Robbie personally thanked Stephen Gibson for buying his lyrics

The pants - with a tiger's head on the crotch - were only expected to fetch �200.

But they were bought by reporters from a tabloid newspaper, who bid �2,200, and increased the sum after asking Williams, 27, to pose with them.

Holding them above his head, Williams said: "Is that so you can write the headline, 'Possibly the pants that Robbie and Geri slept in?'"

Friend and fellow singer Geri Halliwell was also at the sale.

"I would just like to say she prefers G-strings anyway," he added.

Hosting the event at Sotheby's was comedian Lenny Henry.

But Williams himself came out to present the final lot - the handwritten lyrics to the hit Angels.

After furious bidding they eventually went for �27,000, excluding a buyer's premium.

Vanessa Gibson, 31, a photographer from Kent, and her husband Stephen, bought them for their daughter Ellie.

Competition

"Our daughter was born at the same time of year as he released the record so it means an awful lot to us," she said.

Signed sleeve art also went under the hammer

"We spent a lot of sleepless nights listening to it playing and she now knows all the lyrics to it and loves singing it."

A bed - which Williams said "has seen plenty of action" - was bought for �13,000, by the website mobil-one.com, which sells mobile phones, to use in a competition.

They fought off competition from another tabloid reporter.

Auctioneer Kerry Taylor pointed out that one of the legs was in fact broken.

Fans can bid for smaller lots in an online auction, which runs until Wednesday.

Williams said: "I'm speechless. I can't believe what's been going on.

"I'm so touched and the money is going to go to really good places.

"It was my idea but there's been so much work to get it organised. I'm speechless, it's amazing."

Williams later told BBC Radio 1's Entertainment News that cash raised would go towards a new performing arts block at his old school, St Margaret Ward High School in Stoke.

"I'm building a new wing on my school, which is amazing. Art and drama - the Robbie Williams wing, which is amazing. It's what you dream of, I'm doing everything I've ever dreamt of doing. I'm only 27, it's amazing," he said.

The star added that he was felt he was overexposed at the moment.

"I'm around an awful lot. I'm everywhere. I'm in everyone's face and it worries me. Because I'm bored of me, I really am."