0:00:02 > 0:00:04With over 30 years of precious heirlooms to choose from,
0:00:04 > 0:00:06we've a few old masters in the vault.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Time to dust down a few of them
0:00:08 > 0:00:11as we open the archives for Priceless Antiques Roadshow.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36We Brits love to explore,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38and we don't like to return home empty-handed.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42We often see souvenirs of the days when British travellers,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45often aristocrats, toured the globe to amass remarkable treasures.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Coming up, we illustrate how that instinct is alive and well
0:00:49 > 0:00:50on our team.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53That's marvellous. That's a great treasure.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56That's a pottery wig curler. Perhaps it was dropped
0:00:56 > 0:00:59from the palace at some stage by some rather grand gentleman.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03It's been lying there for 300 years.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Also, general expert Clive Stewart-Lockhart reveals
0:01:06 > 0:01:09the one object he would have done anything to record.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12It's probably one of the things on the Roadshow
0:01:12 > 0:01:15that I'd love to have had, not just recorded. I wanted to take it home.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18And Michael Aspel picks his personal favourites
0:01:18 > 0:01:20from the Roadshow archives.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24I was so lucky that in my very first show, an object came up
0:01:24 > 0:01:27which meant something, personally, to me.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32This is Kenwood House in North London,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35handsome home to the first Earl of Ivy who, at the age of 25,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37began collecting what was to become
0:01:37 > 0:01:41one of the finest groups of 18th century paintings in England.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43He bought this house just to accommodate it.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Collecting is a great British passion, and the Antiques Roadshow
0:01:46 > 0:01:50has always been a magnet for collectaholics.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53I think collecting is in the British genes, actually.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58I think we're all guilty. I think we've all got it inside us.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00We are all secret hoarders.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07- I have to ask...- Yes?
0:02:07 > 0:02:11What's a nice boy like you doing collecting beads?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Here is a man who not only likes the test card, he adores them.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19What started this unhealthy interest?
0:02:19 > 0:02:22At the foundation of every wonderful collection
0:02:22 > 0:02:24is a personal passion for the subject.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28When I see collectors that are really living the dream
0:02:28 > 0:02:30and, kind of, dressing like their heroes,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I think it's fantastic.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35AS DONALD DUCK: Boy, oh boy, oh boy!
0:02:35 > 0:02:36SHE IMITATES DONALD DUCK
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Well, thank you. I can see you have a lot of fun in your household.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42I think we do, yes.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Now, the guy who collected the Disney material
0:02:45 > 0:02:49was pretty much your typical Disney collector.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52So you're something of a Disney fan, I take it?
0:02:52 > 0:02:55I think I'm a Disney fan, freak, you name it, yes.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58I saw these in a shop in Bath, both together...
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Had to have them.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06The figurines for toothbrush holders are all original purchases
0:03:06 > 0:03:09- by my family.- Tell me about this.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I found this on Charing Cross Road, and there's the magic signature.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16I'm afraid my wife is not called Eileen, but I think you'll have to...
0:03:16 > 0:03:19She'll have to change her name! ..nickname herself Eileen.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20I think so, "Also known as."
0:03:20 > 0:03:25You can't believe this collector. He was completely passionate.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I went to see Fantasia for about, oh, it must have been
0:03:28 > 0:03:32nearly the 30th time, and that gave me the cue to write to the Disneys
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and say how much I'd loved the film, and they wrote back and said,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40"Well, we feel that someone who's seen Fantasia for 30 times
0:03:40 > 0:03:42"ought to have the original programme."
0:03:42 > 0:03:47How did you get all these signatures of the animators and so on?
0:03:47 > 0:03:51I went to Los Angeles and visited the Disney studios,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53and I simply asked them,
0:03:53 > 0:03:59"Please, could any animator or artist who worked on Fantasia sign?"
0:03:59 > 0:04:02He could do the Donald Duck voice and the Mickey voice
0:04:02 > 0:04:04and anything else in between.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09- AS MICKEY MOUSE: Sure, that's swell! - Thank you, Mickey!- Thank you.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I love talking to enthusiasts on the Roadshow,
0:04:12 > 0:04:18and I love the challenge to try and interpret their passion
0:04:18 > 0:04:20to a wider audience.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23MUSIC: Theme from "The Addams Family"
0:04:25 > 0:04:26My grandmother used to say,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28"It's not the corf that carries you orf,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31"it's the corfin they carry you orf in."
