Eric Knowles FRSA (born 19 February 1953 in Nelson, Lancashire, England) is a British antiquarian and

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

, whose main interests are in

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

and

glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

Early life

Knowles joined the London

auction house An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought tog ...

as a porter in the ceramics department in 1976 and became head of the department in 1981. By 1992 he had set up Bonham's offices in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

. He returned to London to continue with directing the

Decorative Arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usua ...

Department, leaving in 2013 to join Dreweatts and Bloomsbury. In 2019 he joined The Hoard as executive chairman and has now opened a gallery, The Pantiles Arcade, in Corn Exchange on The Pantiles in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

, although this was postponed until Spring 2021.

Television career

He first earned fame as a

expert on the BBC's ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local peopl ...

''. He has also appeared in such programmes as, '' Going for a Song'', '' Going, Going, Gone'', ''

Noel's House Party ''Noel's House Party'' is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 26 March 2000 on BBC One, ...

'', '' Call My Bluff'' and '' 20th Century Roadshow''. He has presented the 20 episodes of ''Restoration Roadshow'' on BBC for several weeks in the summer of 2010 (ending 3 September). He is the challenger setter and adjudicator on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

's ''Antiques Master'' assisting host

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...

. As of 2012, he is on the UK TV show '' Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is''. After Tim Wonnacott left Bargain Hunt, Knowles became one of a number of 'guest presenters' hosting the show.

Personal life

Knowles is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

and an Ambassador for the Prince's Trust. Knowles is associated with several other charities including Headway, FABLE (For a better life with

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

), the New Mozart Orchestra and Wycombe Scanappeal. He has lectured at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum, and important national museums in Australia, Canada, the US, South Africa, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and had the Freedom of the City of London bestowed in 2000. He is a published author on subjects such as Victoriana, Royal memorabilia, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and René Lalique. His son Seb was killed in a road accident in May 2015.

References

External links

Scottishantiques.com
1953 births Living people Antiques experts People from Nelson, Lancashire {{UK-tv-bio-stub