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Private Notes
Fiona Bruce and the team roll out their 40th anniversary tour as they scour the country in search of hidden treasures. The magnificent Castle Howard in Yorkshire is their first stop as thousands of visitors raid their attics to bring in family heirlooms to show the experts. Objects brought to light suggest that, four decades on, there are plenty of unrecognised and valuable pieces still out there. A letter in which Darwin admits to making a mistake in The Origin of Species stuns book specialistClive Farahar. A diamond brooch draws gasps of delight as the owner is advised of the value. And could it really be a lost work by Renoir that art specialist Philip Mould ferrets out? There is also a very emotional meeting for Roadshow regular Ronnie Archer Morgan when he is vividly reminded of his most important childhood memory.
On one of the wettest days in Roadshow history, over 2,000 visitors queue to see Fiona Bruce and the experts sheltering under the canopy at Minehead Station, which is run by West Somerset Railway. Objects brought to camera include a bracelet made from jewels once owned by the last of the Romanovs, the Russian royal family, photographs from the day The Beatles came to film A Hard Day's Night and a bronze by sculptor Rodin.
Fiona Bruce and the team head to the magnificent setting of Nymans garden near Crawley for a busy day combing through family treasures.
Objects exciting the experts include an axe which was reputedly used byMallory for his 1922 Everest expedition, a sofa that starred in a classic movie and a diver's watch. Closing honours go to a 'bag of trinkets' found on top of a wardrobe which leaves the owner open-mouthed at her unexpected discovery.
Fiona Bruce and the experts visit the National Trust's beautiful Nymans garden near Crawley, where they are kept busy as they comb through over 4,000 visitors' family heirlooms in search of treasure.
Pieces brought to the cameras include a fine Picasso-designed ceramic once used as an ash tray and a jewelled locket given as a gift by Queen Victoria, and an addicted collector brings almost 1,000 keys for appraisal.
But one of the best reactions to a recent valuation is given when a man with a box of silver gambling tokens given in lieu of debt demands a bodyguard at hearing his surprise news.
Fiona Bruce and the team of experts visit the University of London's art deco jewel of Senate House in Bloomsbury. The first guest to head to camera is a man who has flown in that morning from Antwerp. He wants to know whether his airfare has been worthwhile as he shows a carved whalebone scrimshaw bought recently at auction. Meanwhile, Fiona is entranced by a brick from Pudding Lane that survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, and some of the flashiest jewellery seen in recent years has expert and visitor eyes out on stalks. But perhaps the most remarkable piece brought to camera is Molly, an artist's stuffed model used in the studios of some of the most famous Parisian painters of the early 19th century.
As part of its fortieth anniversary series, Antiques Roadshow arrives on the set of EastEnders for a special episode celebrating the history of film, music, theatre and television.
Set against the backdrop of Albert Square at the BBC's Elstree studios in north London, the Antiques Roadshow team appraise a selection of rare and unusual items of entertainment memorabilia owned by members of the public.
These include the axe that Jack Nicholson wielded in The Shining, a script for the first episode of Doctor Who, and key props from the first Star Wars film and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Every item offers a glimpse into the world of movie legends, pop stars, theatrical giants and television favourites, from Liberace and Muffin the Mule to Fawlty Towers and wrestler Big Daddy.
A collection of autographed items reveal a day spent with Andy Warhol, while a young woman's Harry Potter books bring back emotional memories of her mother's battle with cancer.
Presenter Fiona Bruce also drops into The Queen Vic for a chat with actresses June Brown and Letitia Dean.
The Antiques Roadshow visits the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, where surprising finds include a 3,000-year-old baby rattle and a Faberge treasure destined to become one of the most valuable items ever seen on the show. Jewellery specialist Geoffrey Munn is left breathless by the majestic beauty of the regimental jewel, commissioned by the Countess of Dudley in 1903 for the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars in honour of their service in the Boer War.
Other discoveries include a typewriter used by children's author Enid Blyton to create some of her most famous works and one of Laurence Olivier's first acting scripts, carefully transcribed in his own hand.
Indian art specialist Amin Jaffer delivers a short history of the spittoon, while Andy McConnell challenges Fiona to guess which glass object has increased the most in value.
The most poignant find of the day is a tin of children's toys and trinkets that had been hidden up a chimney as part of a treasure hunt in 1940. Could Roadshow viewers help identify the young girl who left the trail of clues after being struck down with illness?
The Antiques Roadshow returns to Castle Howard in North Yorkshire for a classic summer roadshow. The range of objects brought for the experts to peruse is as eclectic as the people who own them, from a humble terracotta figurine to a rare jade Buddha.
