A Humpty doll used on the children’s TV show Playschool fetched more than £6,000 at auction yesterday.

The 53cm-high toy was sold at Bonham’s to a private buyer for £6,250.

Humpty was one of a number of original dolls made for the BBC show, which ran for more than 20 years from the mid-1960s.

He had been valued at £1,200 and Rachel Gotch, who works in the auction house’s toy department, was thrilled with the sale.

She said: “There was a lot of interest. We had about seven telephone lines all going at the same time and people in the room.

“I’m very pleased he got that price. Humpty was a hard one to predict.”