The Antiques Roadshow

Joan Gurney (Appleton), 1938-51

How do you become so attached to antiques that every Sunday evening for decades a television programme keeps you fixed in your chair for one hour?

In my childhood, the farmhouse in Dedham where I lived with my parents was crammed with what was considered ordinary farmhouse furniture, decorative pieces and useful objects needed for everyday jobs. These included dark coloured oak furniture, copper kettles, butter churns, scrub-top tables, bedroom washing jugs and basins and chestnut roaster (left).

When I went to the Preparatory Department of CCHS at Grey Friars, my surroundings were similar. I sat at a desk of dark stained wood (right) which had an atlas rack at the front and an inset ceramic ink well on the right hand corner, which adjoined a long shallow groove for pens and pencils.

If you were ever sent to the fierce headmistress (Miss King) for bad behaviour, you would visit her study in the former beautiful library

So, what is an antique? In my childhood it was considered to be an object which exceeded 100 years old, but over the years this has proved to be a ‘moveable feast’, and objects which were once in every home are now considered collectable. I left CCHS in 1951, went to university, taught in several secondary schools, married and had a family and during this time television had firmly established itself as a replacement for the radio which had been the main form of evening entertainment. Different programmes came and went; some lasted for a short time, others for longer, then, 26 years after I had left school and had said goodbye to my old school furniture and the objects of my parents’ farmhouse, the BBC started a bold new venture in programmes.

On May 17th, 1977 a team of experts from the world of antiques gathered together in Hereford Town Hall to take part in an experimental programme called The Antiques Roadshow. None of them knew what to expect. The public had been invited to bring along ‘old’ objects and have them assessed and valued – but who would come and what would they bring? Nobody, however, needed to have worried about its success. The months grew into years and the years into decades, until in two years time the Antiques Roadshow will have reached half a century.

I was captivated from the very start, and Sunday evening was not complete without the Antiques Roadshow. The first presenter was Bruce Parker and, as the years rolled by, we saw Arthur Negus, Angela Rippon, Hugh Scully, Michael Aspel and then, in the present day, Fiona Bruce. Old familiar faces in the team of expert valuers often kept going for years. But viewing the programme on television for me was not sufficient. I had to visit a live filming.

In 1994 the Antiques Roadshow was due to come to Colchester Sports Centre, at Charter Hall. It was difficult to believe that it was 17 years since its first appearance, and it was still quite often filmed indoors. What should I take? After much thought, I decided to take an early item form my Bathing Bygones Collection – a 1890s lady’s bathing dress (left) - and my husband, Gerald, would take a piece from his rackets collection – a lazy Susan dining table centre piece decorated with tennis rackets. Both our pieces were selected as ‘interesting’ and we were put aside to be filmed again later for possible inclusion in the live television programme. There was no disappointment in not being selected from this final group to appear on screen because the whole day had been an extraordinary and enjoyable experience.

I had dipped my toe into this extraordinary world of antiques so why not do it again? The programme was so successful that it was nearing its 20th anniversary in 1997 and before and after that date whenever there was a Roadshow day in the locality I would be there with an item. I went to Layer Marney Tower (right), Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club, Lords Cricket Ground, the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia (below) and Helmingham Hall.

(below left) at Grey Friars where she sat on a wooden armchair at her roll-top desk (below right) and brought fear into you before she even spoke. Other pieces of imposing furniture and the overhead gallery laden with books also added to the oppressive atmosphere.

The pattern of the filming day had expanded and developed, so that historic buildings, modern architectural gems, sports facilities, seaside complexes, museums, galleries and universities - all of which might have extensive grounds – were used and much of the filming took place outside.

Teams of engineers, lighting directors, designers, producers, technicians and many others were involved in the weeks and days before, and after the event itself.

The recording, of course, was at the centre of things (right).

In my experience, a visit to the Antiques Roadshow filming day is an enjoyable day, and a template in co-ordination where you can meet other people interested in old things, and perhaps even take your dog and your children.

