If someone had said to me 40 years ago I would still be looking at Beilby tumblers and doing valuations, I would have been shocked. And I'm dealing with my dog, Vlad, who has pancreatitis and thinks I'm starving him,' Judith Miller quipped. It was the final stages of lockdown. She was compiling the latest edition of her Miller's Antiques Handbook & Price Guide, working from home with her husband, John, using 'two enormous computers with an enormous database that we've been using for 20 odd years'. She was missing her Roadshow friends, or as she put it: 'reminiscing about a very average Pinot Grigio in the Premier Inn in Leith'.
I laughed and sympathised. Having worked alongside Judith as part of the Roadshow team for more than a decade, we had often shared gossip, jokes and warm wine in various unglamorous hotel bars, and I knew her sense of the ridiculous was inseparable from her formidable knowledge, her love of her family, and fondness for dogs. We first met in the early 90s, when I joined the editorial team publishing Miller's Guides. By then her star was firmly fixed in the antiques firmament, and I remember her as a glamorous, dynamic figure, who wore eye-catching jewellery and put everyone at ease, but not until later did I learn the unlikely trajectory that had brought her there.
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Denne historien er fra July 2023-utgaven av Homes & Antiques.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Collecting Dioramas MINIATURE WORLDS
From elaborate taxidermy museum displays to humble folk art creations, a diorama can transport us to another time and place
Pride of place LEEDS CREAMWARE
In its heyday the pre-eminent rival to Wedgwood's Queens ware, Leeds creamware is still much revered by collectors for its understated elegance
Bohemian Rhapsody
An exuberant approach to decor, with rooms enveloped in colour and pattern, has brought this historic home merrily into the 21st century...
THE ANTIQUES THAT SHAPED ME Rory Hutton
The accessories designer on his love of silver spoons and Sévres porcelain
European HERITAGE B&Bs
Is there anything more inspiring than staying somewhere that's both beautifully stylish and imbued with history? Rhiannon Batten explores five gems across Europe, from Sweden to Spain...
STAR SALES
A Hitchens painting, a museum-quality teapot and a Parisian chocolate box are all top of the lots
Textile designs by artists
Influential 20th-century fine artists and sculptors, from Picasso to Barbara Hepworth, gained additional status as textile designers until decline set in during the 1970s
Period DRAMA
A painstaking renovation has brought this 1725 former Huguenot silk weaver's house in London's Spitalfields back to life
An artist's RESIDENCE
Rustic details and a restrained palette lend a sense of simplicity to this lovingly restored Friesian bakery
Carefully Curated LIVING
This lovingly restored Gustavian manor has become both home and showroom for its owners, Maria & Jan Åke, who deal in European antiques