miss lane. "come little infant, love me now, "while thine unsuspected years "clear thine aged father's brow from cold jealousy and fears." "come... "little child, sit with me now..." "while thine unsuspected years..."

"while your useful years clear your aged mother's brow..." "from cold jealousy and fears." "from hot worries and fears." ( laughs ) hmm. dorcas. i came out to ready the ground for the spit. and now i see you are admiring my roses. more than admiring. i'm picking them. i hope you don't mind. you said there was an overabundance. i thought i might take some to my wife's grave after work today. i have seen you going off. do you go there every day? do you consider me sentimental? devoted.

you are a mystery to me, dorcas. i am? you're angry at me. is it the flowers? did i overstep my position taking the roses? it has been pointed out to me that it is inappropriate for a forge hand to address me as "dorcas". i'm sorry. i do not wish to cause you any discomfort. it won't happen again. of course, no one would ever imagine there could be any-- the whole world knows how dedicated you are to your wife. please... enjoy the flowers. a white rose. there is no greater symbol of innocence.

daniel, creme bavaroise? oh, delightful. miss ruby, while your sister is gone, i wonder if i might speak with you privately. i feel i must ask your pardon. i've--i've been so captivated by your sister's kindness to me that i have been blind to my own selfishness. oh, i see. i realize... that you have come home after a difficult time. and you have every right to want your home to yourself and every right to have your sister to yourself. when the competition is over, i shall tell pearl that i wish to take on a home of my own. i do hope i have aerated the cream sufficiently. ♪ there once was a maid

♪ and her name ♪ was minnie alfie... i have a question for you. who is a man who can't read? a friend of a man who can't write. reading can't just vanish. so, where is it? twister, can you see? if you're sitting there, then i can. can you hear? if you spoke just now, i suppose that's hearing. can you think? there's noises chases round between my ears which i calls "thinking". can you sing and play the banjo? and do them both at once? then you have a lot to be thankful for. why should reading be the greatest of losses? thankful? i come to my neighbors for help... some folk come out and say what their griefs are.

others like to be asked. and what would be the point of that? the point, twister turrell, is that it seems to me it isn't the size of the loss that matters round here, but the size of the complaining! there's a reason god gave man so much tolerance. because he is born to live with a woman. miss lane, since your fondness for jam is well known, i thought you might appreciate a little of my own recipe damson. posies. i happened to notice them, thought of you. oh, ladies. such kindness. what can i have done to deserve your consideration? a mere expression of fondness, dorcas. and, of course... my faith in your sense of fair play. fair play? a mother's love is a theme that i know will be close to your own heart.

your sensibility, miss lane, marks you out as a soul capable of appreciating literary epics, such as homer, virgil, alexander pope-- ladies, forgive me. you do not imagine that i have been appointed to judge the poetry competition? i can assure you i have not. come, come, miss lane. your denial only confirms your election. i do hope no more of my neighbors believe that i am to judge them. well, if not you, miss lane... then who on earth is to be the adjudicator? please excuse me, ladies. thomas will be with you shortly. gabriel? you look so distracted.

may i confide in you, miss lane? i can promise you complete discretion. when i visited the cemetery last night, as i approached my wife's grave, there was a man standing over it. when he saw me, he ran off. i imagine it was a passerby-- i asked the graveyard keeper, who told me that the same man attended my wife's grave at night, two or three times every week. perhaps it is... some relative of hers who wishes to grieve privately. but why did he run? i have decided i must discover who this man is. i will conceal myself each night in the graveyard until he returns. gabriel, is this wise? skulking in the shadows at night? i will begin tonight. if the grave keeper is true, he will soon reappear.

it is called a mother's love. it is best if all matters concerning the entries are kept in the strictest confidence, miss pearl. oh, of course, dear boy. but this is you and i, after all. who is to be the judge? well, that i cannot divulge. no matter. let me tell you, daniel, i am infused with confidence. i feel my work has the firm hand of professionalism about it. i don't know how i found such qualities. perhaps you might persuade your sister that the competition has brought out the best in all of us. yes. yes. my thoughts exactly. it's so cruelly unfair. i've done nothing wrong. i can't even write. i was hoping to write such a piece. i don't expect the world will stop turning for the want of a verse. you used to write rhymes, ma. you used to read them to me when i was a girl.

