Charlie Ross (born June 1945 in Buckinghamshire, England) is a British antiques expert, presenter and auctioneer, known for regular appearances on several BBC Antique programmes.
Professional career
editRoss started his career in 1963 after leaving school joining a local firm of estate agents and found himself auctioning chickens and turkeys.[citation needed] He progressed from these to antique furniture, and later established his own auction house in Woburn near Milton Keynes.[citation needed] He stood down in February 2008.[1]
Ross appears on television as an antiques expert on the BBC programmes Bargain Hunt, Flog It!,[1] Antiques Road Trip and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. He is now one of the five regular presenters on Bargain Hunt.[2]
For many years, Ross has conducted the Pebble Beach Vintage Car Auction in California, and the Scottsdale Auction in Arizona for Gooding and Company. He is often seen in this role in episodes of the TV show Chasing Classic Cars. He held the record for the highest price ever achieved for a car sold by auction in the US. The car, a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype, sold for over $16 million in 2011.[1] The price was exceeded in 2013,[3] and again in 2014 for a Ferrari 250 GTO sold at Carmel, California for over $38 million. In 2018 he sold a 1935 Duesenberg for $22 million – the most expensive car ever to sell at auction in the US.[4]
In recent years he has raised large sums of money at various charity auctions in Britain, including CLIC Sargent, The Elton John AIDS Foundation, The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Caldwell Children and The Lord's Taverners.[5]
Ross held the record for the largest profit on a single item on the Antiques Road Trip when in 2012 he bought a chipped Staffordshire elephant clock for £8 which was sold for £2,700 at auction. This was surpassed in 2016, when Anita Manning's Buddha statue that she had purchased for £50 sold for £3,800, a 7,500% profit, and again in 2017 when Paul Laidlaw bought a Chambre Automatique De Bertsch sub-miniature camera for £60 and sold it at auction for £20,000.[6][7]
Music career
editIn 2017 he with fellow BBC Antique Experts Charles Hanson, Philip Serrell and James Braxton recorded a rock version of "Sleigh Ride" in aid of BBC Children In Need. It was produced by father and son team Grahame and Jack Corbyn and released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment. The single peaked at number 1 on the Amazon Rock Charts.[8][9] [10]
In 2018 he re-joined Philip Serrell, James Braxton and a group of celebrities under the new name The Celebs to record a second Christmas single called Rock With Rudolph, to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. The song was released on 30 November 2018, on independent record label Saga Entertainment. It was written and produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn. The music video debuted exclusively with The Sun on 29 November 2018 and had its first TV showing on Good Morning Britain on 30 November 2018. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.[11][12]
In 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis, Ross reunited with his fellow BBC antique experts James Braxton, Philip Serrell and the rest of The Celebs which now included Frank Bruno and X Factor winner Sam Bailey to raise money for both Alzheimer's Society and Action for Children. They recorded a new rendition of Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens and it was released digitally on 11 December 2020, on independent record label Saga Entertainment. The music video debuted exclusively on Good Morning Britain the day before release. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart. [13][14]
Personal life
editRoss is married to Sally and they have two children (Charlotte Macdonald and Olly Ross) and four grandchildren (Finn and Max Macdonald and Ana and Zac Ross). He has lived near Bicester outside Oxford since 1981.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c "BBC Flog It - Charlie Ross". BBC One. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Bargain Hunt Presenters". BBC One. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Fangio's Mercedes". Bonhams. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
- ^ "Bonhams". Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ^ "Testimonials | Charlie Ross Auctioneer". www.charlieross-auctioneer.co.uk. 9 August 2022.
- ^ O'Connor, Rory (25 September 2017). "Antiques Road Trip star SHOCKED after making record-breaking 20K on THIS rare item". Express.co.uk.
- ^ "BBC Antiques Road Trip - Unforgettable Profits". BBC One. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- ^ "The BBC's antiques experts unite to release a Christmas single". Radio Times.
- ^ "BBC - BBC Children in Need - BBC antiques experts have swapped their auction house gavels for microphones to produce a Christmas single in aid of BBC Children in Need". BBC. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ^ "Bargain Hunt - Sleigh Ride". YouTube. Saga Entertainment. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
- ^ Barker, Faye (30 November 2018). "TV stars sing for Great Ormond Street Christmas charity single". ITV. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ "The Celebs - Rock With Rudolph". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
- ^ "Good Morning Britain stars show off their vocals in charity Christmas single". Daily Mirror. 10 November 2020.
- ^ "The Celebs - Merry Christmas Everyone". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "Charlie's dreams of cricket heaven". www.miltonkeynes.co.uk.