Hammer horror at the Dome

The guts of the deserted Dome are being ripped apart

BBC News Online's Hilary Bowden joins potential bidders taking a look at some of the 17,000 items from the Millennium Dome that are going to be auctioned off at Greenwich next week. Valuers hope to raise between £3m and £5m from the sale.

Retired chemist Stanley Shoop knew exactly which lot he was looking for. A latex model of a body lice had caught his eye in the auction catalogue.

Retired chemist Stanley eyes up a latex body lice

Mr Shoop from Elstree in Hertfordshire said: "Uttery revolting of course, but I like quirky things.

"The lice are a bit bigger than I imagined and seem to be automated. I think my wife will have seven fits if I bid for them. For the sake of matrimonial harmony I had better pick something else."

A new garden ornament for the Shoop family

It is too soon for Mrs Shoop to relax. Stanley has spotted the six-foot model of a hamster with its own massive slice of cheese

"Now that might look good in the garden," he ponders.

The once bustling interior of the Dome is now a sad sight. Everywhere men in hard hats are pulling its guts apart - ripping out everything that might fetch a few quid.

Its future is uncertain as potential bidders tussle for the right to determine its new role.

Tired of your boyfriend - bid for one that doesn't talk back

In the meantime sophisticated lighting, sound, computer and catering equipment are all going under the hammer.

But it is the weird miscellaneous items in the catalogue that make the most amusing lots on show.

Who, you wonder, will bid for a rubber chicken, a Mini chopped in half, a portrait of Blackadder or a battered mannequin clutching a rose.

Is there is a gap in their lives that needs to be filled by a giant seagull made from recycled kitchen utensils or 50 stuffed hamsters incarcerated in metal cages.

Peter Engledew says the Dome cost us an arm and a leg

Mr Shoop draws my attention to yet another lot, "Have you seen Tony Blair's lunchbox." "Not yet," I tell him.

Lecturer Peter Engledew, 50, from Walthamstow is not having much joy in his hunt for a piece of Dome history.

"I remember some exquisite model trains being on show but I can't seem to find them.

"I'm not really that bothered that they are selling everything off. The Dome cost us all an arm and a leg. They'd have been better off spending the moeny on a few new hospitals," he said.

But his views are not shared by Wills Gardner, 37, who comes from Westbourne Park in London and used to work in the Playzone area of the Dome before the shutdown.

Doreen Golding wants to bid for a recycled seagull

"It was a great job, I really used to enjoy it. I had to wear a cyber-suit and explain to people about the different exhibits like the kissing machine.

"Hopefully one of the new bidders will bring it back to life again."

Dome enthusiast Doreen Golding, 60 - making her 10th visit to the Millennium site - would also like to see the attraction kept open.

She said: "I visited here when it was being built, I brought my grandson to see it and I was here was it closed for the last time on New Year's Eve.

"I know how much it has done for this area. It was just wasteland before."