0:04:31 > 0:04:33This is an extraordinary collection!
0:04:33 > 0:04:36- It is a bit different, yes. - It's great.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I have to ask, do you have a professional interest in this?
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Yes. Yes, you could possibly say, yes.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44- I am a funeral director, yes. - You are?
0:04:44 > 0:04:48When I asked the owner whether he had some kind of business
0:04:48 > 0:04:51connection with this, because he was dressed quite soberly,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55I couldn't believe it when he said he was an undertaker.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56It was just a gift.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Let's just talk about what they were for.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04We've obviously got powder compacts here, this one and this one,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07dating from the 1930s, probably,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and then something which I think is just great,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14this one in the middle, here, that actually says, "Snuff it."
0:05:14 > 0:05:16So, obviously, a snuff box.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18It's a collection to die for!
0:05:18 > 0:05:20HE LAUGHS FEEBLY
0:05:21 > 0:05:23As long as you come to me!
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Some collectors are truly devoted to their collections.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31This owner drove all the way from the Netherlands
0:05:31 > 0:05:33to get his cameras on camera.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35There are many times on the Roadshow
0:05:35 > 0:05:38where I'm confronted by a collection that stops me in my tracks.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41This is one of them. I have never seen a collection of Nikons
0:05:41 > 0:05:43like this in one place at one time.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47I suspect I am very unlikely to ever see a collection like this again.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The gentleman who owned the collection, of course, he is
0:05:50 > 0:05:54one of the leading authorities, by the nature of what he does.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57To me, when I think of Nikon, I think of photo journalism.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00And we've got the F series.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Well, the F has become a legend.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04It came out in 1959
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and has photographed every major incident around the world.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10It was there when Kennedy was shot, when man walked on the moon.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14It's quite interesting filming a piece like that, having to be intelligent about it,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18knowing that you're talking to someone who is really very good at their subject.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Is this the whole collection, or...
0:06:20 > 0:06:24- No.- No? - No, it's about 5% of what I've got.
0:06:24 > 0:06:265%? But, essentially, if I said
0:06:26 > 0:06:31there's £150,000 worth on this table, I'd be being conservative?
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Very, yeah. You'd get the half of it, probably.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37We don't know everything about everything,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39and when you see a collector,
0:06:39 > 0:06:45they have spent their life - maybe 20, maybe 30 years - on one subject.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48And what comes out of a conversation with a collector is the passion
0:06:48 > 0:06:51and enthusiasm for that one subject.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53So which of you two is the collector?
0:06:53 > 0:06:57It's me. They're my cigarette cards, they're my guinea golds.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01I've been collecting those since I was about 15 or so.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06And I thought, "Gosh, you know, we see a lot of people on the Roadshow,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08"am I gonna have time to look through all of these cards?"
0:07:08 > 0:07:13But he'd made my life easy, because he had only collected one firm.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15He'd only collected Ogden's cards.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16Why Ogden's?
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Because the cards are so fascinating.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24The subjects dealt with range from dogs, cars, footballers, cricketers,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28war generals in the Boer War, actresses,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30you name it, they had cameras, they took pictures of them.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Yes, we've been as far as Preston for one card.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Which one was that, is that here?
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Oh, gosh, this one. That is quite a rarity, actually.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45It is. It's a set of one to 1148, and that was the last card I needed
0:07:45 > 0:07:47to complete the run through.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48Gosh. And you found it.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52- How did make you feel? - It was wonderful.- That was magic.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56I love that! I love that precision about collecting.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00So much so, that they were prepared to drive, you know,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02the breadth of the British Isles.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05It's fanatical, that's what you are.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10It's... compulsive is probably not the right word.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13It gives you an aim in life, it gives you something to do,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15and it's exciting, sometimes.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19That card alone, if you went to sell that at auction, would probably
0:08:19 > 0:08:23reach about £1,000 to £1,200. So when one has to put a value
0:08:23 > 0:08:26on your collection, my goodness -
0:08:26 > 0:08:30I think you certainly would see it being valued at around £50,000.
0:08:30 > 0:08:31Crumbs!
