South-east England

The late Michael Armstrong was such a film fanatic that when the local cinema closed in his home town in 1993 he opened his own mini replica in his garage, complete with recycled fixtures and fittings.

Portraits boosted takings at Mallams’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest picture sale in Oxford.

Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, has been a favourite subject in art since ancient times.

First published in the UK as a ‘Collins Crime Club’ title in 1970, an Agatha Christie novel brought a bid of £850 at Claydon Auctioneers (19.5% buyer’s premium).

The name Abbey Road has gone far beyond its significance as a smart street in north London thanks to renowned music studios and a seminal album

A private collection of pictures helped Parker Fine Art Auctions to its highest total since opening in Farnham last year.

Will Thomas, managing director of IACF, surely speaks for the trade with his fervent hope that successive pandemic lockdowns have now come to an end.

Filigree or micro-carving was hugely popular among fashionable English society in the late 18th century.

This pair of 1970s-80s stoneware models of hoopoes carry the monogram 'AG' for Lady Anne Gordon (Dowager Marchioness of Aberdeen (1924-2007).

A car boot sale find 25 years ago has revealed how a luxury cruise liner was converted for transporting thousands of troops during the Second World War.

British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill memorabilia in the form of slippers, brandy balloon and cigar box.

Major Henry Milligan of the Royal Army Medical Corps not only won a Military Cross for bravery in the First World War in 1917, but gained another one.

Soldiers are often associated with hard drinking – but rarely temperance.

A Second World War beret sold at a Kent auction was not only one of the famous maroon British paratrooper examples but had star billing of its own.

Princess Margaret’s lover Flight Lieutenant Peter Townsend (1914-95) has been introduced to a new generation of TV viewers due to Netflix TV series The Crown – but militaria lots sold at auction also underline his renown as an RAF ace.

This late Victorian carved lime and soft wood panel is by James Peake (c.1839-1918), a carver and gilder.

The sale at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on March 8-11 included an example of Alexander Crichton’s famous walrus silver and glass claret jug.

The city of Liverpool holds a special place in the oeuvre of John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93).

A recent sale at Dawsons’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale in Maidenhead included two George IV tablewares by Edward Farrell chased and embossed with tavern scenes in the manner of Dutch genre painting.