Nationality British Role Television presenter Name Hugh Scully | Children 2 Occupation Broadcaster Parents Hugh Scully | |
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Full Name Michael Hugh Scully Spouse(s) Barbara (m. 1966–2009) (her death) TV shows Antiques Roadshow, Nationwide | ||
Hugh Scully freaks out old man
Michael Hugh Scully (5 March 1943 – 8 October 2015) was an English television presenter. He is best known as the host of the BBC show Antiques Roadshow from 1981 to 2000.
Born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, he spent much of his childhood in Malta and Egypt, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force. He was sent to boarding school in Bath at the age of 13, and after leaving worked for a period with the piano company Steinway & Sons. He auditioned successfully as a temporary newsreader on BBC radio, and made his first radio appearance reporting from Southampton in 1963.
Always a freelance journalist rather than an employee, he worked on BBC news magazines and was a presenter on the BBC South West news programme Spotlight from 1965, before joining the networked news programme Nationwide. After a producer discovered that he collected antiques, he became chairman of the radio show Talking about Antiques in 1967 and Collector's World in 1970.
Scully was chosen in 1981 to present Antiques Roadshow, along with Arthur Negus. Negus retired in 1983, and Scully was the sole host on that show for 17 years. He resigned as presenter in 2000, to join Internet auction company QXL.com and help launch its on-line antiques business, and was replaced by Michael Aspel. From 1988, Scully ran a television production company, Fine Art Productions, and he also hosted a segment on Britain's Finest. He was married to his wife Barbara for 43 years before she died on 9 March 2009.
Scully died on 8 October 2015 at his home near Truro in Cornwall. He is survived by his two sons.