You are met at the entrance and directed to the Reception Point where your object is examined and you are directed to the appropriate specialist where you join a queue which leads to you meeting and talking to the expert who will assess what you have brought. If the object is of special interest, or has an intriguing story surrounding it, you will be put in reserve and seen again later. Nothing is rehearsed. Everything is very relaxed, informal and jovial. Most of the filming is completed outside and the grounds are dotted with large colourful umbrellas which shelter the expert, his or her table and you, the visitor. Precautions for bad weather include use of indoor facilities and extra marquees.

In the early days of the Antiques Roadshow, very large pieces of furniture were often brought, but over the years absolutely anything can appear, large or small: inherited possessions; gifts; items dug up in the garden; found in scrap yards, purchased from antique shops; charity shops and boot fairs. Everybody who has entered the complex by closing time is seen. Some valuations are eye-watering and some items rare, simple or unique. Everybody remembers Ozzy the Owl (left) from past shows – a very early simple drinking pot from the past and used by its owner as a flower vase.

A new language of antiques started to evolve: ceramics, memorabilia, and militaria. Gerald and I invented our own to cover our Collections – racetana and swimmerabilia!

By 2007 the Antiques Roadshow had reached its extraordinary 30th year. Items brought in now included not only those previously classed as antiques, but those from the 20th century including autographs, first edition books, clothing, sports equipment and other belongings from ‘Pop’ groups, designers and famous and notorious people. Really valuable items reached unimaginable estimates. Jewellery often topped the list, but many of the owners of the most valuable items said that they would never sell them because of their sentimental value. It was always interesting, however, to hear news in later television shows of the destiny of some items, and the prices raised by those which had been sold.

In 2024, once again Colchester featured as the venue for the Antiques Roadshow exactly 30 years since the last visit to the town in 1994 – now a city. This time its site was Firstsite, the relatively new art gallery built in the intervening years. The visit did not have as much advance publicity as it did on the previous occasion, but three television viewings resulted from it and one or two visitors’ items reached high estimates from the experts.

But the show had suffered a serious change to its production and format caused by the limitations imposed during the Covid lockdown. Restrictions on close contact, movement, meetings, gatherings and the wearing of masks were enforced. It was always hoped that these restrictions affecting the Antiques Roadshow would eventually be lifted, but even today, if you have an object to take to the Roadshow filming, you must make contact beforehand with a description and image of it, together with a story - if it has one – and then await an invitation to attend. This does not mean that you cannot attend on the day without advance notice but you have less likelihood of appearing on the television programme and greater motivation is required beforehand to organise your decisions well in advance. To most people however the experience of attending the filming day is much more important and fulfilling than the prospect of television fame! However, in my opinion, from watching these more recent revised television programmes in the last few years, they now seem to lack some of the spontaneity and sparkle because the majority of items are known to the experts and can be researched in advance.

Hwever, I intended to attend the day on June 14th, 2024, and put aside three things to take, with slight mysteries: a waterproof rain cape – by Mary Quant; an elegant walking-stick, with a hollow interior, hidden by a silver cap, which contained a measuring rod marked in hands (4 inches), to measure the height of a horse, and a Parker 51 capsule pen produced in 1941 (for making notes on the day) and found down the back of a seat in my secondhand car. It was an innovation at the time because at school we were still writing with ‘dip in the ink’ pens. Unfortunately, at the time I could not attend the Antiques Roadshow, so I will never know the reaction.

But when the Antiques Roadshow reaches its half century in 2027 – and that will have been a lot of television programmes to have watched - it will have been a fitting last chapter in my story because Firstsite, near the former Lewis Gardens, is almost opposite Grey Friars (right) the beautiful 1755 building with its former pieces of old CCHS furniture, early writing equipment, school desks, horse-drawn garden implements and 400 year old

holm oak, all of which helped to establish my childhood love of everything old and antique. I now own that old desk, with its ceramic inkwell, which I first sat at so many decades ago. It has pride of place in the garden study, having been saved by me from inevitable destruction during the several changes of function which Grey Friars has experienced over the years.

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