Manchester Town Hall 1 Antiques Roadshow


Manchester Town Hall 1

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We've been scouring the country in search of more treasure

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and wanted to start in grand surroundings.

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So how about this magnificent setting?

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It's Manchester's town hall.

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Thankfully, these stairs were designed to allow Victorian ladies

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to ascend without ever having to look down.

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A gracious welcome indeed to a new series of the Antiques Roadshow.

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It's been a long time since we last visited Manchester Town Hall

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and, dare I say it, some of you might even remember it.

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The one common characteristic of the halls to which we take

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the Antiques Roadshow is size.

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We really do need somewhere that's big enough to accommodate

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up to 5,000 people in a single day.

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And here in Manchester, it was the great Victorian town hall

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that seemed to fit that bill superbly well.

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Good to see Hugh Scully doing crowd control 20 years ago.

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I'm glad to say we're still pretty popular.

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What have you got here, sir? Is that a Bruce tartan?

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I don't think so. I think it's Royal Stewart.

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I think it might be.

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Our expert Judith Miller, she'll have a look at that. Thank you.

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Before we throw the doors open for business,

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just time for a quick look round.

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As town halls go, this is one of the finest in the country,

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with some of Manchester's most famous sons watching over the proceedings.

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No expense was spared when it was built in 1877.

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Industrial Manchester was hugely wealthy.

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This building was a statement.

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Manchester had arrived.

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And wow.

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Just look at this.

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The jewel in the crown has to be the Great Hall.

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All around the walls are murals by one of the top artists of the day,

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depicting the city's colourful past.

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The 12 murals by Pre-Raphaelite artist Ford Madox Brown

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took 15 years to complete -

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far longer than anyone had expected.

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When Ford Madox Brown came to do this last one,

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he'd had a stroke and lost the use of his right hand,

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but the great men of Manchester Town Hall insisted he finish the job,

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so he had to paint it with his left hand,

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which is why it's a lot coarser and cruder than the others.

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But actually, given it's his left hand, it's still not half bad.

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As if by magic, the experts are already seated,

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the room is buzzing with excitement.

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I declare this new series well and truly open.

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Now one of the ultimate toys for boys

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has to be a large-scale racing car,

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and if it's got an exotic name like Alfa Romeo,

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all the better. And being red couldn't be better.

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So how come you've brought it along?

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This was my father's and I...

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He was given it as a child and played with it.

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He was very, very careful with his toys.

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And then I played with it when I was a small child

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and actually broke it.

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I still feel guilty now about what I did.

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Did you get into trouble? I did get into trouble

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and I feel guilty now, still, to this day, about what I did to that car.

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Which was what?

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Well, I broke the steering. It sort of doesn't steer very well.

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And I really still feel quite bad about that.

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But toys are meant to be played with. They are, yes.

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And when sometimes we see a toy that's in absolutely pristine

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mint condition, I feel slightly sad because whoever got given it

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didn't play with it. That's it.

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So why have a toy you don't play with?

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And the story about the bear?

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The bear is the same story really. That was my father's as well.

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They were always together, so I presume they're from the same era,

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but I really know nothing about them. Absolutely.

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They're both from the 1920s

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and the Alfa Romeo was produced by a French company called CIJ.

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And they produced them in various different colours,

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greens and blues and reds.

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This has seen a bit of wear. Yes.

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Your dad obviously played with it.

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It would have had leather straps

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but often these petrol filler caps are missing.

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So although, you know, it's got a bit of wear there,

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it's not in too bad condition.

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And the bear being felt,

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his uniform has got a bit grubby, hasn't it?

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That can be cleaned a bit.

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And he's a mechanical bear. Have you got the key?

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I haven't got the key. I couldn't find the key.

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Well, you can find a key, that's not too difficult to find. The motor's still there

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and you'd have wound him up, and he would have shuffled along.

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Made this time by a German manufacturer, Schuco.

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And I think he has great charm and if he can sit down,

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you almost want to put him in there to drive the car.

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That's just how I felt with it, I love him.

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They're family pieces, I'm sure they're never going to be sold. No.

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But one, a red one like this, recently changed hands, slightly better condition,

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for ?3,750.

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So a little bit less for yours, don't get too excited.

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And you did damage it. I did damage it, yes.

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Takes a bit more away,

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maybe 3,000.

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And the bear. Get him cleaned up a bit and he'll be worth

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?800 to ?1,200.

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You amaze me, you absolutely amaze me!

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I wish my father could hear that really.

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I'm sure he's looking down from above... I'm sure.

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..and forgiving your misdemeanours when you were that high.

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So I understand that Arthur Negus saw this chair back in 1969.

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Yes. That's true. I think my mum and her mum and dad actually came up here

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and got this actually signed by them

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and signed it to my mum, 5th February 1969, so...

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I know that he thought it was very interesting

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and I think he said it's possibly from Austria.

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So where did it originally come from? How did it come into your family?

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Well, it actually came from Trafford Park,

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which is where the world's first industrial park was actually created,

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but the hall that was knocked down had an auction in around 1930.

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And so they auctioned everything off

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and my great-grandfather came home with this amongst other things.

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It's certainly interesting. It's a chair with a difference because it's a musical chair.

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I know, it sounds like something from a fairy tale.

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It's a piece of furniture that really comes to life, doesn't it?

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There's the musical cylinder enclosed inside.

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Of course, the idea is that when you sit on it,

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the spring goes down and the music starts to play.

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Fantastic sort of fantasy carving, really, these scrolling branches,

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and there's a red deer inlaid to the back panel,

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and then on the seat inlaid in wood there are two chamois,

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or Alpine goats, inset into the centre of the seat.

