Thursday 2 June 2022 01:46 AM CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: What a bright idea! Repairing a ... trends now
The Repair Shop Jubilee Special
Rating: 
Hypothetical
Rating:
There are only two sorts of bloke: the ones who can tell you the provenance of each tool in their workshop, and the ones who can’t ever find the right screw or drill bit.
My grandfather was the first type. The hammers, pliers and chisels on the wall racks in his garage were old friends.
I’m the other type, frankly a disappointment to a family of DIY-ers, cursed to lose the charger for every snazzy cordless power tool I’ve ever bought.
Steve, the metalworking craftsman of The Repair Shop (BBC1), is undoubtedly from the former set. Holding up a small flat-head screwdriver with a yellow handle, he reminisced: ‘This is the first tool I ever bought in my life. I was round about eight or nine.’
Beefeater Peter McGowran, chief yeoman warder at the Tower of London, uses this candle lamp every night, setting off on his rounds at seven minutes to ten as he locks the gates
That boggles me, not so much that he remembers getting it, more that he has gone a lifetime without accidentally leaving it in the loft or interring it under floorboards.
He was using it to fix the handle of a brass lantern brought in by beefeater Peter McGowran, chief yeoman warder at the Tower of London. Peter uses the candle lamp every night, setting off on his rounds at seven minutes to ten as he locks the gates.
‘It hasn’t been out of the Tower for 103 years,’ he warned, clearly reluctant to leave it in civilian hands. But the repairers worked their magic, correcting the wobble in the base and replacing cracked panes with hand-blown glass.
The most touching story came with a rusty tandem. John from Somerset painted it red, white and blue for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee
The brasswork gleamed
