Go behind the scenes of the Antiques Roadshow with Tring expert John Bly

9:45am Friday 10th July 2009

By Melanie Dakin

Festival-goers in Bushey will have a rare opportunity to quiz Antiques Roadshow expert John Bly as he presents his fascinating behind the scenes expose, The Other Side of the Antiques Roadshow at the Bushey Centre next Saturday.

John, who comes from a long line of antique dealers in Tring, will be giving an insight into how the experts recognise the genuine article from the fake, as well as giving audiences the opportunity to have items assessed.

“What I do is try and give people an idea of the thought processes we use in the show as we use quite a complicated system. The question I’m most often asked is not how much is it worth, but how do you know how old it is?

“There are two parts to this. The material it’s made from and its shape, and what it was used for. For example, you couldn’t have Shakespeare’s typewriter. And granny’s spoon from her tea caddy couldn’t have been made before the 1740s, as we didn’t take tea in a mashed up form before that time.

“I use drawings to show the links between things, give some anecdotes and talk about some of the embarrassing moments on the show which people love.”

The Bly family have been antiques dealers in Tring since the beginning of the 19th Century. John’s grandfather first established his own business in the centre of the town in 1891 and his two sons are both in the business.

John attended Berkhamsted Collegiate, as did his sons and his grandaughters are now at the school. He worked for four years at Sotheby’s before joining the family firm.

He has been with the Antiques Roadshow since it started in 1978, and has his own programme on ITV Heirloom. John has written 14 books the most recent of which is John Bly’s Antiques Masterclass and he writes for no less than 28 specialist magazines.

I wonder if there was ever a chance of his making it in anything other than antiques?

“My other great interest at that time was swing and jazz. I was the drummer in a seven-piece band called The Cardinals and a 12-piece dance band and seven-piece Latin combo. We’d play after work in London at Humphrey Littleton’s club and at Cy Laurie’s on a Sunday lunchtime. We also ran a club in the Kings Arms in Berkhamsted, which was great fun. I still play occasionally.”

John’s calling for the antique business won out in the end, though he tells me he wasn’t always interested in academia. It was his father’s knack for storytelling and a treasured family heirloom that were the catalyst for his career.

“I wasn’t really interested in history but to intrigue me, my father told me a story about a small flute-shaped drinking glass that used to stand upside down on his mantlepiece. It’s inscribed with the message: ‘To the glorious memory of his majesty William III’ and it was a commemorative piece made after his death around 1710. My father managed to get my attention because he told me he was first and only king in English history to be killed by a person in brown velvet and that his horse tripped over a molehill. It was a fascinating way to learn. My father and I worked together for 40 years and he’d always lead me to something in a roundabout way; which is what I’ll be doing in Bushey.”

Prior to his Bushey Festival appearance, John is filming an episode of the Antiques Roadshow at Bletchley park this Sunday.

“Every programme throws up surprises. I’ll be able to regale audiences at Bushey with what we might have found at Bletchley.”

The Other Side of Antiques at the Bushey Centre, High Street, Bushey, on Saturday, July 18 at 8pm. Visitors can bring in small articles of silver which may be chosen for assessment. Tickets: 020 8950 9119, www.festival.bushey.org.uk (£10)