Nope, it was jsut old and pulled down an awful lot of pwer - I remember complaining to my parents that the cords used to get warm and they said it should be ok. Welll....

And yes, my father the mechanical engineer has taken heater nad cord away to be responsibly disposed of. After throwing somewhat of a pink fit and asking what on earth I'd done because he'd never seen one like that before - none of which made me feel any less trmebly about my find I might add!

And yeah, I got lucky here