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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: acceber on Monday 23 February 09 18:15 GMT (UK)
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This new epidsode is on tonight on BBC1 at 9pm
acceber
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I was 21 a few times 8)
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??? we all were once !
I enjoyed this one ... it had what we expect of a TV genealogy programme; the paper-work and the foreign visits ! Even just a few tears !
The Jewish pogroms and persecution was terrible. But Zoe was lucky to be able to find a family grave ...
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I've always loved Zoe in her acting roles.
It was lovely to see her just as sensitive in real life. And what a fascinating line we followed. :)
My favourite of all so far.
Thanks acceber (again I believe) for the heads-up.
Paul
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Well done Grandpa for typing the account of his life; what a wonderful document to have.
Are we all putting pen to paper now......... ;)
Pleased to see Zoe remembered to put a stone on the grave.
Nanny Jan
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I agree that this was the best episode of the (short) series so far. Having said that i cant wait to see what the unearth for Kwvin Whately next week in the final episode.
it's just such a shame that this series is getting shorter and shorter - its one of the highlights of my week!
Lisa
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Is the custom of putting a stone on a grave a Jewish one? I have seen references to it before but I'm not sure where. ???
I agree that her Grandfather's life story was a wonderful (interesting and useful) document to have. If only...
KateW
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Hi Kate *waves hello*
Its only a film reference i know, but i saw the holocaust survivors do this in the movie Schindlers List. At the end of the film, all the people Oscar Schindler saved that were still alive, filed past his grave and laid a stone on the grave to remember him by. I am pretty sure that this is a jewish tradition.
Lisa
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Thoroughly enjoyed this episode - not only because there was more emphasis on the research - but also because of Zoe's reactions to the various revelations. I like the idea of leaving a stone on the grave when you visit it. I may adopt this custom myself.
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What about her mother's side of the family? Who did her father marry?
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Definitely the best so far, much more records and actual "researching"... 100% better than last weeks.. but for me, id still like to see the shows concentrate more again on going further back, to see how far they can go, but thats just me i guess lol
Much better episode tho
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I'd like some of the good episodes spread over a couple of weeks, so you could look at both sides of the family, or go a bit further back. There's only so much you can fit into an hour, and they did cram a lot into this programme.
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I thought it was an excellent programme far superior to the others in this series and good to feel the mixed natural emotions of Zoe.
Abiam
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Wow!
What a difference to last weeks program!
Zoe looked like she was so excited with what she was finding out, such a difference to the previous episodes!
Kate, yes its a Jewish custom, it signifies that you have been to the grave and have remembered the person buried, it also goes back to the days when headstones werent used - adding a stone to the pile on the grave was also maintaining the marking of the grave.
I used to work for a jewish family a long time ago & someone explained it to me, I liked the idea myself and I collect a small stone now from wherever I travel and add it to my grandparents grave.
I added a stone with each of my grandparents names written onto it to the Memorial cairn at the national arboretum for the same reason.
Gaille
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I think it was one of the better episodes of this series, at least I did not fall asleep this time (after having looked forward to it all week), but it would appear that I am alone in thinking it is still disappointing compared to the first series.
In the earlier series the length was the same but it felt like 10 minutes because it was full of interest, forever on the move and that tree kept growing and moving further back, further than some of us without such resources/experience/time, can ever hope to achieve.
This series seems to concentrate mostly on just one ancestor. The FBI/Communist part of this episode was interesting but I was very glad when they eventually moved on.
Zoe Wanamaker came over as I hoped she would, a lovely lady with genuine emotions but I must be one of the few who would not mind who's tree (celebrity or not )it was as long as it was entertaining, interesting and informative.
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A much better program, and her fther's side was very intersting, just wanted more genealogy!
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Yes this was better than previous weeks! Would have been interested in her mother's family too. :-\
Kooky
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I found it quite interesting, but still poor compared with programmes in previous series. The focus didn't shift from her father Sam Wanamaker until half way though the programme.
There was no mention whatsoever of her mother's side of the family.
I agree that Zoe Wanamaker seemed genuinely interested, but this doesn't compensate for the poor overall quality of the programme.
