Floral Hall, Southport Antiques Roadshow

As you know, on the Antiques Roadshow,

we're not only on the lookout for lovely and interesting objects,

but also for lovely and interesting places in which to find them.

So my hopes ran high when I was told that we were coming to a place

that was once described as the Paris of the North.

It has to be said that, on the face of it,

the jolly seaside town of Southport in Lancashire doesn't immediately

bring the French capital to mind, but the evidence for this extravagant claim

lies away from the sea front in a tree-lined boulevard called Lord Street.

In the 19th century,

Southport was a fashionable resort,

so much so that in 1838 the exiled Prince Louis Napoleon of France -

Napoleon's young nephew - came to spend a season here.

Louis and his chums did all the seaside things -

hunting and shooting - but legend has it

that he was so impressed by the elegance of Lord Street

that, when he finally got home and became emperor,

he had Paris rebuilt in its image, albeit on a slightly grander scale.

At least, that's how the story goes.

For another 100 years, Southport attracted a discerning clientele,

who came here to enjoy evenings at the theatre,

fun-filled days in the open-air pool,

and romantic nights at the grand dance hall.

Except that it didn't HAVE a grand dance hall.

It wasn't until 1932

that the Paris of the North had its own palais de danse.

It was an immediate success with everyone

and the weekly tea dances were chock-a-block and cheek-to-cheek

throughout the year.

The exterior of the Floral Hall

doesn't give much of a hint of the beauty that lies within,

but that makes it even more of a pleasant surprise.

In its time, the Floral Hall has hosted just about every kind of crowd-pulling event.

Today it's the Roadshow.

We're delighted to be here

and to see that Southport has turned out to join us.

I'll go and hand over to the experts and organise the tea dance.

Now, when I arrived at Southport station last night,

I did not see this clock.

-No!

-Is that because YOU have it, rather than the station?

-Yes.

-So why have you got it?

-My dad was station supervisor at Southport

in the '60s and early '70s,

and when they pulled the old station down,

several of the items were sold off,

-and he bought that clock at that time.

-So he knew it, he'd worked with it.

-Yes.

-Right, what we've got here

is a wonderfully documented station clock.

It tells us the whole history of Southport station.

Go back to the 1870s.

There we have a company called the WLR -

the West Lancashire Railway - which developed a line

eastwards from Southport.

They were the first owners of the clock.

Looking at the face, we've then got WLR again.

They were then taken over by LYR,

which is the Lancashire Yorkshire Railway,

and they in turn became,

in 1923, part of LMS. And, although it's not marked,

in due course, that became British Rail. So it's gone through

all those owners. And I love the fact that, in the 1960s,

there it still was, ticking away.

And you have it at home?

-I do, yes.

-And it's working?

It was, but it doesn't work at the moment.

It would certainly be worth restoring. This is very collectable.

Railway clocks are anyway. It's not a special clock. It's fairly standard.

Railway clocks are very desirable, particularly if they come from small, minor companies.

The West Lancashire didn't have a long life, it was soon absorbed, and anything to do with that

has great local interest. If this was not a railway clock,

you're looking at £300, £400, £500.

Because it's a railway clock with that history,

-we're looking at £1,500.

-Really? As much as that?

As much as that. So mend it. Get it ticking.

Right. I will do.

What's wrong with that?

I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

-There is.

-I love it.

You may love it, but it doesn't exist.

-How do you mean?

-You've got a tiger attacking a lion.

-Right.

-Never happens.

-Ah, well.

-Different continents.

-Well, I never realised that.

The only time those two came together to fight

-was in the Roman amphitheatre.

-Good heavens.

But the extraordinary thing is

that these Japanese groups - we see them endlessly

with tigers attacking lions,

BUT...for the western market.

-Ah.

-And the western market said,

"We want a fight between a lion and a tiger,"

and the Japanese said, "Fine, no problem."

This one - we've got a couple of tigers attacking a rhino.

This I don't think I've ever seen.

-It's a really brilliant bit of sculpture. Do you like it too?

-I love it to bits.

-I've known it all my life.

-Where did it come from?

Um, my grandfather, I believe,

acquired it 75-80 years ago

from a captain of a Sikh regiment.

