Who Do You Think You Are - Bear Grylls 15th June

[kiterunner]

On BBC1 at 9 p.m., and repeated Wednesday 21st at 11:30 p.m.

[Margaret in Burton]

Enjoyed that one

[Olde Crone]

I gave up after fifteen minutes.

OC

[kiterunner]

Episode summary:

Bear Grylls, real name Edward Michael Grylls, grew up in London and on the Isle of Wight, the younger of two children of Michael Grylls, who died in 2001, and Sarah Grylls nee Ford, known as Sally. His maternal grandfather was Neville Ford and his paternal grandfather William Edward Harvey Grylls, known as Ted. Ted was a Brigadier in the army but never told Bear about his experiences in WW2. Bear and his wife Shara looked through some old photos of Neville, who was one of the seven children of Rev Lionel Ford, the headmaster of Harrow and also a vicar, and his wife Mary Ford nee Talbot. They also looked at the trunk which Ted left when he died, full of old maps of Germany and documents and photos marked "secret" which related to his work during and after the war.

Bear went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where Ted trained, and met a military historian who showed him Ted's service record which said that he joined the King's Royal Hussars and took an advanced mechanical (tech and science) course. The RMC Magazine of Autumn 1938 welcomed Captain W E H Grylls as one of the staff of the Mechanical Engineering Workshop. Bear went to the Tank Museum at Bovington Camp in Dorset and met an historian who explained to him that one of the documents from Ted's trunk was the itinerary of his trip to America in 1941, during which he visited Ford Motors. There were notes from an informal conference which he had there to discuss tanks. Other documents showed that after that he was in the field looking at what had happened to various tanks so that he could find ways to improve them. Other documents showed that he was appointed as leader of the 21 Army Group which was concerned with technical aspects of all equipment, and that he was awarded the OBE, his rank being Colonel by then.

Bear then went to the Imperial War Museum in London and met a curator and historian who told him about the T Force unit which Ted commanded after the war. Its remit was to find and use German technology and German scientists, and it operated in conjunction with the USA. Bear was shown a letter which was sent to Ted complaining about the methods which T Force used, and the reply which Ted sent.

Bear then turned to his mother's side of the tree. He went to Harrow and met an historian who showed him a photo from the Daily Mirror from 1910, which showed Lionel on his appointment as headmaster. He was also shown a biography of Lionel which explained that he was brought in to modernise and improve Harrow, for instance introducing a new curriculum in 1912. Bear was also shown a book of talks which Lionel gave to the Scouts. He went to the Headmaster's House, where Lionel and Mary lived from 1910 to 1925, and met an historian who showed him a book which Lionel wrote about his son Richard Ford, who died there in his teens after an infection of a leg bone turned into septic pneumonia.

Bear then met a genealogist who had traced his mother's family tree much further back. Mary Talbot's father Edward Stuart Talbot was descended from John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. John Stuart's parents were James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute and Lady Anne Campbell. Lady Anne was descended from Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, who was Bear's 10xg-grandfather. A picture of Archibald Campbell had a caption saying that he was beheaded on the 27th May 1661. Bear went to Inverary Castle, the seat of the Campbell clan since 1766, and met the current Duke of Argyll, his 9th cousin once removed. He was shown a portrait of Archibald Campbell who was known as the "Great Marquess", born in 1598 and beheaded in Edinburgh by the "Scottish Maiden", i.e. guillotine. Bear met another historian who explained that Archibald was the leader of the Covenanters, signatories of the National Covenant in 1638 which protested against Charles I's move towards Catholicism and stated that they believed that Protestantism was the true faith. Charles II ordered Archibald's execution in 1661. Bear was shown a copy of the speech which he gave from the scaffold, and a book of advice to his son which he wrote while imprisoned.

Bear then went to the Argyll Mausoleum at Kilmarnock, where Archibald was buried with some of his ancestors, and met an historian who showed him Archibald's memorial stone and also the tomb of Duncan Lord Campbell who died about 1455, and his wife Marjorie, daughter of the Duke of Albany. Duncan and Marjorie were Bear's 18xg-grandparents. A notice on the wall said that the chapel was part of the church endowed by them, and that Marjorie was the granddaughter of King Robert, who was the grandson of Robert the Bruce.

[Ann from Sussex]

I suppose, given the timescale, we have to accept that a lot of the programme's subjects will have relatives who had experiences in WWII .... but oh, it can be boring especially when it crops up again and again: that's how I feel anyway. His mother's side was more interesting.
I do find annoying the way the producers feed us information. This began with his wife showing him old family photos and explaining them to him as though he had never seen them before and later an historian produced a biography of his gt grandfather as though it would be a surprise to him. If there was an entire book devoted to the life of your gt grandfather you would surely know about it and when it came to my husband's family photos they were explained to me by him, not the other way around!

[Olde Crone]

Again - who is this programme aimed at now? Not the amateur family historian because we couldn't access the resources they show, not those interested in military history because the programme was about other things too, not about Bear Grylls because it wasn't about him. I can understand that the bbc changed the format at the behest of the GRO, lol, but why abandon the educational aspect entirely?

OC (who doesn't like change)

[crawfie]

I was slightly distracted by the moustache. Then I realised it was filmed in November last year.

[Ann from Sussex]

Originally Posted by crawfie

I was slightly distracted by the moustache. Then I realised it was filmed in November last year.

I've never watched any of his programmes so - apart from what he is famous for - I didn't know anything about him. What is the significance of the moustache and last November? Is it something to do with a programme? I did find him a bit irritating in a Tiggerish sort of way.

[Margaret in Burton]

Originally Posted by Ann from Sussex

I've never watched any of his programmes so - apart from what he is famous for - I didn't know anything about him. What is the significance of the moustache and last November? Is it something to do with a programme? I did find him a bit irritating in a Tiggerish sort of way.

November was classed as a month when men were challenged to grow their facial hair.

[Ann from Sussex]

Ah thanks Marg, I had forgotten about that.