Bridlington Antiques Roadshow


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We've packed our bucket and spade this week for one of our great British seaside resorts.

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Welcome to the Roadshow from Bridlington.

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Apart from our desire to explore all corners of the country,

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we've been drawn to this part of the Yorkshire coast for a special reason.

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Each week we hear our experts wax lyrical about beautiful objects

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brought along to the show,

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so today, alongside the normal Roadshow, we're asking our experts

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to choose which era they believe produced the finest, most beautifully crafted objects -

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when was the ultimate age of elegance?

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So where could we stage such a show?

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How about a highly fashionable resort of the Edwardian era?

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The Bridlington Spa and Gardens was a clever idea, recognising

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that rain was as likely as sunshine during a typical British summer.

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It combined exterior and interior space for 5,000 people,

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right on the edge of the beach.

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From the very start, the riff-raff were strictly excluded -

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people deemed as objectionable were banned from admission.

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So all came to the spa in the best and most fashionable outfits.

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Tragically, two fires ravaged the original buildings in the early 20th century

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and in the 1930s a new centre was erected on the site,

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the Spa Royal Hall,

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and the resort saw something of a revival in the Art Deco era.

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It was a great venue in the days of the tea dance.

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One band leader described it as certainly the finest dance and concert hall on the coast.

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It's taken some knocks since then,

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so for the last two years it's been closed for a complete face-lift.

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And here she is today, looking a million dollars.

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What a perfect backdrop for this special edition of the Roadshow,

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celebrating the very best of elegant design.

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Let's see what beautiful lines catch our experts' eyes,

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as they start uncovering treasures brought along by our visitors.

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This is a beautiful Royal Worcester figure.

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She's known as the Bather Surprised

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but I'm always puzzled at the title. She doesn't look surprised at all!

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I think she's been expecting it to happen all along!

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She's a gorgeous girl,

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modelled by Sir Thomas Brock who was a great Victorian modeller.

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He actually designed the great central Queen Victoria Monument

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outside Buckingham Palace, so he was an important chap.

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-He made this model for Royal Worcester.

-Right.

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-The colours are very 1920s.

-Right.

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Earlier on they were stained ivory, darker in colour,

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-but she's a very boisterous modern girl of the time.

-Yes, yes.

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And she's done in three different sizes. A large one,

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this is the medium size, and a little baby.

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But I think she's gorgeous. How did you come by it?

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It belonged to my grandma and I inherited it when she passed away.

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My grandparents were travellers with the fairground

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and I always remember that she said that it travelled in the wagon with them.

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They used to have to lay it on the bed when they moved from fairground to fairground,

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-and wrapped it in bedding to keep it safe.

-She took it to fairs with her?

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Yes, because she loved it so much.

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-Golly.

-But always as a child I used to see it in her bedroom

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and admired it and always hoped it would be mine one day, which it was.

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Because fairground people love porcelain.

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-They love especially Royal Worcester.

-Yes.

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-Did they use to have any fruit plates?

-Yes.

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I've got two fruit plates on my wall as well.

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-They loved fruit plates.

-They're gorgeous.

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They came to the Worcester factory when I was there and asked me to let them have pieces from the museum.

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"Well, I'll buy that, Governor. I'll give you any money you like." Of course I couldn't sell them.

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She always had some lovely pieces did my grandma.

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-She seemed to have a good taste for nice things.

-Wonderful.

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Wonderful to think this travelled round the country with the fair.

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Especially here at Bridlington of course

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-with all the marvellous fairground things here.

-Yes.

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-Fascinating life, really.

-It is lovely.

-Going to all these places.

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I'm very proud of my, you know, family history.

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I'm sure, quite right to be, too.

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But she's a beautiful girl.

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She has one little bit of damage, I see. The thumb has come off.

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Yeah, that's been there as long as I've known, right from a child.

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-Don't worry too much about that.

-All right.

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It's not too noticeable. But she's a gorgeous girl.

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I suppose in this condition one would expect for this size of figure

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-to be something like about £1,250.

-Right.

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-So she's jolly, jolly nice.

-She is.

-So look after her.

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-Oh, I do. I do.

-But she's beautiful.

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She is lovely.

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Do you know, this is the most remarkable collection,

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this double album here of cricketers, footballers.

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They're all little caricatures and they're all signed.

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-Where did they come from?

-My father started collecting and did all the drawings when he was about 20.

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And he sent off for the signatures?

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Yes, he would send a letter and then hopefully get a reply with an autograph.

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I think it's quite amazing.

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Here we've got Jack Buchanan and Fred Astaire,

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-but they're both signed photographs, aren't they?

-Oh, yes.

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Which is rather nice. I don't know how he managed to get hold of those.

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-If we go further on into the albums, we get things like Amy Johnson.

-Yes.

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-And of course...

-Of course.

-She's a Bridlingtonian, isn't she?

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Hull and then... Yes, she's from Hull, yes.

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-Yes, and the first person to fly to Australia.

-Yes, that's right.

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First woman to fly to Australia, first person to fly to Australia single-handed.

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And here is a picture of her craft.

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Desert Cloud.

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And we go on even further.

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Just finally here, this one caught my eye,

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which is of "Yours sincerely John Tenniel."

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-He was the man who...

-Oh, the illustrator?

-The Alice man.

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He did all those.

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There is a nice photograph of him.

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So he must have got him very early. I mean, I don't think he...

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He was basically a 19th century figure, wasn't he?

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-Well, he probably had some given by some other people.

-Do you reckon?

-I don't remember.

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-Swapsies or something like that?

-Possibly something of the sort.

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So, it's a ridiculous thing to say, but did your father,

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did your father-in-law, actually love this collection?

