He determined that his Penguin Paperbacks should cost no more than the price of a packet of cigarettes and be available in a wide variety of locations rather than solely in traditional bookshops.

Two years later in a bid to make his Penguin Paperbacks even more widely available he invented the 'Penguincubator' vending machine. This now meant that his paperbacks were available at a wider variety of locations such as railway platforms and could be purchased at any time of the day.

Moving ahead 75 years, I was recently holidaying in Las Vegas and came across several of these old cigarette machines in the hotel where I was staying. These refurbished machines have been given a new lease of life as 'Art-o-mat®' vending machines and now dispense art to the masses at $5 a pop. Artist Clark Whittington came up with the idea for the Art-o-mat® in 1997 and now has more than 90 machines spread throughout the United States.

I have to confess to getting a little hooked on these things and brought back a number of original art works for my friends and family.

There's a satisfying ker-plunk as you pull the handle and then a little wait while your new art purchase slides down into the dispensing tray below.

It's an art lucky dip but cheap enough to be fun and a better gamble than some of the other machines that were nearby.