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Lister Park and Cartwright Hall 3

The roadshow visits Lister Park and Cartwright Hall in Bradford, where treasures include life-sized ventriloquist dummies, Mae West’s hair and rare Indian art bought for a fiver.

The roadshow is in Yorkshire at Lister Park and Cartwright Hall in Bradford, which is the UK’s City of Culture for 2025.

Runjeet Singh is amazed to see two early 19th-century albums filled with Indian paintings bought for £5 in a Dublin flea market, while Adam Schoon is puzzled by a framed advertisement for a beauty salon made using the hair of 1930s Hollywood screen legend Mae West.

James Broad is delighted to meet two life-sized ventriloquist dummies who once graced music hall stages across the country, and Mark Smith gets to hold a metal cinema ticket made from the remains of gliders that took part in the Battle of Arnhem during World War II.

The experts are intrigued by some early, innovative designs, too – Susan Rumfitt discovers a Victorian necklace that transforms into a tiara, while Ronnie Archer-Morgan puzzles over a snuff box with a tricky combination lock and a carved wooden ball made to conceal gold coins.

Fiona Bruce looks into the history of Cartwright Hall, tracing it back to Bradford’s Great Exhibition in 1904, which drew in nearly 2.5m visitors. The exhibition featured a huge water chute and mock sea battles staged on the lake.

Fiona also meets local families who have traced forgotten pictures of themselves and their relatives in a remarkable photographic archive held by Bradford District Museums and Galleries.

Release date:

59 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Fiona Bruce
Series Editor Robert Murphy
Production Manager Rebecca Candy
Series Producer Rae Gilder Cooke
Line Producer Karen Craig

Broadcast

Antiques Roadshow Specials

Episodes exploring anniversaries, world changing events and popular culture.