The oldest son of Rowley Atterbury and puppeteer Audrey Atterbury (née Holman), who worked on the 1950s children"s Watch With Mother programme Andy Pandy for the British Broadcasting Corporation and who, it is claimed, based the character"s appearance on that of her son.
He was educated at Westminster School and the University of East Anglia (Bachelor, 1972).
He specialises in the art, architecture, design and decorative arts of the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally training as a graphic designer he later went on to work for Sotheby Publications. He became an historical advisor for Royal Doulton and was the editor of Connoisseur magazine from 1980 to 1981.
Since 1981 Atterbury has been a freelance writer, lecturer, broadcaster and exhibition curator.
He most frequently curates for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, his exhibitions there including "Pugin: a Gothic Passion" (1994) and "Inventing New Britain: the Victorian Vision" (2001). Atterbury has written or edited over thirty books, mostly on ceramics.
He is also known for his travel writing, and has also written books on railways and canals. He has published books of old postcards showing Eype and West Bay, two Dorset villages.
Until 2003, Atterbury was also chairman of the Little Angel Theatre puppet theatre in Islington, north London.
He also tours the country with his stage show "Have You Had it Long Madam?" with fellow Antiques Roadshow expert Hilary Kay. In 2007, Atterbury appeared on Channel 4"s archaeology series Time Team, while in 2009 he narrated British Broadcasting Corporation Four"s documentary The Last Days of the Liners which examined how, in the years following World World War II, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on the great ocean routes. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Atterbury is the owner of the only remaining Teddy puppet from the television series Andy Pandy, that is not kept as part of a museum collection, which was a gift to his mother.
Atterbury lives in Weymouth in Dorset.
