Antiques Roadshow expert ‘moved’ by tragic story of tapestry made by late paralysed son

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow expert choked up as he admired a “very courageous” woman who talked about her late son. Expert Marc Allum took part in the BBC filming at Tredegar House, Wales, where he met with a guest who brought in an impressive Status Quo themed tapestry.

She explained: “Well my son was Status Quo mad, absolutely Status Quo mad. In the old days it was records they brought out.”

“I remember those!” Allum joked as she continued: “CD’s came later. And as time went on, we had to go out and buy it for him because he was disabled, he was in a wheelchair. He had an accident at 18.”

Sensitively asking about the incident, the woman shared: “A motorbike accident, paralysed from the chest down. No feeling from here down.”

“So really he didn’t have use of his limbs," he remarked as she elaborated: “No, he could move his arms but he couldn’t move his fingers. No use of his fingers.”

“That’s a sad story," Allum commented, before questioning what the link with the tapestry was.

“He was told he wasn’t capable of doing anything and he didn’t for five years”, she candidly told the expert.

“After five years, he started doing a few things, tapestry was one thing.

“Every time we walked through my kitchen, the wheelchair was at my kitchen table, he would say ‘thread me a few needles’.

“And he used his teeth to push it through the tapestry and he would turn the whole frame over, it was on a swing, and pull it through with his teeth.”

Surprised by how the tapestry was made, the expert stated: “That is unbelievable. So your son executed this entire tapestry with his teeth.

“I mean, obviously I can see it lists all the albums, song titles and it’s quite clearly dated. I think what would be fantastic would be if Status Quo got to know about this as well.

“I think they would be absolutely massively impressed by the devotion of a fan who went to this kind of trouble.”

The woman went on to explain that her son had sadly died just over 20 years after his accident at the age of 39, before presenting a photograph of him.

“He looks to be a happy soul," Allum said as she replied: “Oh he was so happy, he was a happy boy.”

Allum commented: “He never finished it, did he? I can see that it’s not been finished.”

Someone behind the guest held her shoulders to comfort her as she emotionally confirmed: “No, it was never finished. Lots of people have asked if they could finish it for me and I’ve said no, it’s not finished because he died.

“And it was only after he died that I actually looked at the titles and he never repeated a title but he did towards the end and the title was So Ends Another Life.”

“And I can see that final line at the bottom," Allum said as she added: “Yes, so he knew.”

After confirming that her son’s name was Colin Thomas Booth, Allum was clearly emotional.

He said: “I have to say I’m so highly moved, it’s all I can do to carry on, to be honest with you.

“And the fact you’ve come here today to talk to me about this, I think is wonderful.

“It’s a testament to his achievement, producing something like this which I think is absolutely incredible.

“This thing is priceless. I think it is an amazing thing.

“Also, you’ve been very courageous to come and talk about it, so thank you very much.”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.