Who Do You Think You Are - Minnie Driver 7th Aug

[kiterunner]

Ooh!
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/se...-ronald-driver

And on the list where I found that, Minnie Driver is the next but one person listed!
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/se...itA-Z/sitd.php

[kiterunner]

This from Trove:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/630791

[kiterunner]

Here are Charles, Ada and Leslie in 1911:
ancestry 1911 census
4 Preston Road, South Yardley, Birmingham , 6 rooms
Charles Edmund Driver Head 31 Married Manager, Hide & Skin Market Devonshire Devonport
Ada Wood Driver Wife 40 Married 9 years 2 children, 1 living, 1 dead Yorkshire Bradford
Leslie Stancliffe Driver Son 2 Warwickshire Birmingham.

[Shona]

Feel I have to show my hand.

A long time ago, I edited an interview with Minnie. From memory, her father's wife found out about Minnie's mum and her daughters. Wife divorced Ronnie. Minnie's mum married another chap. Minnie hated step-dad. Minnie's mum and step-dad sent angry girl (Minnie) to boarding school. And I'm sure her father married at least one more time.

In the interview, she mentioned her Welsh (Dad?), Scottish (the McGegors?), Italian and French ancestry.

[Guinevere]

I wasn't sure what to make of the programme. She has half siblings who she is obviously not in touch with, which I think is sad. But it must have felt very awkward for them to see the programme.

[Langley Vale Sue]

They were my thoughts Gwynne.

If she knew her father had been married or was still married, surely she must have wondered about half siblings at some point.

I think if I'd have had a photo and description of my Dad in a published book I would have tried to find out more. Maybe that's just my nosy mind though.

[Shona]

Newspaper report about Ronnie Driver's death:

He was the Swansea boy from a terrace house whose charm and entrepreneurial skills led him to become a major figure in the financial markets, dispensing advice to the Queen and Queen Mother and giving a job on his board to Prince Michael of Kent.

But polo patron and friend of the stars Ronnie Driver's greatest success was his family, which included his Oscar-nominated actress daughter Minnie.
And last week Minnie broke off from filming in Scotland to rush to her father's side in London after he suffered a massive heart attack.

Minnie and her elder sister, Kate, 40, whose existence Ronnie, 87, managed to keep from his first wife for years, were all able to say a last goodbye to Driver before he died.

Also at the former insurance mogul's bedside at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital were Minnie's and Kate's mother, Gaynor Millington, his widow Misty, their son Charles, 24, and his eldest daughter, Susan, by his first wife, Annie.

Misty, who has cared for him since he suffered a stroke nearly four years ago, tells me: 'We are all great friends. Everyone supports each other in the family. Ronnie wanted his ashes to be scattered on the polo field next to his house in Barbados.'

Says a pal: 'He was one of those rare people of whom you can truly say: "They don't make them like that any more." He was one of the most charismatic, generous and charitable people you could meet.'

The well-connected Driver's funeral at St Paul's, Knightsbridge, this week is likely to be packed with A-list names. Sir Michael Caine and the Duchess of York were both chums.

Unconventional Ronnie installed former model Gaynor in a Mayfair apartment and divided his time between her and his then wife, who was unaware of the situation.

The scales dropped from her eyes, however, when an acquaintance at a Windsor polo match remarked to her daughter, Susan: 'How delightful to see the family all together - you and your half-sisters.'

Not surprisingly, Annie divorced him soon afterwards, but Gaynor and Driver never married.

Ronnie's company, London United Investments, crashed in the Nineties with debts of £35 million because of a surge of insurance claims for asbestosis.

[Guinevere]

Thanks for that, Shona. It answers some questions.

[Just Gillian]

I was surprised that Minnie could see her father's service records as I understood such records were only released to the next of kin and that would, presumably, have been Susan, eldest daughter of his first marriage? I was a bit uncomfortable with the details of her father's time in psychiatric hospitals being broadcast to the nation, given that he died so recently and has living relatives. I wonder if the BBC had to obtain consent from his other family?

I enjoyed it, and liked Minnie Driver, but prefer the ones which do not concentrate on the military stories.

[Shona]

Originally Posted by Just Gillian

I was surprised that Minnie could see her father's service records as I understood such records were only released to the next of kin and that would, presumably, have been Susan, eldest daughter of his first marriage? I was a bit uncomfortable with the details of her father's time in psychiatric hospitals being broadcast to the nation, given that he died so recently and has living relatives. I wonder if the BBC had to obtain consent from his other family?

I enjoyed it, and liked Minnie Driver, but prefer the ones which do not concentrate on the military stories.

Good points, Gillian. Ronnie married again. Perhaps his widow gave permission.