I thought my cuckoo clock was amazing, but it’s got nothing on my statue of Bert the cheery chef | Adrian Chiles

Installed in my home, Bert is a conversation starter like no other. It usually begins with: ‘What on earth is that thing?’ I came across something that makes me happy every day. It’s a figurine of a cheery chef chap holding up a menu board in one hand and giving a big thumbs up with the other. I found it in a reclamation yard in Old Hill in the Black Country. It’s run by a bloke called Bert, who’s very funny in a bone-dry kind of way. The first time I met him he told me he was also a West Bro...

By Adrian Chiles