News Archive

BBC Children In Need November 2003.

David will be appearing on Bargain Hunt prime time live in aid of Children In Need on November 19th. The auction will be at fellow Bargain Hunt and Flog It expert, James Braxton's sale room, Bracketts, in Tunbridge Wells. One of David's contestants, while not a well known face on television, is known by Bargain Hunt viewers. The other is a more familiar face. Or should I say faces!

To see some pictures from Tunbridge Wells, click here, then page down.

The long awaited episode of Bargain Hunt from New York featuring David was finally aired on Thursday 13th November. The antiques fair in Brimfield Massachusetts was the venue, while the auction took place in New York. David and his team bought a pair of fire irons, a butter mould and three American folk art quilts. Unfortunately David's team lost on the day, but did have the item with the highest profit. David found the American quilts, which his team of New York cabbies weren't keen on. But they sold for $300. A profit of $190. David said making the New York show was fun and I think the t-shirt proves that!

The American quilts that David knew would make a profit. Cabbies concede that David was right.

Barbs and Hoggie hit New York. David has fun in New York.

More filming dates for Flog It and Bargain Hunt.

David will be at the Flog It valuation days at St. Mary's Hall Coventry, on 2nd November, & The Potteries Shopping Centre, Stoke on Trent on 23rd November.For pictures from Stoke, click here.

The antiques fair at Swinderby, Lincolnshire on 29th and 30th November is where David will be filming his next Bargain Hunt.

A busy November for David with the following appearances.

4th, Lecture at the National Farmers Union (Ladies Section) at Nuneaton.

8th, Speech to Diabetics UK at Southam.

15th, Talk for the Barford Conservative Association.

17th, Lecture to South Birmingham Antique Collectors Group.

22nd, Auction of Promises at Bourton, nr Rugby to help raise money for a new village hall. This auction includes Italian lessons, a bicycle worth £300, a flight in a vintage aircraft and a barn dance with meal included. Should be a fun evening, so if you live near by or are in the area, why not go along.

See also Fan Page

3rd November.

Hitler makes a rare appearance at show; HUNDREDS QUEUED UP IN THE RAIN TO WATCH ANTIQUES PROGRAMME BEING FILMED.

HUNDREDS of TV and antique fans queued in the rain to get a close glimpse of filming for the popular television series Flog It.

The programme was being filmed at St Mary's Hall in Coventry city centre, where presenter Kate Alcock and the valuation team were on hand to offer expert advice on heirlooms and antiques.

A rare picture of Adolf Hitler, an 80-year-old doll and a giant football mascot were among the items brought along yesterday.

Visitors could show three items and the most valuable finds were taken away to be auctioned off in November.

Pauline Leary, of London Road, Whitley, brought photographs which were found in her aircraft enthusiast father's garage after he died five years ago.

Among the pictures were portraits of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as well as a 1913 photograph of the first aircraft invented by the Wright Brothers and test pilot Reginald Kenworthy.

She said: "We only have it because it was saved by my daughter's husband when my father died. I've no idea how much it's worth."

She was advised to take the prints to a specialist auction.

Jean Berry and her son Steve, 24, of Allesley Old Road, Chapelfields, took along a German-made porcelain doll and an album of First World War postcards, given to the family by a cousin who worked as a Coventry printmaker.

The doll was chosen to be auctioned immediately.

Valuer David Barby said he expected the album, which featured censored postcards sent home to Britain from soldiers, to make up to pounds 300.

Douglas Tweedie, of Keresley Close, Keresley, brought along a much more modern artefact - a five foot Euro '96 football mascot.

Mr Tweedie said he had bought the bear for pounds 25 from a neighbour, who told him it was only one of three made.

Valuer John Kelly admitted he had "no idea" how much the bear was worth but praised Mr Tweedie's bravery in walking through the streets with it.

Presenter Kate Alcock said she was very impressed with the finds from Coventry.

She said: "I have been overwhelmed by the people here - they were queuing in the rain when I arrived. Judging by what we have seen here we should have a great auction."

The programme will be screened in six months' time.

Oh dear. Did I really say that??? Following is an article in the Rugby Observer. What a laugh that was!

David gives up some of his time to carry out after dinner speeches and auctions for charity. The next dates in his diary are;

25th September, after luncheon speech for the Leamington Spa branch of the NSPCC, followed by an auction in aid of the Childrens Wish Foundation.

