NEWS CHANNEL
Published: 14/07/2009 00:00 -
Updated: 23/02/2010 13:35
NEARLY 3,500 people turned up with their treasures when the Antiques Roadshow came to Bletchley Park this weekend.
(media 1841)
Reporter JESSICA CUNNIFFE spoke to the crowds, the experts, presenter Fiona Bruce - and even got her own treasure valued.
WHEN the quintessentially British programme came to the city on Sunday, the throng responded by doing something equally British: queuing.
And where better for them to bring their own pieces of history than the hub of heritage, Bletchley Park?
With precious heirlooms carefully covered from the intermittent rain, it looked like people were lining up to have their suitcases, boxes and carrier bags valued.
But beneath the bundles of bubble wrap there were a wealth of gems.
Hilary Webb from Bradwell was clutching the postcards her grandfather sent to her grandmother in the First World War.
Samuel Hollis from Wolverton was there with his grandfather's grandfather's pocket watch, stored safety in his own pocket.
David Elsmere from Bletchley was guarding a bag containing wife Ann's clocks.
"They're worth £125 each," he said. "The wife won't let me sell them though."
Sisters Margaret Pitford and Jo Marello, who had brought four vases, said: "They might not be worth anything, but you never know."
And it was this sense of not knowing which kept people queuing, while presenter Fiona Bruce reassured them that they didn't have long to wait.
The BBC News anchor was particularly excited to be at the home of the code breakers for the 32nd series of the show, which she has fronted for two years.
"I'm thrilled to be here at Bletchley Park," she said.
"I know quite a lot about it, seen the film, read about it, I'm fascinated by World War Two history.
"Paintings are probably my favourite thing, but I think my favourite area is actually where everyone queues first off, which is what we call reception.
"That's where you get your first look at what people have brought along - look in their bags at things wrapped in newspaper, tied up with bits of string, whatever it is.
"That can be everything and anything, and that's my favourite bit."
Rattling round at the bottom of a carrier bag was my own - in fact, my only - heirloom: a wooden sewing box from the 1830s, given to me by my grandmother's cousin.
Believed to have belonged to my great, great, great grandmother's sister, Penelope Davenport, its compartments have accumulated bobbins, buttons, bits and bobs, representing a mish-mash of different decades.
When I presented it to the expert on the miscellaneous table, Judith Miller, it was not the box which caught her eye but one of its trinkets.
What seemed to me to be an ugly little container was in fact a scent bottle made from a gull's egg, made in Birmingham in around 1890 - and worth about £150. The box was worth around £40-60.
She said: "It's a nice little thing. It's such a nice little memory of the family, all things of different ages, all put together."
For Judith, the lure of the show is not just in the artefacts themselves or their price tags, but the insight they provide into our ancestors' lives.
And coming to Bletchley Park she was faced with a mix of miscellany even more diverse than usual.
"The great thing about the Roadshow is that you never know what you're going to see next," she said.
"But with Milton Keynes being Milton Keynes, lots of people have moved here from all over the country, so we are seeing objects from all over the place."
Despite their expertise, however, the collective knowledge of the antiques gurus was not enough to even identify Andrew Hausman's inherited object, let alone value or date it.
After six experts had scrutinised his mysterious mother of pearl shrine, he was told to go home and research its origins himself.
And so, by the end of their visit to Bletchley Park, the BBC had been left stumped by their very own enigma.
(media 1841)
Reporter JESSICA CUNNIFFE spoke to the crowds, the experts, presenter Fiona Bruce - and even got her own treasure valued.
WHEN the quintessentially British programme came to the city on Sunday, the throng responded by doing something equally British: queuing.
And where better for them to bring their own pieces of history than the hub of heritage, Bletchley Park?
With precious heirlooms carefully covered from the intermittent rain, it looked like people were lining up to have their suitcases, boxes and carrier bags valued.
But beneath the bundles of bubble wrap there were a wealth of gems.
Hilary Webb from Bradwell was clutching the postcards her grandfather sent to her grandmother in the First World War.
Samuel Hollis from Wolverton was there with his grandfather's grandfather's pocket watch, stored safety in his own pocket.
David Elsmere from Bletchley was guarding a bag containing wife Ann's clocks.
"They're worth £125 each," he said. "The wife won't let me sell them though."
Sisters Margaret Pitford and Jo Marello, who had brought four vases, said: "They might not be worth anything, but you never know."
And it was this sense of not knowing which kept people queuing, while presenter Fiona Bruce reassured them that they didn't have long to wait.
The BBC News anchor was particularly excited to be at the home of the code breakers for the 32nd series of the show, which she has fronted for two years.
"I'm thrilled to be here at Bletchley Park," she said.
"I know quite a lot about it, seen the film, read about it, I'm fascinated by World War Two history.
"Paintings are probably my favourite thing, but I think my favourite area is actually where everyone queues first off, which is what we call reception.
"That's where you get your first look at what people have brought along - look in their bags at things wrapped in newspaper, tied up with bits of string, whatever it is.
"That can be everything and anything, and that's my favourite bit."
Rattling round at the bottom of a carrier bag was my own - in fact, my only - heirloom: a wooden sewing box from the 1830s, given to me by my grandmother's cousin.
Believed to have belonged to my great, great, great grandmother's sister, Penelope Davenport, its compartments have accumulated bobbins, buttons, bits and bobs, representing a mish-mash of different decades.
When I presented it to the expert on the miscellaneous table, Judith Miller, it was not the box which caught her eye but one of its trinkets.
What seemed to me to be an ugly little container was in fact a scent bottle made from a gull's egg, made in Birmingham in around 1890 - and worth about £150. The box was worth around £40-60.
She said: "It's a nice little thing. It's such a nice little memory of the family, all things of different ages, all put together."
For Judith, the lure of the show is not just in the artefacts themselves or their price tags, but the insight they provide into our ancestors' lives.
And coming to Bletchley Park she was faced with a mix of miscellany even more diverse than usual.
"The great thing about the Roadshow is that you never know what you're going to see next," she said.
"But with Milton Keynes being Milton Keynes, lots of people have moved here from all over the country, so we are seeing objects from all over the place."
Despite their expertise, however, the collective knowledge of the antiques gurus was not enough to even identify Andrew Hausman's inherited object, let alone value or date it.
After six experts had scrutinised his mysterious mother of pearl shrine, he was told to go home and research its origins himself.
And so, by the end of their visit to Bletchley Park, the BBC had been left stumped by their very own enigma.
