Antiques Roadshow guest open-mouthed as she learns very lucky truth behind her painting

AN ANTIQUES Roadshow guest was left open-mouthed after she learned the very lucky truth behind her painting.

An episode of the BBC show was filmed at Sefton Park Palm House in Liverpool.

It saw expert Dendy Easton meet a lady who had a painting by singer George Melly.

George had played a huge part in restoring the Grade II Victorian building after it was saved from demolition in the 1980s after years of deterioration and neglect.

The lady revealed: “He was totally involved with our campaign to restore this wonderful Palm House which was wreckage at the time.

“He took us to his heart really and became our patron and would do anything for us to help that he could.”

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Dendy then inspected the painting and commented: “We know him as an art lecturer, critic, great jazz singer, a polymath really and larger than life.

“When you look at this picture, all the different influences, you’ve got cubism, look down here you’ve got collage with the flowers so you’ve got a mixture of cubism and almost pop art like Peter Blake.

“All those influences have come into this picture, I think it’s a wonderful thing to have.”

He then moved on to the valuation, pointing out that very few pieces of George’s work had ever been sold.

He said: “I think if this came up for sale, Melly is well-known, I think it would make somewhere in the reign of £1,500 to £2,500.”

The guest was thrilled and said: “Well I think that’s lovely and very nice to know.

“And I hope his name will live on…there’ll never be another one!”

Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.