Do old lamps need rewiring to be safe?

Most of them do. Original cloth-covered flex degrades over time and the internal rubber insulation turns brittle and cracks. You need to check the brass bulb holders too. The old cardboard heat sleeves inside them often perish, causing the metal casing to become live. Modern three-core braided flex looks the part and includes an earth wire. An electrician can run this through the original arms.

I have an old anglepoise that keeps dropping its head down towards the desk no matter how I position the arms, can it be fixed?

Those springs live under constant tension. After decades left in the same position, they stretch and lose their memory. You can sometimes fix the droop by adjusting the friction blocks at the joints. Tightening the pivot nuts slightly gives tired springs less work to do. If that fails, replacement springs are easy to source. Swapping them out restores the original balance.

What kind of bulbs fit antique lamps?

British and European models mostly take standard bayonet cap bulbs. American imports usually require Edison screw fittings. LED bulbs run cold. This protects fragile old glass shades from the heat stress that caused earlier examples to crack.

The base on a lamp I am looking at has this patchy green and brown surface, should I try to polish it back to bright brass?

Leave the surface alone. That mottled finish is often an intentional chemical patina applied in the factory, known as bronzing or oxidising. Makers used these dark finishes so the bright brass wouldn't glare in the eyes of someone trying to read. Polishing strips away a century of protective oxidation. You end up with a harsh object that looks out of place.

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Antique Desk Lamps

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Designed to focus light directly onto a working surface, these functional fixtures typically combine a heavy base with an adjustable arm and a directional shade.