no more than airy confections. i had time for such things in the days before worldly regard took over. i was so excited about the thought of the presentation, the award. because of one spiteful woman, even if i do win, it will feel tarnished and spoiled. have you said your piece? i can see how you feel robbed, our laura, but you have a think about what it is you're being robbed of. a moment of glory, a shining trophy, applause. all i have heard you talking of this past week is winning. where is the innocence in that? but you seem determined to be seen to be better than your neighbors. where is the poetry in that? if i seem to speak sharply,

it is so that you hear me. is it decorations you want, laura, or to be a writer? i thought i heard voices. oh. so sorry to wake you, miss pratt. i needed to speak with daniel. sadly, laura has decided she can't enter the competition. oh! ohh, sad... indeed. oh. quite a convergence. ruby, poor dear laura has decided she is unable to write a poem of sufficient quality to enter the fray. i will say good night. i apologize for disturbing you. what have you there, dear boy? a special edition. i thought i might print a poetry-only issue of the chronicle. inspiring works by great writers that might comfort and delight...

and enlighten. "young love." it's a little-known andrew marvell poem. one of my favorites. laura taught it to me. "come little infant, love me now, "while thine unsuspected years "clear thine aged father's brow from cold jealousy and fears." isn't it wondrous? it is certainly enlightening. go and check again, minnie. all quiet on the street, ma'am! oh, wait! it's him! oh! no, it ain't. ha ha! it was a dog, ma'am. ( laughs ) ma'am, why are we waiting up for mr. cochrane? he has taken a late stroll, and i simply want to be sure he gets home safely.

thomas: the man is a bankrupt. he foists himself into miss lane's employ, and in no time it's "dorcas, dorcas, dorcas." and now he goes off prowling into the night. entry is closed tomorrow, and i haven't even begun my historical passage yet. there's something untoward about that man, and i intend to unravel him. a night prowler stalks the streets of dark. our odysseus keeps watch and calls out. hark! hark! hark! ( door closes ) gabriel... i woke early this morning and decided to have some tea. would you care to have some? i waited all night, but he did not appear.

perhaps that is to the good. it tells you that there is nothing for you to agitate your mind about. i think not, miss lane. i appreciate your efforts to appease me, but i shall return again tonight. you cannot forgo your sleep. as i crouched there in the dark, my mind turned back to when i met liza. she came into the foundry looking for work. it all happened so quickly, like a fever. we were married within weeks. you must've been utterly smitten to propose to her so quickly. it was her suggestion. we hardly had time to put up the banns. gabriel... i-- ( door opens ) you are with us very early this morning, thomas.

i see that i am not alone in being about before the larks. you have the look, sir, of a man who has not slept. i appreciate your concern, thomas. an errand took me from town last night. oh, mr. cochrane, you're home! miss lane has-- minnie, go and tidy the attic. excuse me. i must get started. this bunch here... hmm? was given to me by my grandmother the day my first baby was born. ah. every bunch has its own story. this black bead here-- this was found after she was dead in the workbox belonging to a local woman reputed to be a witch. why was she thought to be a witch?

oh, she was no more than a gossiper and troublemaker, full of spite and bile, she was. a sour way of turning one neighbor against another. oh? why would she do that? oh, why do any of us ever? her own sorry soul. she herself suffered the worst for it. my dear... what have i done to upset you? perhaps they'll find... a black bead in my workbox when i'm gone. what can make you say such a thing? i'm full of wickedness and unforgivable cruelty. ( sighs ) there ain't much in this world that is beyond forgiveness. i deliberately maligned the reputation of daniel parish. have you, now? and why is that?

my sister dotes upon him. and...she ignores me. and i've been consumed with the idea of destroying him. i am. i'm full of spite and bile. what wrong is done must be undone, or it will be your own self that will suffer. i see you're settled well enough hereabouts, sir. i consider myself fortunate indeed, mr. turrill. i'm visiting miss lane, as she's fabled to be the fountain of wisdom about these parts. i've come to ask her to help me to get my reading back. i'm sorry to hear it is gone. it was there last tuesday. wednesday it was taken. i'm to seek her advice on how i might find it. isn't that obvious?