0:08:31 > 0:08:35When I said, "Crumbs!" in that programme, I meant it.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Because you don't think of your cards being of that value.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43You just think of the individual cards that you look at, enjoy, touch,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46sort out etc, and you don't think of the whole picture.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49- Oh, that's brilliant. - That's the new bank account!
0:08:49 > 0:08:53God forbid, if we had a fire, the wife is under instructions -
0:08:53 > 0:08:58we open the door, throw the cards out of the window and let the house burn.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Not surprisingly, many of our Roadshow experts
0:09:01 > 0:09:05have themselves felt the collecting urge.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Well, do you know, I think I was born a collector.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11I can trace my collecting back
0:09:11 > 0:09:15to the age of four, when I acquired this jug.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I've been collecting ever since.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19I collected stamps,
0:09:19 > 0:09:24but my first real love was books, old books.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30And I bought my first old book when I was 12.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35And it was Aesop's Fables, 1708, and it cost me two old pence.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38This is going way, way back.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43As a child, I collected badges.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49Not just one or two, I probably had about, oh...
0:09:49 > 0:09:51200 or 300, maybe, badges.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53I was really interested in badges.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57So anywhere I went, I collected a badge, and I mounted them on boards.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02And they were in my bedroom, and I had all these different badges.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I used to make labels for them
0:10:04 > 0:10:08underneath to remind myself where I'd got these badges from.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13And, gosh, d'you know, I've still got those badges now in the attic.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15I must get them down.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21That makes me feel a bit better about my childhood doll collection.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Rarities always send a tremor through the hall
0:10:24 > 0:10:28at the Antiques Roadshow. The experts will huddle round an object
0:10:28 > 0:10:30that they think is particularly special.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Generally, only one of them will get to record it and, of course,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36the experts who aren't there on that day will miss out completely.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Clive Stewart-Lockhart from the Collectables team couldn't make it
0:10:40 > 0:10:44to our filming at Skegness in 1996 so he saw a very unusual bottle
0:10:44 > 0:10:47for the first time when he tuned in to watch the programme.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52David Battie and Paul Atterbury were very reluctant to let this little object out of their hands.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Clive could only watch as he realised his dream object had got away.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01The item I would love to have recorded - in fact, I'd have loved to have had as well,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05not just recorded, it's one of the things I wanted to take home most -
0:11:05 > 0:11:08was the William Burges piece which was recorded by
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Paul Atterbury and David Battie in about 1996, I think it was.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16We have here what looks like a piece of oriental porcelain
0:11:16 > 0:11:20- with a Western Victorian mount. Am I right?- I think so.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23This lady had turned up at the show with this little object.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25She had no idea what it was.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27The Chinese pot is interesting.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30It is simply a vehicle for decoration.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33This is a piece by William Burges. Do you know who that is?
0:11:33 > 0:11:34No, apart from his name...
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- But that doesn't mean anything to you?- Not a lot.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40She had some clues but she knew nothing about Burges.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44She knew nothing about who he was, where he came from. Anything.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47- Where do we begin? - We could be here for hours.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50One of the most important Victorian designers...
0:11:50 > 0:11:52..of architecture, of metalwork.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56This Chinese pot which was an 18th century Chinese pot,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58had been taken by Burges and then adapted.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02We've got pearl, we've got moonstones.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Burges was an extraordinary man.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Everything he did was a, sort of, riot of decoration.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Burges's eccentric decorative ideas can be seen today
0:12:14 > 0:12:18in his designs for Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23For a bottle like this, there is no precedent. He wasn't modelling it
0:12:23 > 0:12:26on anything. He was using purely his inventiveness.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30It's a fascinating object but Clive has a more personal reason
0:12:30 > 0:12:33to covet the Burges bottle.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36I was brought up abroad in Africa and Mauritius
0:12:36 > 0:12:41and came back to England for the first time to live here in 1968.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44We lived just around the corner from a house called Tower House.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Tower House was this extraordinary castle in Kensington, built by William Burges.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Every time I walked past the house,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56almost every day, I would look longingly at this funny little castle
0:12:56 > 0:12:58and wondering who lived there and what went on.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01He built a house for himself in London -
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Tower House in Melbury Road which itself is the house of dreams,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08with astonishing painted interiors.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11This particular piece, which he made for himself,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14comes out of that house. Furthermore, there is
0:13:14 > 0:13:17a set of photographs of his house taken in the 19th century
0:13:17 > 0:13:20by Francis Bedford, the album is in the V&A in London.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23This bottle is illustrated in that book.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Clive's teenage obsession with Tower House wasn't only about
0:13:27 > 0:13:28its Victorian owner.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32In fact, at the time, it was bought Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35So as a young man who was interested in Led Zeppelin,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37that was interesting as well.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39ROCK MUSIC PLAYS
0:13:42 > 0:13:44So it had all sorts of resonance for me.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47It was so weird for a boy who'd been brought up abroad
0:13:47 > 0:13:50to see this funny little Victorian, Gothic castle.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54'This was one of Burges's own treasures.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58'This was something that was in the possession of the great man himself
0:13:58 > 0:14:02'and it was in that house at one time.'
