04x21 - Rug-Covered Armchair

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where much-loved but
broken treasures...

This is amazing,
it is absolutely brilliant.

..are brought back to life.

Welcome to my universe.

It's pretty marvellous.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

It's so nice that we can be part
of that, kind of, history

to keep things going.

..and a dream team of
some of the country's

most skilled craftspeople...

I'm having a lot of fun.

And I'm really liking
the end result!

Sounds like teamwork.

..bring their talents to bear
on beloved pieces of family history.

Look at that!

I'm liking what I see. Yes.

It's working. You beauty!

Utilising expertise passed
down the generations.

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way. All right.

Transforming priceless
pieces of family history.

Oh, my goodness me!

The Repair Shop team
will resurrect the items...

Oh, gosh!

..the memories...

I'm going to have to hug you.
..and the stories behind them.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, thank you so much.

Can't see it, because
of the tears in my eyes.

This is a very emotional job to do,

but incredibly worthwhile.

Hey!
LAUGHTER

ELECTRICITY FIZZES

All right, let's get going.

Urgh!

Whoa!
CLAPPING

In The Repair Shop today,

a century-old music-making
machine that's lost its voice.

Pop the old magnifying glass on.

So, there's not a lot of wear
on this, just a lot of muck.

Let's do something about it.

While the riddle of a chair
with an incredible history

is unravelled...

It's... These are
real collectors' items.

They're really important.

You've literally just unlocked
the secret about these rugs.

BIRDS SQUAWK

HOT-AIR BALLOON RELEASES AIR

DUCKS QUACK

But first into The Repair Shop,

Rita Evans from Pembrokeshire,

with a treasured artefact
for the attention of Steve Fletcher.

Hello. Hello. Hi, I'm Steve.

Hello, I'm Rita. I'm Jay.

Hello, Jay, pleased to meet you.

So, what have you got
in the bag, then?

Well, it's a miner's lamp.

OK. It's my grandfather's
miner's lamp.

Hubert John.
A little bit of history.

He was in the First World w*r. OK.

He went when he was 16 years of age.

He lied about his age, as they did.

He was in some pretty
serious actions.

Mmm. Mons, the retreat from Mons.

He was in...at the Somme. Mmm.

He was at Ypres.

And, er, he survived.

Survived all that, no way.
He survived, yes.

Yep. Anyway, when he came
back, his job on the railway

was taken from him,
because he'd been a volunteer.

Yes. They wouldn't give
him back his job. OK.

So, then he had to go
and work in the local mine,

the Pembrokeshire
Hook Colliery mine.

Right. And while he
was there, sometime later,

he was involved in a roof fall.

And he used the miner's lamp to
stop the roof coming onto himself.

And he was lying in the depth
of the miner's lamp,

and they pulled him
out...eventually.

Rita's grandfather,
Hubert George John,

used this lamp at the
Hook Colliery in Pembrokeshire,

where it's believed anthracite was

mined as early as the 13th century,

with men, women and even children

labouring underground.

Roof falls and flooding
were an inherent risk.

And many men paid
the ultimate sacrifice.

Rita's grandfather was
one of the lucky ones.

So, the roof fell down...
The roof fell down.

..and he was in between
that gap there?

He was lying in the gap
of that, yes, just about.

Oh, my word. They took him home and
when eventually they went back...

Yeah.
..and cleared up the roof fall,

they found his miner's lamp.

So, not only did he survive
the First World w*r

and all that he went through,
but he survived a roof fall.

And this was what saved his life.

So, it's very precious
to us in the family. Yeah.

And we want the history
kept alive...

I'm sure.
..for the future generations.

My! Yes, yes, yes.

But I can't open it any more,
we can't light it.

So, can you fix it for me? Oh!

Wow, that is heavy, isn't it?
It is very heavy, yes.

You can see the dents on it, please
don't get rid of the dents! OK!

Yeah. You can see,
it needs to be opened again.

Yeah. So, when was the last
time you saw this lit?

When I was a child.
Yeah? Yeah, as a child, yeah.