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Oh, yes, he adored it!

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We were bombed out during the war and we all survived,

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but I think my father would grab

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the autograph books before wife and children!

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You've got hundreds and hundreds of these. 200, 250... I mean, just by looking through

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and having enthusiasm for some and possibly not so much for others,

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but they're all remarkable.

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It is remarkable to get a collection together like this,

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so comprehensive,

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-and such fun to look at.

-Yes.

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I would put a price of about £1,500 to £2,000.

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-Really?

-Yes.

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There you are. That's another unexploded bomb to take home!

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THEY CHUCKLE

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-Thanks for bringing them in.

-Thank you.

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CROWDS DROWN SPEECH

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As you saw at the top of the programme,

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there's a good reason why we chose the Spa Bridlington for our venue,

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with its echoes of Art-Deco elegance, it's the perfect place

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to talk to some of our experts about which era they would choose as the ultimate age of elegance.

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Hilary Kay, you've got opening honours today.

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The kind of stuff you've brought is the stuff that reminds me of my parents' era.

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OK. Did you keep it?

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Should I have done?

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Well, wait and see.

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I think what I have to say

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is that the era that I've chosen, the 1950s, I've chosen because

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it's so full of optimism, it's so full of brand-new stuff.

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After the war almost anything goes,

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and the few things we've got here

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are a reflection of that.

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I suppose I also know 1950s things from my parents and from my grandparents,

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and it strikes a chord in me. There's a sort of resonance there.

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And looking at these things,

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they're not all icons but some of them certainly are.

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Let's look. This is so distinctive a fabric, these kind of patterns.

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This is perhaps the most influential piece of fabric design

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that you and I will see. It's called Calyx.

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It's designed by Lucienne Day.

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It was described as, "If you can't afford

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"a piece of abstract art, at least you can have them on your curtains."

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And that's what it is. Inspired by Calder and by Miro,

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this was designed for the zenith of design of the period,

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-ie the Festival Of Britain.

-When you look at this,

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can this claim to be part of the British ultimate age of elegance?

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-Because Scandinavia had a big influence.

-You're absolutely right.

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I think that the whole use of Scandinavian light materials,

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new fabrics, new types of manufacture, created a whole different look.

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I think that if one looks at this light and airy furniture,

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the stick-like legs, the uses of different woods,

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different shapes,

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the sparseness of the decoration,

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it speaks volumes to me.

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And the fact that we are now all returning to this look

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is a testament of its longevity and its influence.

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But not to the fashions of course, we're not returning to the fashions particularly.

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They really were remarkable back then in the '50s.

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They were. Again if one goes back to that sort of rebellion against all those restrictions of war time

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and with somebody like Dior, for instance, when he created the New Look,

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suddenly in came the hour-glass figure, femininity,

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luxury, wastefulness.

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All these things that were absolutely forbidden for the previous five, ten years.

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And it also meant subliminally that women were to be looked at in a different way.

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At the end of the war, the soldiers came back,

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the girls had to give up their jobs to give jobs for soldiers.

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They became housewives.

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What could be more applicable to this new housewife generation

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than the Dior dresses?

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-This is a very sort of classic boxing training pose.

-Yes.

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-Who is he?

-That is my grandfather who was born Cyril Hills

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out of Manchester, who boxed under the name of Darkie Ellis,

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became a Bridlington man and married a Bridlington lady.

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OK, I'm going to ask the obvious question.

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What happened to the genes?

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SHE LAUGHS

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Lightened along the years, I think.

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I would never have believed he was your grandfather. Did you know him?

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Unfortunately not. I wish I had.

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-His stories would have been wonderful.

-Yes. What about your grandmother?

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My grandmother passed away last year at the age of 92.

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So you had lots from her?

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Yes, lots. She was quite reticent about the past.

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It was, "What's in the past is in the past. It doesn't matter."

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-Were there secrets?

-There possibly are. That's for me to find out as I go along, I think.

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-Why did he change his name?

-No idea, total mystery to us.

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I'm told that his mother and his sisters actually had a business on Bridlington Beach

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as fortune tellers and made a very comfortable living.

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So he was a sort of showman?

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Definitely. He actually, I believe, boxed in the fairground boxing booths as well.

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Right, so we're going into a very sort of basic level of boxing at that point.

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This is dated 1933.

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He's there with... Is that his manager?

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I don't think it's his manager.

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-I think it's probably one of his trainers.

-Right.

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He's a stylish, elegant man.

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-I think he definitely was for the era that he came from.

-Yes.

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They look a classic lot, don't they?

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-They definitely are!

-Real sort of heavies of that sort of sport.

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-There he is.

-That's right.

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Now let's think about his name.

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I mean, today nobody would call themselves that.

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And yet he was called Cyril, but he chose to be called Darkie.

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I suppose that was accepting his popular name.

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He must have chosen to call himself that, so I imagine that was his nickname anyway.

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I would imagine so. If you speak to people around Bridlington

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-who can remember that era, they always knew Darkie Ellis.

-Yeah.

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-So we've got here a lovely scrapbook.

-That's right.

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-These are his bouts, aren't they?

-They are his bouts.

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"England's best middleweights, Darkie Ellis and Donald Keys."

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What was his status in this sport?

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Was he just a local boxer? Did he make good?

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I think he made quite good.

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At one time he was classed middleweight champion of England, of Northern England...

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-Yes, it was regional at that point.

-That's right, it was regional.

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Now that's interesting. Is that your grandmother?

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That is my grandmother, yes.

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They're a stylish couple.

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It's like gangster's moll.

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-Exactly!

-The Untouchables sort of era.

-It's straight out of Al Capone.

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It is, it's fantastic. I love it.