3rd October, an auction in aid of Pink Ribbon at Stratford Manor.

David's next filming dates for Bargain Hunt daytime are;

20th and 21st October at Newark.

25th and 26th October at Derby. For pictures from Derby click here

26th September.

World of fun raises £30,000 for charity

A CHARITY team event raised more than £30,000 in just one day to help the fight against cancer.

About 100 people made up 24 teams in the 'round the world' event which started in Leamington's Parade.

The fun challenges, on the theme of It's a Small World, were the brainchild of Leamington pharmacist Simon Enoch who lost his 61-year-old mother Anne to cancer 12 months ago.

The events he dreamed up included an interactive round-the-world-style treasure hunt where competitors braved a snake tank to hunt for clues.

They also took part in a karting race before a trip to Warwick Races for a betting competition, as well as a trip to Warwick Cricket Club to sample food and wine from around the world including crocodile, kangaroo, buffalo, wild boar and ostrich.

BBC Bargain Hunt's David Barby hosted a charity auction and ended up selling his own wing tip shoes for £180.

Mr Enoch said the idea for Saturday's event was dreamed up last October and the planning started in March for the day of events.

He said: "The object of the day was to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research and for people to have a wonderful day while raising the awareness off Cancer Research UK.

"It looks as if more than £30,000 will have been raised. I would like to thank all the teams for taking part."

The winning team, Global Superheroes, donated the £2,000 worth of prizes they collected for coming first to the charity.

Jan West, community fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, said: "I'd like to say a big thank you to Simon for organising this innovative, fun event and thinking of others at such a difficult time in his life."

©2003 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited.

Car boot for Charlecote.

ANTIQUES expert David Barby is promoting the first Country House Car Boot Sale, at Charlecote Park on August 25.

It will raise money for a trailer with disabled access.

In Coventry on 26/7/2003 an auction of paintings by local artist Alan Parkinson took place. Mr Parkinson died a few months ago from cancer aged 67 and his final wish was for his paintings to be sold. David was there to help fulfil Mr Parkinson's wishes.

Although Mr Parkinson only started painting late in life there were over 100 pictures to be sold. This is what David had to say;

'I couldn't believe how prolific he had been. The light, movement and vibrancy of the colours is breathtaking. The collection shows a first flowering of wonderful work. It's rather sad we will never see that develop.'

David then added, 'Why buy an expensive mass-produced print from a department store when you can have a truly unique piece of original art'

On July 5th 2003 David Dickinson and four experts flew out to New York to film Bargain Hunt. David was one of the experts along with Michael Hogben, James Braxton and Kate Alcock. The teams comprised of New York cabbies and New York police officers.

While they were out there Michael and James found their way to an Apple Mac store for a bit of surfing. Well Michael discovered David's web site and on July 11th I received the following e-mail:

'Hi from the USA it's James and Michael here. Just to let you know David is well and fit. But seems to get very drunk every nite. We have had to carry him out of a few bars, and boy does he weigh a lot! ! ! ! ! . We are both fine and staying very focused. Have fun stay young and keep rockin man.'

To say I was speechless was an understatement. But I've told Michael I can't believe David got drunk every night!! Michael has since confessed to winding me up about David being drunk!!

3rd May 2003

Charity bid by TV auctioneer.

AN AUCTION hosted by Rugby's very own Bargain Hunt star, David Barby will feature in a charity cabaret night next weekend.

A top-class line-up of talent is being showcased at Rugby Theatre in aid of two Midlands hospices.

International singer Sally Jones and West End musical star John Conroy will be among those on stage at the Henry Street venue on Saturday, May 3.

Proceeds from the charity cabaret will be donated to the Rugby Myton Hospice and the Acorn Children's Hospice in Birmingham.

The Barby Players are an amateur theatre group in Barby, Northamptonshire. The editor of their newsletter, Barbara Finch was a contestant on Bargain Hunt Prime Time last year. David was one of the experts, although not for Barbara's team. However, while talking to David in between filming, Barbara asked David if he would like to be their Patron. David was only too happy to accept.

Barbara (Second left) and her friend Janet. I think you might recognise the other two!

The theatre group have two productions a year and David and Janet attended their first show in November 2002. The tickets were of course complimentary, but David being the gentleman he his, wanted to pay for his.

