SEX-SWAP LAUREN SIGNS FOR ANTIQUES ROADSHOW

Beeb bosses keen to boost diversity

TRANS celeb Lauren Harries is to feature as one of the experts on BBC’s ANTIQUES ROADSHOW in a move that will have Sunday evening audiences spluttering into their high teas!

The star – then a 10- year- old boy called James – stunned viewers of chat show Wogan in 1988 with her vast knowledge of precious knick- knacks.

Now Antiques Roadshow chiefs – facing calls from top brass to increase “diversity” on the show – have secretly made a play for Lauren to become a regular fixture.

An insider said: “I don’t know whether this is producers – often frustrated by the endless calls for diversity – taking the piss or whether they genuinely think Lauren would be a big draw. I can’t even think what Arthur Negus would make of it.”

It’s not known if Antiques Roadshow host Fiona Bruce has yet been made aware of the move though a friend of the presenter said, “she’d be cool with it.”

The pal aded: “Fiona may present a show about antiques but she’s a thoroughly modern woman.”

Lauren, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2001 and claims to have bedded alleged comedian Russell Brand, most certainly has an eye for the sort of lost treasures that Antiques Roadshow unearths.

From the age of five, she collected all kinds of objects – china and trinkets – from car boot sales and second- hand shops.

Her break came when a piece of porcelain she found was valued at several thousand pounds. CHILD STAR: Lauren when she was James OLD HAND: Lauren, ( with Terry on with Fiona on as a boy could star