My grandfather was working at a hotel in London

and I believe they were gifted to him after he looked after him for a while.

I wonder why he had got Japanese things.

I don't know.

It's a bit of the story I don't have, unfortunately.

It sounds slightly wobbly, the story.

-You know what family stories are like.

-Exactly.

Um, this one is made

in two sections,

so you can detach one tiger.

And we've got a nice mark

on this one.

It's heavy!

-It is.

-Incredibly heavy.

I'll have to lay it down, I think. It says,

"Dai Nippon" which means "great Japan"...

-HE READS OUT THE JAPANESE MARK

-Dates from around...

1880, 1900. And while we've got it upside down,

just look at the detail on those paws.

Fantastic. Um, well...

I love them, you love them.

The market for Japanese things at the moment

-is not good.

-Mm-hmm.

But these transcend that, really,

because they are decorative, good-quality objects.

This one, I think would make in the region of £2,000-£3,000.

Wow!

And that one, I think would probably make £4,000-£5,000.

That's fantastic. I'd no idea.

So are these beguiling pair of Regency beauties

anything to do with your family?

Well, the two girls the daughters of William Hazelwood,

who was Lord Nelson's solicitor.

The girl on the left

is Horatia.

-Named after Horatio?

-That's right. Named after Lord Nelson.

He WAS going to be her godfather but, unfortunately,

-he never made it home.

-Fate intervened.

-That's right.

Horatia then married my great-great-great-great-grandfather

and married into our family.

I inherited that picture about 15 years ago.

-So this really is an ancestral portrait.

-Definitely, yes.

I don't think I can see a family resemblance.

No, hopefully not!

I must say, I was absolutely delighted to see this

because it's not often on the show

that we get really high-quality miniatures.

I can't tell you who it's by,

despite the fact that, on the back, it says confidently

that it's by an artist called Stephanoff,

-who actually didn't do miniature, boringly.

-Right.

-So it's not by him.

But, with a bit of work, we might find out. But, in a sense,

it doesn't matter, because it's a charming story -

the would-be goddaughter of the great Horatio Nelson,

-called Horatia...

-That's right.

-..and her sister.

What I also really love about the picture is the detail,

the charm as expressed in the ringlets and the curls

and the dresses.

Have you thought about

-what it might be worth?

-I was quoted

about £200

about five or six years ago, but nothing since then.

Even without an artist,

a pair like this, of beauties,

because beauties actually do do rather well,

with so fabulously delineated dresses,

although they are slightly faded,

are just the sort of thing that collectors want,

so I would confidently say that this was worth £2,000-£3,000.

-Very good. That's excellent.

-But it will remain your ancestral portrait?

-I don't think I'll sell it.

-Good.

It's often very difficult

to date African objects but conveniently, here,

-we've got a date of 1919.

-Oh, yes.

So what was going on with your family in Africa in 1919?

Well, it was my husband's father

and his wife were part of a Baptist missionary society delegation

who went out to Africa to visit the missionaries

-in Belgian Congo.

-So it was in the Belgian Congo?

-Yes.

-Which of these...?

-That was my husband...

-Right.

..and that was his sister,

and that was his mother, Florence.

They both went to Africa in 1919.

So this is the couple that collected these pieces?

-Yes.

-I see. And your husband then went back again...?

Yes, then he trained as a minister and as a teacher,

-and he went as a missionary in 1928.

-Right.

In the Congo. Now, this is a place, really,

absolutely in the middle of Africa. It's about as central as you can get.

It took him a month and you had to go by paddle steamer, I think.

Most people, when they come back from a trip, bring back a small souvenir

or a sombrero or whatever it might be, but these aren't exactly light.

I expect, in those days, it was the idea to bring back,

and you probably put them all in a crate.

-Coming by sea, it's not like air travel.

-No, quite.

I wonder whether he'd be allowed to take this on board now!

-And did he ever show you how to play this?

-Er, I don't know.

I just always used to, you know... TWANGING

It's sort of done like that.

It's not going to win many musical awards, this particular one, is it?

But I'm sure that, if you were skilful,

-you'd be able to play it beautifully.

-Yes.

I'll put that down for a moment.

This piece is most extraordinary.

-It's a drum...