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Well, Arthur Negus said Austrian. I beg to differ,

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a very brave thing to do. I think it's Swiss,

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almost certainly from a town called Brienz,

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and Brienz has a history of centuries of wood carving. Right.

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And in the mid 19th century there were a lot of German

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and British tourists who came to visit Brienz

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and this really was a souvenir that probably quite a grand visitor

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would have picked up.

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So as far as its value goes,

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in fact, it's very against the current taste

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for slightly streamlined furniture. It's a little bit fussy and ornate.

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However, the chair that your great-grandfather bought

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is really in a league of its own,

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and if this was to appear on the market now,

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I'm pretty certain it would fetch in the region of ?2,000.

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Really?! I would genuinely never have thought it.

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I don't know whether they'd have thought about selling it,

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but, my God, that's amazing.

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And as a child at heart, do you mind if I have a go? Go on.

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MUSIC PLAYS

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Now many people might wonder why a clock and watch man is discussing

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a leather and silver belt.

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Is this a thing you've ever worn, or not?

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Yes, I used to wear it in the '60s and '70s

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but then I was a lot slimmer

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and I could read the time.

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So now we're talking about reading the time,

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and this is the time that I shall pick it up

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and reveal, by pressing the button down here, what happens.

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And that drops forward and the wearer...

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..can read the time. That's it.

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But what a bit of fun. It's great. It's signed Cyma.

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It's Swiss,

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and it's got a full set of various Swiss marks

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including a little dog with "Trusty" written underneath. A great thing.

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What sort of date do you reckon it might be?

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I would say late 1920s or early 1930s.

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Spot-on, absolutely right.

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Movado did a watch called the hermetic watch

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which ladies used to use in a bag,

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closed in and out, and this is another form of hermetic watch.

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So it's more of a novelty item than a high-value item, to be honest.

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And if you were to put it to auction,

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bearing in mind it's had a bit of a hard life and it's a bit rubbed,

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I think you'd probably be looking at, sensibly, around the sort of

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600 mark. On a good day, it might even make up towards 1,000

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but it's a lot of fun, I like it.

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Oh, yes, thank you.

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This series, we're setting you at home, and our visitors

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here at Manchester Town Hall, a bit of a challenge.

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There's no prize but hopefully

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you'll learn some surprising facts about your treasures at home.

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This is how it works.

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I'll show you with these three strings of pearls.

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Now one of these is a very basic model

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worth about ?25.

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Another, bit more medium range,

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about ?250.

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And one of them is the creme de la creme

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worth ?25,000.

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But the thing is - to me, at any rate - they all look the same.

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So John Benjamin, our jewellery expert, who set this test,

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is going to reveal all shortly.

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But first of all, I'm going to find out if our visitors here can help me out.

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"Der Ring Des Nibelungen". The Ring Of The Nibelung. Yes.

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And down here it tells us that it's also "Die Walkure".

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Yes. The Valkyrie.

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So am I right in thinking that you've brought...

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I mean, this is a score for an opera by Richard Wagner.

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Yes, it is.

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When I think of Wagner, I don't think of Manchester, I must say. No.

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I think of Rhinemaidens swimming around, I think of goblins,

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I think of gremlins, I think of magical rings... Absolutely.

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..the Valkyrie themselves.

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If there's one piece of classical music that somebody

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who knows nothing about classical music might know,

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it's The Ride Of The Valkyries. Absolutely.

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HE SINGS

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I've brought it along

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and it's part of the Halle's archives here in Manchester.

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This is the Halle Orchestra?

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It is indeed, yeah, Manchester's very own.

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And it's only very recently come into our possession.

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There is actually a very strong connection with Wagner in Manchester

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in the form of one of our previous conductors,

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Dr Hans Richter, who conducted the Halle from 1899 until 1911.

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And direct descendants of his,

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his great-granddaughters, contacted us some months ago

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to say that they had his personal archive and collection

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in their possession, and they wanted to discuss with us

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us giving it a permanent home.

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So this is the great man himself?

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That is him, yes. When he came to Manchester,

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he was probably the most significant conductor of his age.

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He came to Manchester from the Vienna Philharmonic and...

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well, that says quite a lot. So you're telling me that this volume in itself,

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this opera score was designed to be used by a conductor performing? Yes.

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This was actually in the possession of the conductor Hans Richter? Yes.

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Who was your conductor. He was our conductor,

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but more than that, he was very much

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a protege of the composer Richard Wagner,

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and this score was presented to Richter by the composer

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when Richter got married in 1875.

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If you look at the front, there's actually a personal dedication

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from Wagner to Richter,

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so it has actually been in Wagner's hands as well as in Richter's.

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There are some books that are interesting

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and some books that are quite important,

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and then there are some books that you open up and they're just immeasurably exciting.

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When I turn over the page, I see a whole series of lines

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written by Richard Wagner, who's got to be one of the great,

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great composers of the 19th century.

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Yeah, and we suspect that this was not the score

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that he conducted from, because family tradition has it,

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and indeed anecdotes that we have from players who remembered him,

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he conducted everything from memory. He had a photographic memory

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and he never used a score, which is fairly phenomenal.

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It is absolutely unbelievable.

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Well, it's a book that's not going anywhere. No.

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In a way, it's found its spiritual home. Absolutely.

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But of course, everybody's going to want to know

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how much something like this is worth. Mm-hmm.

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I could see this really flying at auction.

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In a special sale devoted to music, this is the kind of thing

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that could really capture the Wagner nuts' attention.

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Of whom there are many. What would it make?

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It could make ?10,000.

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It could make ?20,000. And it could even do better than that.

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Gosh.

