The “Antiques Roadshow” on BBC One welcomed Henry Sandon in 1979. He was a fixture on the show for forty years, giving viewers an idea of their antiques’ worth. Sadly, the antique expert has now passed away.
Henry Sandon’s son John broke the news to the BBC that his father had died on Christmas Day in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. When he passed away, he was 95 years old.
Sandon was born in London in 1928. Following his high school graduation, he pursued a singing career in London’s Guildhall School of Music. Afterwards, he took a position teaching music at Worcester’s Royal Grammar School. He took the oath of office as a lay clerk at Worcester Cathedral in 1953. At that time, he was living in an old house close to the cathedral when he developed an interest in pottery, which prompted him to change jobs and become an archaeologist.
Sandon discovered human bones and artifacts from the Middle Ages in his backyard when he was 29 years old. According to the Telegraph, he remembered the exact moment, describing it as “a blinding flash of light,” and the first pot that triggered his memory was a storage jar from Roman times that was approximately 1,900 years old.
Sandon took over as curator of what was then known as the Royal Worcester Porcelain and Dyson Perrins Museum—now known as the Museum of Royal Worcester—in 1966. “Antiques Roadshow,” “Arthur Negus Enjoys,” and “Going for a Song” were among his many 1970s television appearances.
He rose through the ranks to become Bronte Porcelain’s director later in life. Numerous works pertaining to ceramics and porcelain were written by him. John, one of Sandon’s three sons from his marriage to a woman he met in 1956, followed in his father’s footsteps and became an antiques expert; he is a frequent TV personality.
Catherine Catton, a BBC executive, said the network was “very saddened to learn of [Sandon’s] passing.” She went on to call him a “much loved member of the original Antiques Roadshow” and offered condolences to his family.
