David Courcier is no mug when it comes to pottery. The 36-year-old Idle potter, who helped astronomer Sir Patrick Moore make a clay pen pot, has been creating 'Idle mugs' which now grace coffee tables all over the world.

His brown earthenware cups, featuring the phrases 'I'm an Idle mug' or 'I'm a mug from Idle' have been selling like hot cakes at his pet shop in Bradford Road. "People have gone mad over them and villagers have bought them for friends and relatives who live abroad," he said. "They've been sent to Australia, Switzerland, Canada, America - you name it, they've gone there."

Mr Courcier, who works full-time as a technical services manager for a coffee machine company, also renovates houses and has done work for the late Russell Harty, playwright Allan Bennett and Madge Hindle who played Renee Roberts, wife of Alf Roberts, in Coronation Street in the late 1970s.

And a couple of years ago, when Mr Courcier was running a stall at a craft fair in Bognor Regis, the world-renowned astron-omer Sir Patrick Moore asked to have a go on his potter's wheel.

"He was pretty good at it. He made a pot which I fired for him in my kiln and took it to his house a couple of weeks later," said Mr Courcier.

"He was pleased with his result - a tall pot which he said he would use as a pen pot on his desk.

"He showed us around his house and we saw his telescope. He was a really pleasant and interesting man."

Now Mr Courcier is working on his next batch of Idle mugs, which cost £3.75 each. "I make about 50 at a time and they tend to sell out within weeks," he added. "One woman in the village bought 18 and sent them to her family all over the country." His wife Jackie, who runs their Pets 'n' Pots shop, added: "He's a very busy man and when he's not working at his full-time job he's downstairs in his work room creating plant pots, dishes and mugs, or out renovating a house. He's certainly not an idle man!"