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My grandmother went on to become a very well known local landlady

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in Bridlington and she ran the Crown Hotel in Bridlington

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for a very long time later on in life.

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Yeah. I think it's a great story.

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-We haven't talked about the poster. What a great image.

-It's fantastic.

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Now what we're looking at here is an international.

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Belgium versus England,

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Four Belgian boxers, four British boxers, including...

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There he is. And he's obviously the great hero of the time.

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He's the most important person, the feature on the poster.

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It brings to life not just him, but that whole sort of sense

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of what boxing was as a popular sport.

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This is quite a valuable item.

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One, it's a sporting poster.

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Move yourself away from your family connections.

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It's a great image, it's also about black history.

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Now black history is something that

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we are becoming increasingly, quite rightly, aware of.

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It's so much a part of our culture in Britain.

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It doesn't start in 1948-49, it goes back much longer.

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And images like this underline the fact that

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we have a very, very strong black cultural history going back to the 18th century.

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Therefore today that would be a very desirable object

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because it focuses very much on that.

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There he is, as I say, no colour differentiation.

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He's one of a team fighting for England against Belgium.

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You've got a poster here which is worth several hundred pounds.

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But that's in a sense incidental.

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You need to know that.

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What you've got to do, and it's not for me to tell you,

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but it's such a fantastic story, you've got to find out more!

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lots and lots of questions, and to go back to the beginning,

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-what happened to the genes?

-Exactly, Pandora's box I always associate...

-Well, it may be tricky,

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-but you've got to open it. Thank you.

-Thank you.

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Now, I've travelled all over Yorkshire

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and I have yet to come across a Yorkshire tea plantation.

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so I can't fathom out how come you've got Yorkshire Tea.

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But one thing's for certain, you like your teapots big!

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I mean, this is the biggest county in England...

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Hang on, hang on, Eric. Yours may be big, but mine is bigger.

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-Oh ho!

-What do you make of that?

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-Hey, I have to concede defeat that is a whopper.

-It is.

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It is a whopper but unfortunately my spout is not quite as big as yours.

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You have upstaged me here.

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-But do you realise? Look at your arm, Eric.

-I'm doing it!

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You've gone into teapot mode.

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Short and stout. Yes, exactly.

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But the problem with our teapot is

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that somebody did obviously try to pour tea out of this. Was it you?

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-No.

-You haven't tried pouring out of this?

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Because the burden of tea in there would be ridiculous.

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And so our handle, I'm afraid, has taken a turn for the worse.

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Was yours seriously for tea?

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This? This is the sort of thing they'd use for Sunday schools

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because this is a late Victorian one.

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I just love it because it's like brand-new.

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But that started off life definitely east of Whitby, didn't it?

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Yes, this is from Japan, around the year 1900. Yours is...?

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Well, this is maybe 1890-1900. So they're of a similar vintage.

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Both enamelled.

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Beautifully done. Yours obviously in the right style.

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And mine... Well, what's yours worth? Because does size matter?

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I'm afraid it does, Eric. Ha-ha!

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This is spectacular.

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Beautiful enamelling, damaged though it may be,

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-it's probably worth somewhere in the region of £2,000.

-Gosh!

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Well, at this end,

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-we're nearer £200.

-Right.

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But given the choice,

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I'd rather take this one home with me. No disrespect over there.

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-This is a working teapot.

-It is.

-Yes.

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And has that done a few charities?

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-It has, it has indeed.

-And it's been in the family?

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Yes, many years. It belonged to my great aunt

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who had three of these giant teapots which she used.

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So, as they say in this part of the world,

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"You can sup some stuff out of that."

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There's a good few cups in that.

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-50 cups.

-Ooh!

-50 cups.

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-Only in Yorkshire.

-SHE LAUGHS

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Of course, I'm just looking at his bird.

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LAUGHTER

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But isn't he magnificent, that bird?

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-It's a lovely bird.

-Is it a falcon?

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It's a falcon and I've always been told it's a peregrine falcon.

0:18:360:18:40

-Peregrine falcons have royal connotations.

-Yes, they're royal birds.

0:18:400:18:44

That's very interesting

0:18:440:18:46

-They've got wonderful mottled plumage on their underbellies.

-Yes.

0:18:460:18:50

-They have longer wings, longer than a hawk anyway.

-That's right.

0:18:500:18:54

And actually looking back from his wonderful plumage,

0:18:540:18:57

what about his owner's?

0:18:570:18:59

Well...

0:18:590:19:00

This is one of my forebears. It's my father's family.

0:19:000:19:06

We don't know an awful lot about him but it's always been in the family

0:19:060:19:10

and probably most of the time in Yorkshire.

0:19:100:19:12

What I like is this wonderful silk doublet that he's wearing

0:19:120:19:17

with slashed silk revealing this lovely colour underneath.

0:19:170:19:21

And I suppose these might be pearls or some kind of braiding,

0:19:210:19:25

or maybe silver. Certainly he's got rather a smart belt

0:19:250:19:28

with gold fittings and obviously a gold dagger handle there.

0:19:280:19:33

All this means that he's a man of rank, I think.

0:19:330:19:37

Well, this is what's interesting.

0:19:370:19:39

The peregrine falcon and the royal connection,

0:19:390:19:42

so the story in our family is that he was actually a falconer to the king,

0:19:420:19:46

the king being James I.

0:19:460:19:48

-Yes.

-Now there's no documentary evidence for that as far as I know,

0:19:480:19:53

but that's the story that's come down to us.

0:19:530:19:56

And then round his tunic here you've got this silken rope,

0:19:560:20:01

it seems to be silk. Then I think that's a lure, isn't it?

0:20:010:20:04

I suppose it could be. Which goes round like that.

