Narrator Bill Paterson looks back at four favourite sporting fixes from the past, including a 120-year-old rugby league cap given to a Yorkshireman who played for his country.

Favourite Fizes Season 1 - Episode 5



Mike Stevens is the first to arrive at the barn with a sporting souvenir in need of restoration. He’s eager to recruit metalwork maestro Dominic Chinea and woodwork expert Will Kirk to bring a battered, old wooden skateboard back to life.

Mike was arguably one of Liverpool’s first skateboarders, and the board that he bought for four pounds and ten shillings in 1967 is his most treasured teenage possession. As they go about the fix, avid skateboarder Will needs to patch the damaged areas of wood before regluing the five pieces that make up the board. Meanwhile, fellow boarding enthusiast Dom must mend the fractured, metal wheel fixings and stick them back together to get the wheels spinning once again.

Riding aficionado Elana Beavis steps into the barn holding an equestrian heirloom with rodeo roots that she hopes Suzie Fletcher, who spent 22 years immersed in ranch life as a saddler in Colorado, can save from going out to pasture. The saddle dates back to the 1920s and belonged to her great-grandfather, who moved to Canada with his family and started a real-life rodeo. After a few years, the family returned from abroad, and the 100-year-old saddle made it back as well, though with ad hoc alterations and significant wear and tear to its leather. Suzie sets out to reverse the modifications made to the saddle and carefully restore the ageing leather, aiming to return this equine family treasure in an immaculate state.

The next heirloom of a sporting life belongs to Victoria Wise, who enters the barn armed with a speedway bib that once belonged to her grandfather. He wore it back in 1947 when he raced for the Bristol Bulldogs. Speedway was a motorbike sport, but with no brakes! As such, the riders were considered to be among the bravest and Victoria remembers her father calling his own father, whom he adored, a real hero.

As a boy, he lovingly painted a number one on the back of his father’s bib, because in his eyes, he was always number one. Having recently lost her dad, Victoria is desperate to have her treasured memorabilia repaired in his honour. It’s an unusual assignment for painting conservator Lucia Scalisi, who must ensure that the existing paint doesn’t lift off the bib and retouch some of the losses without making it look brand new after hundreds of circuits around the track. It’s a labour of love that leaves Victoria in tears.

The last item is a challenging restoration for master hatter Jayesh Vaghela. He meets Steve Langhorn, who is keen to preserve the memory of his great-grandfather’s prowess on the pitch with his old rugby league cap. Presented to him after playing for his country in 1904, the vintage velvet cap is a symbol of success that carries precious memories passed down through four generations of a sporting family. But when it was found in a plastic bag at the back of a wardrobe by Steve’s ageing father, it was in a sorry state.

Keen to resurrect this piece of history, Jayesh must carefully clean the 120-year-old tarnished bullion tassel and braiding, as well as cleverly fix the bald patches of dark crimson velvet using - of all things - beetroot juice as a natural dye. Jayesh knocks it out of the park with an exquisite reconditioning job, and Steve can’t wait to present it to his dad so that he can pass it down to his rugby-playing grandchildren as a treasured sporting heirloom.

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