Puppet king Gerry Anderson's ground-breaking ideas revolutionised children's television. Here, courtesy of next month's House Beautiful magazine, we discover whether his ideas on design extend behind the doors of his Oxfordshire home. FIONA TARRANT reports...

Jamie Anderson is a lucky lad. His collection of Thunderbirds memorabilia is the envy of many a FAB fan - some of them old enough to be his dad. In fact, Jamie's dad is a big fan. And herein lies the secret of Jamie's wonderful, original collection.

His father is none other than Gerry Anderson, creator of such cult 60s TV series as Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet.

The Andersons spent two years looking for a house in the Oxfordshire countryside. So long, in fact, that they could have done with the help of Thunderbirds' International Rescue.

Gerry, his wife Mary and 13-year-old Jamie, searched high and low before they found the 1940s cottage that had definitely seen better days but had great potential. "It looked like a hillbilly house, but we walked in, turned round three times and said 'we'll take it'," recalled Gerry, who is staying mum about where the cottage is.

Although the exterior of the house is original, the interior was gutted and the Andersons started again.

It took a year but it meant they could plan, down to the last detail, the look they wanted.

There is a surprising amount of antique furniture in the house for someone who has spent his working life creating futuristic characters, but not is all as it seems.

Striking medieval carvings in the dining room are not genuine - they came from the set of The Protectors.

"I took rather a shine to those," said Gerry, "and I think they look just right in here."

Jamie is guardian to a model of Thunderbird 1 and other special Thunderbirds props.

Although fans the world over would love an autograph signed G. Anderson, young Jamie would prefer it wasn't from his dad Gerry, but from another G. Anderson - Gillian. He's a big fan of the X Files and Gillian's face, alongside her co-star in the X Files, David Duchovny, stare out from the walls of his bedroom.

Despite Jamie's sci-fi deviation, there are many more (Gerry) Anderson-inspired props scattered about the house.

Posters and awards from Gerry's feature films cover the walls in Gerry's studio, where models from his new series, Lavender Castle (due to be screened next year), wait to be painted.

But pride of place in the house has to go to Gerry's favourite character, Parker, Lady Penelope's faithful chauffeur.

The character, based on a waiter who always talked about his time working for 'Er Majesty' at Windsor Castle, is housed in a special case.

The only place the memorabilia doesn't feature is the garden, which just gets the real things - thunder and the birds.

*A full version of this article appears in the October issue of House Beautiful magazine, which costs £1.80.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.