bbc1 who do you think you are

Fabulous so far!

That might even be better than Josh!

Marvellous. Her parents lived in the same area as some of my family lived in in Dublin. I have visited there a few times.

So enjoyable, I wish I had such connections!

How very rich in history her family is, best one I’ve seen for a long time.

Those old handwritten Danish diaries were amazing.
And those Shakespearean names.

Do I believe in coincidences?

That was quite amazing!

We loved it. A 'must watch' if you didn't see it.
So interesting. Thoroughly enjoyable. I do love Judi Dench.

Callistemon

Do I believe in coincidences?

That was quite amazing!

It was indeed. A lot to take in.

I loved the way she said she was going to bore the pants off everyone with the story of the link to the first role she played at The Old Vic.

It was an excellent programme - so good to have someone who does not go over the top with the gasps!

Such painstaking research, it must take so much time. Amazing story.

What an excellent series so far ?. But both brilliant. Difficult to continue with such good stuff I would think.

We thoroughly enjoyed this episode, like last weeks the bar is exceptionally high this series.

Really interesting, she was so calm but moved by everything. No theatrical gasps or tears just genuine interest in what they had found for her. One of the best I have seen even DH condescended to watch.

I do often wonder how many famous people they have to research, before finding one who’s sufficiently interesting? How many are just ditched, I wonder?

And how many ‘boring’ or dead-end family tree branches they pursue, before hitting on a corker.

For my money, the best ever was the actress who played EastEnders Dot Cotton (can’t remember her name) - absolutely fascinating, going back to the persecution and exodus of Jews from Spain in the 1500s, or possibly even earlier - it was some years ago now.

I loved it and like Yammy’s, my husband watched instead of picking up a book. She came across as a lovely lady too. I was embarrassed by the brilliant English all the Danes spoke ...

We thought that too about their English skills while we were in Denmark Germanshepherdsmum. Our waiter told us they start off at a very young age.

Witzend I’d like them to pick a few people who aren’t famous. I’m sure some of us have interesting ancestry.

Witzend

I do often wonder how many famous people they have to research, before finding one who’s sufficiently interesting? How many are just ditched, I wonder?

And how many ‘boring’ or dead-end family tree branches they pursue, before hitting on a corker.

For my money, the best ever was the actress who played EastEnders Dot Cotton (can’t remember her name) - absolutely fascinating, going back to the persecution and exodus of Jews from Spain in the 1500s, or possibly even earlier - it was some years ago now.

For me it was the story of Ruby Wax in 2017.
Gosh....

And how many ‘boring’ or dead-end family tree branches they pursue, before hitting on a corker.

I did wonder that and admire the persistence of the researchers.

And isn't her grandson a dead ringer for his lovely grandfather?

I found the onset of Josh Widdicombe’s journey so highly contrived.

His lineage is no doubt fascinating & reflects how small the circle & concentrated are the powers & assets of the long standing aristocratic families are.

But for his father to casually mention ‘oh we have some landed gentry cousins just t’other side of t’moor for Josh to be so clueless was dissembling to say the least.

Germanshepherdsmum

I loved it and like Yammy’s, my husband watched instead of picking up a book. She came across as a lovely lady too. I was embarrassed by the brilliant English all the Danes spoke ...

It’s the same in a lot of countries where their own language is spoken by virtually nobody else. For better or worse, English is the global language, so if they’re going to pick just one to learn well, there’s not much choice.

My sister was embarrassed at a wedding in the Czech Republic we attended - because many of the local guests spoke English and none of us spoke Czech - (although I did actually study it for a year aeons ago, when I had to do another Slavonic language besides Russian.) But by her reasoning, to avoid embarrassment you’d need to learn the language of every country you ever visited.

It’s a harder choice if English is your mother tongue, not that that’s any excuse IMO for being totally monolingual. IIRC it was Tony Blair’s govt. who made it no longer compulsory for GCSE choices to include a modern foreign language. Very short sighted IMO.