0:20:040:20:06

Yes, swing it around his head to attract the bird's attention,

0:20:060:20:10

after he's loosed it, to get it back again.

0:20:100:20:13

So all the detail is there.

0:20:130:20:14

Whoever's painted this

0:20:140:20:16

-has understood the falconry side of things very well, hasn't he?

-Yes.

0:20:160:20:20

It's painted in oils on this very large panel,

0:20:200:20:24

which is actually several pieces of wood joined together,

0:20:240:20:27

so I think from the costume that it's about 1620.

0:20:270:20:30

-Right.

-Which is incidentally about 15 years after Guy Fawkes.

0:20:300:20:35

-Yes.

-Just to place it, you know, in the reign of James I.

0:20:350:20:38

In terms of authorship,

0:20:380:20:39

we're beginning to be able to put names to pictures

0:20:390:20:43

of this vintage rather more accurately than we had been able to.

0:20:430:20:47

And in this case, it's just possible...

0:20:470:20:50

There was an artist called John Souch

0:20:500:20:52

working in Chester at around this time,

0:20:520:20:56

who covered much of the north of England.

0:20:560:20:58

It's possible that it's got his dabs on it, as it were.

0:20:580:21:02

Um, you asked me about condition.

0:21:020:21:04

-SHE LAUGHS Not good.

-It's not brilliant, no.

0:21:040:21:08

-I think there's a lot of original paint under here.

-Yes.

0:21:080:21:11

This area, which is water-damaged,

0:21:110:21:12

-is as much in the varnish as it is in the paint.

-Right.

0:21:120:21:16

-Which is good news.

-Yes.

-I think there's some original paint under there.

0:21:160:21:19

You don't really know until you start stripping it back.

0:21:190:21:23

There is quite a lot of work to do to put it right,

0:21:230:21:25

-to get it looking absolutely spiffing.

-Yeah.

0:21:250:21:28

But maybe £2,000 or £3,000 worth of work, as much as that.

0:21:280:21:32

But then you've got to look at what value the painting is.

0:21:320:21:35

-Falconry's very popular in the Middle East, from whence it came of course.

-Yes.

0:21:350:21:40

Any picture with a falcon in,

0:21:400:21:41

the Arab market is going to get very excited about.

0:21:410:21:44

-I'd be very surprised if it didn't make £20,000 or £30,000.

-Right, yes.

0:21:440:21:49

-Insure it for 30,000.

-Right.

0:21:490:21:50

OK, yes.

0:21:510:21:53

-I know, it's a responsibility, isn't it?

-It is, rather.

0:21:530:21:56

But that's stewardship, isn't it?

0:21:560:21:58

That's the thing about handing on family things,

0:21:580:22:01

-you need to look after them.

-I think that's exactly right.

0:22:010:22:04

I'm having a nanny moment.

0:22:060:22:08

-Are you having a nanny moment?

-Oh, very much so, yes.

0:22:080:22:11

Now, look.

0:22:110:22:12

We've got five prams here.

0:22:120:22:14

-I happen to know that this isn't the lot.

-No, unfortunately.

0:22:160:22:20

Now I think... Am I allowed to call you a bit of a prammy?

0:22:200:22:24

You can call me a prammy. I'm proud to be a prammy.

0:22:240:22:26

-How many have you got at home?

-Another ten at home

0:22:260:22:29

and another one on the way!

0:22:290:22:31

THEY LAUGH

0:22:310:22:33

And where are they all?

0:22:330:22:35

We live in a large house so they've taken over the front living room

0:22:350:22:39

and in the hallway and upstairs.

0:22:390:22:41

They live indoors, the perfect climate for a pram.

0:22:410:22:43

Absolutely. And do they get an outing ever?

0:22:430:22:46

They get an outing most days unless it's raining.

0:22:460:22:48

-We don't do rain in prams.

-No, quite.

0:22:480:22:51

But looking around...

0:22:510:22:54

That's a pram dating from the latter part of the 19th century,

0:22:540:22:58

slightly sort of Mary Poppins-esque.

0:22:580:23:01

What I love about it

0:23:010:23:03

is this fabulous barley twist brass handle at the front there.

0:23:030:23:09

Huge wheels and the forerunner of everything else we see here today.

0:23:090:23:14

So the prams that we're looking at around and about here

0:23:140:23:17

are mostly 1950s and '60s.

0:23:170:23:19

Yes, yeah.

0:23:190:23:21

You've concentrated on that particular period, haven't you? Why?

0:23:210:23:26

I think it's deep bodies and big wheels for me.

0:23:260:23:29

I just love the shape of the pram.

0:23:290:23:31

I just think they're absolute beauties of craftsmanship.

0:23:310:23:35

In the 1950s, there were certain companies

0:23:350:23:37

which were top of the range, weren't there?

0:23:370:23:40

-Yes.

-And I would have thought... Was LBC one of them?

0:23:400:23:43

-LBC was one of them, Marmet.

-This being a Marmet.

0:23:430:23:47

Particularly in the Queen. The Queen is the actual model name.

0:23:470:23:50

-Right.

-And they followed with a Lady and a Marmet Princess.

-Oh, right.

0:23:500:23:55

And so it goes on and on.

0:23:550:23:56

What I think is very telling is that in fact it was often a make of pram

0:23:560:24:02

that sold the job to the nanny.

0:24:020:24:06

Oh, yes, that's very true.

0:24:060:24:08

I think a house, a mum, would advertise saying,

0:24:080:24:12

"Nanny required. We have a Marmet pram."

0:24:120:24:14

Or a London Baby Coach, whatever.

0:24:140:24:17

That usually filled the vacancy.

