During a World War Two special of Antiques Roadshow, expert Bill Harriman became distinctly emotional and decided not to value an item he’d been asked to appraise.
The experts on the show have seen all sorts of items over the years but sometimes they come across a piece of history that deeply affects them. Take a look:
In the episode, filmed in 2019 to mark 80 years since the beginning of World War Two, the experts took a departure from the usual format of Antiques Roadshow by not appraising the things brought to them.
It’s rare for the experts not to give a value to an item, but there are times it has happened.
Many people brought in old keepsakes and objects from that time, including pictures of a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain in 1938, and Bill Harriman was clearly affected when a guest brought on a series of letters which told a sad story.
One of the letters was sent to the parents of a young child called Audrey, who in 1940 had been sent to Canada by ship in an attempt to keep her away from the Nazi bombings.
Sadly, the letter was to tell Audrey’s parents that the ship taking their daughter across the Atlantic had been hit by a torpedo and sunk.
The letter, dated 19 September, 1940, read: “Dear Mr Mansfield, I am very distressed to inform you that in spite of all of the precautions taken by the ship carrying your child to Canada was torpedoed on Tuesday night September 17th.
“I am afraid your child was not amongst those reported as rescued.”
The expert then became emotional as he read a letter from Audrey to her parents written while she had still been in England.
It read: “Dear mummy and daddy, I am somewhere in England and having a good time.
“We have lovely playing fields with all sorts of things. Give my love to Nanny and Panky, don’t worry. Love from Audrey.
“P.S. I have made some friends.”
The letter ended with a series of kisses from the child who would soon afterwards be killed during attempts to evacuate her to Canada.
That made the expert tear up as he dabbed his eyes and called the message ‘truly, truly heart-wrenching’ knowing the details of Audrey’s life and its end far too soon.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before, this little girl hasn’t got a grave but in you she has a very great advocate,” Harriman told the guest who’d brought the letters onto Antiques Roadshow.