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I'll try not to think about that!

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MUSIC: Ride Of The Valkyries by Wagner

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I think that one's the expensive one.

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Right, because you're looking at the clasps, aren't you, rather cunningly?

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And that, I think they look older than those.

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I'm going to go for that.

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I think that's best, that's basic and that's better.

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No...like that.

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Made your mind up? Yeah.

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We'll see if you're right later on. OK.

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In 1787, the wonderful horse painter George Stubbs exhibited

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a painting called Horses Fighting in the Royal Academy,

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together with a pair to it,

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Bulls Fighting, that we're not talking about here.

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And that painting disappeared thereafter,

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and was never seen again.

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The only reason we know of its existence at all

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was a print made of it.

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So help me here a little with the background to your painting.

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It was a present to me from my mother-in-law,

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and she in turn had been given it

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by her uncle and godfather, who came from South Wales.

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He was an estate agent called, I think,

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Harry Lambert, but he also dabbled in antiques

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and went to a number of country house sales.

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That's all I know.

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So it's been in your family for quite a long time, that's for sure.

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Certainly since the 1940s.

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Yes, yes. Well, we're rather thrown, in a sense,

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because we don't have a size for that panel.

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Except that we do know it was a panel, and not on canvas,

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and this is on canvas. Yes.

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So that's the first thing.

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The second thing is that the print itself

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is not far off the size of this, it's a little bit smaller. Right.

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So it could have provided a template

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for a copyist to make another version of Stubbs's painting.

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But as I said before,

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we're really thrown back at looking at the painting very carefully now

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to see whether it actually is a Stubbs.

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So I want you to do that with me,

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if that's OK, and we'll look at the quality of it.

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Now, do you know horses? Yes, very well.

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You're just exactly the right person to talk to, then,

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because...I mean, is that well observed, would you say?

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Not terribly, and this foreleg here has always worried me.

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It's a little truncated, isn't it? Yes, it is.

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And I was looking at the hair of the tail here as well. Yes.

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It looks as if it's been done in a bit of a hurry. Yes, exactly.

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These things add up, don't they? Then look at the shadows

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underneath the horses. They look rather perfunctory, don't you think?

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Yes, almost as though

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they've been put in as an afterthought. It's interesting

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because when you stand back from it,

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it really does work as a late-18th-century painting,

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and then when you really start to look into it and question it

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as we rightly must, then it begins to fall apart,

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doesn't it, slightly? Yes, I'd agree with you there.

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I mean, I don't really mind,

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because I really like the painting. Not everybody does,

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because it's a very aggressive painting.

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Yeah. But...I would say, having had a look at other Stubbs,

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because I've been to both the Stubbs exhibitions,

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I would definitely say that it's not as finely executed.

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Not of the quality. No.

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Well, I have to agree with you. And I think with that in mind,

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you can imagine that were it a Stubbs

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and were it that long-lost Stubbs,

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then we'd be talking about tens of millions of pounds.

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That's a pity. Yeah, I'm afraid we are not talking about tens of millions of pounds,

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we are talking about ?2,000 as a good copy.

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Right. Well, to be frank, I'm really rather glad it isn't a genuine Stubbs

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because I'd wonder what the heck

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I would have to do with it if it were.

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But as it is, I can take it home,

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put it back on my wall and enjoy it. Good.

0:19:080:19:11

So thank you very much indeed. Pleasure.

0:19:110:19:13

Do you know, I wanted to show this flat on this base,

0:19:150:19:20

because do you find if you wear it,

0:19:200:19:23

that it lies very flat against the skin? Yeah, definitely.

0:19:230:19:26

Do you like that aspect of it? Yeah.

0:19:260:19:28

Because with jewellery, sometimes we find jewellers make things

0:19:280:19:32

and they kind of stand proud

0:19:320:19:33

and you feel a little uncomfortable wearing them. Yeah.

0:19:330:19:36

Not with this? No.

0:19:360:19:38

Now, is it a family piece or where did it come from?

0:19:380:19:40

It was a present for my mother-in-law, off her husband

0:19:400:19:44

for a birthday.

0:19:440:19:46

Do you know when?

0:19:460:19:47

About 20 years ago. A-ha. Do you know,

0:19:470:19:50

I mean, has she told you where it was bought from?

0:19:500:19:53

It was bought at an antiques fair, ?200.

0:19:530:19:56

Oh, really? Yeah.

0:19:560:19:57

Looking at the piece itself

0:19:570:20:00

and actually when you pick it up,

0:20:000:20:02

you really see the potential of the piece.

0:20:020:20:05

It's very sinuous, isn't it? It flows beautifully.

0:20:050:20:09

Yeah. Now, the first thing. Those little drops,

0:20:090:20:12

they look like classical vases.

0:20:120:20:15

Yeah. And that's a giveaway, because it was made during a time

0:20:150:20:19

when what we call Classical Revival jewellery was very popular.

0:20:190:20:24

Around about, I suppose, 1865, 1870.

0:20:240:20:29

Wow. OK. Did you have a look at this clasp?

0:20:290:20:32

Yes.

0:20:320:20:34

There, do you see what it is?

0:20:340:20:36

It's fashioned as a miniature gold scarab beetle.

0:20:360:20:39

Right, OK. So, what does that suggest to you?

0:20:390:20:41

Maybe kind of Egyptian? It's trying to be

0:20:410:20:44

something that reminds us of the time of Cleopatra.

0:20:440:20:47

Right. And it performs the function extremely well.

0:20:470:20:52

Now, if I turn it over, it's quite a simple piece, really.

