from the store that used to be on Enville Street, Stourbridge.

John actually met the owner of the store, who was in fact a German prisoner of war and came to England to set up his own business.

John added: "The bags are a work of art in a way, that's how I'd describe them.

"Some of the designers and companies may have gone but I think they're like everything, eventually they'll come back into fashion. That's why I always wear corduroy trousers you see, cause every several years you'll see everyone back wearing them again." One particular bag which stands out is the Beatties 'The Magic of Christmas' bag, a symbolic logo and design for Wolverhampton and the area.

Starting out his jazz career in the late 1950s with his Graham Garner Group, John came across the man himself, James Beattie, when he was performing at the Thatchers club in Trysull.

John used to see Mr Beattie dancing around with his wife and it was a club he was seen in often.

John also took on the role of mentoring many musicians of all ages and has had broadcast talks on both Radio 3 and 4.