-Yes.

-Do you know what these are made of?

-I think they're made of

the resin from the tree which I believe originally would have been white.

-I see. Right.

-But over the years... I mean, it's what...

-87 years.

-Nearly 100 years ago. Exactly.

-It's the year I was born.

-And, um, it's hollowed out.

-Yes. And the two sides

are different so that you get two different tones.

And they call one the high

and the other the low,

or else the male and the female, the male being the dominant.

-Well, quite.

-Yes.

They had, I believe, a huge village drum

and they had a chap who sat there and drummed messages.

-Said that the Reverend So-and-so was on his way.

-That the missionaries were coming up

or visitors were coming.

And then this was a horn, of course,

-which takes a lot of blowing, I can tell you.

-It does.

It's a fantastic thing.

-This is a single tusk.

-Yes.

And we know, obviously from the date your father-in-law brought it back,

-that this must pre-date 1919, anyway.

-Yes, it must.

And I think the colour on it

is actually not just, um...

-from handling. I think they do stain them.

-Oh, do they?

So there is a range of tones.

I'm going to just see, because this...

-Do you think I should try and blow this?

-Yes!

-How do you do it, then?

-You just blow in there, I think.

BELLOW

SHE LAUGHS

Rather you than me!

It's quite a noise that, isn't it?

So there we are.

It's very difficult to know how to value some of these things

because they're of great sentimental value to you, and lovely family connections.

These sorts of things do turn up at auction.

They're... You know, they're not that rare, actually,

but, none the less, I think, you know,

-an example like this one will be worth perhaps £100-£150.

-Yes. Yes.

I think the drum is terrific,

particularly as it's intact with these pieces as well,

-so perhaps that's going to be £500 or £600.

-Is it? Yes.

But I do think the horn is a wonderful tactile object as well,

and, you know, perhaps it's worth at least £1,000.

-It may be more, even.

-Yes.

-As I say, it's not something we see an awful lot of,

but it's a treat to see it. I must say, I've never blown a horn like that before.

-These are, without doubt, the most comfortable barber's chairs I've ever sat in.

-Yes.

I love them, but why did you get them?

My husband and I had a hairdressing barbers' salon in Formby

and we found them in an old salon-supplies company.

They were in an old warehouse

-and they're from Horne Brothers, where the Beatles first got their mop tops done.

-The famous barbers?

-Yes.

-You can trace, by direct purchase and sale,

-back to that salon.

-We can.

-So we know these are actually the chairs the Beatles sat on.

-Definitely.

What other proof have you got?

We've got photographs of the Beatles sitting in the actual chairs in Horne Brothers in 1963.

So we've got here...

There's Paul sitting down,

having his hair cut by John, and George and Ringo looking alongside.

-Yes.

-So we've got the purchase and sale orders,

-and we've got the photograph.

-We have. We have.

Well, that's pretty good provenance.

Now let's look at the chairs themselves.

These were probably made, what, in America?

Yes, Chicago, I believe.

In the early '60s, and would've been brought over here.

Presumably they do,

-although they might not work today, you could go up and down.

-Backwards and forwards.

-Adjust the footrest.

-Yes.

-And presumably here they had the little basins...

-Yes, for all the shaving stuff.

-Or having your fingers manicured.

I mean, they're great chairs. Um...

I think, you know, they are quite trendy today,

and people do like to put them into loft apartments.

As chairs, they're worth maybe £1,000.

But I think, with the Beatle connection,

you're talking about £10,000 each,

and, if you found a lock of hair down the back,

-you could add an extra £1,000 each.

-£10,000 each? Not for the pair?

Great pieces.

-Great provenance. Thanks so much for bringing them in.

-Thank you.

I sometimes get very jealous of my colleagues on jewellery and ceramics

because they can get intimate with some of their objects.

But when I see something as grand as this, I don't mind.

This is something that's come out of a great big house,

you're there, you look very natural with this piece. Have you lived with it for a long time?

We've had it, uh, 30-odd years.

It was, um, given to me

by a splendid old aunt and uncle

who lived in Merevale in Warwickshire,

to where, as children, we were evacuated during the war.

So I've known it since I was... could walk underneath.

-Right!