you have my ear, sir. you must start over. learn again what you taught yourself before. that's too much work for a man closer to the grave than the cradle, sir. but surely the effort itself is what is most pleasing. have you any notion how many hours it took me under the candlelight, trying to unravel the mystery of words? how is your wife recovering from her own loss? loss? her loss? what loss would that be? the fair. the stores. she didn't tell you? she cannot sell her own lace. but i saw her at her bobbins this morning. there is no market for bobbin lace anymore. she told me herself. can i see? no, i can't. can i hear?

not at all. i know now why god has taken my reading away-- that i might look about me. my own grandpa used to tell me, "before a man can know, he has to be willing to know." i have tried to dissuade him, but he is determined to return to the graveyard. it doesn't bear imagining what might happen if he confronts this man jolliffe. gabriel is such a man of great passion. if he were to force jolliffe to tell him the truth, i fear how he might react. i am beginning to think that the least painful course for gabriel is to see the letter. so, we must put the letter into his possession in such a way that chance or fate placed it there. laura, bring back those poetry books. laura?

i wanted to say... it would be a great injustice and a sorrowful loss if you were not to take part in the poetry event-- an occasion, if i may say, mr. parish, which has brought great enrichment to our town. i realize that i am the cause of your withdrawal, laura. i would like to reassure you that only someone with a truly poisoned mind might suggest that anything but your considerable talents would lead to you winning the contest. thank you, miss ruby. and so... i have come to plead with you to reconsider your decision. will you? perhaps the machines will bring better times.

life will likely be easier for working folk.

i'm so glad you changed your mind, laura. good luck. good luck. did you know, daniel, that homer's poetry was recited by law in athens at the panathenaic festival? perhaps a verse or two of your cycle might suffice, mrs. brown? i don't think we will need constable patterson to enforce it. oh! daniel? daniel? i must withdraw my entry from the contest. why, miss pearl? you were so pleased with your effort? i realized i have put a pyrrhic foot in the wrong place, and i must remove it. the entries close in an hour, so be sure to return the corrections without delay. miss lane? yes? the spit is completed, if you care to take a look.

i will be with you in just a minute. can you wait there, please? ah. mr. cochrane, sir. if i may take this opportunity, if i may be so bold, if you are to settle here in candleford, you would be best served, sir-- if i may pass on to you some insight, some knowledge of the way of things-- conform, sir. there is a proper order to things, and the man who resists that is the man who falls. knowledge, sir, will save us.

oh, it's you. pearl. since we have returned, i have wanted-- i-- i have foolishly-- oh, ruby, will you please... hold me?

"and then the moon wrapped in clouds "as the thunder sounds. "zeus hurls rain and hail "from the heavens down "but thomas forges forward "on his postal rounds! "his sallies take him from brackley, "like a sailor under blackening skies-- "never daunted, ever redoubtable, he reaches the shores of lark rise--" uh, thank you, mrs. brown, you certainly have given us an epic. ( applause ) mr. parish-- daniel-- uh... concerning our earlier conversation, it would mean a great deal to me if you would consider remaining with us. my sister--

we both so enjoy your company. no song? the words just weren't there to be had. but it was gonna have our love in it. minnie, love... ain't something you can put into a competition. so, you didn't write a love song because you love me? my dear... your saga was enrapturing. i wonder, would you read the rest of it to me? kind friends, the time has come to reveal to us the winner of the annual candleford poetry competition. please welcome gabriel cochrane. oh. ah.

i am grateful for this opportunity. i consider this your way of offering me the hand of welcome. i hope i have served you well in my adjudication. i am no literary expert, so i will not pretend to have measured the host of wonderful poems submitted by any means other than my own personal taste. poetry, you have taught me, is a way into the human soul. it is a way of connecting with the world around us. it is a means of seeing into yourself. the poem i've chosen does all of these things and more. i feel like the writer knows me better than i know myself. it is called gossamer threads. no, it can't be.

it is written by emma timmins. i--but i didn't-- i didn't enter a poem. i took the poem from your chest, ma. daniel: mrs. timmins... would you be so kind to come up and read some of your verse to us? why did you do that, our laura? go and read the poem and you will know. go on! ( applause ) emma: "as i went on my way, "gossamer threads spun from bush to bush, "like barricades. "as i broke through one after another, "i was taken by a childish fear. "they are trying to bind and keep me here. "but as i grew from girl to woman, i knew

