Alistair Sampson, 76, Antiques Dealer, Humorous Writer And Broadcaster

Alistair Hubert Sampson was born at home in Wimbledon on May 1, 1929. His mother, Sheina Catto, née Macgregor, died while he was still young, and his father, Commander Leslie Sampson, a naval paymaster, was a distant parent, so he was largely brought up by his sister, who was ten years his senior.

He was educated at Tonbridge School and Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was elected president of the Union in 1952. Sampson also wrote lyrics and music for Footlights productions in 1951 and 1952, and led a debating team on a successful American tour in 1952.

Completing military service in the Royal Navy, he practiced law, specialized in criminal and family law and was appointed a judge's marshal.

By his own account, Sampson was a collector almost all his life, beginning in school days with caterpillars, stamps and war souvenirs, and graduating to Leeds creamware when he was a young lawyer. In 1969, he made the long-pondered change to become a dealer in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century English pottery. He began with a stall in the Antique Hypermarket and later had a shop at 156 Brompton Road.

With other partners, Sampson expanded into oak, brass and metalwork and needlework, and he made a particular study of English naive paintings. Some years later, he moved to his own premises in Mount Street, Mayfair.

Sampson's theatrical background came into play in the design of stylish and inviting stands at British and international antiques fairs.

Sampson was elected to the British Antique Dealers' Association in 1976, becoming a member of its council in 1979 and serving as London vice president from 1988 to 1990. He was also a director of the BADA Fair, which was launched at the old Duke of York's Headquarters in King's Road in 1994. The association awarded him its distinguished service medal in 1995.

In yet another of his careers, Sampson was a prolific writer and humorist. He was the tame poet on Cliff Mitchelmore's Tonight program on BBC TV, and was a natural contestant on the panel game Call My Bluff in the early 1960s.

As an author he began with four volumes of humorous poems, including Tonight and Other Nights, 1959, a collection of his poems from the Tonight program, and Don't Be Disgusting, 1961, and short stories.

Sampson joined Punch magazine in April 1984 to contribute a weekly column on collecting. His first Punch article was "The Fake's Progress," which he wrote with a winning combination of wit, experience and real authority. His book Cabinet Secrets, 1987, an anthology of his Punch columns, offered insight into the antiques business.

Sampson was married twice, first to an Italian, the Marchesa Marta Luzi di Votalara, in 1958, with whom he had one daughter, Sheina, and second in 1967 to Camilla Madoc, daughter of Major-General Reginald "Rex" Madoc, sometime commanding officer of the Royal Marines at Plymouth and Portsmouth. She survives him, with Sheina and the two daughters of their marriage, Matilda, a publisher, and Daisy, a broadcaster.

"We were so lucky to work for him - and are all much the less for his passing," said a spokesperson at his London gallery. "We shall miss him - but the business will continue. We will be exhibiting at Grosvenor House here in London in June, Nantucket at the beginning of August and we will be at the International Show in October at the Armory, New York City."