Last Friday Judith Miller and I were invited out to the heart of ‘Metroland’ to visit the charming town of Chorleywood. The owners of the independent Chorleywood Bookshop, Sheryl and Morag, asked us to speak at an evening event in the local hall, followed by a book-signing and an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ style valuation. After perusing […]
Yesterday saw a nerve-shredding drive up the M11 to the 14th Cambridge Glass Fair at Chilford Hall. As ever, it was well worth it. I was one of many hundreds who braved the torrential rain and flocked to the event to buy the best in glass from 18thC drinking glasses to 21stC contemporary studio glass. […]
Yesterday I was honoured to be asked onto BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’, to speak about Jessie Tait and her 1950s-70s designs for Midwinter. I was accompanying Professor Cheryl Buckley, who had been lucky enough to meet Tait herself during her research into the role of woman designers in the ceramics industry. If you want […]
I am delighted to attend the following BBC Antiques Roadshows as a specialist on either the Miscellaneous or Collectables tables – please do dig out your treasures, come along, and say hello! Doors open at 9.30am (although queues start earlier!), and Roadshows run until 4.30pm – providing you’re in the queue by 4pm, you’ll be […]
The excellent and highly enjoyable Priceless Antiques Roadshow continues its second series on BBC2 at 6.30pm. If you’ve missed any, catch up online on iPlayer. If you missed the episode I was in and mentioned below, here’s what I bought for the ceramics challenge. I was delighted with my find, and feel pretty comfortable in […]
The second series of Priceless Antiques Roadshow, the BBC’s fantastic spin-off show from world-famous Antiques Roadshow reached its fifth episode this evening, with another twenty to come. Perfect tea-time viewing, the show looks deeper into the Roadshow, one of Britain’s best-loved TV programmes, and with a 32 year heritage. You’ll learn more about the experts […]
Hot on the heels of the Antiques Are Green campaign comes the first ‘National Antiques Week’ in Britain! To be held from 23rd-30th November, the week aims to encourage more people to visit their local antiques shops, auction house or fair and buy and enjoy antiques, collectables and 20thC design. A high profile team of […]
A few months ago, I wrote a quick blog entry on a particular passion of mine – Mordan propelling pencils. You can read it here. You can imagine my delight when BBC Homes & Antiques magazine commissioned me to write an article on the subject. As well as a history of the company and its […]
Filmed during the first ever retrospective celebration of the life and works of Frank Thrower in Summer 2006, the documentary film of Frank’s life, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”, will be shown on the the Sky 2 Arts channel on Sunday 9th August at 7pm. This fascinating documentary was filmed and produced by Nigel Edwards of […]
July has been a busy month for me. In addition to my usual jobs, this month I enjoyed three Antiques Roadshows in nearly as many weeks. I wrote about Melrose below, and that was followed up a few days later by an event at Bletchley Park, just outside Milton Keynes. If you think you recognise […]
I’ve just got back from a charity auction held to benefit the Prince’s Trust at the Guildhall in London. Alas, I am empty handed. Eric Knowles, my friend and colleague on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, is taking part in another series of ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ for the BBC. Here, two well-known […]
And I bought a hat specially too! Having experienced the blazing Summer heat the UK is experiencing on past Roadshows, I thought I’d come prepared this time. You can imagine my annoyance when both the Met Office and BBC weather both predicted rain and thundery showers. Well I should have trusted my instincts – not […]