"the threads that bind me "were more enduring than gossamer. "they were spun of kinship and love "given so freely that it could never be taken away from me." what is such a creature doing amongst us? dorcas: let us now allow our imaginations to turn a snake in the grass into a serpent from hell. it will be apprehended by the most stout-hearted man. thomas: it is an abomination. the man is a scandal! one does wonder how a preacher such as him could be a curate in a remote country parish. you are forbidden from calling here. i must ask you not to return. why did your robert deny him from ever coming to your cottage?

this week, the roadshow's back in belfast for a second helping. there's plenty to keep our teams occupied. we were last in town 21 years ago. and looking at the queue, it should be a busy day. belfast is a very different city from 21 years ago. the troubles are behind it, but the city's had to cope with a lot in the lifetime of people here.

little known was the terrible loss of life and devastation during the blitz. on april 15, 1941, 200 luftwaffe dropped their bombs on the city, killing 1,000 people and injuring many more. and this is one of the areas worst affected-- the docks. it was completely flattened. but today, the city has shaken off the past, and has emerged from the rubble with new optimism and huge levels of investment. here in the newly named titanic quarter, where the great ship was built, is one example of regeneration. it was once a rundown, industrialized wasteland. now it's part of a billion-pound redevelopment scheme. there have been a few hiccups along the way, but since the good friday agreement, belfast hasn't looked back.

you know you've made it when a travel guide puts you in the top ten places to visit in the world. and we're heading back to the docks to a landmark building. the original titanic drawing office is at the heart of the scheme. it's where the roadshow is back in business today. it's the last public event here before the doors are closed for restoration. so will the people of belfast have the luck of the irish? let's test it out and see what's hiding in those bags. so an intriguing mahogany and brass bound box, and we can see it's got a nameplate on the top. "jane power, edamine." presumably, edamine is the name of the house. i think so. in one of the books, it's inverted commas, so i think it is. and who is jane power? i'm presuming--i haven't the research done-- but i'm presuming she was a doctor... right. because of the literature that's with it. okay. we can see that it's a medicine chest.

and what a medicine chest. isn't that fantastic? beautifully complete. and you can see all the glass bottles. and they've been labeled, so we can see there's bicarbonate of soda, boracic acid. and rhubarb something. yeah, rhubarb. what would that have been used for? i don't know. i have no idea. hippo wine. another one. it's terrific that it's got the original contents still with it. it's good. and these we've taken out from the drawer below. and here we can see, this is amyl nitrate. and normally, with a box of this state, you open it and expect to see that the contents have gone or been used. that's right. and if we open this one, wonderfully, you've got underneath here-- look at that. all the glass capsules full of amyl nitrate. underneath there. and they're glass. so they wrapped them in cotton wool to protect them. 'cause if you broke a glass of amyl nitrate, you would know all about it. so, lovely to find a full contents there.

that's good. this one over here is morphia. morphine. and again, looking at the date, we're probably looking at mid-19th century, 1850, 1860. you would not expect to find the contents in here. look at that. still the original bottles with their corks in. some may have evaporated, do you think? that's still got some morphine in it. it has. yeah. wonderful to see it so complete. and fairly dangerous, too. i was afraid the police might stop me on the way up. and it says, "for hypodermic injection." and here we have the hypodermic syringe to use with the morphine. so if you're feeling a little bit, um... i might be after this. it could still be used. so what have you managed to find out about the lady who owned it? not nearly as much as i should have. i gave up on it because she was a woman, and she probably married and had a different name.

i should do research because i have enough information there to go back a bit. there's stillorgan nursing home, a convalescent home. i did nothing. i don't even know if it still exists. because this was her original notebook, wasn't it? yes, it's the contents-- this page happens to be open at epsom salts. "a powerful laxative. best taken in the morning." there's no answer to that, is there? still true probably. and you have the bottle of epsom salts here in the back of the box itself. it's a wonderful box. it's so complete. so you bought it, did you? i did. how long ago? about 20 years ago. where did you buy it? in a weak moment. and you saw it and you had to have it. i looked at it, and i opened it, and i had a quick look, and i was absolutely intrigued. and i went away and i looked at everything else in t whole place. dozens of stands. i went back to it a second time, a third time, and a fifth time. fifth time?! yes. and i couldn't go away without it.