So, to see it lit again
would be absolutely wonderful.

Thank you. This must
be so important to you.

It's very important to us.

As a family, my brother
and I treasure it very much.

Right. Well, this is going to
be a real privilege to work on,

knowing its history... Yes.

..and what it means to you.

Yes, thank you, Steve.

This is a lovely, lovely thing.

It is, isn't it? It is.

Thank you for bringing it in.
Thank you, Jay.

Thank you, Steve.
Yeah, thank you very much.

Thank you, bye-bye.
All right, bye-bye.

That's majorly important.

Yeah, with such a great connection
with her grandfather. Yeah.

No, it's unbelievable.

When I look at the lamp,
I feel a lot of emotion.

And I remember him fondly,
because he was such a lovely man.

And we want to be sure
that the generations that follow on

understand that the lamp not only
had a history as a miner's lamp,

but also for the man that used it.

And we must remember
that it saved his life.

Oh! I'm not sure how
I'm going to open this up

without damaging it, actually.

Ughmm!

I can't really clamp it, and, er...

..because it's going to scratch
and damage it,

and that's the last
thing I want to do.

Jay?

Yes, Steve. Could I call upon
your assistance, please?

What have you got? So,

I want you to hold the bottom there,

and if I hold all of this, and

I want to hold these bits here...

Right.
..while you're unscrewing it...

So, you're going to turn it one way

and I'm turning another way, yeah?
Yeah, yeah.

Ooh! Cor, blimey, are you sure?
Yeah.

Is this meant to come off?
Yeah, well, I'm sure,

I can't see any locking device.
Right.

Yeah, ready?

THEY STRAIN

Ooh, yes! Good man.

There you go.

Good. So, yeah... OK.

No problem. Thank you very much.

Glad to help.

Next into The Repair Shop,
Nicky Dean and her son Tom

from West Sussex.
How are you doing? I'm Jay.

Hi, Nicky. Hi. All right?
Hello, and I'm Tim.

Obviously, in the boot it is, yeah?
It is. It sure is.

They've brought along
a prized possession

for the attention of gramophone
specialist Tim Weeks.

This is well wrapped up.
Is it all right to open it up

and see we've got? Yeah, of course.

Like Christmas, isn't it? Yeah.

Oh! Oh, oh!

Tell us about this.

Well, this is an opera phonograph.
Mmm. OK.

This belonged to my father.

Right. And it has been in
the family about 40 years.

And I inherited it 11 years ago,

when Dad passed away. OK, right.

He collected phonographs
and gramophones.

OK. He passed the gramophones
to my brother Mark. Right.

And he passed all
the phonographs to myself.

To a certain extent, you got

the better end of the
deal there, I think!

The phonograph was invented
by Thomas Edison in 1877,

and played cylinders,
unlike the gramophone,

which played flat discs,
and was patented ten years later.

I can tell you this,
the Edison Opera

is pretty much the
top-of-the-range... Mm-hmm.

..that Edison produced.

And these are not
commonplace at all.

So, it's quite a thing to
have one of these in the shop.

My father, he had 40 to 50 machines
in his entire collection.

And his pride and joy was the Opera.

What was his name?

Gilbert Fury.

Gilbert. I think I knew him.

Hah! I used to have a shop doing
these in London in the 1980s.

Ah... I definitely
didn't sell him this,

but I think I may have
sold him a few cylinders.

I'm sure you did!

Erm...!

Oh, so this was his?

Shall we have a look inside? Yes!

Oh, blimey.

That's a big
two-spring motor in there.

Absolutely marvellous,
you could run a small car on that.

The speed isn't constant,

so if that could be looked at,
that would be great. Right.

One of the main parts, though, is...

..the horn.

He managed to fix this
onto here with sticky tape.

Oh, OK!

So, how did it get broken, then?

Well, it was in, erm,

position in the lounge.

And a very small group
of children came along,

who were exceptionally inquisitive,

and the horn got knocked off.

Oh!

Oh! Nothing to do with you?