A collection of dynamic aviation paintings proves a big hit with Paul Atterbury. Although not by a well-known artist, they are a contemporary, eyewitness account of some of the First World War's most vicious dog-fights. Plus a belt buckle used on a nurses uniform proves to be an exotic French creation worth thousands of pounds.
Sometimes, it's a collection that makes headlines. At Castle Howard, finds include a collection of highly-decorative snuff boxes and another of Welsh cycling medals, many of which are solid gold.
Fiona pits her wits against ceramic specialist Will Farmer to guess which of three items has increased in value over the 40 years that the Antiques Roadshow has been on air. Who will emerge triumphant?
Fiona Bruce presents from Floors Castle in south east Scotland, home of the Duke of Roxburghe. On a day of sunshine and showers, the nation's favourite group of experts turns up some real treasures, from a highly collectable watch to a rare book signed by JRR Tolkien.
Fiona tells the story of this beautiful 18th-century building, which overlooks the River Tweed and the Cheviot Hills. She finds out that the many treasures to be found within are there thanks to the spending power of an American heiress who brought her collection of fine art, porcelain and furniture to the castle when she married into the family.
Treasures are in plentiful supply outside the castle too - some Murano glass catches the eye of Judith Miller, what seems a motley collection of jewellery turns out to be worth a small fortune, and the valuation of a Chinese lantern used for family celebrations means it will be treated with kid gloves from now on.
Fiona Bruce and the team head to Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, which has been home to 20 generations of the Tollemache family. The moated Tudor manor house, with two working drawbridges, is the perfect backdrop for a roadshow brimming with antique finds.
Lee Young discovers a collection of 17th- and 18th-century decorative boxes that the owner is using as his pension fund. Militaria specialist Bill Harriman is intrigued by a medieval sword dredged up from a pond on a golf course, and Geoffrey Munn sees an Indian jewel, dating back to the Siege of Seringapatam in 1799, that carries a jaw-dropping value.
Fiona Bruce and the Antiques Roadshow team make a return visit to the Black Country Living Museum in the West Midlands on one of the hottest days of the year. Susan Rumfitt discovers some jewels fit for a princess, while Hilary Kay explores local motor racing history at the Sunbeam Motor Car Company. A surrealist picture appeals to Rupert Maas, but is it the real deal? And the show takes a surprising turn to the Wild West with one of the rarest guns Bill Harriman has ever seen - a Colt 37 revolver!
Fiona Bruce and members of the Antiques Roadshow team head to the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh for a royal edition of the programme.
Fiona Bruce and the team make a return visit to Helmingham Hall in Suffolk - a Tudor manor house with working drawbridges and stunning gardens. Paul Atterbury meets a man whose family have painstakingly constructed an entire working model fairground, complete with helter-skelter, Ferris wheel and carousel. Fiona Bruce looks at a unique piece of Donald Trump memorabilia - a vanity set from his private yacht. Clive Farahar values a document signed by Elizabeth I, while Mark Smith is enchanted by a rare WWI medal.
Fiona Bruce and the team are at Newcastle's 1960s Civic Centre - an iconic building where everything from the modernist architecture, public art, carpets to the chandeliers was conceived by one man. Art specialist Frances Christie discovers a painting by a local coal miner, Norman Cornish, who packed in his job down the pit to become a respected professional artist. Paul Atterbury values a vast collection of design plans for RMS Mauretania that were saved from the skip. While militaria specialist Bill Harriman values what he calls 'the finest crossbow I have ever seen in all of my years on the Roadshow'.
Fiona Bruce and the team are at Queen Victoria's favourite seaside residence, Osborne on the Isle of Wight. As the experts set up their tables overlooking the grand gardens with views of the Solent, visitors bring along treasures including some ordinary looking cutlery with a special mark. Other surprises include a globe-trotting trunk, a chair with a moving story behind it and a beautiful Japanese jar found in a water tank. Hilary Kay learns, thanks to a little locket, that not everyone has heard of The Beatles, while Geoffrey Munn unlocks the secret code on a Russian brooch.
In this Episode, the team returns to Floors Castle in south east Scotland, home of the Duke of Roxburghe. The visitors flock to the beautiful grounds on a glorious summer's day, bringing treasures from home and away. A silver box commemorating Robert Burns and a watercolour of Bonnie Prince Charlie represent the best of Scottish antiques, while hand-painted ceramic tiles from Persia, a Nile travel guide and an 18th century travel clock take the programme around the world. The estate lands of Floors Castle encircle the border town of Kelso, while the house, built in the 1720's and enhanced with turrets and battlements in the 19th century, is the perfect backdrop. Fiona meets the visitors and is taken aback by a solid gold denture plate found by a detectorist. The other half is still to be found.