-And it's got lovely memories. It was in the dining room.

And there weren't many sweets in the war but when there WERE some,

-they were kept on the shelf in this cupboard.

-Oh, wonderful!

And I can open it cos it's just got a catch there.

-So, how did it come to you?

-Well,

My aunt and uncle moved from Merevale House

to a smaller one

and rang up to see if we'd like it.

I was at work.

You tell them...!

The aunt asked if we'd like it. I thought, "It's far too big."

So I said, "No, thank you, we don't want it."

When John came home from work I told him what had happened and it nearly caused a divorce!

So he rang up straight away and said he would like it.

-Thank goodness for that!

-Absolutely.

-So do you have a large dining room?

-Yes.

Excellent. Because what people don't often realise

is there wasn't really such a thing as a dining room,

even in a grand English house, until the second half of the 18th century.

And it was really Robert Adam designing for great houses

like Kedleston and Osterley.

But, fascinatingly enough, he designed sideboard tables

with separate pedestals.

But what happens a little bit later on,

particularly in the early 19th century,

which is when this piece dates from,

is that the pedestals and the table come together, they join together.

So you get this extraordinarily grand, rather opulent...

rather masculine piece of furniture.

And the design of this sort is very much associated

with one of the taste-makers of the early 19th century, Thomas Hope.

The brass railings acted as a background

to the display of the family plate,

large chargers, that would have really displayed who you were,

how grand you were.

This is mahogany banded in this ebonised wood.

It's very strong, very bold.

And, of course, the pedestals

were to have plate drawers

and cellarettes, quite often.

And so sometimes they're lined or foiled with lead.

And... Oh, right, this is...

-They both are.

-Oh!

This is not just lined with lead - this pretty well IS lead!

It's really, really heavy.

And what's fantastic, and you so rarely see,

is that inside you've got the little plug.

I can't get it out.

No, that one's soldered in. I think at some time it must have leaked.

So, originally it would have been drained... It would have held water

for rinsing glasses, for cooling wine.

And you would then take out the drawer and drain it from there.

That is absolutely wonderful. That is superb.

It really is heavy, isn't it?

Well, I think this is a stupendous piece of furniture.

Absolutely...original.

It's got little tiny bits of really not very significant damage on it.

I think if you were having to replace this,

you'd be looking in a grand dealer's, at least £10,000.

There's one little piece of information. I don't know whether you know.

-I don't even know if I should go into this...

-The more I find out about it, the better.

-Well, you know that the British had this curious idea that women leave the dining room...

-Yes.

..after the meal and go off and have tea or whatever?

The gentlemen stayed with their port, telling stories.

Well, in order to... not have to leave the room

to relieve themselves, to go off to the closet somewhere,

they would often...

have a pot in the pedestal.

-Yes.

-And would - discreetly, I hope - get up from the table

-and piddle in the pot!

-They could almost get underneath there!

So, not particularly savoury in the dining room

-but that is certainly what happened.

-We keep wine glasses in it!

Oh, this is really nice, this is lovely.

-A letter from John Betjeman.

-Yes.

-Dated...

1963. So I guess he was already a fairly elderly gentleman.

So how in 1963 did John Betjeman come to be writing to you?

-I'm intrigued.

-I was still at school and I was trying quite hard to write myself,

and taking myself very seriously.

And instead of writing

-to footballers or pop stars, I was writing to writers.

-Fantastic.

So you sent a letter speculatively to John Betjeman?

Yes, I sent him some of my stuff and, lucky for me, he replied.

So he read your poems. Was he kind about them?

He was, yeah. Yeah. He was very kind!

"Dear Mr Whall," which is you, "my secretary kept back your poems for me to read

"and I'm very glad she did. You write about what you really see and feel,

"and you are not literary and derivative. Both qualities are rare.

-"I wish you every success." That's really very nice, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-He was very kind.

-He is being very kind.

-Fantastic. You must have felt really very encouraged.

-I was, yeah.

-As a young poet.

-Yeah, yeah.

What I like about this particularly is that he goes on.

He doesn't just say what he thinks about YOUR poems, he seems to be telling us -

telling YOU - what HE likes in HIS poems.

