Suggested Speaking Topics below (or tailor your own)

 

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Confessions of a BBC TV Antiques Presenter! 

As a well known BBC TV antiques expert, David Harper delivers his one man stand up show using antiques, strange history tales and BBC TV stories as the topics! 

Packed with funny, surprising and inspiring stories from the incredible world of antiques and the filming of antiques TV shows for the BBC. The TV shows are watched in over 70 countries around the world and dubbed into dozens of different languages (he’s better in Malaysian!) 

Behind the scenes gossip from celebrities who’ve appeared with David on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip and Celebrity Bargain Hunt. Profits, losses, calamities, tips on how to get Into TV (if you really want too!) funny sayings we use every day and where they come from, world records results (by accident) and even tips on how to sell your spouse in auction! 

Audience participation and questions throughout 

Book sales, signings, meet and greet 

 

Antiques Valuation Event

Bring your antiques along for a TV style antiques valuation event and talk. Learn about your treasures, have them valued, discuss and your stories and even sell your pieces through David Harper’s Antiques Brokerage business!   

 

Mad, Brilliant and British! (Book event)

Stand Up History Show! Based on David Harper’s successful ‘funny history for adults’ books

A Romp With The Georgians & A Bash With The British Empire 

Stories from the British Georgian period 1714 - 1830…and tales from the British Empire - 18th century to present day…fabulous stories and funny facts our history teachers didn’t tell us! 

 

Tales include: Strange pets, binge drinking, cosmetic surgery, smugglers, money launderers, moving to Australia (forcefully!) dodgy politicians, dating tips, mad and great inventions, discoveries and tales from the ordinary people no one ever mentions! 

Plus the invention of democracy, The Suffragettes, Maharaja’s and their machine gun mounted Rolls Royce’s, the invention of snooker, the first female politician (and bomb maker) how the first toothbrush was designed and made by a prisoner, dangerous bicycles and the man who couldn’t  read or wrote, but who invented modern transportation that changed the world. Book sales and signings

 

Antiques & TV. An evening with David Harper 

A relaxed and intimate unscripted conversation with an audience. The conversation is led purely by the audience. Questions and answers throughout. Candid antiques trade & making of BBC TV antiques shows chat! 

 

Antiques Quiz 

A fun antique themed quiz with lots of surprises, prizes and great take home information…you can even bring your own antiques along to be included in the quiz 

 

How to present to camera and public speak! 

A fascinating insiders story on what makes a good public speaker, how to become a public speaker and crucially how to overcome the nerves, the anxiety induced fear and obstacles stopping 99% of the population from ever even considering giving a public speech! This could be at a wedding, a business seminar, a job interview, or being thrust into the limelight on a live TV broadcast

 

This unusual topic is applicable to everyone - public speaking is known as one of the greatest fears imaginable! The real life stories and examples are taken from David Harper’s own personal experience and journey becoming a TV presenter and public speaker, plus from the dozens of interviews he’s carried out over 20 years in British TV working with celebrities from the world of movie, TV, politics, comedy, music and exploration…all of whom have certain methods of dealing with the topic and all of whom struggle in one way or another to deal with the pressure of public speaking.

An easy to follow and inspiration talk which will build confidence and teach a new found amazing skill…as surprising as it sounds, with the right insider tips, anyone can do it! 

 

The history of time and the surprising value of vintage and antique time pieces! 

How did we tell the time before the invention of clocks? Who invented time as we know it and why? The fun and fascinating topic will cover the invention of the grandfather clock, why we wear wrist watches and not pocket watches, how the industrial revolution turned us into 24 hour time machines to match the factories output and why we used to sleep twice a day instead of just once?…it’s all tied into the modern invention of time and timing…you’ll never look at your watch in the same way again! 

 

The wonderful history of Art Deco

(and four incredible women who changed the world of design forever) 

Led by the most famous of all Clarice Cliff - Clarice is one of the 20th centuries most fascinating women, a ground breaker, innovator and true force of nature. Her incredible inventions in colour, pattern and design helped change the world from that of a dark and dismal place post the 1st World War to that of a vibrant, hopeful and colourful one of the the 1920’s…this is all the more amazing once you know Clarice Cliff’s background…she had no formal education to speak of and at the age of 13 was sent to work in a pottery factory - she began as a gilder, simply adding gold lines to cups…she ended up owning the factory and becoming a household name! 

 

Susie Cooper, Charlotte Read and Daisy Makeig-Jones are all equally as fascinating as Clarice and their stories from the Art Deco period are just as inspirational, funny and enchanting 

 

 

Antique furniture names…where do they come from? It’s incredible what stories they can tell! 

We take for granted the names of the antique items of furniture we live with, but do we ever wonder where their names come from and why the items were made in the first place? 

 

The talk is full of little known facts and eccentric stories! It will include: who invented the Sideboard and why…did the early version really include a built in toilet? When was the first Chest of Drawers designed and how? Where does the Grandfather Clock get its name? Was the Knoll Sofa, with its tall, droppable arms really designed specifically and secretly to entertain the lover of Lady Knoll? Where does the Coffer Chest get its name and would it be possible to find one today, buried in your back garden, stuffed full of treasure? And why did Captain Davenport order a tiny desk specifically for travelling around the world?