Clive Farahar is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 dealer and expert on books and manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

s. He is best known as an expert on the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...

, which he joined in 1986.

The son of Robert and Joan (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Hutchins) Farahar, Clive Farahar attended Westminster Abbey Choir School

Westminster Abbey Choir School

Westminster Abbey Choir School is a British boarding preparatory school and the only school in the United Kingdom exclusively for the education of boy choristers. It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey...

. He joined Francis Edwards Ltd, a bookdealer in London's Marylebone High Street

Marylebone High Street

Marylebone High Street is a shopping street in London, running sub-parallel to Baker Street and terminating at its northern end at the junction with the Marylebone Road...

 on leaving school in 1969. Joining the travel department he spent his first month in the bookshop dusting the shelves in order to become acquainted with the stock.

In 1972 Farahar joined the staff of a bookshop in Culham

Culham

Culham is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The toponym comes from the Old English Cula's hamm, referring to the village's position in a bend of the Thames...

, between Abingdon

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...

 and Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, before becoming a market trader at Bath Antiques Market where he sold books during the week and worked as a wine waiter at weekends in order to make ends meet.