Look at this. "Personally, I like

"rhyme, rhythm and 'trad' poetry,

"but I don't think it's the only kind."

-I think that's beautiful because that really sums up what Betjeman is for so many people.

-Yes, yeah.

I can only imagine how you must have felt

when the post came in the morning

and these envelopes were plopping through the door

-and you knew - or hoped - something was going to come.

-I hoped.

So, say, this brown envelope comes through the post,

postmarked 31st January, 1967...

Who's it going to be from? This is very nice, again.

This is Henry Williamson,

who I suppose we think of most as a nature writer.

-He wrote Tarka The Otter.

-And Salar The Salmon.

-These are the things we know him best for.

And he says, "Thank you for sending me your poem.

"I could see at once that it is good."

He doesn't just say "good", he underlines "good".

-How did you feel when you read that?

-That was enough!

It's very hard to say whether these kind of things have a commercial value.

-Of course.

-Obviously, in terms of your development as a writer, they're absolutely immeasurable

-in value.

-I think so, yeah.

-Did you carry on writing?

Yes, I have done. I'm still trying!

Right, so you've got Betjeman,

you've got Blunden, you've got Williamson...

-This is RS Thomas.

-Mm.

It's a nice little group. I suppose one could put a value

of perhaps a couple of hundred pounds on them.

But, as I say, the value is so much more to you, as a writer.

I think it's the kind of thing I would like to pass on, I would like to leave to grandchildren and so on.

-I think that would be lovely, to keep them together.

-Yes.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Your mother was clearly a multi-tasking lady.

Very much so, yes.

So which came first - the mechanics or the fashion?

Oh, the fashion. She went from school.

I don't know whether she did a fashion qualification somewhere,

but she then went to work for Gorringes in London

as a fashion designer.

And hence these wonderful designs.

Did she ever talk to you about it?

A little, but when you're a teenager,

unfortunately, you're not all that interested.

-She died when I was 25.

-Oh, no!

That's such a shame. The first one we've got here,

this is very appropriate for being here on the promenade because

that's a wonderful beach design.

I think it's come full swing

because some of the beachwear that we have today

-looks very like that.

-I remember her wearing something similar she made

-when I was a child.

-Amazing!

I don't quite understand this...

little signature here.

Well, she was called Doris Mould

but she signed all her artwork backwards - "Dluom Sirod".

-Dluom Sirod!

-Apparently, it was one of the things of the day. ..Sirod.

-So, Mould came first and then...

-Doris Mould.

-Fascinating.

I didn't know that. I learn something every Roadshow.

I'm going to just pick that one

because of the, if you like, the tartan effect.

I've got a dress with that tartan

-so it's still very much in vogue.

-Yes.

I see here.. We don't advertise on TV but...

um, look at this!

-The original Liberty print.

-Yes.

For the most wonderful dress.

That could be Princess Diana's dress, couldn't it?

Then we come on to another one,

and this is a silk, which is absolutely stunning.

She's very good, the way she shows off these tiny waists and...

The faces aren't great but who cares when you've got a great body!

This is one of my favourites.

This is crepe georgette, which is absolutely stunning.

And it shows, in fact,

a man with what looks like either a lion or a poodle,

I'm not quite sure!

I've never looked at that properly.

People who make new fabrics

would give their eye teeth for these early pieces.

-Samples.

-They can make different colours out of them and patterns

-for today's fashion. So where do the mechanics come in?

-Ah...

1941, I think it was, she joined the FANYs, the Female Army Nursing Yeomanry.

And I think she was fairly quickly seconded into the ATS.

Um, and the Army decided to - as Mother put it -

find out whether women were capable of doing mechanics!

And she and three or four or five others were sent.

And she told of lying under an Army lorry with three pairs of boots sticking out.

And it was the first time she'd heard some very awful swearing.

And she's rolled out from under the lorry, "Excuse me, sir, but what does that mean?"

-At which point five men went purple.

-Oh, how wonderful!

-She had a great sense of humour.

-She had to, I should think.

-Yes.

That was my mother,

I think when she joined the FANYs,

when she left Gorringes.

And that's at our wedding in 1969, a little bit later,

-but it shows you how elegant she was.

-Yes, absolutely.

So what are you going to do with them?