I hope not!
I'm too young to remember.

So, Tom, have you ever
heard this working, then?

I have. I used to
sit on my grandpa's lap

for hours and hours on end,

just absolutely transfixed
by all these...

..cylinders, all these machines
that I'd never seen before.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was ace,

it's probably where I
got my love of music from.

The Opera was his pride and joy.
Right.

Well, if this was his favourite
one, we'd better make sure

that we do a really good job
on it, then, hadn't we?

Thank you for bringing it in.

Thank you, too. And we'll let
you know how we get on.

Thank you. Thank you, Tim.

Cheers, Nicky. See you soon.
Take care now. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

I feel as though
it needs to be restored.

It deserves to be,
it was such a fantastic piece

of machinery of its day.

To have that repaired, would mean
so much for both of us, wouldn't?

Yeah, definitely.
And your granny, and Uncle Mark,

and everybody who remembered
my father with the Opera.

Now, this is quite special, isn't
it?

Whoever the original
owner of this was,

back in 1910, was a very
well-heeled individual.

Yeah. Had bought the
top-of-the-range. Right.

I'd certainly like to have one
of these. OK. It has to be said.

Well, let's get it over to your
bench now. Let's do that thing.

OK. Ooh, here we go.

You all right? Yes.

A very nice piece
of machinery indeed.

The first thing to do
is get it all apart,

clean it.

And then the other big thing
that we're going to have to do

is somehow to work out
how we get this back together.

I think we might need a bit
of assistance from Will with that.

Pop the old magnifying glass on.

I can say with a great deal
of confidence,

and I'm very pleased
to be able to say this,

that the sapphire stylus there

is in remarkably
good condition.

So, there's not
a lot of wear on this,

just a lot of muck.

Let's do something about it.

While Tim sets about
cleaning the phonograph,

on the opposite workbench,

Steve is also employing
a hefty dose of elbow grease

on the miner's lamp.

There's quite a huge build-up
of the brass cleaner.

So, it must've been
cleaned so many times.

This is about a millimetre
thick in places.

Once I've got rid of all of the, er,

the remnants of the old polish,

I'm going to then re-polish it up.

And I'll put a wax coating on it,

so that it doesn't have
to be polished all the time.

As I'm cleaning this, I am
thinking about all the time

that this was being used
down the mine.

It's just, what a life!

I don't think I could've
done it for a moment.

Really respect people that did that.

I'm going to fill it
with a special lamp fuel.

I'll not fill it much.

I love this little
device underneath.

You've got this little button
here that you pull...

And what it does,

it pulls this little
bit of bent wire down.

And you can actually
raise and lower the wick.

Right.

I'll take it outside now and

light it up.

DOOR CREAKS

Hi. Hey, Steve, you all right?

What do you reckon of that?

Isn't that lovely?

Wow. My God.

And it's got such history,
it's absolutely fantastic.

Oh, that's incredible. Yeah.

I just want to light it up.
You got a lighter? Oh, yeah.

There you go.

Is this the first run?

Yeah, no, this is the very first
run. Really?

So, yeah, I've no idea
what's going to happen.

Oh, that smell.

Right...

Ooh, it's hot. Look at that!

It's smoky, isn't it?

I suppose it's all
the bits and pieces.

Just burning off all
of the years of dust, and... Yeah.

Turn off the light?
Yeah, I can, yeah.

Ready? Yep.

Well done. Thank you.

That's really good. Yeah.

Can you imagine working in a mine
and just having this for light?

To be that far down,
pitch, pitch-black. Yeah. If that
went out... Yeah.

Well, it's quite romantic,
though, isn't it?

Darling. It's nice.

THEY LAUGH

Yeah.

Oh. There we go.

Fantastic. Right.

Well done, Steve. That's really
good. Thank you very much.

Just leave me here in the dark.

Thanks, Steve!

Morning, morning. Morning.

What you checking your watch for?
I'm checking the time!

Bright and early,
another eager visitor.

Eleanor Harmon from Sheffield

is hoping upholsterer
Sonnaz Nooranvary

can restore a family heirloom
with an extraordinary history.

