IT WAS a celebrity line-up the likes of which had seldom been seen before - Wordsworth and Coleridge, alongside Potter and Ruskin.

There was a Parr too, though not Katherine.

The famous name folly was part of a Cumbria Tourist Board ploy to find cultural ambassadors for the county.

All the "names" had previously been to Cumbria on holiday and had filled-out questionnaires singing its praises.

CTB contacted them and invited them back and made them VIPs for the weekend.

It is hoped they will return to their home bases across the UK and help promote the county in its fight-back following the foot-and-mouth disaster.