0:20:520:20:55

If I turn it over and put it back down on the table again,

0:20:550:20:58

did you happen to spot

0:20:580:21:03

that interspaced around the necklace

0:21:030:21:07

are a series of little tiny maker's marks for Robert Phillips? Right.

0:21:070:21:14

Now, Robert Phillips was a great man. OK. He was a goldsmith.

0:21:140:21:18

He was working in London. OK.

0:21:180:21:20

And he produced this kind of jewellery.

0:21:200:21:22

Right. And need I tell you that it is highly collectable?

0:21:220:21:27

Oh, very nice.

0:21:270:21:28

So a price was paid, some years ago.

0:21:280:21:32

I would like to think that possibly

0:21:320:21:35

the person who sold it didn't quite recognise the potential.

0:21:350:21:38

Mmm. Do you know what it's worth?

0:21:380:21:40

Oh, I don't like to say.

0:21:400:21:43

?3,000.

0:21:430:21:44

Wow! Wow!

0:21:440:21:48

Minimum. OK.

0:21:480:21:50

Wow.

0:21:500:21:52

Well, one of the most infamous periods of events

0:21:560:22:00

during the Second World War

0:22:000:22:02

took place in Singapore

0:22:020:22:05

and Thailand, and that of course was the building

0:22:050:22:09

of the Thai-Burma railway.

0:22:090:22:12

But just before that,

0:22:120:22:14

when the Japanese captured the Allies,

0:22:140:22:16

they forced them to sign a document

0:22:160:22:21

to say that they weren't going to escape as prisoners of war.

0:22:210:22:25

Now, not many people know that the Japanese, at one period,

0:22:250:22:30

squeezed 16,000 prisoners of war

0:22:300:22:34

into a square in Singapore and kept them there

0:22:340:22:39

for days on end under the blazing hot sun in order to force them

0:22:390:22:45

to sign this non-escape document.

0:22:450:22:47

Now, here we have a drawing - I've never seen one before -

0:22:470:22:52

showing that incident, and it's called The Selerang Square Squeeze

0:22:520:22:55

in Singapore in September 1942, an infamous event.

0:22:550:23:01

But the extraordinary thing is the quality of the drawing.

0:23:010:23:05

Now, I'm amazed, always amazed,

0:23:050:23:08

that there were so many great artists

0:23:080:23:11

who were captured by the Japanese

0:23:110:23:13

during the Second World War, and we see many, many drawings.

0:23:130:23:17

For example, Ronald Searle, the famous cartoonist

0:23:170:23:20

who invented St Trinian's,

0:23:200:23:24

he was captured by the Japanese. Who was the artist?

0:23:240:23:27

The artist was John Mennie.

0:23:270:23:31

He was a prisoner of war.

0:23:310:23:34

This is me daughter-in-law's grandfather,

0:23:340:23:36

who was captured whilst in Singapore,

0:23:360:23:39

and he was in the prisoner-of-war camp with John Mennie.

0:23:390:23:43

This gentleman here was a journalist,

0:23:430:23:46

so we presume John Mennie asked him

0:23:460:23:48

to take these out of the camp when liberation came.

0:23:480:23:52

However, my daughter-in-law

0:23:520:23:55

had no idea of these till the middle 1990s,

0:23:550:23:58

when her grandfather had died. They were actually found in a shoebox.

0:23:580:24:02

So these drawings, as far as you knew, didn't exist? Yeah.

0:24:020:24:05

What about these portraits?

0:24:050:24:07

We've got some really wonderfully drawn little portraits here.

0:24:070:24:11

These are all the people

0:24:110:24:12

who were in the prisoner-of-war camp who Mennie drew.

0:24:120:24:15

Well, many artists risked their lives

0:24:150:24:21

by drawing and painting

0:24:210:24:22

in the prisoners-of-war camp.

0:24:220:24:24

They could have been put into solitary confinement.

0:24:240:24:27

They could have had food restricted from them, and they would have died

0:24:270:24:30

as a result of this, because of course, many of these drawings

0:24:300:24:34

were used after the war for war-crime trials as evidence.

0:24:340:24:39

Every single one of these men depicted in these drawings

0:24:390:24:43

would have worked on the Thai-Burma railway,

0:24:430:24:45

the "death railway", as it's known, immortalised in the film

0:24:450:24:49

The Bridge Over The River Kwai, of course.

0:24:490:24:52

And of those men that worked on it, 60,000 Allied prisoners,

0:24:520:24:57

16,000 died as a result of working on that railway.

0:24:570:25:00

It took a year to build, solely to supply the Japanese war effort.

0:25:000:25:06

So tell me about this. Have you done any research into the artist?

0:25:060:25:09

Have you used the internet, for example? My daughter-in-law has.

0:25:090:25:13

She actually found an internet site where John Mennie's family

0:25:130:25:16

have actually set up a site

0:25:160:25:19

showing pictures and sketches. And he was born in Scotland,

0:25:190:25:23

and some of his drawings are actually in the Imperial War Museum.

0:25:230:25:27

So his family have put a website together? Yes.

0:25:270:25:30

Do they know about these drawings? I don't think so.

0:25:300:25:32

You know, they would want to know that you've got these.

0:25:320:25:35

They'd be desperate to see copies of them, I would think.

0:25:350:25:38

It's very important for family documentation and family history.

0:25:380:25:41

I'm sure my daughter-in-law will do that.

0:25:410:25:45

Well, you know, it is a very, very important archive

0:25:450:25:48

and from a value point of view, they are valuable.

0:25:480:25:51

There are many people

0:25:510:25:52

who collect them. I think if these came up for auction today,

0:25:520:25:57

these that we've seen and the others you have

0:25:570:25:59

would be worth somewhere in the region of ?800 to ?1,200.

