General chat thread about "Who Do You Think You Are?"

Yep agree with you Merry.

This probably should be a new thread but anyhow.

Off the top of my head my favourites not in any order or series were:-

Larry Lamb
Len Goodman
Colin Jackson
Ainsley Harriott
Stephen Fry
Jeremy Paxman
Sheila Hancock
Kim Cattrall
Julian Cary
Alan Cumming
Barbara Windsor
David Dickinson
Nigella Lawson
Robert Lindsay
Alistair McGowan
Greg Wallace
Patsy Kensit
Jerry Springer
Esther Rantzen
Annie Lennox

I'm sure I've probably missed a few out that I really liked too but I was going on memory I feel these were real FH's told them something they didn't know and because of that became interesting to the viewer too.

[Merry]

I'll make a new thread!

[Merry]

You have a excellent memory, Maggie!

Originally Posted by Shona

Colin Jackson also discovered he was descended from a slave and a Scottish slave owner. This was one of my favourite episodes because it also took his DNA and linked that in with the family history.

Here's the summary:

Colin was born and brought up in Wales, but knows that his parents came from Jamaica in the 1960s. Given the range of ethnic backgrounds associated with Jamaica, Colin's quest revolves around trying to piece together his mixed heritage. To help untangle his roots, Colin started his research by taking a DNA test.

From talking to his parents, Colin is able to piece together some of his history. His maternal grandfather, Dee, arrived in Cardiff in 1955 to find work, and brought his children with him.

Dee's wife Maria elected to stay behind, and returned to her native Panama to look after her sick father. Although she tried to keep in contact with her family, Dee did not pass on any of her letters to their children, fearing they might leave for Panama, and consequently the family lost contact with her.

In the meantime, Dee bought a house in Cardiff, and rented out a room to other economic migrants from Jamaica, which in 1962 included Colin's father, Ossie.

Colin's DNA test results were relatively surprising. His genetic make-up consists of 55% Sub-Saharan African - comparatively low for someone of Jamaican descent - and 38% European, which would appear to come from his mother's side. Yet there was also 7% 'native American', a term used to cover all indigenous people from the Americas, including the original inhabitants of Jamaica, the Taino.

Research has shown that Taino settlements survived beyond European colonisation, and indeed Colin shares some of their facial characteristics: almond eyes and comparatively flat face.

It's likely that their bloodline survived through their links to the 'Maroon' communities - descendants of the original West African slaves brought to Jamaica by the English from 1661.

Through force of arms, the Maroons achieved a semi-independent status in the 18th century, before losing out in the war of 1796. Many were captured and transported to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.

Colin was able to use archives in Jamaica to trace his father's family, through certificates, to his mother, Marie Wilson, and her parents, Jacob Wilson and Eugenia Stewart. He found that many of his cousins still live on the island, of whom a large number showed great sporting prowess.

Further back in the family tree, Jacob's father was Adam Wilson, an emancipated slave who was linked to the Greenmount plantation owned by Valentine Dwyer. Although Adam died a free man in 1849, he was born into slavery and lived to see the emancipation of his people in 1834.

Yet this emancipation came at a great cost. A slave rebellion in 1831-1832 left 200 dead in the field, and a further 500 were executed afterwards. Adam did not take part, and was able to buy five acres of land at a cost of £25. He was still largely tied to his former master's land, but worked hard to make his own smallholding profitable.

Happy to have provided an explanation for his African and Taino heritage, Colin remained curious about the European side and dug a bit deeper.

From Panama, he obtained his mother's birth certificate, which showed her father was Richard Augustus Packer and her mother was Gladys McGowan Campbell.

Working further back, Gladys's parents were Albertina Wallace and Duncan M Campbell and the trail led back to Jamaica. Duncan Campbell was part of a large Scottish community on the island, and Albertina was his housemaid.

It was not unusual for white 'gentlemen' to have children with their black staff. She was eventually given his house, and then worked as a prison warder - an important position at the time. Her daughter, Gladys, would have been of mixed race, and at some time during her youth would have moved to Panama.

There is a long history of West Indians heading to Panama during the various attempts to build the Panama Canal, first under the French and then under the American team in the first decades of the 20th century.

After some careful research in surviving employment records, Colin found that Richard Packer, Gladys's husband, worked on the canal in 1905 for six months, before finding employment in the hospital. He stayed in Panama until at least 1921, when Maria was born. She returned to look after Richard when he fell ill, leaving her own children to start a new life in Wales with her estranged husband Dee.

I must admit Colin Jackson's WDYTYA was one of my all time favourites and I liked the bit at the end where they went back to tell the family about it. I always liked that bit. I remember Colin when he told his family and the worry of what happened to the grandmother's grave in South America and Colin's mother said in a welsh accent not verbatim but it went something like 'oooh that's terrible I'm so glad we came to Wales I love Wales'

Originally Posted by Merry

You have a excellent memory, Maggie!

They are the ones I remember best.

I was sat here going through them in my mind.

I remember Jerry Springer's well I sobbed all the way through it well nearly all the way through it oh yes and Stephen Fry's had a lot about the Holocaust Esther's did too but it wasn't quite as upsetting.

[Shona]

Originally Posted by maggie_4_7

I liked the bit at the end where they went back to tell the family about it. I always liked that bit

Me, too. In David Baddiel's episode, he presented mum with a brick from the factory her family used to run before the Holocaust. Oh, and the bit where another David Baddiel from the religious side of the family bumped into him in the street.

Originally Posted by Shona

Me, too. In David Baddiel's episode, he presented mum with a brick from the factory her family used to run before the Holocaust. Oh, and the bit where another David Baddiel from the religious side of the family bumped into him in the street.

I don't remember David's to be honest.

But I do remember Stephen Fry going back to tell the family about those in his family that almost certainly did die during the Holocaust, they never ever knew they only assumed but he sort of confirmed their fate with the few records and information that was gathered on his WDYTYA from the Holocaust records. Again it was fate I remember that his ancestor came to the UK and some stayed behind.

I also remember Jeremy Paxman standing on a Glasgow street and getting upset when he realised what bloody hard life his great-great grandmother Mary had when left widowed with 9 children and her poor relief records.

That's the sort of stuff FH is its made up of stuff you don't know about its stuff that comes as a surprise or a shock whatever but that's the real meaning of WDYTYA is taking those walls and misconceptions down and hopefully along the way they find it interesting and in most cases humbling that they survived.

[Merry]

And I'm sure we all remember Julian Clary's mother!

Originally Posted by Merry

And I'm sure we all remember Julian Clary's mother!

Ve Are Not German!



I loved it.

I think Julian did too.