Michael Dixon is used to having Princess Anne sitting on his knee.

The Queen, Margaret Thatcher and Naomi Campbell have also been in the arms of the Wolverhampton teacher.

But Michael is not a friend to the rich and famous – he is an avid collector of puppets.

“I have always been interested in puppets and as a child I loved the Muppets,” says Michael, aged 30, who has worked at Wolverhampton College for seven years.

“I had a lot of Muppet memorabilia and it is the largest collection of its kind in the world – there are talks of turning it into a museum.

“When I was seven-years-old the TV programme Breakfast Time gave me the opportunity to interview Muppets creator Jim Henson with Kermit the frog.

“From then on I kept in touch with him and he sent me items for my collection.

“I even did my work experience on the set of Muppet Treasure Island.”

Jim Henson died in 1990 but Michael has kept in touch with him family and has helped on the set for Muppet Christmas Carol and recently worked with Disney on their Muppet Show DVDs.

“Even though I liked all the Muppet characters I was interested in what happened behind the scenes and how the puppets were made,” says Michael who lives in Low Town in Bridgnorth.

“When I was 16 I joined the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild and I am now their archivist and I also maintain collections for The Puppet Centre in London.

“Around 3,000 puppets are kept in storage and I have my own private collection with 1,000 items.”

Among the items Michael looks after in storage units are Spitting Image and Muppet Show characters, hundreds of marionettes, ventriloquist dummies along with rod, glove and shadow puppets.

“I hardly keep any of the puppets at home and a lot of them are quite fragile so can’t be moved much,” says Michael who is programme co-ordinator for creative arts at the college.

“I met my wife Marlene in New York while I was at a conference for the Hensons.

“She isn’t into puppets but she tolerates my interest in them and my six-year-old daughter Charlotte loves them.

“Charlotte is a pupil at St Mary’s School in Bridgnorth and I used to go into her school with the puppets to put on shows.

“I did a degree at Wolverhampton University in design for communication and during my time there I went to a lot of schools showing off my collection.”

Michael says even though children still love puppets the film industry has recently cast them in a spooky light. “My wife doesn’t like clowns or the dummies with their glass eyes so I have to make sure they are not left lying around the house,” he says.

“The Margaret Thatcher puppet is full-length and has legs and for some reason Charlotte won’t go anywhere near it.

In 2006 Michael was awarded a lottery grant of £25,000 for the Lanchester Puppets.

The marionettes, created by Waldo Lanchester, made a prestigious appearance at Buckingham Palace in 1938 and George Bernard Shaw wrote the play Shakes v Shav especially for them.

“I am still adding to my collection – my favourites are the marionettes.

“It can be difficult to find out when puppets are being sold, but thankfully because I’m well known in the puppet world I can still pull a few strings.”