Barbara says that David is a charming man, very much what you see is what you get and Barbara has christened him 'Smiler'. Always smiling!!

If you would like to know more about the Barby Players:

click here

11th November 2002

Celebrity Bargain Hunt Live (BBC2, 8.30pm)

Children In Need.

Tonight, in the first of four live Celebrity Bargain Hunts, David Dickinson invites telly chefs Ainsley Harriott and Antony Worrall Thompson to go wild with £500 at an antiques fair in Newark.

Keen collector Antony has antiques expert Pippa Deeley to help him sniff out a good buy, while Ainsley is joined by David Barby.

After they have haggled for their bargains, Antony and Ainsley join David at an auction in Tunbridge Wells, which is screened live this evening.

This show was shown before this site was running. Before I thought about doing it actually! But for pictures from Children In Need Bargain Hunt 2003, click here.

31st January 2002

Antiques set to help the cathedral appeal.

PAINTINGS, silver, china, vases and a gentleman's commode are among the items on display at an Antiques Roadshow in St Mary's Guildhall, Coventry, on Saturday.

David Barby, a partner in auctioneers Locke and England, will be offering his valuation services during the event organised in aid of the Coventry Cathedral auction appeal.

Mr Barby, as was revealed in the Evening Telegraph yesterday, is to appear as an expert on the forthcoming BBC daytime TV show Flog It

He hopes some visitors to the free event will choose to donate items for sale at an auction on April 22.

This will automatically entitle them to a free professional valuation of other goods.

There will also be a chance to make a first inspection of many items already donated.

Others who want to hang on to their antiques can still have them valued between 10am and 3.30pm in exchange for a £5 donation.

30th January 2002.

David's hunt for hidden treasure; TIME TO SEARCH FOR ATTIC RELICS AS NEW TV ANTIQUES SHOW COMES TO AREA.

WARWICKSHIRE auctioneer David Barby is hoping to uncover hidden treasures for a major new TV series.

He is being brought in by the BBC to cast an expert eye over antiques and family heirlooms in Coventry for new daytime show Flog It!

David, the Rugby-born antiques lover caught the collecting bug when he was only 12. The auctioneer and manager at Locke & England, in Leamington, said:' It is where Bargain Hunt and Antiques Roadshow merge'.

"We inspect goods that people bring along and then we see what they fetch at auction. It was my idea to come to Coventry. Coventry has always been an affluent city because its money has always come from industry. The monks in the monasteries even used to make and sell pilgrim badges - buttons that people bought when they made a pilgrimage to a shrine. I'm hoping we will come across some great finds in the city.

"I think what makes it exciting is that people can see their items being sold at auction a few weeks later."

The TV team will be holding a valuation day at the Leofric Hotel, in Coventry city centre, on February 10 and are inviting people to bring along their family treasures.

David, who has also appeared on TV programmes like Bargain Hunt and House Call, said: "It is very exciting. We don't know what people are going to bring along in carrier bags or a suitcase. My great-great-grandfather was a clockmaker in Coventry and I would love to see a Coventry clock or something from the silk industry - or even an antique bicycle. Anything reflecting the history of the city."

The Coventry valuation day starts at 9.30am and runs until 4pm.

People should take along a maximum of three items to be valued.

8th January 2002.

Going, going.

TOP auctioneer David Barby will be taking listeners behind the scenes of his work in a talk entitled What Am I Bid? this week.

The event on Thursday has been organised by the Literary Section of the Solihull Society of Arts.

30th October 2001.

GOODIES UP FOR GRABS

FLYING lessons, massages, designer clothes and go-karting sessions are some of the goodies up for grabs at a charity auction in Rugby this week.

All proceeds will go to Raleigh International - which organises voluntary work around the globe.

The bidding starts at 7pm on Thursday at Bilton Social Club, in The Green, Bilton.

Auctioneer David Barby is hosting the proceedings.

©2001 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited.

20th June 2001.

Hospice is double winner from bet; LOSER JOHN PAYS OUT ON SKY BLUES' DOWNFALL - AND SOCCER PUNDIT ADDS £1,000.

AN AVID Sky Blues supporter honoured a pounds 1,000 bet he made with soccer pundit Richard Littlejohn by handing the cash to charity last night.

