Peter Rhodes on tricky questions, a long-lost referee and sitting pretty at the Roadshow
A valuable 19th century football match programme caught the eyes of the experts in Antiques Roadshow (BBC1), although no-one commented on the interesting fact that the referee for the game was one Mr Crapper. I bet the fans never forgot him.
The same edition of Antiques Roadshow also produced an example of a regular dilemma for bargain hunters. If you buy six dining chairs for a fiver each from a charity shop, total £30, what do you do when an expert on AR reveals they are important examples of British design, worth £250 each? Secretly slip the charity shop a few quid? Keep quiet?
Or you might take comfort from a friend of mine who clears houses. He maintains that the only value any item has is how much someone is prepared to pay. In our sofa-grazing age when nobody dines, what price a dining chair?