Experts - Lars Tharp

Lars Tharp is well- known to all viewers of the Antiques Roadshow and a familiar voice from BBC Radio Four. From Stone Age to Space Age, whether enthusing over a piece of blue and white porcelain or a Neolithic stone axe, Lars is an ambassador for artefacts, using them to transport us into other times and places. He particularly enjoys mixing the so-called Fine Arts with “objects”, giving vivid and unusual insights into past times and customs. In this vein he is known throughout Britain as a one-man promoter of William Hogarth.
Lars was born in Copenhagen and educated in England. After reading Archaeology at Cambridge University he joined Sotheby’s, becoming a director and auctioneer with the London firm. In 1993, Lars formed his own company

advising private and public bodies on the acquisition, care and sale of ceramics and other work of art. He joined the BBC Antiques Roadshow in 1985, and is today one of its most familiar faces. His wider broadcasting, both on television and radio, has taken him all over the world, from the Amazon to the Yangtze, lecturing globally to groups and societies -mainly on ceramic history, on the material world of England in the 17th and 18th centuries or on his travels in China.

Lars is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and -as a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Weavers, London’s oldest guild - a Freeman of the City of London. He is a trustee of the Museum of Worcester Porcelain and, being an amateur ‘cellist, Lars is also a director of the Leicester International Music Festival. When not abroad, he lives with his family in the heart of England.