0:25:590:26:03

Right. It's a great archive. Yeah.

0:26:030:26:07

John Benjamin set us this challenge earlier on

0:26:180:26:20

to work out which of these three strings of pearls

0:26:200:26:23

is the basic model, the better model and the absolute best model.

0:26:230:26:27

Well, I've arranged them in the order I and our visitors

0:26:270:26:30

think it is. So - basic, better

0:26:300:26:34

and best. Right, John...

0:26:340:26:38

Now, the thing is, they all look the same to me,

0:26:380:26:40

so how should I be able to tell?

0:26:400:26:42

There's three traditional types of pearl that I'm likely to see.

0:26:420:26:46

Natural, saltwater pearls, which are incredibly rare and valuable,

0:26:460:26:53

cultured pearls,

0:26:530:26:54

and I wonder how many viewers

0:26:540:26:56

have got a straightforward cultured-pearl necklace,

0:26:560:27:00

and simulated pearls, which are also very, very common.

0:27:000:27:02

What's the difference between the three?

0:27:020:27:05

All right, well, let's start at the natural pearls.

0:27:050:27:09

First of all, before we talk about that,

0:27:090:27:12

let me just say how they get started.

0:27:120:27:14

A pearl is a strange mutation of nature.

0:27:140:27:17

You're a seashell lying on the seabed...

0:27:170:27:20

Oyster, or any seashell?

0:27:200:27:22

Oyster, can be different shells like clams.

0:27:220:27:25

Oyster shell, let's say.

0:27:250:27:27

A little grain of sand or grit works its way into the shell,

0:27:270:27:31

and you know when you get a pebble in your shoe and it's, you know,

0:27:310:27:35

you have to get rid of it? The seashell can't do that.

0:27:350:27:39

What it does, though, is it builds layer upon layer

0:27:390:27:43

of a kind of a comforting material around the grain of sand.

0:27:430:27:47

That's called conchiolin.

0:27:470:27:49

And that layer upon layer builds up for a period of time

0:27:490:27:53

to form the pearl.

0:27:530:27:55

Of course, the valuable ones

0:27:550:27:56

are those pearls that are perfectly round. And then a cultured pearl?

0:27:560:28:00

Cultured pearl is more straightforward.

0:28:000:28:03

Man himself has put a mother- of-pearl bead into the oyster,

0:28:030:28:08

and then it builds layer upon layer around that little bead nucleus.

0:28:080:28:15

Then you have a cultured pearl. And a simulated pearl -

0:28:150:28:18

well, it's a hollow glass bead

0:28:180:28:20

covered with a material that's made usually of fish scales.

0:28:200:28:25

Right. I'm already worried about my choices.

0:28:250:28:29

Just looking at them, I couldn't tell the difference.

0:28:290:28:32

Are there some tests you can do to try and work it out? Yes.

0:28:320:28:34

I mean, I have to say

0:28:340:28:36

that natural pearls are indescribably rare,

0:28:360:28:38

so most people will not have a natural pearl necklace.

0:28:380:28:42

Cultured pearls, quite heavy.

0:28:420:28:44

When you look at the surface using the trusty lens,

0:28:440:28:47

and the lens is all-important here,

0:28:470:28:49

you often find that the surface isn't very regular,

0:28:490:28:51

it's covered with little lumps and bumps.

0:28:510:28:54

Simulated pearls, the fake pearls, if you will,

0:28:540:28:57

under a lens, they're very smooth.

0:28:570:28:59

And have you heard this old test that you can do?

0:28:590:29:01

You get hold of the pearls,

0:29:010:29:03

rubbing them across your teeth.

0:29:030:29:05

It's a very good guide

0:29:050:29:06

because the simulated pearls are very, very smooth,

0:29:060:29:10

but the cultured pearls are very, very gritty,

0:29:100:29:13

and indeed so are the natural pearls.

0:29:130:29:16

So... Come on, then.

0:29:160:29:17

Here's my test. So you have suggested that these are...

0:29:170:29:21

These are the cheapest, they're the plastic ones. The ?25 one.

0:29:210:29:26

Yes. I'm already dreading this, actually.

0:29:260:29:29

And these are the cultured ones, and these are the natural ones.

0:29:290:29:33

Well, Fiona, I have to tell you

0:29:330:29:35

that you could not be more wrong if you tried.

0:29:350:29:38

I knew it! I knew it! I'm so sorry.

0:29:380:29:40

I feel almost embarrassed to tell you this. You couldn't have got it more wrong.

0:29:400:29:43

Oh, no! These are the cultured pearls, these ones here.

0:29:430:29:47

So they're worth around ?250.

0:29:470:29:49

You see, they were so big, I thought they must be fake.

0:29:490:29:51

Your ?25,000 necklace that you'd have cheerfully paid

0:29:510:29:54

for that string there, they're worth ?25.

0:29:540:29:58

No! Oh, no.

0:29:580:30:01

So these? And your creme de la creme,

0:30:010:30:04

the best of the best, are these ones here.

0:30:040:30:06

That's the natural saltwater-pearl necklace, and I have to say

0:30:060:30:10

you failed dramatically, Fiona.

0:30:100:30:12

Failed on every count. Mind you, I think these look rather nice.

0:30:120:30:16

You won't mind if I put these on, will you?

0:30:160:30:18

If you'd read the news in the 1950s, I guarantee you'd have worn

0:30:180:30:22

a pearl necklace. It would have looked fabulous. Maybe I should try it.

0:30:220:30:25

When I was young, I used to have a little model village,

0:30:330:30:36

but it wasn't nearly as smart

0:30:360:30:37

as this Edwardian one.

