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SHOWBIZ

HAS POSH BOUGHT A PIG IN A POKE?

The piglets weight just 13lbs each

Thursday November 5,2009

By Elisa Roche

VICTORIA Beckham has already bought a pair of piglets for her husband.

The Spice Girl turned fashion designer has put a £1,400 deposit on two micro pigs weighing 13lb each – as a Christmas present for David.

But Posh may have bought a pig in a poke because there is an even smaller breed than the animals now destined for the Beckhams’ Hertfordshire mansion.

Weighing just 8oz at birth, the Pennywell piglet will grow no bigger than a cocker spaniel, making him almost half the size of the Beckhams’ new arrivals, to be called Elton John and David Furnish. And farmer Chris Murray, who has been breeding Pennywells for more than 20 years, insists Mrs Beckham has missed a trick.

He said: “I’ve had numerous celebrities asking to buy our own breed of Pennywell miniature pigs over the years. If Victoria had come here to buy one, she’d have had a wide selection and it would have been nice for her to see the whole family and how they come out in an amazing variety of colours.

“I’m sure the ones she’s bought for David will be fine but I do hope she hasn’t bought a pig in a poke.” Mr Murray claims the pigs from his Devon farm are the smallest in the Western world. He names Jonathan Ross, Claudia Schiffer and Charlotte Church and husband Gavin Henson among satisfied customers. But Mr Murray is careful when handing over his little piggies and he is not afraid to turn anyone away, however famous.

He said: “I turned Jonathan Ross down – I was worried he didn’t have enough space to keep them. But he asked me to talk to his wife and daughter and they asked all the right questions and said they’d got two acres of land near London and an estate in Dorset.

“Charlotte and Gavin were fantastic and very sensible so we were happy about letting them have the miniature pigs.”