Antiques Roadshow Expert Once Drank Urine On Show After Mistaking It For Vintage Port

Experts on Antiques Roadshow are used to slightly bizarre days at the office, as they’re shown the weird and wonderful artefacts that have been clogging up people’s attics for decades. 

But one got a lot more than he bargained for when he ended up drinking some 180-year-old urine, having mistaken it for vintage port. You can watch the eyebrow-raising moment below:

The bottle was brought in to expert Andy McConnell in 2016, having been found by a man named John – who stumbled upon it in the threshold of his house. 

Keen to know how old the bottle was, the guest showed it to glass expert Andy, who told him it dated back to the 1800s and that it was super rare to find one with its contents still inside. 

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Now, while you or I might think twice about using a syringe to pierce the cork and extracting some of the mysterious liquid inside to have a little taste, Andy couldn't wait. 

After getting some of the liquid out and popping it into a glass, he said: "It's very brown..." 

Andy then added: "I think it's port... port or red wine... or it's full of rusty old nails and that's rust!" 

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Fast forward three years to December 2019, when host Fiona Bruce offered viewers a stomach-churning update in a later episode, revealing to Andy just what he'd drank. 

She said: "Inside were these brass pins, all of these dating from the late 1840s, and the liquid - urine, a tiny bit of alcohol and one human hair." 

Poor Andy didn't look too impressed as she continued: "And a mysterious little creature called an ostracod, which is like a little cockle.

"So, what this was not a bottle of port or wine but a witches' bottle. 

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"So, buried in the threshold of the house as a talisman against witchcraft, against curses, against misfortune coming into the home.

"So, you glad you tried it?" 

Andy quipped: "Yummy. Such good news." 

He added: "It was too much of a good opportunity to miss!" 

Well, good on him for looking on the bright side, eh?