0:30:370:30:40

What's the story about this? Well, as you can see,

0:30:400:30:43

it was a present for my father, but I found it just a few weeks ago

0:30:430:30:49

on the top of a wardrobe

0:30:490:30:52

in our family home, and it was wrapped up in brown paper.

0:30:520:30:56

I didn't know what on earth it was, opened it up

0:30:560:31:01

and thought it looked as if it had never been played with. So this box

0:31:010:31:05

has remained unopened since your father put it away...

0:31:050:31:09

As far as I know, yes, yes.

0:31:090:31:11

..in the Edwardian period?

0:31:110:31:13

Probably. So your father was Ernest, and we have it here, and this was given at Christmas,

0:31:130:31:18

probably early 1900s? He was born in 1902.

0:31:180:31:22

See the very formal way that that was addressed to your child.

0:31:220:31:27

I know, incredible.

0:31:270:31:30

Well, this box is probably the best-condition box

0:31:300:31:32

I've ever seen from that period. I mean, it's immaculate.

0:31:320:31:35

It was obviously made in Bavaria and then retailed in London.

0:31:350:31:40

Right. And this was a very grand model village. This is a big box.

0:31:400:31:44

Yes. So you found it on top of the wardrobe, you took it down,

0:31:440:31:48

got it out of its brown paper.

0:31:480:31:50

Yes. And did you put it together? No. You didn't?

0:31:500:31:53

Terrified to touch it.

0:31:530:31:54

You didn't put it together?

0:31:540:31:56

No, I just looked to see what the pieces were

0:31:560:31:58

and thought I'd better leave it alone.

0:31:580:32:01

I hope you don't mind,

0:32:010:32:03

but I couldn't resist putting it together.

0:32:030:32:06

So I think I'm going to get some of the chaps to bring it in.

0:32:060:32:10

Oh, right. Oh, so it's not in the box?

0:32:100:32:13

It's not in the box, no. It's no longer in the box.

0:32:130:32:17

Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

0:32:180:32:20

Beautiful. Yes. Thank you.

0:32:200:32:24

Isn't it lovely? Yes. So what do you think?

0:32:240:32:27

I think it's beautiful, yes, very nice indeed.

0:32:270:32:32

It's amazing. Yes. The condition of this is staggering.

0:32:320:32:36

I don't know if your father was just an incredibly well-behaved,

0:32:360:32:41

good little Edwardian boy!

0:32:410:32:43

Well, he did look after things, I know,

0:32:430:32:46

but this really looks as if it hasn't been played with, doesn't it?

0:32:460:32:50

Well, I think possibly at that period, he would be told

0:32:500:32:52

to look after it very well

0:32:520:32:54

and he was probably only allowed to put it together very carefully.

0:32:540:32:57

Right. But look at the detail of it,

0:32:570:32:59

these wonderful houses,

0:32:590:33:01

the animals, the people.

0:33:010:33:03

Lovely. And look at the train. I know.

0:33:030:33:08

Well, spectacular condition. And valuation?

0:33:080:33:12

I think this would easily sell to a collector

0:33:120:33:17

for ?800, ?1,000.

0:33:170:33:21

It's fabulous. Yes.

0:33:230:33:26

So you're obviously a fan of Clarice Cliff.

0:33:270:33:30

Yes. I mean, there's no question, it's marked Clarice Cliff.

0:33:300:33:35

It is, yes.

0:33:350:33:36

It's marked Clarice Cliff. It's fairly obvious.

0:33:360:33:40

So where did you find them?

0:33:400:33:41

That one on a car-boot, and this one at an antique fair.

0:33:410:33:44

What did you pay for that one at the antique fair?

0:33:440:33:47

That one was ?50. And this one, at the car-boot sale? 12.

0:33:470:33:50

I've kind of got some good and some bad news.

0:33:500:33:53

What would you like first, the good or the bad news?

0:33:530:33:56

Oh, dear. I'll have the bad news first.

0:33:560:33:58

Right. It's this one.

0:33:580:33:59

Yeah? It might say "Bizarre by Clarice Cliff" on the bottom.

0:33:590:34:04

Yeah. It does say "hand painted", and it is hand painted.

0:34:040:34:07

Yeah. But it was never anywhere near Clarice Cliff. It's a fake.

0:34:070:34:11

Oh. That's not so good then, is it?

0:34:110:34:13

There is a version of the Antiques Roadshow in China. Yeah.

0:34:130:34:16

And if a fake comes on the Antiques Roadshow, they get a hammer, and they smash the fake live on air.

0:34:160:34:22

Do they? Has anybody got a hammer?

0:34:220:34:24

No, you're not going to do that, are you?

0:34:240:34:26

This is the BBC, we'd never do that. But sadly, it's a fake.

0:34:260:34:29

The reason I wanted to show it is because it's important

0:34:290:34:32

that people see what's wrong with them. The colouring is wrong.

0:34:320:34:36

Yeah. The painting's wrong. And the mark,

0:34:360:34:39

the mark is too...

0:34:390:34:41

you see how the mark really sort of sits hard on the surface.

0:34:410:34:44

And also as I kind of catch the light there,

0:34:440:34:47

it's very harsh-looking.

0:34:470:34:49

In fact, if you look at this piece, which is a genuine piece,

0:34:490:34:53

you can see...you know, even if you compare those two marks,

0:34:530:34:57

they're very different. Yeah, they are, aren't they?

0:34:570:35:00

So this is a fake, sadly,

0:35:000:35:03

and if we were in China, it would now be in broken bits on the floor.

0:35:030:35:06

I'm glad we're not in China.