0:14:02 > 0:14:07It was a very tangible piece of history - a marvellous thing.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13We're getting to know our team of experts better in this programme.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Some of the most familiar faces have the most surprising passions and pastimes.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Take jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24His day job is overseeing an exquisite collection of priceless gems.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28When he's off duty, he goes in search of more modest treasure
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and he's ideally located to find it.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46This is most important view to me. I'm completely passionate about it.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49MUSIC: Vivaldi's Gloria
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I walked in here and I thought, I have to live here.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It was a complete love affair.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05It's incredibly urban.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09It's very sort of boogie-woogie and New York with cars hurtling round
0:15:09 > 0:15:13and yet, it's absolutely seething with history.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17History does eat me up. It's a complete and utter passion.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20It's a challenge to try to invoke the ghosts of the past,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24to understand what it was like for our predecessors, their lives.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Here, I could hardly go outside the door without running into a ghost.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33The River Thames has become a magnet for Geoffrey.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Here he can really explore his passion for the past.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43I love the Thames. It's like a vein to the heart of London.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48It was critically important in the past as a means of communication.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52It was the road. And so people travelled in silent boats
0:15:52 > 0:15:56in a rather silent world, a world without engines,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00really only horses and crying merchants and sails and oars.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02It would have been splendid.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10It's not life on the water that brings Geoffrey to the river
0:16:10 > 0:16:12but the mud at its edges.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14I'm souvenir hunting.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Souvenirs from the past.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20You won't find too many tourists down here but, for me,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22it's a fantastic spread of archaeology.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24It's called mud larking.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27You do need a licence to do it. That's desperately important.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Once you've got all that together, there's nothing more interesting,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33nothing more pulse making.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41It's a muddy paradise, isn't it?
0:16:41 > 0:16:42Very good to have varifocals.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44You have to have pretty...oops!
0:16:44 > 0:16:46..pretty sharp vision.
0:16:46 > 0:16:47That's marvellous.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49That's a great treasure.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52That's a pottery wig curler.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54It dates from the 18th century
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and was used to curl formal horsehair wigs.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Perhaps it was dropped from the palace at some stage
0:17:01 > 0:17:04by a grand gentleman, some sort of Gainsborough figure.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07It's been lying there for 300 years.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Mud larking has very ancient roots.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19It was a way in which people could come down on to the river to find
0:17:19 > 0:17:23something of value and then sell it or use it to keep themselves alive.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27People actually used to pick through the sewers, never mind the river,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31for things of value. It's abject poverty at that time.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37That is a horse's tooth.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38HE LAUGHS
0:17:38 > 0:17:42It's obviously a sad place for horses but that's what it is.
0:17:44 > 0:17:45It's a very historic place.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The Romans were here, the Vikings were here. The Tudors were here.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55The tide gently washed the objects they'd thrown into the river backwards and forwards.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57One day I'm going to find a Viking axe head, I know it.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59I haven't yet and I want to very much.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05Can you imagine a small boy, aged over 50, finding a Viking war axe?
