In Memoriam: British antiques expert and author Judith Miller
Antiques expert, author, and BBC-TV Antiques Roadshow appraiser Judith Miller
LONDON – Britain’s Antiques Trade Gazette reports that antiques expert, author and BBC Antiques Roadshow stalwart Judith Miller has died following a short illness.
Born in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders in 1951, she wrote more than 100 books on the subject of antiques and co-founded the Miller’s Antiques Price Guide, with her first husband Martin Miller, in 1979.
She had recently been working on the forthcoming edition of the Price Guide.
Miller began collecting in the late 1960s, starting with inexpensive antique plates (while a student at Edinburgh University), and became one of the best-known antiques and collectibles specialists in the United Kingdom.
A well-known face on TV, she joined the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow in 2007 and contributed to numerous newspapers, magazines and radio programs.
In 2019 she celebrated 40 years of her guides at the Art & Antiques for Everyone fair at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
Her death, over the Easter weekend, was announced by publisher Mitchell Beazley (part of Octopus Publishing Group). She leaves behind her second husband and work colleague of more than 30 years, the writer John Wainwright; her children Cara, Kirsty and Tom; and her four grandchildren, Aria, Leo, Lila and Clea.
Tributes
Publisher Alison Starling, at Octopus, said the firm had been associated with Miller since “the 1980s when the Miller’s Antiques Price Guide was created from a bustling office in the picturesque Kentish village of Tenterden.”
She added: “I’ve been lucky enough to work with Judith on and off for the last 30 years and the news of her death is a huge shock. She had such energy and spirit – and always combined her impressively broad-ranging, in-depth knowledge of antiques with a life-long passion to make the world of collecting accessible and unintimidating to all.
“Judith will be much missed by all those readers and viewers who looked to her for expert and reassuringly friendly advice… and of course here at Octopus, where she established long-standing friendships with numerous members of staff over the years – forged through topics of conversation as diverse as work, family, dogs, Scottish rugby and her other passion, Bruce Springsteen.”
Many tributes were paid to Miller online following the announcement this week.
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Written by Laura Chesters
Our thanks to Antiques Trade Gazette for sharing this tribute to Judith Miller.