Well, the family will keep some, we will frame some and keep them.

But I've nearly 50, so I don't know whether some of them should be in a museum

or whether to sell some of them or what. I mean...

If you put them into auction, I don't think they'd make a huge amount of money.

The name is not well-known enough.

-No.

-If you were lucky, you'd get, say, £50 - £100 each.

But having said that, she's such an interesting woman

and you've got all these family. And in a way...

-We might keep them, I think.

-Because it's very unusual to have a mechanic who's a woman

-AND an artistic fashion designer.

-Yes.

-They don't normally go together.

-No!

You have a collection of post cards. You've brought this one in,

-it's interesting?

-Yes, it's a very special one, to do with the Titanic.

Anything to do with the Titanic is absolutely magical.

Yes. Well, we had a student living with us and his aunt had passed away,

who lived in Birkdale, which is about five minutes from here.

He asked could he store some of her furniture in a room we had.

There was a collection of postcards so they said, "Have whatever you wish."

-We chose the postcards and this one was in the collection.

-Wonderful.

Let me tell you about Titanic postcards, in general.

-If you have one that's photographic, they command quite a lot of money.

-Oh, right.

But if you have one that's printed, as this one is, they're not so important.

-Right.

-But...

this is the magic, and I'd better read it.

It says, "My dear Clara, we have heard good news.

"Aunty has not gone down with the Titanic.

"She has been listed in the paper 'saved'.

"We'll see you tomorrow. With best love. Alice."

Wonderful. Imagine the joy that this postcard must have generated!

-Oh, yes.

-And the postmark is the 19th April,

so this is five days...

-After, yes.

-..after the Titanic sank.

Wonderful little postcard.

-It's very special.

-So we come to values.

-Yes.

-Any idea?

-No, not really.

-Well...

one was sold, which was photographic, to an American on the telephone,

and it fetched £700.

Oh, gosh.

Now, yours isn't photographic as such, but it's the message on the back here

that makes it so important, and of course, your postcard is certainly worth more than £1,000.

Oh, gosh.

Thank you very much!

Would you describe yourself as a romantic?

-Yes, I would.

-Why?

Well, I think it runs in the family. My mother was very much the romantic.

The reason I ask is because I wonder how you would have felt

if somebody had given you...

that diamond heart.

Cos I think, as a gift, I think this is absolutely beautiful.

-Yes, I quite agree.

-It does, I have to say, bring out the romantic.

You can't get a more romantic shape than a heart.

Tell me a little bit about it.

Well, it belonged to my late mother.

She died around four years ago. She bought it privately.

-I don't know how much for.

-Do you know when she bought it?

-Probably about 18-20 years ago.

All right, we can see it's absolutely packed

with diamonds at the front.

The way that the diamonds are set is described as "pavee set".

And what the jeweller has done when he made this,

in the centre, he's placed a drop-shaped white diamond,

of great beauty and great purity.

That drop-shaped diamond in the centre is then contrasted with the surrounding diamonds,

which are known as "rose-cuts".

To reinforce the importance of the heart,

you've got diamonds in the pendant loop.

As beautiful as the front of this piece is, there's another feature about this piece, which, I must say,

I find really... I can connect with.

Because when you turn it over, you have a locket compartment.

-Did your mother use that compartment?

-No, she didn't.

Well, this is not glass.

This is rock crystal. That shows the pedigree of the piece.

Within, you've got the whole cage-work setting

of the diamonds at the back,

showing you just what a complex design the setter has used.

Like a lot of late 19th century pieces, it's mounted in gold and silver.

It wasn't until the 20th century that you started to see the development and use

of new methods, like platinum. So the date of this is round about the very end of the 19th century.

The other thing about it is, doesn't it look very nice in the box?

It's true to say that a fitted case for something

shows it off to its most beautiful effect.

Has a jeweller looked at it? Has it been valued ever?

When my mother died, the estate had it valued

and they valued it at between £1,200-£1,500.

-How long ago would that have been?

-About four years ago.

-So, £1,200-£1,500...

I think is too low, for all the reasons that I've given to you.

You've got this wonderful white diamond in the middle,

this packed out rose-cut diamond frame,

the condition of it, which is absolutely as if it had come off the jeweller's bench yesterday,

in the original fitted box, and...everyone loves hearts.

