The BBC‘s long-running teatime favourite Antiques Roadshow is not known for being a particularly controversial show.
But Robert Needs brought quite a different tone to proceedings with his collection of vintage punk fashion on an episode filmed in Cardiff last year.
The 68-year-old grandad, who partied with the Sex Pistols in the seventies, reflected on his younger years as he spoke to expert appraiser Lisa Lloyd.
He said he bought the clothes from Sex, the punk boutique run by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.
The shop – now renamed World’s End but still on the King’s Road in London‘s Chelsea area – was also where the band met and how they got their name.
But some of Robert’s purchases from the shop, known for its outrageous designs, were deemed unsuitable for showing on the BBC programme.
Robert Needs (left, with expert Lisa Lloyd, right) brought in his collection of vintage punk fashion for appraisal on an episode of the TV show in Cardiff last year
Some of Robert’s purchases (pictured) from the shop, known for its outrageous designs, were deemed unsuitable for showing on the BBC programme
The 68-year-old grandad (second left, as a younger man), who partied with the Sex Pistols (pictured) in the seventies, reflected on his punk rock youth
Expert Lisa was first to point this out on the show, ‘Incredibly un-PC’ – but still later valuing his collection of around 20 T-shirts at around £1,000 each.
Robert chuckled: ‘They told me they couldn’t show most of them on camera. Way too naughty for Roadshow viewers I suppose.’
He continued: ‘I shouldn’t really be shocked though because a lot of Westwood’s designs were deliberately very provocative, with plenty of nudity or imagery which could be considered offensive – like Nazi swastikas, for example.
‘But that was the whole point of it back then, they were intended to be controversial.’
The guest said he often used to travel from Wales to London to go to the boutique.
‘There was already a ready-made punk scene going on in south Wales at the time, except we called ourselves “Soul Boys” – the term “punk” was more something the media came up with later on’, he explained.
‘And it was during a visit to Sex that we met the lads from the Pistols.
‘They were amazed to hear they had a lot of Welsh fans back home because they’d drawn mostly hostile reactions whilst playing in other parts of the UK.’
He said he bought the clothes from Sex, the punk boutique run by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner and Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren (pictured together at her fashion show at Olympia, London, in 1981)
The conversation led to one of the band’s very few performances in Wales, at punk venue The Stowaway Club in Newport in 1976.
It was there they invited Robert to hang out backstage with them – and his excitement was clear as he recalled the memory on Antiques Roadshow.
‘They were unlike anything I’d seen or heard before and the rubber-style pink T-shirt I wore to that Pistols concert was among the ones I took along to the Roadshow’, he said.
‘It’s still in good nick too, although it would never fit me now. Actually, looking at how small all the shirts are, it’s a wonder I was ever able to squeeze into any of them.’
The guest explained many of these rare, original Westwood clothes have become highly sought after by music and fashion lovers alike in recent years.
He was delighted his T-shirt collection would go under the hammer for a total of around £20,000: ‘That’s mad, isn’t it?’
But that was not what mattered to him most: ‘That said, I don’t really want to sell them – I’d much rather they went on display in a gallery somewhere, as long as they were all safe and properly insured.
‘It’d be lovely to think of them getting a second lease of life and others getting the same enjoyment out of looking at them as I had wearing them.’
Robert once hung out backstage with the Pistols (pictured performing at Download Festival last week) – and his excitement was clear as he recalled the memory on Antiques Roadshow
It comes after another guest was just as pleased by the price their precious item was valued at.
A repeat episode of the BBC show, which sees specialist appraisers value heirlooms and heritage items, went to Belton House near the town of Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Expert Hilary Kay met with a woman who had brought in a unique item – the funeral standard of 17th-century English statesman Oliver Cromwell.
He led parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars in the mid-1600s against King Charles I, helping to overthrow him before his execution in 1649.
The soldier and politician then led the Commonwealth of England that was quickly established, serving as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.
The woman explained how such an incredible object came into her possession: ‘It was in a collection about seven years ago. My father actually bought the collection of militaria.’
After some more conversation about how precious the item is, anticipation was well and truly built up and the valuation could not come sooner.
It did not disappoint, as Hilary said: ‘This is about the trickiest thing I’ve ever had to value.
It comes after another guest (pictured) was just as pleased by the price their precious item was valued at
Expert Hilary Kay (pictured) met with a woman who possessed a unique item – the funeral standard of 17th-century English statesman Oliver Cromwell
‘It is certain to fetch £25,000 but how much more would it go for?’
The wide-eyed guest was rendered absolutely speechless, with Hilary saying: ‘It’s going to take me a little while to come down from this.
‘It’ll take a couple of bars of chocolate and a cup of tea but this has been a really special moment with a really extraordinary object, don’t you agree?’
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and to stream on BBC iPlayer.