John O'Neill, owner of the Old Smithy pub, in Church Lawford, near Rugby, gave the money to Rugby Myton Hospice after betting his team would not be relegated.

And the £1,000 was doubled by the soccer pundit who praised his challenger for being "a good sport."

Appeal co-ordinator for Rugby Myton Hospice Pauline Rainbow said: "I was astounded when I heard about the bet.

Last night a charity auction was also held at the Old Smithy pub to raise extra funds for the Rugby Myton Hospice, run by Leamington auctioneer David Barby.

7th October 2000

Antiques treasure trove at hermit widow's home

The unsuspecting clearers believed it was the run-down home, with little of value, of an elderly widow who had died six weeks earlier.

But as they began their removal work at the Warwickshire property, they discovered a 'palace of glorious antiquity', with fine art worth more than 1 million pounds.

The collection had been amassed by Mrs Ilene Kneller, a reclusive former darling of Midlands high society, at her home, Shepherd's Hey, in Dunchurch Road, Rugby, over half a century. Mrs Kneller, who wanted to be known as Mrs Charles Kneller after her husband died in 1985, had transformed the property into a remarkable gallery of antique ceramics, paintings and furniture.

As part of Rugby's high society during the 1950s and 60s, the Knellers amassed a huge collection of art spanning more than 400 years that reflected their exquisite taste and lavish lifestyle. But after her husband's death and a traumatic burglary which threatened her collection ten years ago, Mrs Kneller became a hermit, leaving inches of dust to settle on thousands of objets d'art until she died in August at 90.

Now the collection is expected to fetch more than pounds 1 million when it goes under the hammer at the Locke and England auction house later this month.

Staff at the Leamington Spa-based auctioneers spent nearly two weeks cataloguing each individual piece after Mrs Kneller's family approached manager of fine art, David Barby, for advice.

Mr Barby yesterday said it was a 'voyage of discovery' to work his way through antique after antique on every shelf and in every cupboard.

"One often finds stunning works of art when one enters these sorts of houses but to find so many is truly, truly remarkable," he said.

"The house was jammed from floor to ceiling with exquisite paintings and small works in porcelain. Mrs Kneller had a wonderful eye for antiques and twinned with classic taste she created one of the best private collections to come on the markets for decades.

"We have had calls from America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa after we put the pieces on the Internet. With have more than 2,000 items in four sales, with pieces that will sell for £5 right up to painting with a reserved price of £20,000. One collector is flying from California for the sale and others have requested credit lines of up to £60,000. We've had sales of half or three quarters of a million in the past, but to have a sale that generates this sort of value was fantastic." Mr Barby described the collection as quite breathtaking and said security guards had to be employed.

The home is an early 20th century French-inspired thatched farmhouse which Mr Kneller, a mechanical engineer, bought with money from his own Rugby-based company after the Second World War.

With the boom in car sales in the early 1950s, Mr and Mrs Kneller made their fortune in supplying parts to Midland car companies and, with no children to support, used their profits to build their collection of fine art.

Mrs Kneller continued to build the collection - which includes paintings by Edgar Hunt, Chippendale furniture and massive numbers of Staffordshire and Worcestershire ceramics - until she lost her passion for art when her husband died. After his death, the antiques were left in boxes and cupboards.

Sales of the Kneller collection will be held at Locke and England's Leamington Spa auction house on 12th October (pictures), 19th October (ceramics) and 26th October (furniture).

©2000 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited.

30th September 2000.

Dinner party delights up for sale at auction

AN AUCTION of promises by the Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs will enable disabled and disadvantaged young people to enjoy trips on the water.

The auction on November 11 will raise money for the association's new narrowboat, Dream Catcher.

Association chairman Mervyn Kimberley said: "We have received some fantastic donations, from two tickets for a balloon ride, to the use of a butler and chef for a private dinner party."

Auctioneer David Barby will lend his expertise at the county police headquarters in Leek Wootton from 8pm. Tickets cost £5.

©2000 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited.

29th June 2000.

Friends busy for disabled charity.

COVENTRY friends of the Home Farm Trust, a charity which helps the disabled, have organised a series of fund-raising events.

A street collection is being made near Canley level crossing on Saturday, August 26.

On September 15, an antiques evening will be held at Long Meadow Farm, Burton Green, Kenilworth, with David Barby, from Leamington auctioneers Locke and England. Tickets must be reserved in advance.