Goodies Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor auctioneer Philip Allwood, for the filming of the Antiques Road Trip in Cirencester on Friday
Two thirds of veteran comedy troupe The Goodies swapped their famous three-seat ‘trandem’ for an Austin Healey and drove into Cirencester during a Antiques Road Trip on Friday.
Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor who, along with Bill Oddie, ruled the airwaves during the 1970s with their surreal sketch show were filming for the popular BBC antiques show, which sees rival celebrities paired up with industry experts to buy antiques and turn the greatest profit at auction.
These days, the pair are better known for their parts in the Radio 4 comedy show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, and in 2011 they both were awarded the OBE for their service to light entertainment – a far more significant contribution than the one they made to the £70,000 sale total at the Cirencester saleroom of auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent.
Among the typically quirky pieces brought to auction by the duo was a conical fire extinguisher which, with the addition of stand and shade, had been converted into a standard lamp.
They’d also found a 20th century burr ash club in the form of the Club of Hercules, similar to that used in The Goodies’ Boadicea skit, Rome Antics, in which Ancient Briton Graeme – complete with spectacles made from wooden twigs – bashes a hole in the wall of his stone roundhouse to make a window.
The auctioneers are sworn to secrecy over the hammer prices achieved by the lots, but needless to say they were a couple of zeros from the set of twelve 20th Century French porcelain fruit printed cabinet plates, which made the top price of the day at £4,000.
In the furniture section an Oka oak dining table with nine matching chairs achieved £1,150 while an Edwardian mahogany display cabinet was sold for £950.
In the picture section, a set of sketches in a portfolio, by Thomas Richardson Snr and Jnr and inscribed to Lady Ravensworth, made £650 while a box of assorted unframed oils on boards achieved £650.
Auctioneer Philip Allwood, who spent much of the day in front of the camera, either selling from the rostrum or explaining to the television audience just what the two Goodies had bought, and how much he thought they would make, said: “It was a great day. There were lots of people in, and not just because the TV cameras were here, as we don’t publicise these things in advance.
“Graeme and Tim were great sports – it was a pleasure to have them and the Antiques Road Trip crew with us for the day.”