Hi. Hi. I'm Sonnaz.
Nice to meet you.

And you. And does this
chair belong to you?

It does. Been wondering whose it is.

Wow.

That is amazing.

So tell me about it.

So this was my great grandma's.

So I think it's from
the late 19th century,

because she was born
about 1870-something.

And I've had it for about 15,
20 years now.

But it started off in
Strasbourg, where she lived. Wow.

Then it moved to Wolfsburg in
Germany after the First World w*r.

And then in the Second World w*r,
she came over from Germany

because she couldn't
stay there any more.

Eleanor's great-grandmother,

Elena Manasseh,
was one of the hundreds

of thousands of Jewish people
who fled n*zi Germany

and the threat of persecution.

They had a Jewish background.
Oh, of course.

So she had to move over.

So I guess this chair might've
been...

It's nice to have your things around
you.

Totally. And it's a connection for
her to where she's grown up,
essentially, isn't it?

And it's a slice of her life from
then, that she's got with her now

in a way, isn't it?

So what are your earliest
memories of the chair?

Lying on the floor and plaiting
every single one of these tassels.

And then bouncing on here -

I was small enough to do that...
Yeah.

..with my brother. I think we
could both just fit in there.

Really?
What about the carpets, then?

What's this all about?

Cos it's not a typical upholstery
thing to have carpets

sewn into your chair.

So, I don't know when
the carpets were put on, or why.

My grandpa actually did have a lot
of oriental rugs in his house.

Right. And it may be that this was
just one that they chopped up to put

on the chair.

They're unusual sizes
for little rugs... Yeah, yeah.

Is what's, like,
popped into my mind. Yeah.

I'm half-Persian, and we lived
in Iran on and off, and I learnt

how to make rugs out there, so
it'll be a voyage of discovery

for me, as well. So what do you want
me to do with the chair?

Well, there's some obvious things.

Yeah, apart from re-springing
the base, which is the obvious bit.

Yeah, so there's a huge split here,
and lots of wear on the arms

here and here. Yeah. And obviously,
the rug is not well-sewn-on,

and isn't very secure.

So is the rug staying?
I'd love the rug to stay.

OK.

Please keep everything that you can.
OK, that's pretty clear.

It would mean so much to me
to have it repaired,

so that I could at least sit on it
again. That would be lovely.

I will try my best. Thank you.

All right. OK. Thanks.
See you soon. Bye. Bye.

My great-grandmother
loved this chair.

It's been a part of my family
for over 100 years,

and it's been really
loved over that time,

so I'm feeling really happy that
it's with someone who cares

about the chair and who will
know what to do with it.

How are you doing? Good, thank you.
And you? Very good.

It's a nice chair, isn't it?
It's a fabulous chair.

It's seen some life, as well,
hasn't it? Yeah.

If only this chair could talk, eh?
Oh, absolutely. The stories.
The amount of stories.

As you unpick this sort of thing,
it starts to reveal its secrets,
doesn't it? Yeah.

But until then, it's keeping
it close to its chest.

I don't know how I'm going to
get these back on in a way

that makes it usable.
Let's have a cut. Let's see.

Look, it's sort of revealing
the original colour blue.

Oh, that's gorgeous. Yeah.

Nobody's seen that for generations.

Sorry. No, no. I'm admiring the
blue. It's OK. Almost there.

We'll leave that. There we go.

All right, let's turn it around now.

OK. I'll put this on here.

There we are.

Shall we...? Oh, look.

So that's that. Oh, right.
Oh, bless!

What they've done
is, they've just done a repair job.

Something must've happened
to the back of that. Yeah, yeah.

Probably, they've tried
to repair it... Yes.

..and then, that fabric,
they couldn't put back on.

And that would explain why
the rugs are on there!

There you go, yeah.
Well done, Jay.

It's quite ingenious, I must say,
because it's all part

of that kind of make-do
and mend revolution...

Absolutely. Where whatever you had,
you just repaired it.
Yeah, you used, yeah.

