Flog It: Paul Martin visits an auction at Rochester Cathedral
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Paul Martin hosted the hit antique series Flog It! for 18 years. He has starred in several other antique shows, including the recent Channel 5 series Big Antique Adventure with Susan Calman. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the 63-year-old talked about the passion he has for his job and confessed his life could have taken a different path.
When asked if he had always wanted to enter the world of Antiques, Paul replied: “Yeah, it kind of was in a way.”
He also explained he had another passionate interest.
“I really wanted to be a musician like most kids, be a famous pop star but it didn’t really work out.”
However, Paul did go on to become a backing musician as a drummer, which he continued for a while alongside his antiques work.
Martin worked with bands such as The Quireboys and The Dogs D’Amour during the 1990s.
He later started to teach drums, while he continues to play with local jazz and blues bands.
Explaining how he got into antiques, Paul continued: “I was really good art and woodwork.
“My parents were graphic illustrators and my uncle was an antique dealer.
“So I always knew I would go into the arts somewhere.
“And for me, antiques is like art and theatre combined.
“Beautiful arty objects are one-off, finite. Displayed well, they become theatrical and dramatic and beautiful.
“So that was kind of like where I started off, doing more decorative stuff in the Portobello Road, doing all the theme pubs and woodblock printing and stuff like that.”
He added: “I kind of got into it that way and learned the hard way learning by dealing with real money and putting that kind of money where my mouth is really and making mistakes.”
Paul presented Flog It from 2002 to 2020 and went on to talk about how much he misses the programme.
“I miss it,” he remarked. “I get to see the experts and the auctioneers because we work together on the Antiques Road Trip.”
He continued: “It’s a small industry, there’s not that many people coming into the industry.
“It’s a hard game to get into,” the BBC presenter added.
Reflecting on the series and why it was so popular, he continued: “We did 1,500 shows.
“Everybody in the audience at home liked to get the value and they like to see the surprises in the auction.
“I think it resolved itself as a show really, really well.”
Flog It is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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