Paul Martin (TV presenter)
Paul Martin (born 5 January 1959) is a British antiques dealer and professional drummer, best known for being the presenter of various BBC television antiques programmes including "Flog It!", "Trust Me, I'm a Dealer" and "Paul Martin's Handmade Revolution". Biography. Martin was born in Teddington, Middlesex. His family subsequently moved to Cornwall, where he was educated at Falmouth Grammar School and then studied art and woodworking at Falmouth College of Arts (now Falmouth University). He then developed parallel careers, as an antiques trader and dealer and as a session musician drummer. Martin worked with  Average White Band, The Quireboys and The Dogs D'Amour in the 1990s. Towards the end of the decade, along with his session and live work, Martin taught drums and percussion in a tuition centre within a local instrument shop. He still plays with local jazz and blues bands around Wiltshire. From the age of 25, he owned a pitch on London's Portobello Road. He also worked as an antiques props stylist for magazines including "Marie Claire" and "New Woman", whilst undertaking larger projects designing antique sets for television shoots for BBC One's "The Clothes Show" and Granada TV . More recently he ran the shop The Table Gallery in Marlborough, Wiltshire, specialising in 17th- and 18th-century Welsh and English oak furniture and Victorian lavatories. Paul now runs an antique shop in Corsham, Wiltshire Television presenting. Martin was discovered by a team from BBC Bristol when he was interviewed about his passion for oak furniture. He was then signed up in 2002 to present "Flog It!", which has led to a series of television shows and spin-off books. In 2011 he presented "To the Manor Reborn" alongside Penelope Keith, covering the refurbishment of Avebury Manor in Wiltshire for  the National Trust. In 2014, he began hosting "I Never Knew That About Britain" for the ITV network. He presented the BBC "Countryfile" spin-offs "Summer Diaries", "Spring Diaries", "Autumn Diaries" and "Winter Diaries" in 2016 and 2017. On 2 October 2018, the BBC announced it would cancel "Flog It!", but that Martin would return to host two new similar shows as part of its "modernised" new daytime schedule—one of which would use Martin's skills as a dealer to train members of the public, the second being an antiques-based game show. The first of these programmes, "Make  Me a Dealer", began its inaugural series on 5 November 2018, followed by the antiques game show "Curiosity" in spring 2019. Personal life. Martin married BBC production co-ordinator Charlotte Godfrey in 2007. The same year they moved to Seend in Wiltshire, to a property built in the 1830s, with a smallholding of of land, surrounded by its own arboretum.