You think, this was wartime, so they
would've used what they had.

Yeah. Really cool.

All right, what I'm going to do
is leave you with all

of that to take off...

OK, thank you. And I'm going to go
and find some fabric. OK, thank you.

All right? Yeah, thank you.

When we used to live in Iran,
how we lived was quite

traditionally, so we used to
just clean rugs in the courtyard

with, you know, a big scrubbing
brush or a big broom,

so it actually does take me right
back to being a child in Iran,

and then we'd hang
them outside to dry.

It was as simple as that.

These need a little bit
more TLC, I think.

I don't think they can be quite
so brutally cleaned.

Across the workshop, Tim has
completed his cleaning stint

and is now inspecting
the working parts of

the Edison Opera phonograph.

The proof of the pudding, of course,
as ever, with any sort of -

any mechanical antique -
is, does it work?

And you never really know that till
you've put it all back together.

All part of life's rich pageant.

But as well as rebuilding the
music-maker, Tim's got the thorny

issue of the horn.

Will...?

Could I possibly borrow you
for a few moments?

How can I help? This
phonograph horn... OK.

It should be a lovely
sort of golden colour.

Right. I'll get it on the bench,
and run a few tests and see

what I can do.
Give it your best shot, mate.

I'll give it my best shot.
Thank you. All right, Tim.

The varnish on that at the moment
is really thick and incredibly red,

so I'm going to use the stripper
to take off the polish,

see if that removes
some of that colouring.

If that doesn't, then
we need to think of a plan B.

Now let's see if it actually works.

VERY OLD MUSIC PLAYS

Well, we've got it to work again.
Yeah, amazing.

That is quite remarkable, actually.

So what is this disc,
then, is it wax? Is it wax?

No, it's actually made of celluloid.

Edison Amberols, as
they were called.

It's one of the very
first forms of plastic.

Oh, can I have a look at it?
Oh, right.

The earlier ones were made of wax.

But, yeah, try not to...

How would you know that...?
Oh, I see.

It looks like there's a record bit.

Yeah, the groove starts at the edge
and instead of on a flat disc

where it would start at
the edge and spiral

into the middle, with these,

you start at one end and it just
goes round and round and round.

Wow! Have you got much
more to do to it, Tim?

Well, there are a couple
more things to do.

There should be a pointer
that indicates a series

of numbers there... Right.

..to tell you when it's doing
the right speed, but of course,

not much point in having a pointer
if it hasn't got any numbers

to point at.

We need somebody with a good eye
and a very steady hand to paint

a series of stripes
and the number 160 on there.

Do you, now? We do. I do.

I'll give it a go for you.
Yeah, absolutely.

You're a diamond, you're a diamond.

The stripper has done a fantastic
job at getting that nasty layer of

varnish off, but there's still quite
a lot of purple in the wood surface

itself, so I'm working my way
around with a really

soft-grit sandpaper until that
purple comes out.

Tim.

Kirsten, you've never done
it already, have you? I have.

I can now breathe.
Let me come and see.

Oh, that is splendid. Oh!

Is that all right?
Yes, that's brilliant.

Oh, Nicky is going to be so
impressed when she sees this.

Her dad never saw it look like that.

Well, it was pretty damaged in that
particular place, wasn't it?

I imagine the original pointer
must have dragged across there and

scratched it all off. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I suppose I'd better make
a new pointer that doesn't do
that, then, hadn't I?

Absolutely. Shall I take it away?
Please. Thank you. Right, thank you.
You're welcome.

Across the barn, Steve's got high
hopes for the miner's lamp,

as he gives it one final polish.

Very pleased with that.
Not too shiny.

All those little bits
and pieces in there, still.

I don't want to make it look
brand-new, so it's just right.

It was the wish of owner Rita
to see the lamp lit again,

and now she's back
with her brother, Jeff.

Oh, I'm really looking forward
to getting the miner's lamp back

and seeing it, hopefully,
working again, yes.