0:18:07 > 0:18:11That's the job. Put history back on these modest things and make
0:18:11 > 0:18:14something more of these shards, these little links with the past.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18I've found fantastic things - wonderful, wonderful things.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20None of them are worth anything.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25Each one has a very, very special story to tell. I'm very excited.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28It's brought out the small boy in me. I think it's the wellingtons.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41'A lot of people who see me on TV talking about jewellery
0:18:41 > 0:18:45'think that's the pitch at which I'm interested in art. It certainly isn't, actually.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50'I'm interested in the past no matter how it expresses itself.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54'To me, the clay pipe is just as much a valid part of the past
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'as a marvellous piece of court jewellery.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:06These objects are silent witnesses.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11They will tell you a lot. You have to encourage them with your knowledge -
0:19:11 > 0:19:15it doesn't have to be enormous - but certainly your imagination.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It can be on a very intimate level.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I've really enjoyed myself no end.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24I've got a little table of treasures here, each one reeking with history.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27It's my job to find out a little more about them, really. I think I will.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31There's plenty of evidence to work on and plenty of ghosts.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39Since we filmed with Geoffrey, he reported his finds to the Museum of London, as all mudlarkers must.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43They've identified this as a shard of Chinese porcelain,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47painted three or four centuries ago in China.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51This sailed the seven seas in a wooden cargo ship to London.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55There it was almost certainly in use in the old Palace of Westminster.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58When it got broken, it was ditched in the Thames as rubbish.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Every day, two tides have risen and fallen over it for centuries
0:20:02 > 0:20:07and it remains perfectly clean and unspoiled by mud and water.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10We love finding buried treasure on the Antiques Roadshow.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12One man saw his fair share
0:20:12 > 0:20:14during eight years at the helm of the programme.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Michael Aspel takes a look back at his favourite Roadshow moments.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27It's hard to believe it's eight years exactly that I did on the Roadshow.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32I look back to the very first one that I did and I can't remember
0:20:32 > 0:20:33the terror I felt when I started.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37As I've said many times, I didn't want to spoil a perfect programme.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Barnstaple is the oldest borough in England.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43In Saxon Times, it was given the right to mint its own coins.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46If only old age brought everyone that privilege.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50I was so lucky that in my very first show, an object came up
0:20:50 > 0:20:53which meant something personally to me.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56I bought it off a chap that was dealing in bric-a-brac
0:20:56 > 0:21:00in Newport Market in South Wales some 22 years ago.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02What did you pay him?
0:21:02 > 0:21:04What is it? £70, £80.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07I think I gave him a tenner to get it fixed, which was a lot of money.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12That's a lot of money. As a watch,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16it's probably worth in fact more like a couple of thousand or so.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21- Yeah? - But, this is a repair bill.- Yeah.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23- 1933.- Yeah.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29Made out to a TE Shaw of Clouds Hill, Morrison in Dorset.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30- That's right.- Do you know who he is?
0:21:30 > 0:21:33No, I haven't got a clue.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34It's Lawrence of Arabia.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The watch, the aviator's watch that had belonged to Lawrence of Arabia.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Simon Bull was the expert who revealed it to the stunned owner,
0:21:45 > 0:21:50who must have said, good God 50 times during this.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51Good God!
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- If I'm correct...- Yeah.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- ..after the First World War...- Yeah.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01..he was somewhat of a complex character and he rejoined, I think,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05- didn't he rejoin the RAF under the name of Shaw?- Yeah.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09- I think he was killed under that name on his motorcycle when dressed in his RAF kit.- Good God!
0:22:09 > 0:22:11To be perfectly honest with you,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15I always thought he was a character of fiction, I did.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18No, no. It's the T E Lawrence,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21it was a marvellous film. And he wrote the book.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Not only was he a boyhood hero of mine, Lawrence not Simon Ball,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29but it was the dates on these things.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32It was the year I was born.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35- So, a couple of grand, a couple of half grand just as a watch.- Yeah.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39How much you could add for the Lawrence connection, I don't know.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42He's one of the most fascinating characters of the early part of this century.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44I would...
0:22:44 > 0:22:46it's a guess. I'd double that.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49- Maybe five, maybe ten.- Good God!
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I'd better get it insured then.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I took it as a great omen and so it was.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05I was so excited when the Ian Fleming books came in.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07I had read every one of them.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09They were published when I was a young fella.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13They were my meat. That's what I loved.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18I remember discussing them heatedly with friends, as if they were deep literature.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23It says "To Una, who worked like a slave, from Ian Fleming, 1957."
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Now, who is Una?
