[1] His maternal grandfather was the keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen and an expert on the Bronze Age.
In 2008 he was appointed the Director of the Foundling Museum in London, and Visiting Professor at De Montfort University, Leicester.
As a ceramic historian Tharp also contributed to the major Tate Gallery exhibition ‘Hogarth and Europe’ and during its run(Nov 2021-March 2022), delivering a keynote speech at Colonial Williamsburg VA Tharp is also well known[citation needed] for his regular appearances (1986 to present) as a ceramics expert on the BBC’s globally seen antiques programme Antiques Roadshow.
Representing Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, he joined team-members Helen Castor, Mark Damazer (captain) and Quentin Stafford-Fraser to win the Alumni University Challenge 2013.
An accredited speaker for (inter alia) The Arts Society (NADFAS), Tharp lectures throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia and leads cultural tours to China, Dresden, Scandinavia and within the UK.