0:35:060:35:08

This isn't a fake. This is a real piece of Clarice Cliff.

0:35:080:35:11

It dates to the period

0:35:110:35:12

just before the Second World War. Late 1930s. '38, '39.

0:35:120:35:17

It's called Mr Fish, and he's a fish wall pocket.

0:35:170:35:19

You paid ?50 for him. Yeah. You've made ?100 profit. Oh, very good.

0:35:190:35:23

Very good, anyway. Minus the money you paid for that, of course.

0:35:230:35:27

That's a shame.

0:35:270:35:28

OK, thanks a lot.

0:35:280:35:30

Sometimes for me, doing the Antiques Roadshow

0:35:310:35:34

is a sort of form of exquisite torture, in ways,

0:35:340:35:37

because I see things that I've always wanted

0:35:370:35:39

and I know that within the next couple of minutes,

0:35:390:35:42

they're going to be whisked away from me again,

0:35:420:35:44

and I won't see them again.

0:35:440:35:46

And this set of posters, produced during the war, is exactly that.

0:35:460:35:50

It's fabulous to see them.

0:35:500:35:51

I know why I love them, but I want to know why you love them.

0:35:510:35:55

Well, I was first attracted to them...in fact, I didn't see them

0:35:560:36:00

because they weren't on display in the bookseller's in Colchester that I got them from

0:36:000:36:05

in the early 1980s, but the bookseller and I knew each other

0:36:050:36:09

reasonably well by then, and we'd often chatted about his days

0:36:090:36:13

in youth when he used to talk to HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw and that sort of thing.

0:36:130:36:18

And he must have decided

0:36:180:36:21

that I was the sort of person who deserved to own them,

0:36:210:36:24

and he sold them to me for the princely sum of ?20.

0:36:240:36:27

They're something I feel really attached to,

0:36:270:36:30

because they speak of a time when this country was in great danger,

0:36:300:36:35

possibly the only country in the world.

0:36:350:36:38

I think you've hit upon exactly the most important factor.

0:36:380:36:41

It is that feeling of great danger, "careless talk costs lives".

0:36:410:36:45

This is propaganda to warn everybody. It's quite a serious point when you think about it.

0:36:450:36:50

Don't talk about things, because you never know who's listening to you.

0:36:500:36:54

"The walls have ears".

0:36:540:36:55

The wallpaper here literally does have ears.

0:36:550:36:57

As you can see, there are tiny Hitlers hidden there,

0:36:570:37:00

and that is the great link between them all.

0:37:000:37:02

You have Hitler and Goering appearing in the most unlikely places

0:37:020:37:06

and the most absurd places.

0:37:060:37:07

It's seriousness tinged with that sort of great British absurdity

0:37:070:37:12

or feeling for the absurd.

0:37:120:37:13

And on the top here we have the name of the artist, Fougasse.

0:37:130:37:17

Now, that's not his real name, that's a pseudonym.

0:37:170:37:19

His real name was Kenneth Cyril Bird.

0:37:190:37:23

A fougasse was a particular type of French mine,

0:37:230:37:25

and it was an unpredictable mine

0:37:250:37:27

that could explode at any given point

0:37:270:37:29

and got quite a bad reputation for that.

0:37:290:37:31

There's a little bit of absurdity there as well,

0:37:310:37:34

because he was the least unpredictable man.

0:37:340:37:36

By all accounts, he was quite a sober, sort of sombre,

0:37:360:37:39

quiet and calm man,

0:37:390:37:40

so completely different from an explosive land mine.

0:37:400:37:44

So that side of the absurdity for me really counts as well,

0:37:440:37:48

but it's the look.

0:37:480:37:49

As well as that humour, it's the look that really attracts me.

0:37:490:37:52

They're very much in that Art Deco modernist style,

0:37:520:37:55

this use of orange running along here,

0:37:550:37:57

the colours, the very simple lines,

0:37:570:37:59

the white space,

0:37:590:38:01

and this font, it's quite minimal, it's quite modern

0:38:010:38:04

and incredibly eye-catching.

0:38:040:38:05

And after all, a poster has to be eye-catching

0:38:050:38:08

because it's got to be read and noticed.

0:38:080:38:10

I think he did a fantastic job designing them. Yes.

0:38:100:38:14

There is one with a little bit of additional graffiti, I suppose. Yes.

0:38:140:38:19

Someone here has added in some white shading

0:38:190:38:22

to the windows and on the shoes here. That needs to be taken away professionally.

0:38:220:38:26

Right. That shouldn't be there. It doesn't detract from them.

0:38:260:38:30

It doesn't look dreadful and it's not sort of scrawl, which is good.

0:38:300:38:34

If that gets done,

0:38:340:38:35

because these are in such nice condition,

0:38:350:38:38

I could see the set...

0:38:380:38:39

Your ?20 turns into somewhere in the region

0:38:390:38:43

of ?1,000 to ?1,500 for the set.

0:38:430:38:45

Oh, really? As much as that?

0:38:450:38:48

Absolutely. Iconic posters.

0:38:480:38:51

Generally speaking, if I'm honest,

0:38:540:38:56

when somebody comes onto the Roadshow with a cigarette case

0:38:560:39:00

that's dented and worn and well used and damaged like this,

0:39:000:39:04

what's going through my head is "How can I work out what the scrap value of it is so that I can be polite

0:39:040:39:09

"and not suggest that the best thing to do

0:39:090:39:11

"is put it into the melting pot?"

0:39:110:39:13

But as you well know, your cigarette case

0:39:130:39:15

has got some very interesting names around the outside...

0:39:150:39:19

Yes. ..which elevates it ever so slightly

0:39:190:39:22

above its scrap value.