If you did something commercial around February 14th, imagine how many people would like this!

So I think I'm going to beat that price.

-I think this is worth at least £4,000-£5,000.

-Gosh. Good heavens!

So we have a photograph of a very impressive looking lady. Who is she?

Leonora Cohen. She was the mother-in-law of my godmother.

-Did you ever know her?

-No. I might have met her when I was very small.

But she, obviously, was a considerable age.

We've got here... This is hers. Why did she get the OBE?

-She was a suffragette.

-Right.

And is she in this photograph?

-She is this lady here.

-So here we have a Radio Times cover from 1974.

-How old was she then?

-She was 100.

-So these, presumably, were three surviving suffragettes.

-Yes.

What do you know about her career?

I don't know that much, to be honest. I have some newspaper clippings, but I don't know that much about her.

-Do you know what suffragettes are?

-No, not really.

-I think they tried to get the vote.

-Exactly.

Leonora Cohen, as far as I know, was a very, very important suffragette.

-She was.

-She was right at the heart of the movement.

-Mrs Pankhurst... Do you know her?

-I think she was the most famous one.

Mrs Pankhurst was, in a sense, the key suffragette. She got it all going.

She gathered together this group of militant women who were prepared to fight to put it on the line.

Leonora Cohen was, in a sense... Bodyguard is the wrong word...

but she was a personal assistant who travelled round with her.

But the key thing, of course, is what is in here.

To me, this is total and complete magic. Do you know what it is?

-I think it's a medal of some sort.

-That's right.

Do you know why these medals were given?

-No.

-One of the things the suffragettes did,

was when they were breaking windows or whatever, they were often arrested,

and when they went to prison, they refused to eat, and they refused to drink.

They carried on their protest in prison. Can you imagine, you've been arrested and taken to prison,

-and then, you don't eat or drink. They were either force-fed...

-I think she was force-fed.

From what I know of her career, she did two crucial things. One - she went into the Tower of London,

and with an iron bar hidden in her coat, she broke one of the cases and hit the crown jewels.

-Why did she do that?

-It was all about bringing attention.

You had to do violent things. Otherwise, the papers wouldn't report it.

And here she is, I think, going back to the Tower of London. She's visiting the scene of her crime.

She was locked up in the Tower.

But later, when the Prime Minister Asquith came to talk in Leeds,

she threw a brick through a window, again, to attract attention, to say, "Look, we're fighting!"

and for that, she was locked up in Armley Gaol in Leeds. And that's when she did her hunger strike.

So then, only those women who had taken part in the hunger strikes were given the medal

by the suffragettes. I'm gonna read this...

"Leonora Cohen, by the Women's and Political Union in recognition of a gallant action,

"whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship

"a great principle of political justice was vindicated." Wonderful stuff, I think!

But this is what you've got. So these are the remains of that great career.

-But she lived to be over 100.

-Absolutely fantastic.

-What a heroine!

I'm just so excited about this, but I think these were great days of our history.

-I wish people fought like this now.

-So do I. We're very proud to have her as part of our family.

-Yeah.

You must really think this was a great woman. You're so lucky.

-Now, in Roadshow terms, of course, values. Do you know what all this is worth?

-I don't have a clue.

The OBE is not really significant - it's a few hundred pounds - because there are lots of them.

Come to this.

Here we have...

the tops.

It's the medal for hunger strike. They're very rare.

It's in the box. It's personalised to her.

And, therefore, that is going to be...

as good as it gets.

She was also a key figure - a lieutenant of Mrs Pankhurst.

-You've got there, I would say, about £7,000.

-Oh, my God!

Gosh!

-It's a lot of money, but this is family history. You must never, ever sell it!

-No, I would never sell it.

-Would I be able to put it somewhere where people could see it?

-You can lend it to a museum,

to Armley, to Leeds Museum. There must be other suffragette stuff there. It should be seen.

It cannot get better than that.

Thank you very much.

We've had some amazingly long queues here today,

which is quite appropriate for a place which has boasted the longest pier in the country.

It also boasts the smallest pub, but that's another story.

From Southport, for now, goodbye.