well, wonderful. and how much did you pay for it? i can't tell you that, because i think, to this day, my wife doesn't know. oh! probably too much. but not for me, for the pleasure i've gotten from it. come in, it's only you and me. no one else is listening. you can tell me. i paid 1,000 irish pounds at that time. would that be about 1,000 english pounds as well? yeah. well, i think that was a fair retail price at the time. but definitely, it needs more research. you must research into this lady, 'cause she sounds fascinating. find out whether she was a qualified doctor. i think, if you had to buy it at an antiques fair today, because the contents are so complete, you would probably pay £2,000 for it maybe. really? 2,500. so i think you can go home and break the news to your wife. hopefully, she'll forgive you. and you won't need a dose of laudanum to revive you. i probably won't have to go to the garden shed tonight. wonderful piece. really enjoyed seeing it.

thanks very much. who's your very cute little long-eared friend here? he's just our little teapot that we were given by my husband's aunt about 15 years ago when we moved into our new house. a teapot in the shape of a rabbit. very clever design, isn't it? do you know anything about it, what it is? i know that it's royal doulton. there's a very clear mark on the bottom. it's the bunnykins range, and that's all i know. right. it has a mark on the bottom which we'll have a look at. there we go. royal doulton, bunnykins. more cute little bunnies there. so 15 years ago, where did it come from? my husband's aunt gave it to us as a housewarming gift. right. and where's it lived since then? it's been in our kitchen just above where the kettle sits. oh, yes, i can see it's got a little bit of grime on it. yeah, it's a bit dirty. it's a bit dirty. he's been sort of lolloping about in the cabbage patch. i think he must have been. the bunnykins range was made by doulton after designs by barbara vernon,

and she was a lucky lady, because her father was managing director of the factory, and he asked her to do some drawings, which were then transferred into a series of figures and teawares like this. the marvelous thing about your piece is that it's really quite early. as far as i can work out, this model had been produced in about 1939. oh, really? for bunnykins, that's really quite early. this is a teapot and cover that doesn't turn up very often. it's a collectible object. it's not a great, fine antique or anything like that. do you think it has significant value? i've never really thought about it, to be honest with you, so... well, it's a strong market. despite the fact it's a thing made for a child, it's just a nursery toy, something from the nursery tea table, it's worth in the region of £1,000. excuse me? £1,000. oh, my goodness. you just made my day. there he's been, sitting on the shelf above your kettle for ages.

i think he'll be on the mantelpiece from now on. yes, put him behind glass and give him a good wash. thank you very much. thank you. "presented to the belfast chamber of commerce." is it still there, or is this your own clock? it's still there. in fact, it's in our board room. it was presented to the chamber in 1898 by gustav wolff. he was, i believe, the 105th president of the belfast chamber of commerce, which was set up in 1783. at the end of his term of office as president, he presented it to the chamber. so we've had it in our possession for some 110 years. we've always been fascinated by the piece, and wondering, is it worth any money? that's interesting. all i can tell you about gustav wolff is that he was born in hamburg, came across to northern ireland as a teenager, and he had a very, very wealthy uncle who was a financier in hamburg. and one of the main, initial contracts that harland and wolff got was three ships that belonged to a line

that was financed by his uncle. so maybe that's one of the reasons he was taken on by harland as a partner. i don't know. but we have here, on the face of it, a lovely looking clock. he would have been president for a year? for one year. in 1898, i believe. okay. and it would have been the norm, i'm sure, for a president to have given some sort of presentation to the chamber. signed by elkington, regent street. because they were the retailers that sold it. and elkington, as you might or might now know, were a firm of silversmiths who provided a lot of the flatware for the white star line, of course, including the titanic. and they had a retail premises in regent street from the 1840's. and i'm quite sure that wolff basically said to them, "as one of the retailers to the white star line, provide me with a clock that i can give to the chamber,"

and i have a feeling that he probably said at the end of that, "i don't want to spend too much money." is that right? it is. because it looks the part, but, despite this wonderful london retailer on the dial, it's not an english clock. is that right? so i'm just going to turn it round to have a closer look inside. remember at that stage, the early part of the 20th, and particularly in this case, the end of the 19th century, the english clock-making industry was, to use a pun, winding down. their products were very high quality and much more expensive than german products. had this been an english clock, the movement would've been massive compared to this, and if my assumptions are right, we should see behind there-- yep, there is the stamp of w & h, which are winterhalter and hofmeier, and the "sch" under that is their factory schwarzenbach.