0:23:26 > 0:23:27- That's me.- That's you?- Yes.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Who worked like a slave for him.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34I worked for him as a secretary.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36But he also,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41it was agreed that I could type his books and personal things as well.
0:23:41 > 0:23:42So, you had to do that on top.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46'To see the hands of the lady who actually physically created'
0:23:46 > 0:23:48these books, it was just wonderful.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51I wanted to go and embrace her and say, thanks for many happy hours.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I think people would have misunderstood that.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Here's another one on Dr No by Ian Fleming.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Again, "To Una, with apologies for her sudden death."
0:24:03 > 0:24:05What is that all about?
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Right at the beginning,
0:24:08 > 0:24:13he did call the victim Mary Trueblood.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14Right.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17So it was named after me.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Right! To have a sudden death right at the beginning...
0:24:21 > 0:24:26- Yes, she was shot at the beginning. - At the beginning? Dear, oh dear.
0:24:26 > 0:24:33Well, ten signed Ian Flemings, I reckon something like £6,000 a copy.
0:24:36 > 0:24:386,000 each?
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Yes.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45So many people at home watch every week and say, "I had one of those and I threw it away." Whatever.
0:24:45 > 0:24:51I had all those Bond books - as brand new pristine things.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55You could never have dreamt they were going to be treasures one day.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57If only I'd known.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00The Palace, Hampton Court.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06The sheer scale and beauty of Powys Castle in mid-Wales
0:25:06 > 0:25:08is quite operatic.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13Welcome to a very special edition of the Antiques Roadshow Down Under.
0:25:13 > 0:25:19People are always asking, "What's the best place you went to on the Roadshow?" It's impossible to say.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Every one had its own merits. I fell in love with several places.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27The one that I remember most, I think, is Portmeirion.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28It was just amazing.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35I had my best night's sleep
0:25:35 > 0:25:39on the whole of my time with the Roadshow at Portmeirion.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44I fell into a deep, dreamless, refreshing, renewing sleep.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50I remember it, not only for the look of the place - the magical look.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55I remember opening the bedroom window and thinking, this is another world!
0:25:55 > 0:25:59A window opened next to me and there was Lars Tharp saying, "Yoo-hoo!", which spoiled it a bit.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Prideaux Place, the house was lovely. The owner was charmingly eccentric.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Someone in his family had had a piece of music
0:26:16 > 0:26:18that had been written by Ivor Novello.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20This piece of music had never been played.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25They brought a piano out of the house and put it on the lawns and this
0:26:25 > 0:26:29piece of music was played for the first time ever on the Roadshow.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31I thought it was enchanting.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45At the end of a good day, it's that sense of achievement and sense of
0:26:45 > 0:26:50pleasant tiredness and that if the sun is going down in the right way,
0:26:50 > 0:26:55it's about as convivial and enjoyable as anything you can imagine.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Michael Aspel confirming that some Roadshow moments are truly unforgettable.
0:27:10 > 0:27:11That's about it for this episode.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14We'll be back with more revelations next time,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17including the most ancient objects the Roadshow's ever seen.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23This is a souvenir of a very, very remote past and very exciting.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26We discover the real reason for Henry Sandon's lover affair
0:27:26 > 0:27:27with Worcester pottery.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32I was curator of Royal Worcester in the Perrins Museum for 17 years.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36'I've loved the Worcester factory most of my life.'
0:27:36 > 0:27:39We take a look at some of the spookiest items
0:27:39 > 0:27:41that have ever appeared on the show.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43It had this one, black, glass eye,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46that, wherever you were filming it from,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50you could feel this beady eye following you around.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53As we trawled through three decades' worth of archives,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56we spotted some rather striking style statements.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Visitors to the show and specialists alike
0:27:59 > 0:28:01cut quite a dash over the years.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04I'll leave you with a few unforgettable fashion moments.
0:28:04 > 0:28:05Bye bye.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07# They seek him here
0:28:08 > 0:28:09# They seek him there
0:28:11 > 0:28:13# His clothes are loud
0:28:14 > 0:28:15# But never square
0:28:18 > 0:28:22# It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best
0:28:22 > 0:28:26# Cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion
0:28:29 > 0:28:33# He's a dedicated follower of fashion. #
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Marvellous. Absolutely marvellous.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2008
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Email us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk