Ronnie Archer-Morgan

Last updated
Ronnie Archer-Morgan
Ronnie Archer-Morgan (2022).webp
Archer-Morgan in 2022
Born1950 (age 7374)
Occupation(s)Antiques collector and television presenter
Known forAppearance on the Antiques Roadshow since 2011
Television Antiques Roadshow
Millionaire Hoarders

Ronnie Archer-Morgan [lower-alpha 1] (born 1950) is a television presenter and antiques collector, known for his appearance on the BBC Antiques Roadshow since 2011. [2] [3] He is also known for presenting the 2023 Channel 4 show Millionaire Hoarders, in which experts seek out valuable antiques from the homes of the rich. [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Ronnie Archer-Morgan was born in 1950 [6] to Lizzie, a Sierra Leonean belonging to a wealthy family, [2] and Ronald, a British engineer living there. When Lizzie became pregnant, they moved to Britain in order to start a new life. [7] Tragically, Ronald was killed in a car accident shortly afterwards, before Ronnie was born. [2] [7] This caused Lizzie to have a breakdown, and Ronnie was taken away from her and given to foster parents. [7] Then, at age three, he was moved to a National Children's Home (now Action for Children) in Southport, Merseyside. [2] [3] [7] Just before his sixth birthday, he was sent back to live with his mother, and half-sister Lynette. Archer-Morgan was abused by his mother, at first bullying, before escalating into physical torture, including multiple attempted murders. However, these went under the radar because of Lizzie's popularity and respected nature. [7]

He would use museums as a form of escapism from his home life, which kindled his love for antiques. [2] [3] [7] His mother remarried to an abusive husband, and Archer-Morgan, now eleven, was taken back into care with his sister, where he remained for another five years. Aged seventeen, he secured a place at Hornsey College of Art, [3] but dropped out only a few weeks after starting, citing the reason to be boredom at simply replicating others. [7]

Career

Before becoming an antiques collector, Archer-Morgan had various careers. [6] He became a DJ at the famous Marquee Club in Soho. [7] [3] Then a friend who was a hairdresser suggested the industry for Archer-Morgan, and within 18 months, he had become a stylist at a top Knightsbridge salon. [7] [2] While working there, Archer-Morgan would use his lunch break to scour local shops and markets for antiques, which he would then sell to his clients, often for a profit. [1] [6] This kickstarted his 30+ year career in antiques. [1] He worked as a consultant to Sotheby's on their wristwatch and costume jewellery collections, as well as opening his own antiques gallery in Knightsbridge. [7] [2] [ when? ]

He joined the Antiques Roadshow in 2011, [2] [3] specialising in the 'miscellaneous' section of the show, but mainly valuing tribal art and weaponry. [7] During an episode of the Antiques Roadshow in 2011, Archer-Morgan met a collector who had brought Sooty and Sweep glove puppets, [6] [2] as her father had made the puppets for Harry Corbett. Archer-Morgan had met Corbett in 1955, during a visit to the children's home in Merseyside that Archer-Morgan was staying in. [6] [2] Following the episode, Archer-Morgan received a letter from his former foster family. Through this, he also managed to reunite with a long lost childhood friend, who had lost contact with Archer-Morgan when Ronnie was removed from the home they were in. [6]

Archer-Morgan now works as a consultant to Dore & Rees auctions in Frome, Somerset. He also works independently as a specialist for private clients. [1] He published his autobiography, Would It Surprise You To Know...?, in 2022. The book's name is eponymous to his Antiques Roadshow catchphrase. [7]

In August 2023, Archer-Morgan featured in the three-part series Millionaire Hoarders, in which he and three other experts sought out valuable antiques from the homes of the rich. [4] [5] During the first episode, he found a John Constable painting worth up to £2,000,000 previously said to be fake at Craufurdland Castle, Scotland. Auctioning the painting could save the family from having to sell the estate that has been in their family for 800 years, in the face of maintenance costs. [8] [9]

Personal life

Archer-Morgan has cited his greatest passion as collecting records, and listening to music. [1] He has campaigned for Action for Children, with his ongoing support for the charity being deeply personal. In an interview with the Telegraph, he said that "if it wasn't for Action for Children I would be dead”. [7] He has a partner but lives alone in London. He has no children but has cited that he wanted to be a father. [7]

Bibliography

See also

Notes

  1. Also Archer Morgan [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Barker</span> English actor, comedian and writer (1929–2005)

Ronald William George Barker was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as Porridge, The Two Ronnies, and Open All Hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Constable</span> English painter (1776–1837)

John Constable was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country" – which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Corbett</span> Scottish actor and comedian (1930–2016)

Ronald Balfour Corbett was a Scottish actor, broadcaster and comedian. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show The Two Ronnies. He achieved prominence in David Frost's 1960s satirical comedy programme The Frost Report and subsequently starred in sitcoms such as No – That's Me Over Here!, Now Look Here, and Sorry!

<i>Antiques Roadshow</i> British BBC TV antiques programme (since 1979)

Antiques Roadshow is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979, based on a 1977 documentary programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christchurch Mansion</span> Historic house and museum in Ipswich, England

Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, by Edmund Withypoll around 1548–50. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits by the southern gates close to the town centre of Ipswich. The mansion belonged to various noble families throughout its history but was purchased by the Ipswich Borough Council in 1884. Since 1885, the building has been used as a museum and is today run by the municipally run Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service (CIMS) organisation. The museum's rooms are preserved as past inhabitants would have known them, complete with original items such as furniture, fine clothing and children's toys. The museum also holds a collection of paintings by renowned local artists including John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The Mansion is free to enter and booking is not required.

Paul Henry was an Irish artist noted for depicting the West of Ireland landscape in a spare Post-Impressionist style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Ravilious</span> English painter

Eric William Ravilious was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and other English landscapes, which examine English landscape and vernacular art with an off-kilter, modernist sensibility and clarity. He served as a war artist, and was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War II when the aircraft he was in was lost off Iceland.

David Kenneth Roy Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet, is a Canadian/British hereditary peer and media magnate. Upon the death of his father in 2006, Thomson became the chairman of Thomson Corporation and also inherited his father's British title, Baron Thomson of Fleet. After the acquisition of Reuters in 2008, Thomson became the chairman of the merged entity, Thomson Reuters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bly</span>

John Bly, , is an antiques dealer, author, after-dinner speaker and broadcaster who is best known from the BBC's Antiques Roadshow TV program (UK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Candles</span> Comedy sketch

Four Candles is a sketch from the BBC comedy show The Two Ronnies, written by Ronnie Barker under the pseudonym of Gerald Wiley and first broadcast on 18 September 1976. Comic effect is largely generated through word play and homophones as an ironmonger or hardware shopkeeper, played by Ronnie Corbett, becomes increasingly frustrated by a customer, played by Barker, because he misunderstands what the customer is requesting.

"Ghost Machine" is the third episode of the first series of the British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast on the digital television channel BBC Three on 29 October 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfrid de Glehn</span> English painter

Wilfrid Gabriel de Glehn was an Impressionist British painter, elected to the Royal Academy in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Forger</span> Unidentified creator of fake medieval miniatures

The Spanish Forger is the name given to an unidentified individual who, in the late 19th to early 20th century, created a large number of forgeries of medieval miniatures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Sandon</span> British antiques expert (1928–2023)

Henry George Sandon was an English antiques expert, television personality, author and lecturer who specialised in ceramics and was a notable authority on Royal Worcester porcelain. He was the curator of the Dyson Perrins Museum for many years.

Lars Broholm Tharp is a Danish-born British historian, lecturer and broadcaster, and one of the longest running 'experts' on the BBC antiques programme, Antiques Roadshow, first appearing in 1986.

Jon Baddeley is a fine art auctioneer, an authority on scientific instruments and collectables, a broadcaster and an author.

The Magazine Antiques is a bimonthly arts publication that focuses on architecture, interior design, and fine and decorative arts. Regular monthly columns include news on current exhibitions and art-world events, notes on collecting, and book reviews.

<i>Antiques Roadshow</i> (American TV program) American television program

Antiques Roadshow is an American television program broadcast on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television stations. The program features local antiques owners who bring in items to be appraised by experts. Provenance, history, and value of the items are discussed. Based on the original British Antiques Roadshow, which premiered in 1979, the American version first aired in 1997. When taping locations are decided, they are announced on the program's website raising the profile of various small to mid-size cities, such as Billings, Montana; Biloxi, Mississippi; Bismarck, North Dakota; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Rapid City, South Dakota. Antiques Roadshow has been nominated 22 times for a Primetime Emmy.

<i>Magistrate of Brussels</i> Unfinished oil painting or sketch by Anthony van Dyck

Magistrate of Brussels is an unfinished oil painting or oil sketch by Anthony van Dyck, rediscovered in 2013 after being shown on episodes of the BBC television programme Antiques Roadshow.

Percy William Gibbs (1873–1955) was a British painter.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ronnie Archer Morgan". BBC. Archived from the original on 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Antiques Roadshow expert Ronnie Archer Morgan's incredible life story". Great British Life. 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wellbeing: Antiques Roadshow's Ronnie Archer-Morgan: Growing up in care saved my life". The Herald Scotland. 14 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  4. 1 2 Baldwin, Louise (2023-08-03). "Interiors blogger from Norfolk to host new Channel 4 series". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  5. 1 2 Richardson, Hollie; et al. (4 August 2023). "TV tonight: hunting for millions in Britain's attics and basements". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ronnie Archer-Morgan". Care Experience & Culture. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Woods, Judith (2022-12-24). "Ronnie Archer-Morgan: 'Being taken into care was the best thing that ever happened to me'". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  8. Lawson-Tancred, Jo (3 August 2023). "A British Couple Found a Lost John Constable Painting Worth as Much as $2.5 Million in a Guest Wing of Their Castle". Artnet News. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  9. Davic, Angela (7 August 2023). "Scottish Nobles Accidently Found a Lost John Constable Painting". TheCollector. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.