Jeff has come all the way from
Cyprus, because he and I were

jointly left the miner's lamp,
and I want Jeff to be part

of this, as well.

It's very, very important for us,
and very important for the family,

and to have it restored as near...

..working condition as possible
would be really tremendous for us.

Hi, Rita. Hello, Steve.
Nice to see you again.

Nice to see you, too.
This is my brother, Jeff.

Hello, Steve. Hi, Jeff.
How are you? Pleased to meet you.

Pleased to meet you, too.
Right, OK, are you looking forward
to this moment? Oh, come on!

Do you know what...?

This has been so enjoyable to work
on because of its history... Mm.

And because of your grandfather and
what your grandfather went through,

and as I was working on it,
I was just thinking

about the environment
that he was working in

for all of those years, it was a
tough, brutal life. It was, it was.

Yeah. He had a tough life,
but he was a survivor. Yeah.

And we're pleased about that,
we're proud of that,

we're very proud of that.
I can't wait to show you this.

Wow! Oh.

Look at that!

That's... Oh, that's amazing.
That's amazing.

It's lovely. It's fantastic.

Oh, look at it. Yeah.

It's wonderful. Oh.

I didn't want to do too much...
No. No.

Because, you know, every little ding
and bend, dent...

There's a dent there, look.
They tell a story.

It does tell a story.
Yes, that's perfect.

I did remove a lot of old polish.
Yes.

Ah, now, that would've
been our grandmother. Right.

She polished it weekly
for years. Yup.

Right, would you like to see it lit?

Oh. Oh, that would be amazing.

So, it comes apart quite easily now.

I did find a wick in the
bottom of the tank, there.

You've used that wick again?
I've used the wick again.

OK, that's good. So it's
totally original? Yes. Original.

Such a little light.

Oh, look. Oh, look.

That's amazing.

Oh!

That's brilliant.

He always seemed to have a reverence
to the lamp when he handled it -

he seemed to be very careful about
what he was doing with it. Yes.

When was the last
time you saw it lit?

I was a child, I was very small.
Yes.

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
Thank you.

We're just... Just so thrilled
with it. I feel...

My heart's going like a drum.
I'm so excited. It's lovely.

It brings back memories of a guy
that was my hero. Yes, yes.

And, you know, it's
so nice to have it back.

He was the last one
to light that lamp,

and now we're lighting it for him,
to remember him, yes.

The lamp may be safely
on its way back home,

but Sonnaz is just beginning
her work on a huge rug chair.

I'm going to fully unpick this cover
and strip it right back, to discover

how much upholstery I'm actually
going to have to do.

The inside back is a little bit
more work than I had thought

that there might be.

It's also probably the most dust
I've ever seen in a chair, as well.

Thank goodness I'm wearing a mask!

With the chair stripped back
to its bare bones,

Sonnaz can now rebuild
its structure, beginning

with the webbing which supports
the body weight of the sitter.

So I'm stapling my webbing on,
instead of tacking it on,

because although I've filled quite
a few holes where the tacks

have been, I'm going to get a better
fix with my staple g*n.

That's going to ensure that the webs
aren't going to move in any way.

Having webbed a good strong
foundation, Sonnaz now arranges

springs on the base...

..before knotting them
tightly together.

I've got my top layer of padding,
which is this lovely,

soft, beautiful cotton felt,
and that basically is the top fluff

on the firm padding underneath.

Now I'm going to cover the whole
base in calico, and the calico forms

the shape and brings everything
nice and tight underneath the cover.

With the shape of the chair fully
formed, Sonnaz can now begin

to cover it with a final layer
of fabric.

Something that was really important
to Eleanor was that the fabric

that was going to go back
onto the chair was as close

to the original as possible,
and thankfully, Jay has found one.

Sonnaz may have nearly finished
her renovation of the chair,

but she hasn't yet solved
the mystery of the miniature rugs

that adorn it.

But sharing a workshop with other
experts has its advantages.

Hi, Sonnaz. Hi, Lucia.

The rugs have caught the eye of fine
art conservator Lucia Scalisi.