so instead of spending a small fortune on an english clock, he has presented the chamber with a german-- i wouldn't say copy, 'cause that's slightly unfair-- a lesser example. so it flatters to deceive. absolutely right. after all is said and done, it still remains a nice quarter-chiming clock. obviously, being in the chamber, you have it insured. we have it insured currently for £5,000. right. i think that's fairly generous. you could happily replace it for that and probably rather less. so we're gonna save on the insurance premium. i think you could, yes. so it's a bit like jukebox jury. this is our "uh-uh." this is our miss, is it? no, not at all this is still a lovely thing, in its own right, but the history is far more important than the monetary value of it. ladybird books were well-known to children from the '60s. they did actually start life world war i period.

but in the '60s, they really blossomed and bloomed. they came out with this learning series. if i remember correctly, peter and jane were two characters that were mainly used to help children read their words. now, we have peter and jane here almost, do we not? yes, that's a very early peter and jane. that series preceded the peter and jane. that was when peter was a little boy playing in the bath, and this is peter in the reading scheme, which is this one. and his sister. and his sister, yes. right. now what we've got here today is not just a collection of ladybird books, which have minor value, but original artwork that contributed to the ladybird books by an artist called harry wingfield. now you knew harry wingfield. yes. we were neighbors for 25 years. we were next door but one. you were very close neighbors and good friends. very good friends. his wife ethel, i would say, was probably my dearest friend.

what we've got here is an original painting by harry wingfield. there's the illustration in the book. and there's his subject. that's right. he's your son. yes, my son. that i find most remarkable. the books really do illustrate the sort of life they had-- them playing and learning and going to their house after school. i went to college as a mature student, and was only able to do so because they had the children after school. that was a remarkable facility that you had right on your doorstep. oh, absolutely. not every artist can get that. artists need inspiration, and subjects to work with, but what we've got here is a pretty close resemblance, a remarkable lifelike resemblance. that's unusual. he captured him beautifully. he did. so that was you in your bath time. do you remember that bath time? not that particular one. i do remember we posed for lots of the illustrations so friends would be pointing at fictitious hedgehogs. so you did official posing... absolutely.

as well as real-life inspiration. so it wasn't widely known. no, it's not something you can advertise. you're not recognized in the street. no. people are surprised when you say, "i am peter and my sister is jane." i think it's wonderful to be recorded in history like that. not only the dog and the duck and your son, but you as well over here. yes. that was the first picture we ever took. it's you in 1960 odds. mid-'60s, something like that? uh, yes. there's a pretty close resemblance. yes, that's right. hairstyles don't change a lot, do they? so how did you come to own them? they all went off to ladybird to be printed, and he didn't realize that he owned the originals. he thought ladybird did. and then subsequently, he found that he owned the originals and he got all of them back. they filled his dining room. and he kindly gave me some, and i bought all this from him.

they would sell very readily if they were to go on the market. individually, they have values of, let's say, £200, 300. so you can do the math. however many you've got, add them up at £200, 300 apiece, and you won't be far wrong as far as a total valuation is concerned. they are a remarkable collection. obviously, they have a huge meaning to your family. i do feel very privileged that you've brought them along to show me today. thank you very much. thank you. people tend to suggest that we don't show enough in the way of rugs and carpets. so thank you today. you're helping redress the balance, aren't you? and it really is a tale of two very different-looking carpets, isn't it? it is indeed. this is rather vibrant, to say the least. so tell me, do you live with this carpet? do you walk on it on a daily basis? i do. i had this carpet as a child, and walk on it every day at my parents' house when i'm there. so if it could speak to me, this one would speak with an irish brogue, would it not? indeed. okay. so as you've got that lovely irish brogue,