0:24:170:24:20

I was trying earlier to work out what the collective name

0:24:200:24:24

for a group of prams is.

0:24:240:24:25

I've come up with the name a push of prams.

0:24:250:24:27

-Oh, very good!

-It's definitely a push of prams.

0:24:270:24:30

-Yes.

-And as far as value's concerned.

0:24:300:24:33

What do you put on something?

0:24:330:24:37

A classic pram from the 1960s in really tip-top, restored condition?

0:24:370:24:43

Well, I think like any collector it depends on the make and model.

0:24:430:24:47

If it's a pram that you want, you will pay like any collector would.

0:24:470:24:51

The most I paid for my prams was the Queen.

0:24:510:24:53

She was the model I always wanted and I absolutely adore her.

0:24:530:24:56

She'll never be sold. To me she's priceless and I paid £700 for her.

0:24:560:25:01

-And in this...?

-In restored condition.

-Very good.

0:25:010:25:04

If she wasn't in that condition, especially if the wheels need rechroming,

0:25:040:25:09

I would only maybe pay £250, £350.

0:25:090:25:12

Well, I hope you've got lots of grandchildren to put in these.

0:25:120:25:16

Hopefully in a couple of years.

0:25:160:25:18

-Daughter's just wed but hopefully yes.

-She's working on it.

-Yes.

0:25:180:25:22

-Fantastic. Thank you for bringing in your push of prams.

-Thank you.

0:25:220:25:26

I've interrupted your busy day because I'm sure you have some strong views

0:25:280:25:32

on the ultimate age of elegance.

0:25:320:25:34

-What would you choose?

-Well, mine would be the days of Charles II.

0:25:340:25:39

Wonderful, wonderful flamboyant ways and wigs and hats with plumes.

0:25:390:25:44

All gone. But of course the days before it,

0:25:440:25:48

in the City of Worcester where I come from, were very different.

0:25:480:25:51

Before Charles II came to the throne we had Oliver Cromwell

0:25:510:25:54

and pots like this, you know, with poems on, and a chamber pot

0:25:540:26:00

-to do your necessary.

-Do your business.

-Yes.

0:26:000:26:03

And the poem says, "Fast and pray and pity the poor.

0:26:030:26:10

"Amend thy life and sin no more."

0:26:100:26:14

So you had to be pious even while you were answering a call of nature!

0:26:140:26:17

But the only fun in life was sort of tipping it out of the window on top of a Roundhead's head!

0:26:170:26:22

And then you get sent to prison.

0:26:220:26:24

And of course it all changed so dramatically with Charles II.

0:26:240:26:28

Oh, yes. Charles II came back and the Restoration.

0:26:280:26:31

Everything is peacockish and wonderful, exciting.

0:26:310:26:34

-And you get slipware like this made. I mean this is...

-Seen this before!

0:26:340:26:38

Well, this is a copy, a copy of the original Ozzie the owl.

0:26:380:26:42

But you drink out of this and it's all full of fun. Gorgeous.

0:26:420:26:46

And ornamentation, of course, and design and beauty.

0:26:460:26:50

But life was like that. It grew exciting and wonderful.

0:26:500:26:53

What do you think you'd have been doing?

0:26:530:26:55

Well, I would have been a Cavalier.

0:26:550:26:57

I hope, you know, because I helped Charles II escape

0:26:570:27:00

after the Battle of Worcester...

0:27:000:27:02

-Oh, you did, did you?

-Oh, I did.

-Right, OK!

0:27:020:27:05

So I would have become a Cavalier.

0:27:050:27:08

This little piece is just a fragment of a pot

0:27:080:27:11

that I found in a well in Worcester.

0:27:110:27:13

Now that's me, dressed up in a Cavalier's costume.

0:27:130:27:16

-That's how I would have looked.

-So you'd have liked the clothes?

0:27:160:27:20

Oh, I would have loved it, with a waistcoat and a wig

0:27:200:27:23

and a plumed hat and everything.

0:27:230:27:26

You know, carrying a cane as you walk around the town

0:27:260:27:30

and lovely gaiters and things.

0:27:300:27:33

I can just picture myself dressed like that.

0:27:330:27:35

BAROQUE MUSIC PLAYS

0:27:350:27:38

It's tiny, it's a tig as big as a thimble.

0:27:560:28:00

And is it yours?

0:28:010:28:03

It's my wife's actually.

0:28:030:28:06

It is ridiculously small for a tig.

0:28:060:28:08

You know that a tig, or a loving cup as it's also known...

0:28:080:28:11

-I thought it were a loving cup.

-It is.

0:28:110:28:13

The idea is you pass it down the bench.

0:28:130:28:16

Three handles, so one handle to the next neighbour.

0:28:160:28:19

They then turn it to the next and so it rotates as it goes down the line.

0:28:190:28:23

-But that is ridiculously small for a tig, so it's a miniature.

-Yeah.

0:28:230:28:28

And do you know who it's by?

0:28:280:28:30

Well, I think it's by Mackintosh, in't it? Is it Moorcroft Mackintosh?

0:28:300:28:36

-Macintyre.

-Macintyre, is it?

0:28:360:28:38

Macintyre. It says Macintyre there.

0:28:380:28:41

William Moorcroft was famously employed by them,

0:28:410:28:43

that's where he made his name

0:28:430:28:45

before going on to set up his own Moorcroft factory.

0:28:450:28:48

Pretty little thing. Decorated with what? Cyclamen? I'm not a botanist.

0:28:480:28:53

Beautiful thing, but it is very, very small.

0:28:530:28:56

The real article...

0:28:560:28:59

-Has it got to be bigger?

-I'm afraid, the real article...

0:28:590:29:02

A real tig should be this size.