What are these? Are these something
that you're putting on or...?

So, these rugs have been put
onto this chair,

but I've been racking my brains
as to where they're actually from.

I think I know. And it's been
keeping me up all night.

You don't! I do. Do you?
Yeah, I do.

I think I know what these are.

I think it's a saddlebag.

No?!

These are real collectors' items.

They're really important,
and they're Persian. No way! Yeah.

It's very exciting,
and it's a treat to see it.

So the other part of the mystery
to this chair is the tassels

that are on it.
You've got them?

And I definitely don't think...

And I've got them.
Because...

Have you got tassels? Yeah.

Oh, my goodness!

Because it's got the same colours
in here. Absolutely.

It's definitely part of the same
object cos look at the colour
scheme,

for a start. Right, how are these
related to the rugs?

Well, OK, so let's put the rugs
together, back-to-back.

So this is your saddlebag.

Yeah.

And these are your attachments.
No! And is there more of that?

Yes, but it's all the way around
the bottom of the chair.

It would have been all the way
around the saddle bag. No way?

Yeah. Have you got it?
Yeah, I've cleaned it.

It's like detective work!
It is, isn't it?

This is amazing, isn't it?
It's incredible.

It's so beautiful,
and it's definitely part of the same

object, cos look at the
colour scheme, for a start.

The orange is the same,
exactly the same, and these two

things definitely go together? Yeah,
it's a separate object completely.

You've literally just unlocked
the secret about these rugs.

Really? Yeah. Hm!

I love them, and I just have
an interest in them myself.

Yeah. What a discovery.

Brilliant. Thank you, Lucia.
All righty, I'll see you later. Bye.

Lucia may have unlocked
the mystery of the rug chair...

And there we go.

..but the renovation of the
phonograph

is also needing some direction.

Tim is making a pointer
for the speed-dial.

The thing about the Edison Opera is
they're so rare, that the parts

were only used on this one machine,
so getting a spare one

just doesn't happen,
so the only possible solution

is make it myself.

Now that Will has restored the horn,
he's able to glue the two

parts back together...

That's pretty good to me.

..and the phonograph
is almost complete.

There we go.

I'll just pop the cover back over
so that we can see

what it actually looks like,

and there we are, it's always nice
to put the cherry

on the top, isn't it?

If I'm not much mistaken,
this must be Nicky and Tom,

yes?
Hi, Nicky, I'm Will.

How are you doing? Hello, Tom.
Welcome back to The Repair Shop.

Hi, Will. Hello again. Hi, Nicky.

The Opera was looking extremely sad
and I'm just so excited to see

what Tim has been able to do
with it.

Do you want to come in and see what
we've been up to? Oh, yes, please.

Definitely. Right, then. After you.
Thank you.

Thank you.

The Opera was the pride
of my father's collection,

so to see that fixed
will just mean the world to me.

Well, Nicky, Tom, welcome back.

I expect you're keen
to see what we've done. Oh, yes.

Oh, very excited.

Let's just open her up
and see if you can spot

any obvious differences.

Oh, wow!

Oh, my word!

Is that the same horn?
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

It IS the same horn.

This is what it SHOULD look like.

This is what was always waiting
underneath.

That's amazing.

I'm absolutely speechless.

I mean, what do you think your
father would've thought,

if he could ever have seen it
look like this?

He'd be just totally,
totally thrilled.

It does look something, doesn't it?
Yeah. I can't talk, I can't talk.

He would be just over the moon.

He'd be smiling from ear to ear,
wouldn't he?

Oh, he would be, he would be.
That is just incredible.

Can I just turn it round,
so I can have a look?

Wow!

But just looking at the horn
again... Yeah, it's amazing. You can

see how it's actually constructed.
Yeah. It's all in pieces.

I couldn't tell this before.

I didn't know this was under.

Do you know, I really am gobsmacked.
That is just...

That's amazing. ..beautiful,
it's absolutely beautiful.

I'm sure Grandpa's sat there
on cloud nine with a big grin

on his face now. Shall we try
playing a record on it now?

