Specialist on BBC 1’s Antiques Roadshow
I’ve been a member of The Antiques Roadshow team for over a decade. The `Miscellaneous” tables always yield plenty of surprises and the items that I’ve seen in the course of my time with the programme are no exception. My most valuable find came while I was filming at St George’s Hall in Liverpool (series 30) where I uncovered an extremely rare Suffragette Hunger Strike medal, presented to the owner’s great aunt, who was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union. There were tears in both our eyes as I revealed to the owner the lengths her great aunt had gone to further the cause of female suffrage. In 1909 her great aunt was party to an attack on Viscount Haldane, then the Liberal Secretary for War in Asquith’s Government. I astonished the owner and all those gathered round when I told her that this tiny memento of a very brave struggle could sell for over £10,000 at auction.
Beyond that, I’ve filmed with collections of Biba costume, an early Hoover vacuum cleaner and the period costume archive of Gateshead Little Theatre to name but a few items. But my most memorable moment came at Blists Hill Victorian Town (series 32) when I first met Ruth Lowe, a girl who’d lived through the 1960s and retained an unrivalled passion for Mary Quant’s design. She unpacked a few suitcases that she’d brought to the programme in her Quant-styled Mini car (yes – we managed to film an opening sequence with Fiona sitting in it). It was then that I realised we were seeing a smattering of what she had – this was just the tip of the Quant iceberg!
Look out for me in Series 34 at…
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Ceredigion, Wales
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
Seaton Delaval, Northumberland
Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex
Find out what happened when one of our furthest visitors to the Antiques Roadshow,
Jim Eagles from New Zealand, met Katherine.
www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/television/203943/antiques-roadshow-blast-past