0:29:020:29:04

And if it were this size it would be worth getting on for £1,500.

0:29:040:29:10

So we go from £1,500 down to...

0:29:100:29:15

..£1,500.

0:29:170:29:19

Mmm...

0:29:190:29:20

That's £1,500?

0:29:200:29:23

Because they say smaller the better.

0:29:230:29:25

HE CHUCKLES

0:29:250:29:26

So that's £1,500?

0:29:260:29:28

It's small and exquisitely formed.

0:29:280:29:31

Well, you've brought along today this most astonishing sword.

0:29:360:29:40

Now it's made by Wilkinson and I happen to know quite a lot about it.

0:29:400:29:44

But I'd like to hear the story from you.

0:29:440:29:46

I acquired this in the late 1960s, about 1968.

0:29:460:29:51

I'm a collector of edge weapons,

0:29:510:29:54

and a dealer contact in Southend-on-Sea had this.

0:29:540:29:57

I was quite astonished to be given the chance to obtain it,

0:29:590:30:02

because I had bought a small German knife

0:30:020:30:05

which he was fascinated with and we did a straight swap.

0:30:050:30:08

I had a funny feeling I'd got the best of the deal.

0:30:080:30:10

I just knew that at the time because I had a bit of information about the sword.

0:30:100:30:15

What they told me was this was the pattern piece

0:30:150:30:18

that had been used as a model for the swords made for the personal bodyguard

0:30:180:30:22

of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, in about 1928-1929.

0:30:220:30:27

It's been in Wilkinson Sword's pattern room all that time.

0:30:270:30:31

Now at about that time,

0:30:310:30:33

Wilkinson went into private ownership

0:30:330:30:36

and they cleared out a lot of their old stock.

0:30:360:30:38

I was well delighted to get hold of it.

0:30:380:30:40

I thought whatever the story, this has got to be a piece worth having.

0:30:400:30:45

That's an astonishing story of how you actually obtained it.

0:30:450:30:49

Haile Selassie of course, the Lion Of Judah,

0:30:490:30:53

came to the throne I think in about 1930.

0:30:530:30:57

He was Regent until about that time.

0:30:570:31:00

These swords were made by Wilkinson, as you say, for his personal bodyguard.

0:31:000:31:06

Now, the interesting thing about this is

0:31:060:31:09

that Wilkinson's pattern piece, which this is,

0:31:090:31:14

was the only one that was made with a hilt and a cross piece.

0:31:140:31:20

All the others that were sent across to Ethiopia

0:31:200:31:23

were sent without furnishings, as it's called.

0:31:230:31:26

They were sent naked, if you like.

0:31:260:31:27

There weren't very many others manufactured.

0:31:270:31:30

There were 20 manufactured for Haile Selassie's bodyguard.

0:31:300:31:34

Of course he was deposed in...what? 1973, 1974, something like that.

0:31:340:31:38

So we don't know what's happened to the others. They may not exist any longer,

0:31:380:31:42

they may be sitting rusting in some Ethiopian shed somewhere. Who knows?

0:31:420:31:48

So this could be unique.

0:31:480:31:50

It's the most beautifully-made sword, typically by Wilkinsons,

0:31:500:31:54

who made lots and lots of decorative and commemorative swords.

0:31:540:31:58

This has a wavy blade, this beautiful wavy blade,

0:31:580:32:04

which is made of steel, of course.

0:32:040:32:06

And it has this gorgeous, gorgeous gold and red flame effect

0:32:060:32:11

running right the way down the blade.

0:32:110:32:14

But the unique thing about this of course is the pattern.

0:32:140:32:18

It's the pattern from which the others were judged.

0:32:180:32:20

So there is not another one of these

0:32:200:32:23

and that's what makes it interesting to me.

0:32:230:32:26

So in the late '60s you swapped this for a knife.

0:32:260:32:29

-Yes.

-Worth £30?

-£14 was the value of the knife.

-£14! OK.

0:32:290:32:35

I think today this sword is so unique,

0:32:350:32:39

it's worth between £2,000 and £2,500.

0:32:390:32:43

Not a bad investment.

0:32:430:32:45

I'm surprised.

0:32:460:32:47

My father was a vicar in Slaithwaite in Yorkshire

0:32:490:32:53

and then it was in the vicarage

0:32:530:32:55

and then it was moved to Cleckheaton.

0:32:550:32:57

I really remember it from the Cleckheaton vicarage.

0:32:570:33:00

I would be about nine years old then.

0:33:000:33:02

I don't know where it came from, only that it was actually a gift from somebody to my father

0:33:020:33:08

and it remained in the hallway in the vicarage as a centrepiece.

0:33:080:33:15

My father absolutely adored it

0:33:150:33:18

and, when he retired, he moved into a dormer bungalow

0:33:180:33:24

and he even had it put on the staircase in the dormer bungalow

0:33:240:33:27

going up the stairs so that he could see it every day.

0:33:270:33:30

-So he loved the picture.

-Absolutely adored it.

0:33:300:33:33

And did he do any research on the painting at all?

0:33:330:33:36

I don't think he did. I've done more of the research.

0:33:360:33:39

I've tried to find things out but come to a dead end every time.

0:33:390:33:43

-Well, I can help you there.

-Ah, wonderful, fabulous.

0:33:430:33:46

The picture is a copy after a Dutch artist who was working in Rome

0:33:460:33:51

-in 1620, an artist called Gerrit van Honthorst.

-Oh.

0:33:510:33:56

And it is The Nativity.

0:33:560:33:58

This is a 19th century copy of that picture.

0:33:580:34:01

The real giveaway with this painting

0:34:010:34:03

is the 19th century Florentine frame.

0:34:030:34:05

-Right.