tell me a little more about it. well, both these carpets are donegal carpets made by alexander morton and company, and this one in the early 1930's, and the other in the 1930's. and the typical donegal carpets are different from traditional persian and turkish rugs, and they are entirely handmade, and they are much thicker than their persian-turkish counterparts, and that makes them much softer to walk on and they last longer, and they retain a real richness to them. this particular carpet's pattern was used also in the carpets for the vice regal lodge in dublin and other carpets of this quality and characteristic were used in buckingham palace, windsor palace, and the white house in washington, and also on the royal yacht. you're name-dropping now, aren't you? yes. and quite right. i mean, this one, looking at a date, around about 1890, 1900? yes, round about that. it's lasted pretty well, hasn't it? i think so, yeah. fantastic condition. there's one name that's synonymous with the carpets of that period

and that name, of course, is voysey. charles annesley voysey. great architect, great designer. and i'd like to think that this was by him, but i don't think it is. i don't think it was. good. we're both agreed on that. but either way, a splendid rug. dare i say, where it came from and how much was paid, or has it always been in your family? my father bought it in an auction house in belfast, in the 1970's for not much more than £25 at the time. 25 quid. okay. well, when it comes to the value, i'll come back to this, because the one that really grabs my attention is this, 'cause a carpet from the 1920's, 1930's, always catches my eye. and that is quite an abstract design, isn't it? it is. the design effect there is slight sort of futuristic. so this one has actually got a label, yes? it does. shall we have a look? 'cause it's so important when they--ah, there it is. a bit faded, isn't it? "the donegal hand-tufted carpet."

this is wine. which must be the color. can't quite make out that term. it almost looks like kilim, doesn't it? but we're not looking at a kilim rug there. design-wise, i'll tell you who sprung to mind, but i'm not convinced that she did any designs for donegal, and that's marion dorn. has that name ever been thrown at you? no. okay. she did, actually, a lot of carpets for the cunard line. so it's rather appropriate that we're here in this particular hall. but she was designing mainly for wilton, and so, too, her husband, mcknight kauffer. so i'm in a quandary here. it's in the style of, and i don't know for certain. if somebody said, how much would you speculate, on this carpet, i would certainly speculate at least £400. and on this carpet, although it's seen better days,

i would probably speculate at least £500. now, i wouldn't say i was mean, but coming from the north, i'm careful. so those may well be conservative estimates. but feel free to let me know when you've done all your research, 'cause i'm on a learning curve today and if nothing else, we've broken the spell, haven't we? of the elusive rugs on the antiques roadshow. is this your mum? yes. it is? i assumed it probably was. let me ask you a question. what has she told you about these bits? it was, uh... wait, wait. um, grandma. so your great-grandma, your great-great grandma? so what is the history that you know about? i don't know a lot. i just know that it's come through the family, through the women in the family,

and they just seem very sparkly, but we don't know... they do, don't they? they do. which one do you like? um, i like that one. you like the small one? do you happen to like the bigger one, or do you like the smaller one as well? i like the small one. you both like the small one. that's a problem. let's start with the one at the top. these were worn in a particular way when they used to be made. they were actually made in about 1925 or 1930. now you can see they are a pair of identical clips, aren't they? originally, there was a back frame, and you could mount them on the frame. and can you see in the middle? there's almost something that looks a bit like a railway track you would actually slide those along a bar so you could convert this to be worn as a pair of clips, or you could detach them for wearing on each side

of your lapel of your jacket. it's set with typical colorless gems in this rather attractive geometric cluster formation known as art deco. let's move on to the other one that you both like so much. now this one's very different. this was made in round about 1880 to 1890. and it's called a target cluster. and you've got the principal stone in the middle, set in silver, surrounded by smaller stones, and slightly larger stones going round the outside. if we turn it over, you see? there's the brooch pin. and there at the back, you can just see. it's got three little peg holes, and that would've meant you could convert it to be worn perhaps as an item

that could be stuck at the back of your bun. you know women wore their hair up high in those days. and indeed, if you think about it, this is made in the 1880's or '90s. so a lady would wear this on a little two-pronged comb fitting and put it at the back of their hair where it would flutter slightly like that. now, your daughters have been very, very careful in their selection of their jewelry. this one, the big flamboyant one, is set throughout with colorless paste. it's glass. they're not real stones. this one, the smaller one, is packed to the hilt with lovely white diamonds. so this one here at the top without its frame is probably worth about £200. this one is worth £2,000. wow! so if you both want this brooch,

