What a difference the sun makes! It certainly did for the 4,500 people who turned up at Polesden Lacey last week for the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Queuing for over 3 hours doesn’t seem quite so bad when it’s warm and you can enjoy an ice cream.
Fiona Bruce was there, charming the crowds and taking time to talk in depth with some of the lovely people who came bearing family heirlooms and other treasures.
I had a chat with her before she started filming and she was in a state of happy excitement:
“This is the first of the new series which will be shown in the autumn. We all came down here yesterday and it was like the start of a new term, wonderful to see everyone and we had a very lively supper together. Really, the Antiques Roadshow is like one big family and it is so great to get together again.”
Polesden Lacey is of course a great location for the show. The grand stately home, now owned by the National Trust, was the home of Mrs Greville a gregarious Edwardian hostess who loved entertaining friends at her glorious home, including King George VI and the Queen Mother. The anticipation that items related to the royal pair might emerge were in the air.
Fiona and the AR gang enjoyed a tour around the house before the open day for the public, and they, like most visitors were astounded by the collections on view.
“This is just an amazing house,” she said, “the silverware and ceramics are wonderful and you can just picture it as a lovely house for living and entertaining. Mrs Greville was obviously a fascinating lady and a lot of fun - I wish I’d known her!”
I asked Fiona if she has ever had her own treasures valued by the team.
“Sadly I don’t have anything of great value,” she said. ‘But I did ask them to check over my engagement ring” as she showed her delicate hand with ring in situ. “John Benjamin was fascinating, he traced the stone back to the mine in New Zealand where it came from.”
I asked her if the filming is all live, considering some people’s reactions are subdued in front of the camera, and she was slightly horrified,
“Of course it is,” she replied. “otherwise we’d be asking people to act and that’s out of the question.”
So there it is, confirmed by the lady herself, Antiques Roadshow is very much live and still attracting around 6 million viewers each programme.
So what turned up at Poesden Lacey? Some great treasures were revealed including a photo album and brooch owned by a lady whose mother had been a maid to Mrs Greville, the hostess of Polesden Lacey. Also a piece of icing from an anniversary cake.
The atmosphere is one of great excitement at these live events and it is amazing how the experts keep their enthusiasm in top gear throughout the day. At Polesden Lacey the last people clutching bags of precious items were seen at 8pm at night - I hope it was worth the wait and that an amazing, rare artefact was revealed in the last flickers of daylight.
On 5th September the Antiques Roadshow will be at the Royal Ballet Lower School in Richmond Park. Visit www.bbc.co.uk for details.
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