-We call them sort of Palazzo Pitti frames.

-Right.

0:34:050:34:09

They're hand-carved Florentine frames of the 19th century

0:34:090:34:13

and students and artists would copy the great masters

0:34:130:34:16

that were hanging in the Uffizi and the Pitti Palazzo.

0:34:160:34:20

In 1993, there was a car bomb that went off just outside the Uffizi

0:34:200:34:27

and unfortunately The Nativity by Honthorst was destroyed.

0:34:270:34:31

Two other major pictures by Manfredi were destroyed

0:34:310:34:34

and also 30 great masters were damaged.

0:34:340:34:37

So the original painting, a totally priceless painting,

0:34:370:34:41

is no longer with us.

0:34:410:34:43

And sadly also on that particular day

0:34:430:34:45

when these great old masters were destroyed,

0:34:450:34:49

26 people were wounded and six people died.

0:34:490:34:52

There are only eight copies listed,

0:34:520:34:55

-but undoubtedly there's more around the world.

-Yes.

0:34:550:34:58

The original painting that was destroyed

0:34:580:35:01

was three times the size of your picture.

0:35:010:35:04

Good gracious me! I thought mine was...big enough!

0:35:040:35:08

And of course this oil on canvas,

0:35:080:35:11

Honthorst would have been really influenced by Caravaggio,

0:35:110:35:15

the great master of light.

0:35:150:35:16

This was probably painted by... The original was painted by candlelight.

0:35:160:35:20

You get a real sort of radiant light coming from baby Jesus,

0:35:200:35:24

right through all the figures, right to the top. A kind of ray of hope.

0:35:240:35:29

The light of the world.

0:35:290:35:31

So in terms of value...

0:35:310:35:33

The original oil painting by Honthorst, literally priceless,

0:35:330:35:37

of course is no longer with us.

0:35:370:35:39

But a copy, a 19th century copy after the picture

0:35:390:35:42

is worth approximately £4,000 to £6,000.

0:35:420:35:45

Very good. Lovely. Thank you very much indeed.

0:35:450:35:48

Thank you very much.

0:35:480:35:50

-So it's not a set of golf clubs, then?

-No.

0:35:520:35:54

It's something the ladies aren't allowed to see, I'm afraid.

0:35:540:35:57

OK, hide your eyes, girls. Hide your eyes.

0:35:570:36:01

Oh! It's very naughty!

0:36:010:36:04

Have you seen one of these before?

0:36:040:36:06

Can you see what it is yet?

0:36:060:36:08

It's a lady on a potty.

0:36:100:36:11

THEY CHUCKLE

0:36:110:36:13

-It's more than that, isn't it?

-Yes.

0:36:130:36:15

Because it's a lady with a purpose.

0:36:150:36:17

Now what does she do? Fly up this way? There we go. Whee!

0:36:170:36:21

She does all sorts of things and on her bottom here she's got a blade

0:36:210:36:26

and what she is, actually, is a cigar cutter.

0:36:260:36:30

A novelty cigar cutter.

0:36:300:36:32

OK, so how come you have got it?

0:36:320:36:36

Because it's not a kind of girlie thing to have, is it, really?

0:36:360:36:39

It's been passed down through the family. My great-great-grandad.

0:36:390:36:44

That's about all I know about it.

0:36:440:36:46

But I do know that the ladies in the family were never allowed to see it.

0:36:460:36:50

It was always on his watch chain in his waistcoat pocket.

0:36:500:36:55

And when asked, "No, you can't look at it."

0:36:550:36:58

-It was his secret.

-His secret.

-His secret passion!

0:36:580:37:01

Then when my mother inherited it, I was allowed to look at it.

0:37:010:37:06

And told, you know, "It's the naughty lady."

0:37:060:37:08

SHE GIGGLES

0:37:080:37:09

I think she's great.

0:37:090:37:11

Just the sort of thing that a grandfather should have

0:37:110:37:14

on the end of a watch chain, actually.

0:37:140:37:16

Something naughty and rather rascally.

0:37:160:37:19

She's dating from around 1900, 1910.

0:37:190:37:22

Made of brass. And in fact I would have said she's...

0:37:220:37:25

Because she's such a cheeky little thing,

0:37:250:37:28

I think she's going to have a reasonable value.

0:37:280:37:31

I'd put her at about...

0:37:310:37:33

Oh, £100, £120. I think she's terrific.

0:37:330:37:36

Yes, I think she's gorgeous.

0:37:360:37:38

In this splendid Art Deco building,

0:37:410:37:43

we're asking some of our experts to choose their ultimate age of elegance.

0:37:430:37:47

Eric Knowles, with the era you've chosen you should feel at home.

0:37:470:37:50

I do. I mean this is Bridlington's Art-Deco temple. It really is.

0:37:500:37:54

Yes, I mean, those inter-war years really do it for me

0:37:540:37:57

because it was the age of Thoroughly Modern Millie,

0:37:570:38:01

when it was stylish to raise your skirts and bob your hair.

0:38:010:38:04

People just wanted to have a party.

0:38:040:38:06

They'd had the horrors of the First World War

0:38:060:38:08

and there's this new generation, this new emancipated woman,

0:38:080:38:12

and they were able to get out and follow their heroes and heroines on the silver screen.

0:38:120:38:17

Because Hollywood introduced glamour to the working classes in general.

0:38:170:38:22

I mean, this figure is...

0:38:220:38:24

This is Josef Lorenzl.

0:38:240:38:26

I affectionately always refer to him as Legs Lorenzl.

0:38:260:38:31

Here's this woman.

0:38:310:38:32

I mean, she is the epitome of perfect health and form.

