Who Do You Think You Are - John Simpson 25th Sep

[Shona]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Samuel Franklyn Cody (jr)'s service papers are available on TNA site for £3.36 but his date of birth is not shown in the description and some of the other officers' dates of births are. So I'm guessing his date of birth is not shown in the service record.

His air certificate papers are on Ancestry with a pic. Birthplace is Basel.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin...off=&ml_rpos=2

[kiterunner]

His date of birth is shown as 7 Sep 1895, birthplace Basle, nationality British, on this card:
Index card

This is the "album page" but nationality is not mentioned so I wonder where it was taken from for the index card.
photo

Edit: Snap, Shona!

[Shona]

Reading the book snippet I posted a link to earlier, it seems as if the Cody family were touring Europe in 1895 - there are mentions of Belgium, France and Germany. The snippet ends too early, though. Another source (connected to the purchase of Cody family papers at Sotheby's) states that 'by 1897, Cody and his family returned the act to England'.

[Olde Crone]

I too felt rather cheated. If I'd wanted to know about Sam Cody I could have read a book or even watched a documentary. I don't see the point in finding a FAMOUS ancestor, other than as a passing mention. In John Simpsons' case, the answer to WDYTYA? is, well, you certainly aren't a Cody!

On the whole I feel this series hasn't quite hit the mark. There's very little genealogical research shown and although I have enjoyed most of the programmes in this series, that's more an enjoyment of a documentary. I am thankful for small mercies in that this series has steered away from the endless WW1 and WW2 minutiae but I do feel overall that the format needs to go back to what it originally was.

Thought: perhaps they have steered away from the original format because the GRO has asked them to, lol. It struggled with the upsurge of certificate requests, I bet that has stopped.

OC