Antiques Roadshow

Bowood House 1 (38x17)

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The Antiques Roadshow visits Bowood House in Wiltshire, where treasures include a collection of glass car mascots, a portrait used for target practice by schoolchildren and a previously unseen account of the sinking of the Titanic written by an officer who survived. Andy McConnell applauds a man with a passion for glass mascots that would once have adorned the radiators of luxury cars, but were they designed by master craftsman René Lalique? An 18th-century portrait of a lady catches the eye of Dendy Easton, but he's alarmed to discover that the pupils of the local school where it hangs have been using it for target practice. Ronnie Archer Morgan admires an unusual 19th-century walking stick carved with the head of a goose, intertwined snakes and a pair of boxers, while Hilary Kay hears how an Australian woman got to meet the Beatles during their visit to Melbourne in 1964. The team are impressed by a lavishly illustrated book documenting the travels of 19th-century explorer John Whitehead and a collection of personal documents belonging to an officer who survived the sinking of the Titanic, including a moving account of the cries of the drowning passengers.