With 45 years on Antiques Roadshow, nine books and a growing travel bucket list, Eric Knowles is as passionate as ever - and he’s bringing that enthusiasm to the Group Leisure & Travel Show at Arena MK this October.
A self-confessed “nerd”, Eric Knowles has carved a career out of historic objects, and the stories behind them. 2026 marks his 45th year on Antiques Roadshow, an achievement that even he finds hard to believe, especially as he is “73, going on 43” as he puts it.
His enthusiasm is very apparent, even as we’re talking on the phone, I can hear the excitement in his voice as he tells me about a particularly unique vase by a glass maker in Austria that he saw recently and he still gets a “buzz from what he does”.
Sparking a lifelong interest in history
It was a combination of where he grew up (North East Lancashire), and childhood trips to museums and galleries that sparked Eric’s love of history from an early age. He said: “I grew up in the shadow of Pendle Hill and the views from the top are breathtaking. I’d go for walks with my parents in the countryside and look at all the dates over the doors of the old farms. There is so much history in the area.
“There’s so much more to do and not enough time to do it all – but I intend to.”
Eric Knowles
“My parents would take us to museums and to York. We went to Kirkgate in York and it was just magical. I learnt to read buildings at an early age, and when I did my art, O-Level, the most wondrous thing was part of that syllabus included architecture.”
As Eric said himself, he “didn’t shine academically” at school, with too many distractions, not least music (he was an amateur DJ) and after being made redundant as an engineer twice before the age of 22, he got a job at Bonhams in London. He said: “I started as a porter in the ceramics department on 4th February 1976 – it was hard work, but I knew it was where I needed to be. I thought to myself, if I can last three or four years, that would be good. I lasted 33 years, the last 25 as a senior director.”
TV career and a standout moment
Joining the Antiques Roadshow in 1981, Eric’s other TV credits include Bargain Hunt, Going for a Song, Going, Going, Gone, Noel’s House Party, Call My Bluff and Restoration Roadshow, which he presented for several weeks in 2020. He has also appeared on Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is as well as Clash of the Collectables.
He is an Ambassador for the Princes Trust and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has given many lectures in the UK over the years at the likes of the V&A and the British Museum. Oh, and he has written nine books, lectures on cruises among other things – as he told me, he’s a “multi-tasker”.
Eric said he had to wait 18 years for his standout moment on the Antiques Roadshow. They were filming at Dumfries House in Scotland when a woman came along with a glass vase, she’d found while clearing out her loft.
Eric recalled: “She said she had brought it at a car boot sale – she bought the plant in it for a £1 and they gave her the vase with it. It wasn’t a pretty thing, but it was very rare – it was a Lalique made using a ‘lost wax’ process. We recorded it and she ended up selling it for £28,000. Some years later, I went into the new Lalique museum in France and there it was in a cabinet in front of me, so it went full circle in a way.”
Travels for work and a growing bucket list
Travelling all over the UK, and overseas with his work, Eric said he particularly enjoys filming it Scotland where he has had “a lot of surprises”. He added: “I am also the honorary vice president for the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, so I lecture on Mackintosh. The first time I went to Scotland, I felt like I’d gone home, I don’t know why. I also love Yorkshire as a county, and of course Lancashire”.
But the list of places that he wants to still visit continues to grow. He said: “I recently went to Tyntesfield outside Bristol which was very interesting. There are places in America I want to go as well like Cincinnati where Rookwood Pottery was made.
“I’ve never been to Versailles so that’s on my list and I haven’t been to Berlin either. I’ve got to get to Glasgow again too. I feel at home there. For me, Glasgow is architecturally beautiful. We do try to go on holidays as much as we can now. There’s so much more to do and not enough time to do it all – but I intend to.”
Eric will speak at the GLT Show
Eric will join TV explorer Paul Rose and travel journalist Simon Calder, in the free-to-attend Seminar Theatre at the Group Leisure & Travel Show which takes place on Thursday 8th October at the Arena MK, Milton Keynes, next to Stadium MK.
Free visitor registration is open at grouptravelshow.com/register
