The Crapper in the Rye

The BBC reports that a toilet described as once having belonged to US author JD Salinger has been put on sale on the online auction site eBay for $1m (£644,000).

The vendor says he obtained the "used toilet commode" from a couple who now own the former home of the Catcher in the Rye author. It comes "uncleaned and in its original condition", the ad for it states. "Who knows how many of [his] stories were thought up and written while Salinger sat on this throne!", it adds.

The toilet comes with a letter from Joan Littlefield, attesting that the toilet was removed during renovations to her and her husband's house in Cornish, New Hampshire, formerly owned by the reclusive author. She writes that they knew all the workmen who installed the toilet decades ago when Salinger had work done on the house.

The auction was still ongoing late lst night. Quite a few people had put in offers for the toilet. That said, I think I’ll pass on it and stay with the khazi we currently have...

The Westoe Netty

Some national treasures are grand in scale, some national treasures are small but perfectly formed. The Westoe Netty on the other hand was a urinal that once resided near a railway embankment on Tyneside. It was immortalised in a 1972 painting by artist Bob Olley (click the link to see the picture itself - Well it has amused me!).

Originally built in 1890 the Local authority decided to demolish the the urinal 10 years ago, but Mr Olley and friends salvaged it. It was then stored in a council depot at South Shields. After a failed plan to re-erect the netty in the town centre, Beamish Industrial Museum in County Durham stepped in. There will be a strict ban on using it.

The Geordie expression netty (toilet) is said to derived from Roman slang on Hadrian's Wall (no idea whether this is true).