BBC Antiques Roadshow comes to Belmont House & Gardens, Faversham.

We are delighted to announce that the first ‘Belmont House’ Antiques Roadshow
episode will be broadcast on Sunday 12th March at 8pm on BBC One.

On a very warm summers day last August, the Antiques Roadshow artic rolled into Belmont.
Returning to Kent after several years, and with many thousands of people applying for
tickets, we were very excited to see the cameras start rolling. Visitor numbers on the big day
exceeded all expectations and there was every kind of object carried in baskets, bags and
pulled in trollies, teddies to totems, clocks to crowns, swords to spears and lots of everything
in between! A selection of objects from within the House were also looked at by the experts.
It was a long and tiring day for all of us at Belmont House, staff and our lovely volunteers
worked really hard to make it a complete success.

Here a little more about what you can expect to see:
Antiques Roadshow comes from the beautiful grounds of Belmont House in sunny Kent
where Fiona summons the crowds in style with the help of a 14th century instrument – the
Moot Horn! Fiona also meets comedian Michael McIntyre and finds out why he’s about to
don a disguise for an elaborate Roadshow prank for his Saturday night show.

Ronnie Archer Morgan is wowed by a Polynesian club from the time of Captain Cook and
persuades its owner to show it some love while Mark Smith is thrilled to see an original
telegram announcing the end of World War Two.

Mark Hill ‘Only Takes a Minute’ to realise he’s been brought something special when he
examines a trophy awarded to pop legends Take That in 1995 – but how did it come to get a
large dent in the middle of it?

Asian Arms and Militaria specialist Runjeet Singh takes a closer look at a sword that once
belonged to a member of the ‘Dervish’ religious order, and he gets the chance to examine
some rare Indian weapons from the Belmont Armoury.

Raj Bisram admires two early diving helmets and reveals how they were originally designed
for fighting fires, not diving under the waves, and also sits down with former Kent and West
Indies cricketer John Shepherd to find out about Belmont’s close links to the early days of the
sport.

And Rupert Maas is confounded when he’s brought a painting signed by one of the greatest
living artists of our time – David Hockney – that was given to a railway signalman who
entertained the artist at the very beginning of his career.

Sunday 12th March at 8pm on BBC One. If you miss the episode, you can catch up on the
BBC iPlayer. A second episode will be aired at a date still to be confirmed.

ENDS