Born in 1941 David was adopted and had a happy
childhood in Cheadle in
Lancashire,
England. His father died when he was 12, and at 14 his
grandmother sent him to a factory to learn engineering. After a six month
apprenticeship he left and got a job in the textile
trade. In his early twenties, David decided to trace his original parents and met his half
French half
Armenian mother who was living in
Jersey.
In the
1960s David met his future wife, Lorne Lesley, a cabaret artist, in a
nightclub. David decided to leave the textile
industry and became Lorne's
manager. During his time as Lorne's manager, he developed his
interest and
knowledge with
antiques. Going
abroad and browsing shops during the daytime gave David the
opportunity to learn about
antiques.
In the
1970s David opened a shop with a
childhood friend Chris Haworth. While Chris tended to the
customers in the shop, David travelled, buying
antiques for the shop.
In the early
1980s they sold the shop and rented a 'glamorous
emporium' in Wilmslow, but the
business was slow and so they sold it. Going solo, David then
bought a shop in
Manchester, but closed it in 1991 due to the impending
recession.
David then began to concentrate on
antiques fairs, going to major fairs 3 or 4 times a year,
dealing primarily with 18th and 19th century
antique furniture.
After a chance meeting with a TV
producer at a barbeque, a
documentary was shown on
Channel 5 about his living buying and selling
antiques. Shortly after, the
BBC offered him
Bargain Hunt, which gave contestants the opportunity to buy and sell at
antiques fairs and attempt to make a
profit.
The program quickly became
popular and got extra episodes at
prime time. It also got the
"most popular daytime program" award at the National
Television Awards in October 2002, at these awards David (
ironically) announced that he would cease producing the daytime episodes in order to concentrate on
prime time.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/choice/celeb_city/celeb_speak/david_dickinson.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/daviddickinsonshrine/
http://www.david-dickinson.net/