0:39:220:39:24

You can see on the front, it's been presented

0:39:240:39:26

to Lieutenant Glover, so is that a relation?

0:39:260:39:28

It's Andrea's grandfather.

0:39:280:39:30

Your grandfather. Yes. Do you remember him?

0:39:300:39:32

No, unfortunately not.

0:39:320:39:35

He has been thanked by various people

0:39:350:39:39

for looking after them while they were under his care in Malta.

0:39:390:39:42

That's right, they were the members

0:39:420:39:44

of the Russian aristocracy who were refugees on Malta at the time that he was there.

0:39:440:39:48

He must have been very nice to them,

0:39:480:39:50

because they've given him not only a cigarette case, but this very handsome

0:39:500:39:54

presumably autograph book

0:39:540:39:56

or artist's notebook,

0:39:560:39:59

which I noticed just a moment ago

0:39:590:40:01

had a...five-rouble note tucked into the pages, just to make the point.

0:40:010:40:08

But on the book here,

0:40:080:40:12

as well as on the box, I can see

0:40:120:40:14

that you've got the names of some pretty interesting Russian types.

0:40:140:40:18

There's a Tolstoy,

0:40:180:40:21

there's a Pushkin, various princes and princesses of White Russian descent

0:40:210:40:27

and members of the Romanov family.

0:40:270:40:31

Now, you've also brought along a certificate, or rather a scroll...

0:40:310:40:34

A scroll, yes.

0:40:340:40:35

..which is even more exciting.

0:40:350:40:39

As we open it up, there's a rather sentimental view of Moscow,

0:40:400:40:46

presumably painted by memory from one of the aristocrats

0:40:460:40:51

who has presented it "to Lieutenant Glover

0:40:510:40:55

"in kind remembrance of the Russian refugees of St George's",

0:40:550:40:58

which of course is in Malta. September 1919.

0:40:580:41:03

And on this scroll, we've got the names of all sorts of interesting

0:41:030:41:06

and eminent White Russians. We've got a general,

0:41:060:41:09

a lieutenant general, we've got princes,

0:41:090:41:13

countesses, princesses, all sorts of Russian luminaries' names,

0:41:130:41:18

and I noticed a name down here - Oblensky,

0:41:180:41:22

Prince and Princess Oblensky, who also crop up on your cigarette case,

0:41:220:41:26

who I discovered had a son who went on to play

0:41:260:41:29

rugby football for England. Right!

0:41:290:41:32

Wow!

0:41:320:41:34

Now, I don't know how much you know

0:41:340:41:36

about the circumstances of the White Russians

0:41:360:41:38

who ended up in Malta under the kind care of your grandfather.

0:41:380:41:42

Just simply that they were part of the Russian Revolution.

0:41:420:41:46

They were in danger

0:41:460:41:47

and the British ships went to evacuate them

0:41:470:41:51

and evacuated them to Malta,

0:41:510:41:53

and therefore they were refugees there.

0:41:530:41:55

Yes, and a lot of White Russian nobles,

0:41:550:41:58

obviously generals in the army, chiefs of staff and politicians

0:41:580:42:02

and others that were in danger under the Bolsheviks

0:42:020:42:06

who had their card marked and their names on a very dangerous blacklist,

0:42:060:42:10

made their way gradually south during 1918 and 1919

0:42:100:42:14

until they got down as far as Crimea,

0:42:140:42:16

down to Yalta, where they were collected by the navy,

0:42:160:42:19

before getting to Malta.

0:42:190:42:21

And now the interest from descendants of White Russians

0:42:210:42:27

and from Russians in general

0:42:270:42:30

in this period of Russian history is enormous.

0:42:300:42:33

It is a stunning historical record that has fallen into your hands

0:42:330:42:37

through your grandfather's care,

0:42:370:42:39

and I'm sure it was very well deserved.

0:42:390:42:42

I'm staggered by it,

0:42:420:42:43

and slightly at a loss to know how to value something like this. Treated as a group,

0:42:430:42:48

I would suggest

0:42:480:42:50

that it ought to make, in a sale, somewhere between,

0:42:500:42:54

say, ?8,000 and ?10,000.

0:42:540:42:56

Oh, my goodness!

0:42:560:42:58

But, you know, with the amount of money

0:43:010:43:03

sloshing around with the descendants of White Russians, the sky's the limit.

0:43:030:43:08

It could even make somewhat more than that.

0:43:080:43:10

Wow. That's amazing, we had no idea.

0:43:100:43:13

No. It's been in a wardrobe for the last...

0:43:130:43:17

well, 50, 60 years, a lot of years, yes, yes.

0:43:170:43:21

A lot of years. Goodness.

0:43:210:43:23

Got a great piece of local history here.

0:43:260:43:29

This is a handkerchief or a scarf,

0:43:290:43:31

and it's about the Suffragette movement. Emmeline Pankhurst was a local lass.

0:43:310:43:35

This was printed in 1918,

0:43:350:43:37

and it's looking forward to what it hopes women will have achieved

0:43:370:43:41

in 1981, so women's rights in 1981. What's fantastic

0:43:410:43:45

is quite how many of these things have come to pass. So, look here.

0:43:450:43:50

Army captain. Rank and file.

0:43:500:43:53

And then a woman barrister, which of course we have now.

0:43:530:43:57

And then my particular favourite.

0:43:570:44:02

"Minding baby." Now, I reckon we've still got a bit of a way to go on that one,

0:44:020:44:06

eh, ladies? Anyway, from Manchester Town Hall, until next time, bye-bye.

0:44:060:44:13

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0:44:450:44:48

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0:44:480:44:51

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