Antiques Roadshow guest gasps at staggering price for 'iconic' Olympic torch tied to childhood dream
Antiques Roadshow guest gasps at staggering price for 'iconic' Olympic torch tied to childhood dream
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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. An Antiques Roadshow guest was clearly taken back when he discovered the real value of an Olympic torch which he ran with during the Olympic Games. The hit BBC series travelled to Pollok Park, Glasgow, to film another thrilling episode with experts, including Jamie Russell, on hand to value some extraordinary items.
Although, going by his reaction, Russell wasn’t exactly expecting veteran journalist Gavin Bell to bring out an Olympic torch. Russell began: "Before I came here today to the Roadshow, I had a long list of items in my head that I thought I might see that would appear out of boxes and bags in front of me.
“But one of them was definitely not an Olympic torch. I wonder if you can tell us how you came to own this.”. Bell stepped in to explain: “When I was a young lad, I was an 800 metres runner with a Glasgow club. So, of course, as a boy, I dreamed of running in the Olympics one day. And then eventually, the dream came true in a way I’d never have expected.
“I was posted to South Korea in advance of the 1988 Games for The Times. And so while I was there, I met a couple of young English lads who’d been appointed to do the public relations for the torch relay. And they found out about my athletic background and invited me to carry the torch on the first day it arrived in Korea.”.
