Private Passions

Ronnie Archer-Morgan, from The Antiques Roadshow, tells Michael Berkeley about his tumultuous life and the music that has accompanied it. Ronnie had a terrible start in life. His English father died in a car crash before he was born and his Sierra Leonean mother had severe mental health problems that made her violent and abusive. His childhood was spent in and out of the care system. He tells Michael Berkeley how a school trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London ignited his life-long fascination with antiques, and how he learned the tricks of the trade exploring junk shops and markets while doing a rich variety of other jobs – model-maker, DJ at Ronnie Scott’s, boutique manager and celebrity hairdresser. Eventually antiques took over from everything else: he became a consultant to Sotheby’s, opened a Knightsbridge gallery, and he delights in presiding over the ‘miscellaneous’ table on The Antiques Roadshow. For Ronnie, the importance of objects is in the stories they tell and their emotional sign