0:38:320:38:36

Again this was an age where people took, you know,

0:38:370:38:41

a great interest in their own health.

0:38:410:38:45

Certainly the lines of this are beautiful.

0:38:450:38:47

As indeed this cocktail shaker.

0:38:470:38:49

Well, can I do it?

0:38:490:38:50

You know, I've always fancied working at The Savoy behind the bar.

0:38:500:38:55

SHE LAUGHS

0:38:550:38:56

-You're wasted, Eric!

-I love a good Manhattan.

0:38:560:38:59

I know the perfect place in Manhattan that does it.

0:38:590:39:02

Again, you look at something like that,

0:39:020:39:04

we're moving through this Art Deco period into Modernism.

0:39:040:39:09

Again, just to show you, I mean that could have come off a motor vehicle.

0:39:090:39:14

Such a strange-looking thing.

0:39:140:39:15

When it is a cocktail shaker, of course.

0:39:150:39:18

After the First World War, we're talking about the 1920s,

0:39:180:39:21

and people were coming out of such a desperately tragic time,

0:39:210:39:25

and drabness and sadness. They wanted glamour and exoticism.

0:39:250:39:28

They did. I mean the women, they got Rudolph Valentino.

0:39:280:39:32

So that was the exotic side of it.

0:39:320:39:35

When it comes to speed and streamline,

0:39:350:39:39

everybody is moving forward.

0:39:390:39:42

Think of Brooklands and Bugattis and Bentleys.

0:39:420:39:45

And, "Anyone for tennis?"

0:39:450:39:47

People became, you know, far more,

0:39:470:39:50

for want of a better word, worldly.

0:39:500:39:53

As far as elegance goes... Bugattis and that kind of thing,

0:39:530:39:56

that was the ultimate elegance, but for the women it was the clothing.

0:39:560:39:59

Especially the sort of shimmy dresses.

0:39:590:40:02

Now bear in mind in their mothers' day,

0:40:020:40:05

a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking.

0:40:050:40:08

Wow! all of a sudden legs are on the scene.

0:40:080:40:11

And those dresses, they were designed to move

0:40:110:40:15

because people would go out dancing in a way that they'd never done before.

0:40:150:40:20

The dresses, you know, they were very, very streamlined.

0:40:200:40:25

I mean, I look sometimes at the dresses and I see skyscrapers.

0:40:250:40:28

JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS

0:40:280:40:31

This is a work table, but there's a little story behind this.

0:40:460:40:50

There is, yes. It's always ever been known as Granny's sewing table.

0:40:500:40:54

It was left to me by my granny about 15 years ago.

0:40:540:40:57

I can remember it from childhood, being in her bedroom

0:40:570:41:02

with all her needles and threads and buttons.

0:41:020:41:05

She never threw anything away, so she cut buttons off things and kept them in tins.

0:41:050:41:09

There was always a piece of thread that would nearly match. If not quite perfectly, it would do.

0:41:090:41:14

I always admired it and always played with it.

0:41:140:41:18

When she died it was left to me.

0:41:180:41:20

I think if it had been a work table it might have had a bag underneath

0:41:200:41:25

but I can't ever remember there being a bag.

0:41:250:41:27

This is how it's always been including the sort of bowed top.

0:41:270:41:31

-Right, yes, warts and all.

-Warts and all.

0:41:310:41:34

What this is, actually, it's a Regency piece of furniture

0:41:340:41:37

and the word is rosewood.

0:41:370:41:41

When rosewood was first introduced it was known as princeswood.

0:41:410:41:44

Because we had kingwood, or the French had kingwood,

0:41:440:41:48

they found this wood and it was known as princeswood.

0:41:480:41:52

So it's a highly sophisticated piece of furniture.

0:41:520:41:55

-Really?

-To me it's just beautifully drawn.

0:41:550:41:59

It's made of rosewood veneer and satinwood.

0:41:590:42:02

We have the top, which is crossbanded in satinwood,

0:42:020:42:05

and down the legs it's simulated in bamboo in this lovely yellow colour

0:42:050:42:13

which is again solid satinwood.

0:42:130:42:15

Then it finishes in an elegant rosewood,

0:42:150:42:18

rosewood legs inlaid with boxwood.

0:42:180:42:22

Now what's so nice with this,

0:42:220:42:23

you can imagine this in the early 19th century, round about 1810,

0:42:230:42:27

that the Regency, or the late Georgian, household,

0:42:270:42:30

they'd be sitting there.

0:42:300:42:33

-Yes, you're right, it did have a long bag.

-Right.

0:42:330:42:36

-That would have been holding the wools and silks and things.

-Yes.

0:42:360:42:40

And then the lady of the house would have been sitting there

0:42:400:42:43

elegantly doing her sewing.

0:42:430:42:45

This is a really good piece of furniture.

0:42:450:42:48

I would put a valuation on this around £5,000 or £6,000.

0:42:480:42:53

Never!

0:42:530:42:55

My word!

0:42:560:42:58

Granny would be so thrilled.

0:42:580:43:00

She would be absolutely thrilled to pieces, she really would.

0:43:000:43:04

It's...it's just Granny.

0:43:040:43:09

In among all the objects brought along by our visitors today,

0:43:110:43:14

we've had a bit of fun with our experts choosing their ultimate age of elegance.

0:43:140:43:18

I wonder which one you'd choose.

0:43:180:43:20

I thought I'd join in the fun,

0:43:200:43:22

so based on the criterion of fashion alone,

0:43:220:43:24

I've plumped for the 1970s, and this vintage dress

0:43:240:43:28

by that master of elegance, none other than Christian Dior.

0:43:280:43:32

So from the very elegant Spa of Bridlington, bye-bye.

0:43:320:43:36

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