It's a day of surprises for the experts too - two 3D pictures of birds punch above their weight, a breath-taking diamond and pearl pendant from Canada sparkles in the sunshine, while a jade figurine from Beijing may not be quite what it seems. But it's a marble carving of a baby which is the hit of the day for Marc Allum, whilst a fragile cup and saucer, which have survived unscathed since the 18th century, are a very rare find indeed.
In this Episode, the team visit the iconic castle of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. The castle grounds provide the perfect setting for a journey into the past, with treasures ranging from a simple pottery jug given as a love token, to an early Hockney print found in a junk shop. But the star of the day must be an early draft score of Elgar's Enigma Variations, signed by the composer.
Fiona Bruce and the team visit Minehead Railway Station, where spirits are high despite the weather. As the sun breaks through, the treasures begin to arrive, including a chair said to have belonged to Henry VIII and a Butlins dance trophy. The day produces some eclectic finds - a 19th-century washing machine, a historic wedding dress worn by seven brides and counting, and an exquisite miniature of Napoleon which is guaranteed to create a bidding war among collectors.
Fiona Bruce and the team continue to scour the country in pursuit of hidden treasures, returning to Cardiff Castle in the Welsh capital. In this Victorian gothic setting, silver-specialist Gordon Foster is fascinated by an elaborately-decorated Indian flask, while John Benjamin reveals that what was thought to be costume jewellery is actually the real thing. Fiona is on the hunt for a lost 1933 penny worth a small fortune and Henry Sandon gets his hands on a piece of rare porcelain which he has been waiting 40 years to see. In Cardiff his dream comes true and he sets pulses racing with the valuation.
Fiona Bruce and the team set up camp outside the iconic Parliament Building in Belfast, home to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Items featured include the walking stick of Lord Haw-Haw, the traitor executed for helping the Nazis during the Second World War while John Baddeley takes a look at some diving gear associated with the Titanic.
Can Fiona determine the changing fortunes of three books from literary masters?
Richard Price takes time out to indulge in his passion for anything Antarctic. What will he make of a first-hand account of Shackleton's expedition aboard the Endurance in 1914?
Fiona Bruce and the team visit Trelissick House and gardens in Cornwall, where the locals have dived into skips and cleared out their attics to bring along treasures in all shapes and sizes. There is a giant chair and an escape pod from a Vulcan bomber, while at the other end of the scale there is a miniature sewing kit and a gold snuff box with links to DH Lawrence.
Fiona Bruce and the team return to Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, home to the Tollemache family for 500 years, where treasures include a dazzling sapphire ring, a Girl Guide sketch by Robert Baden-Powell and an important collection of Native American artefacts. Glass expert Andy McConnell challenges the owner of a fine collection of mid-18th-century drinking glasses to identify the lone fake, while an intricate model of a butcher's shop intrigues Fergus Gambon.
Fiona introduces Lady Tollemache to a visitor from Liverpool who has discovered a long-lost collection of poems about Helmingham Hall in a car boot sale, and miscellaneous specialist Marc Allum is stunned by a collection of Native American clothing and equipment, assembled by an intrepid ancestor who befriended tribes while working on the railways in the Rockie Mountains in the 1890s.
Fiona and the team head to Leicester's Museum of Technology, housed in a Victorian sewage pumping station. The Abbey Pumping Station, complete with four working beam engines, provides a unique backdrop for the show.
On a busy day of valuations, Mark Hill casts his expert eye over an abandoned sculpture which looks strangely familiar, could it be a lost masterpiece?
Richard Price values a clock powered by gravity and John Axford explains how a tiny frog can have a big price tag.
In this Episode, the Antiques Roadshow team are in Northern Ireland's capital city, Belfast. They settle into a prime location at the magnificent Parliament Buildings on the Stormont Estate, which has played a huge role in Northern Ireland's political history.
In this episode an unloved muffin dish holds a surprise, while Justin Croft spots an unread copy of Ulysses by James Joyce. John Foster delves underground into Belfast's 18th-century water system with an old wooden water pipe, and Adam Schoon meets a man with a phenomenal George Best collection.
Tonight Fiona and the team make a return visit to the historic Abbey Pumping Station in Leicester, now the city's Museum of Technology. Complete with four working beam engines, it's a fine example of Victorian engineering.
Expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan swoons over some 1960s steel sculptures, books specialist Rupert Powell meets playwright Joe Orton's sister, who brings in the typewriter on which he wrote some of his most important scripts, and Amin Jaffer discovers a valuable collection of exotic metal boxes - they look like snuff boxes, but their actual purpose is much more intriguing.
At Newcastle’s Civic Centre, treasures include a tribute to Victorian heroine Grace Darling, who risked her life to save survivors of a wrecked steamship.
Antiques Roadshow returns to Osborne on the Isle of Wight for a second helping of finds, including a Wedgwood vase and some food tins that tell a story of Colditz.