you're gonna have to decide who's gonna get this brooch. i hope that's been of interest for you. thank you very much indeed. thank you. back in 2003, tommy lemore brought along one of his daughter's old teddy bears to the roadshow to get it valued at mt. stewart, just a few miles from here. with a rather exciting result. now have you got any idea of his worth? well, some months ago, i had an approximate value between-- how long ago? oh, january. this january? this january. of a dealer. a dealer? he was an antique dealer. he offered you some money. oh, no. he thought it may be worth between £2,000 and 3,000. did he? yes. and he didn't offer you that? no. he wanted to take it to london,

and have an evaluation done there and put it in an auction there. he said i would have to pay his expenses to london. and he wanted ten percent, and then over to the auctioneers in london. so i told my daughter, but she says, "for many years, i have done without, and i'm not gonna part." well... i would put a note on that. what i'm saying is, if you were to buy him, you'd have to pay £20,000. at least. at least. what did you think when you heard how much the teddy was worth? as i said to the lady, i hope there's a wheelchair to carry me outta here. it was a heck of a price, wasn't it? it was fantastic. and you came home, told patricia here? no, i telephoned... and what did you think, patricia? he asked me first of all had i got a chair, was i sitting down. and he said, "well, it's worth about 20,000." i said, "father, stop telling silly stories."

and he said, "no, i'm serious." he said, "i'm running around with it clutched to me. in case anybody snatches it." fiona: i'm not surprised. did you keep the bear? what happened? no, we've decided to take it to an auction house in london. they valued it at roughly 10,000 to 15,000. left it with them, and my daughter flew over to london for the auction. she had the pleasure of seeing him sold for 20,000. so there you were, you sold at auction, got £20,000 for it. i guess that must have come in pretty handy. oh, it certainly did. my daughter was getting married, and some of the money went towards that. and the rest i bought premium bonds with. and now today, you've brought in another teddy. tell us about this one. this is a dean's rag doll panda. oh, it's a panda. yes, but he's got lead feet. you put a lead on, and he walks like a dog.

i think we need to get you to our expert to have a look at this. judith miller, she's the woman for you. i'm sure we've met before. at lord's for sports relief. you were mary peters' running shoes. that's right, yes. but i thought you were a great sportsman. yes, but i also have a great interest coming from belfast and harland and wolff shipbuilding. my father was the port health officer for belfast in the 1950's and the 1960's, which meant no new liner or new ship would leave belfast without him giving it a clean bill of health. so he was in a very good position. i'm actually glad you brought this, because inevitably here, we have a sort of titanic emphasis. the belfast shipbuilding. but there's much more to belfast. there's also much more to harland and wolff. and here we have canberra, i think the most beautiful ship ever. the liner that shaped the future, they said. that's right. now this is a 1959 calendar. from memory, she was launched in 1960. 1960. near st. patrick's day, 1960.

the most extraordinary thing to me is that, actually looking around this wonderful room-- she could have been designed right here. where we're sitting. all this wonderful detail could have been planned out. isn't that extraordinary? inside the titanic. bringing it back to life in this room. beautiful. what are you, a canberra enthusiast? well, it all started because of my father with these calendars that i put away in the loft. and then i discovered them again because titanic was getting so much in the news and i felt, as i said, too much was given, i felt, even though i had a grandfather who worked on the titanic. i was on the canberra, and i felt more should be given to the canberra. i think you're right, because sadly, i never sailed on her. but i saw her several times, in southampton. she was just going out as i came in, you might say. i just remember seeing this wonderfully elegant, beautiful ship with this sort of pioneer design

that took the funnels to the stern. it's the first liner with double funnels in the back. the first liner to have the lifeboats enclosed. there was a real bit of modern design. and i think it showed that we could always be at the forefront of ship design. it was the liner that shaped the future. now let's go through it. so we've got the building of the ship. maiden voyage. we've got the ship in life. so you've got souvenir chocolates, programs. that's great, isn't it? that came from australia. it was a ship built to take people to and from australia. for ten pounds. ten pounds. what a treat to go for ten pounds on that ship. and it's lasted 37 years. yes. the end of the story, or not quite, is the falklands. everybody forgets this was the great ship, the great troop ship, that was rushed into service. they turned it round at southampton. and of course, it was exposed to attack. we saw it on tv. it had survived. and then it came back into service,