Who do You think You are?

I recognised him from the Matalan advert. Every time it came on I kept wondering ‘Who is he? Am I supposed to recognise him?’

Exactly the same here Terribull, I wasn't bothered about watching it as I only had a vague idea of who he was and don't watch TOWIE , but it was the very best of them all! He came across as a really nice bloke, really into his family and obviously had a great relationship with his Grandfather. Recommend it to anyone who didn't catch it last night.

I don't know if I was the only one, who when seeing the latest line up, thought "oh God no not someone off TOWIE please", so it was with surprise that I found Mark Wright's episode last night the most interesting and moving. For anyone who didn't see it, one line of his family could be traced back to 17th century Spain, where his umpteen great grandfather was a master swordsman. That branch of the family were Jewish and were termed "new Christians" which meant they always had a cloud of suspicion hanging over them, the loathsome Spanish Inquisition was still a presence. Suffice to say the family suffered at the hands of their Inquisitors. I found Mark Wright's summing up, which went something along the lines "they were just living their lives, not doing anyone any harm" very moving. It's a salient reminder of the persecution those of the Jewish, and Muslim faiths in the case of Spain, had to live through.

Having said that, do hope the makers of WDYTYA don't find anything interesting in Gemma Collins ancestry

I love this programme but I thought the Katherine Ryan episode was really boring. I kept nodding off and gave up 10mins before the end.

I caught up with the Katherine Ryan episode last night. I've never liked her much but I wanted something relaxing to watch before going to bed.

Firstly I liked her more in this programme. She was interested in everything .... but secondly, I warmed to her because she loves England so much (she's Canadian for those who don't know of her/haven't watched the programme), and it was heartwarming to hear someone praise England for a change. We get things wrong, of course, but we also get things right, and I love England.

MiniMoon It can be quite a shock to find out!

GrannyLiv DH and I are related too!
My grandfather's cousin was also my husband's great aunt. We didn't know until after we were married.

GrannyLiv

Kate's was the worst episode ever I usually love this programme but she was such a pain.

I sometimes wonder if the older generations wouldn't be happy about us all tracing our ancestors.
There were so many aspects of FH that they just wouldn't talk about.

Hubby has done a lot on our respective family trees over a number of years. And yes, some of those family stories that are handed down through generations do hold the truth, others not so much.

In my family there has always been a mystery surrounding my Dad's half sibling, who 'disappeared without trace'. It took a very long time and a few lucky breaks, but Hubby eventually uncovered her story and I was pleased to learn that she actually lived a long and happy life abroad.

But if you go digging be prepared for what you might find - it turns out that Hubby and I are 'related' through the marriage of cousins three generations back. EEK!

It is an entertainment programme and she is an actress. And they do edit and create things for effect.

I thought she over acted

Just rewatched the Jack Whitehall one having fallen asleep watching it last night. WDYTYA has never made me laugh so much.

Yes I'd also read that she would have hated to find out she had wealthy ancestors and thought what a strange comment from someone who has a considerable fortune.Presumably she has no problem accepting big fees for her acting ,and there's nothing wrong with having a talent and work ethic as she obviously has ,and using that to get on in life.And provide a livelihood for others through your industry.
I think that coloured my attitude towards her the.

I found this episode quite boring, i stuck with it though as i wanted to see if she had any interesting family facts, but she didn't. At one point i thought they were going to say she was related to Hans Christian Anderson

I think I read before KW did the programme she said she would have hated to find anyone in her family background to have been well off. So how does that work for her children, will she imbue them with that faux embarrassment she's made her fortune, from her considerable talent as an actress, unlike one of the other people in this series who is a reality star so famous for nothing really imo Whatever one finds in a family background, either good or bad, it doesn't really reflect on the person researching so rather a strange way of looking at things.

However, I did find her programme interesting, particularly the Swedish connection and like her, particularly as I've got older, I really appreciate being a mixture of several nationalities rather than just pure English in my case, although it has been more difficult in tracing those European connections and I couldn't have done it without the help of various cousins living abroad.

Going back to KW, I was interested to hear that she remembered her mother saying something along the lines of "I think we may have some Swedish ancestors" so often those vague recollections have some basis.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I didn't think she was as dramatic and luvvie as I thought she'd be!

Why do people call their sons Bear? If it's after Bear Grylls don't they realise it's a nickname and his name is actually Edward Michael?
What if the child hates outdoor activities?

I'm sure she did Callisterrmon she knew what a cat of nine tails is. Knowing it happened and finding out an ancestor took part could be distressing but I did think she was OTT.

I agree about KW. Although the programme was interesting in itself, some of her responses were so over the top and irritating - seemed quite "put on" at times. Comes with being a "luvvie", perhaps.

Know!!

Surely they know, too, about floggings and other barbaric punishments?
Don't they read?
Apart from scripts?

I've never thought of her as the English Rose type, jura; she has strong features which we now now result from her Scandinavian heritage.

DH and I enjoyed the social history side of it but oh dear ,must be us, but found Kate Winslet more irritating than expected.Rather than down to earth and normal as she kept stressing she was we felt she had switched into acting mode and was OTT with some of her responses.I was very tired last night.

I think a lot of families aren't all that interested in ancestors until they are middle aged themselves.I come from an Irish background where its normal to know about GGP's .and associated families .My husband knew next to nothing about his before I started doing his tree,in fact my MIL knew nothing either.
It was quite a revelation to him to discover he had Irish blood just 3 generations back ,we visited Ireland every year since we got married and he always said it felt like going home.Once he discovered his Irish family he realised he was going home.
His 4x GGP were married in Rathfriland Church where Rev Prunty ,father of the Bronte's was minister .We also discovered a Devon connection where there are living relatives we now keep in touch with,in fact the house my MIL grew up in was called after the Devon village where her ancestors lived .Yet she didn't know .