Yes, please. It'd be rude not to.

JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYS

Oh, wow!

That's absolutely perfect.

It sounds much better.

I can see Grandpa standing there.

Yeah, definitely.
Singing and conducting.

INDISTINCT SINGING

I can't really sum up what I feel.

You OK?

Very happy. Yes.

MUSIC ECHOES AND FADES

I was feeling exceptionally
nostalgic, but also uplifted

in a really, really lovely
kind of way.

I'm just absolutely amazed.

I really am gobsmacked
about what Tim and Will have done

to the Opera.

Yeah. It really has been
brought back to life.

I feel so humbled.
I'm so thankful.

Sonnaz is nearing the end
of her journey with a chair

that emigrated with a family
all the way from w*r-torn Germany.

I am now starting
on the finishing touches.

I'm sewing this fringe back on,
and I'm loving the way

the colours are really popping
against this new fabric.

Owner Eleanor has returned
to collect her treasured chair,

and she's brought her mother,
Katrin, who also has strong

memories of the chair
and its previous owner.

It was always part
of my grandmother.

It was just something
that was always there with her.

She lived with us for a time,
and the chair and the grandmother

just sort of went together.

My memories are really happy
memories.

I just loved it, cos of its colours
and how different it was.

I'm hoping that Sonnaz
will have brought it back,

and I can sort of see it
as my great-grandmother

would've seen it.
Hi, Eleanor.

Hi. Hello.

Hi, nice to see you again.

Hi. You, too.
How are you both? Very good.

Looking forward to seeing
this lovely chair.

Interested to see
what it looks like.

Shall I go for it?

Ready?

Oh, my goodness!
Oh, gosh!

That's amazing.

Well, it looked really tired,
and now it looks sort of blooming,

if you see what I mean.
Aw. It's really nice.

Oh, it's lovely, thank you so much.

What we discovered is
that they're rugs taken

from saddlebags and actually
that these tassels were once part

of the saddlebags... Oh.

Used on the animal to decorate it,
whether it be a horse or a camel,

and actually, they're made
in the sort of second half

of the 19th century in southern
Iran, near the city of Shiraz.

Oh! That's amazing!
So they're Persian.

Extraordinary. I know how attached
you were to the fabric

that was on here,
so I thought it'd be really nice

if you had a scatter cushion
made up to go with it...

Aw. Aw. That's beautiful. Just to
keep it kind of... That's lovely.

Amazing, thank you.
My pleasure.

I actually haven't sat on it yet,
because I always feel

that the owners of the chair
should be the first people to sit

in anything
I've reupholstered or restored. Oh!

Are you OK to bring it
down with me, Eleanor? Yeah.

You can tell me whether
it's comfortable for you or not.

Do you know,
it makes you feel very regal.

Oh! Cos I just feel a little bit

like I'm here for people to see me.

Cos it's much higher up now,
because it's where it should be,

and this is how my great-grandmother
would've had it.

That's right. Well, it was really
very difficult for her.

I mean, she was coming
into a foreign country,

and not what any of them wanted.

I would've thought, if it was me,
that would be why I would sit

in this chair a lot,
because it'd be something

from home. She was at home in it.

Yeah. Yes.

Thank you for bringing
your chair in.

It's been a pleasure
to reupholster for you.

I'm going to be sad to see it
leave the workshop.

Thank you so much. My pleasure.
It's really lovely.

Thank you. I really,
really appreciate it. No worries.

Thank you. Thank you.

What do you think?

I think it's wonderful.

It's just so nice to see it alive
and all together, and the colours

are strong,
and it's really beautiful.

Now I know a little bit
more about where the actual rug

and the tassels have come from,
that's a complete surprise.

I don't know if they had
any connections to Iran.

It'd be really interesting
to find out a little bit

more about that, if I can.

Join us next time, as the barn doors
open to more cherished items...

It's just nice to be working
on a little piece of history.

..for the team to bring back
to life...

Crikey! All my Christmases
have all come at once.

..in The Repair Shop.