HENRY Sandon, who has died at the age of 95, went from a child star of the silent movies to one of the most popular experts on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

He had been an ever present figure in Worcester since arriving in the city in 1953, fresh from training at the Guildhall School of Music to take up a position at the Royal Grammar School as a young and enthusiastic music teacher.

Our paths soon crossed, for when I joined the establishment in The Tything three years later Henry became my first form master, as well as being tasked with trying to instil an appreciation of good music into not always attentive scholars.

Something he achieved with the unwary by silently approaching from behind and delivering a swift whack around the ear with the class attendance register, a fairly weighty object. This summary justice he jocularly referred to as The Bop. Other versions he named The Clip and the Clop.

Mr Sandon’s lessons were rarely boring. A fellow classmate Techer Jones, who went on to become a rock ’n’ roll guitarist and later a Lloyds banker, recalled: “Henry had us all bring records from home and he would explain and interpret them. The expectation was 78s of Chopin, Beethovan, Mozart et al.

“One day one of us, Jack Randall by name, brought in Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard. Dear Henry, totally unfazed, explained the structure of a twelve bar blues with the dominant chord, then the sub dominant and so on. Wonderful man.”

But long before that the young Henry Sandon had been a star in a far different medium. From the age of eight months until the age of 11, he appeared in a string of British silent movies and early talkies, mostly in league with a loveable forerunner of Hollywood canine star Lassie, a mongrel called Bob.

Henry’s boyhood film career developed mainly thanks to his father Augustus Sandon, who trained dogs and other animals for the stage and screen.

It all began with an MGM silent film “Scrags” released in 1930. This brought Henry’s screen debut at just eight months old, playing a baby who was kidnapped but eventually rescued by Bob in the title role.

Many such films followed and there was even a Bob Two, but Henry’s screen career ended when the family, who lived in London, sent him away to Buckingham for some serious schooling.

He later turned to music, training at the Guildhall School of Music and came to Worcester as music master at the Royal Grammar School in 1953. Then began a long association with Worcester Cathedral and the Cathedral Choir. He was also curator of the Dyson Perrins Museum (now the Museum of Royal Worcester) for many years.

Henry’s friendship with Arthur Negus led to invitations to appear on TV, as a guest on Going for a Song and Arthur Negus Enjoys. Then in 1979 he joined Arthur as an expert on a new series of The Antiques Roadshow, hosted back then by Angela Rippon. The format suited Henry’s personality, for he was never happier than when sharing with ordinary owners the stories behind their remarkable pots.

 Henry was able to see the human side of a rare or academic piece of early porcelain and by explaining how it was made and by telling the stories of the potters who made it, he could bring any antique to life.  Antiques Roadshow made Henry a celebrity on the lecture circuit and he made guest appearances on all manner of TV and Radio shows including Desert Island Discs, The Archers and The Green Green Grass.

He was a surprise recipient of the big red This is your Life book and an even bigger surprise was a ‘Gotcha’ from Noel Edmunds. Henry was particularly pleased when the BBC asked him to present several episodes of Songs of Praise, including a programme from Worcester.

He used his notoriety to spread the word about antiques, giving more than two thousand talks and personal appearances, mostly in support of charity. Henry was also a friend and patron of many modern studio potters whose work he collected.  He was also a major ambassador for the ceramics industry, working tirelessly to bring much-needed encouragement and publicity to British porcelain manufacturers, as many struggled for survival.

For his efforts, Henry was appointed an MBE for services to charity and to the ceramics industry in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2008 and was also voted Antiques Personality of the Year in 2000. Meanwhile in the City of Worcester, as a special tribute to him, the restored Georgian showroom at the old Worcester Royal porcelain works was renamed Henry Sandon Hall.

Henry was married to Barbara, who died in 2013, for fifty-six years  and they had three sons, David, Peter and John. Only one, John, survives him along with three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  

John followed his father’s passion as an auctioneer and expert in porcelain and is still one of the experts on The Antiques Roadshow. He said his father always served real tea from a Worcester porcelain teapot and added: “Henry once said ‘Wouldn’t it be terrible to go to Heaven and find they drank from polystyrene cups!’ “

Henry Sandon, who was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2008 and voted Antiques Personality of the Year in 2000, died peacefully in a Malvern care home on Christmas Day.