TV GHOSTBUSTER'S TERRIFYING QUEST

A Tv ghostbuster is to become the first person in almost 700 years to spend a night in Britain's most haunted room - despite being terrified of spooks.

Derby historian Richard Felix will bid to beat his fears to raise cash for charity with a lone vigil in the room where King Edward II met a gruesome end.

Edward is said to have been killed by friends of Lord Mortimer, his wife Isabella's lover, while imprisoned at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, in 1327.

Legend has it that he was seized in his bed and pinned down under a huge mattress while his killers used a red-hot poker to burn his internal organs.

Although the Norman castle is still home to the Berkeley family, since the grisly deed was done no-one has entered the room other than to clean it.

Even the Berkeleys themselves are said to move out on the anniversary of the king's death - supposedly driven away by screams from the scene.

But now the family is to open the castle to paranormal experts for the first time to see whether the room really is the spookiest in the country.

On September 21, the anniversary of Edward's appalling death, Mr Felix will conduct a public ghost tour until 1am.

The 58-year-old will then be left alone, with only a video-camera and possibly the tortured spirits of Edward and his murderers, for company.

Mr Felix, who conducts regular ghost tours around historic sites in Derby, will try to survive the night to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Despite appearing in 99 episodes of television's Most Haunted shows, shown on Living TV, he remains sceptical about most sightings.

He said: "I'm the voice of reason and believe ghosts and history go together and that up to eight out of 10 of sightings can be explained rationally.

"Having said that, it's the other two that you have to worry about. The truth is that I'm scared of ghosts and have been ever since I was a child.

"Nobody has slept in that room since Edward died, so I can't say what might happen. But I think they will have to lock me in so I don't run out screaming."

Mr Felix was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph glands - Hodgkinson's disease - when he was 18 but was able to beat the illness with treatment.

He said: "I was one of the lucky ones, but I still know what a traumatic experience it can be for a teenager. That's why this charity is so important to me."

Mr Felix has been organising ghost walks for the past 14 years and also runs Derby Gaol, a working museum of the city's centuries-old prison.