Who Do You Think You Are - Emma Willis 3rd Aug 2017

[kiterunner]

On BBC1 at 9 p.m., and repeated next late Mon / early Tues midnight, also on BBC1. No episode next week because of the athletics, and I have heard rumours that this series is going to be split into two 5-episode chunks with a long break in the middle. Hopefully they will tell us whether this is the case after tomorrow's episode.

[Ann from Sussex]

I have noticed on the WDYTYA magazine list of this year's subjects, the ones after Emma Willis are all noted "tba". They did the same thing last year and it was months before we saw the remaining programmes or were even told when they would be on. I do find BBC schedulers a bit cavalier in their attitude to viewers at times.

[Margaret in Burton]

I enjoyed this one. I like Emma Willis anyway.

[Margaret in Burton]

After tonight's finished it said the next episode was in two weeks time. Next week it's athletics.

[kiterunner]

Yes, I was glad to hear they said it would be back in two weeks.

Will type up episode summary tomorrow.

[Guinevere]

I'd never heard of her until tonight but she seemed like a lovely person. Those photos looked like convict photos to me.

[Gebby]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

I'd never heard of her until tonight but she seemed like a lovely person. Those photos looked like convict photos to me.

Cheek! They are my ancestors too!

[Ann from Sussex]

Next episode the week after next - hurray!

I hadn't thought of convict photos Gwynne but I did want to know how a local historian came to have them. I presume the programme had found another descendant who supplied them. The production, out of the blue, of a birth certificate of a child for Mary Ann by another man could have done with an explanation too I felt. Again, I presume they traced her by use of her maiden name (which I found hard to read: it looked something like Geb) but as we hadn't been told that name, it remained a mystery as to how and why they had alighted upon that particular Mary Ann. It was, after all, one of the most popular female first names in Victorian times.

I vaguely knew of Emma Willis as a tv presenter but didn't know anything about her. She came across as a really nice, unaffected person but oh, she did irritate me by getting all emotional over being shown death certificates for people who hadn't died in tragic circumstances but after having lived full and successful lives long ago. Given we we talking about people who lived 150 years and more ago, I wanted to say " of course they died dear"!

It was a good programme though and it was nice to see Dublin looking as beautiful as ever. Those marble altars were spectacular.

[Olde Crone]

I didn't know who she was either, but once she got over herself and stopped posing, I warmed a bit.

Some silly stuff again - how did anyone know the youngest child wasn't living at home? Census only shows where you were on census night. Child could have been on a sleepover at granma's! Then the assertion that it was rare for couples to split up and start again with someone else. I wouldn't call it rare, in my experience and the genealogist should have known better.

What a stupendous talent Michael Kirwan had. I would like to have known how that was discovered and how it was fostered but I don't suppose that kind of thing is ever recorded.

All in all, interesting.

OC

[JBee]

Carl Chinn is a well known local historian and was until fairly recently I believe a Professor at one of the local Universities.

He also produces a monthly magazine where there's loads of photographs and information about old Birmingham. I know someone who wrote to him some years ago about finding her father's grave (I think) and he wrote back with an old photograph of the cemetery (long since gone).

Here's a link to his webpage.

http://www.carlchinnsbrum.com/

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As an aside the last two programmes have people living in Birmingham and I keep trying to recognise whereabouts they're living in Birmingham but without success lol.