A SELF-made American multi-millionaire has drawn up plans to build a glitzy Las Vegas hotel in the shape of Southampton's lost liner, Titanic.

The idea has already been dismissed as "bad taste'' by one leading expert on the ship which went down with huge loss of life, including many crew members from Southampton, 88 years ago.

If the scheme is given the go ahead then Titanic is set to join other typically over-the-top Las Vegas attractions which include hotels and casinos styled on an Egyptian pyramid and the sphinx, a copy of the Empire State Building, Venice's grand canal and a mock medieval castle.

Bob Stupak, the man behind the proposed development, wants his version of Titanic to be bigger than the orginal ship, which sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York after it struck an iceberg in April 1912.

Guests who check in at the Titanic hotel are expected to stay in rooms which will be housed in huge copies of the ship's four funnels while the money-making casino will be inside a fake iceberg next to the building.

Brian Ticehurst from Southampton, one of the country's top Titanic historians, has been following the scheme planned for Las Vegas.

"I will believe this plan when it happens but then Las Vegas is capable of anything, especially in the bad taste lines,'' said Mr Ticehurst.

The story of Titanic continues to fascinate people around the world and since the success of the Holly-wood blockbuster film about the ill-fated ship interest has grown even stronger.

An expedition, which is at present diving on the wreck of Titanic lying two-and-a-half miles down in the Atlantic, has recovered many items from the seabed.

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