Britain’s biggest hoarder is searching for romance after launching a Valentine’s Day appeal for his first date – in nearly FIFTY years.
Eccentric Arthur Watson, 67, who openly admits to cross-dressing, says he is wants open-minded woman for ‘companionship and romance.’
And he said he may be even willing to change his lifetime hoarding habit and tidy up for the right woman.
Wacky Arthur says he last went on a date in 1968 and has now issued the plea to find love late in life via his local newspaper.
Arthur picked up his biggest hoarder tag in 2015 after letting cameras into his home in Plymouth, Devon.
He was ordered by the council to tidy his home, which was full from floor to ceiling with a lifetime of acquired items.
He vowed to fight the edict under the terms of the 800-year-old Magna Carta.
But despite his on-going battle with the council, hapless Arthur said: “I would be willing to clean up if the right woman came along.”
He describes himself as “tall, dark and handsome, with a good sense of humour, intelligent and well-educated in this country and the USA”.
He added: “I enjoyed a varied career in environmental education and nature conservation.
“I enjoy playing the cello and choral singing. I am a good cook and proud of my wildlife garden with a rare Plymouth Pear Tree.”
Arthur says his first ever date was arranged for him while he was 19 years old and on a scholarship to a school in New York.
He said: “She was an heiress to the Swift Corporation, a big American meat packing business in Chicago, but she was also a heavy smoker at the time, so we didn’t really hit it off.
“That was my first and last date.”
Asked what he is looking for in a potential partner, he said: “Compatibility is a personal thing and it takes two to tango.
“I have just been unable to find any woman who is willing to go on a date with me.
“Perhaps you might have better luck appealing to The Herald’s readership? I would be quite prepared to give up cross-dressing if that is a problem.”
Arthur’s eccentric lifestyle and exploits has seen him hit the headlines many times in recent years.
He keeps his house full of piles of junk – including toys, clothes, newspapers and books.
His small home, which he bought in 1982, is packed with stuff he can’t bear to throw out – and fills his bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.
There is also a mountain of washing up and his carpet is barely visible beneath the huge piles of possessions at the bottom floor flat.
But when fed-up council chiefs executed a warrant after declaring his home a public health hazard, Arthur accused them of breaching his rights under article 39 of the charter – that was drawn up in 1215.
He said: “The Magna Carta states that no free man may have his possessions taken without due process and the judgement of his peers.
“There has been no judgement of my peers – the magistrates’ court just rubber-stamps whatever the council wants them to.”
In March 2014, after claiming to have been robbed by a prostitute, Arthur argued that paying for sex should be made safer and easier.
A few months later he was given an anti-social behaviour warning for staging a one-man protest on a plot of council land being sold off for housing.
Later that year he spoke of his disappointment as two city centre ‘head shops’ were shut down by the police, admitting to using legal highs which he described as “like yoga of the mind”.
In September 2015 he staged a new protest on a patch of grass earmarked for housing, likening himself to King Canute and vowing “This time I’m serious”.
He has also stood, unsuccessfully, as an independent candidate in the 2015 and 2016 Plymouth City Council elections.