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Yes this was better than previous weeks! Would have been interested in her mother's family too. :-\
Kooky
It is, of course possible that she didn't want her mothers line investigated ? How old is Zoe ? 50 - 60 ? Her mother may still be alive and didnt want it done ...
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At the start of the programme Zoe did say that she wanted to find out about her father.
This series seems to focus on following the father's line; I wonder if the next series will follow the mother.
Nanny Jan
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I agree. Fathers have had the major part of the programme in most cases, so that little time was left for other family members. Still, I did enjoy this one much more than most of the others. At least we got to look at some records, and for those of us who have American or Jewish relatives, it was interesting to see how the records were kept.
Gillg
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I was totally enthralled by this episode. It was so full of irony - Zoe's grandfather came over to America to escape poverty to "the land of the free", and his son was persecuted for his political views. She has cause to be very proud of her father.
Just the right balance, as far as I was concerned. I would like to have seen a bit more of the part of Chicago where her grandfather settled (I love Chicago), but there is only so much that you can put into an hour's programme. Don't forget that you can see some of the parts that ended up on the cutting room floor for all the personalities on the BBC WDYTYA website.
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Well I'm still a bit disappointed. There was a really good potential programme in there on McCarthyism and it would have been interesting to see Zoe research that and how it affected her father and the acting/arts profession in general.
I don't want to sound flippant, but it did seem to me that it was like a lot of other programmes in the series, only this time it was the Pogroms rather than the Holocaust.
Carole
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Although I don't have Jewish ancestors, I can see the relevance of the Holocaust/Pograms to genealogy. Both Britain and America have absorbed people from all over the world who have been fleeing from persecution or poverty. For their descendants (and the rest of us) it's interesting to know why they emigrated.
In my own case it was the other way round. My Scottish ancestors left Scotland during the clearances, and emigrated to Australia and New Zealand. My ex-husband's family left Ireland during the potato famine and ended up in Liverpool and the States.
I don't think this episode dwelt too long on the pogroms, it struck a good balance between social/politcal history and the nitty-gritty of research. I just hope they stick to this formula.
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It just seems that there have been quite a few people with Jewish ancestry on WDYTYA - it would be nice if other emigrations could be covered as well - some of my ancestors left Lancashire for Australia, others Ireland for England - or few Non-conformist ancestors would make a change as well.
I do feel that a lot of the time that the makers are keen to go for the tear inducing stories.
Carole
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One must remember that WDYTYA? is on BBC 1, for mass entertainment. Perhaps it should have been shown on BBC 2 and kept more to the Family Tree side rather than the 'Good Television' appeal.
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I feel I must agree with most of you, definitely one of the better shows, but it is still lacking that certain something - I suppose I want to see them trace back to the beginnings of time, (well whenever it was the surname came about, and how).
One part that really surprised me, was the charity section of the burial ground in Chicago, the headstones were amazing!! Alot of my ancestors were buried in the late 1800s/ early 1900s in paupers graves, and there is not even a mark on the ground, I'm glad to see some places remember their dead whatever the circumstances.
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But Zoe was lucky to be able to find a family grave
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I was interested in the fact that although her g.gran was buried in the equivalent of the paupers' part of the cemetery she still had a large headstone. I wonder who provided that?
Celebs always seem lucky in that even in a foreign land, Ukraine in this instance, there are still records available giving information about their family. How fortunate that event though lots of Jewish synagogue records were destroyed by the Russians, the ones with Zoe's ancestors were still available - and I can't even find the death of my g.g.grandfather somewhere between 1841 and 1851 in England. ???
Hali-Benny you just beat me with your comment about the paupers graves.
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There was no mention whatsoever of her mother's side of the family.
I vaguely recall that she was Jewish and from Toronto, Canada.
There was a really good potential programme in there on McCarthyism and it would have been interesting to see Zoe research that and how it affected her father and the acting/arts profession in general.
That's already been done in the past, mainly covering the bloke that wrote the early episodes of Robin Hood in the 1950's and the film director Joseph Losley.
The general trend of this series of WDYTYA is to spend 30 minutes exploring the father of the subject and rest of the program exploring other ancestors of interest. Take it or leave it. :)
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Is it the same Production Team in this series? Something is lacking somewhere.
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I thought this was one of the worst episodes. ???
Anyone who has ever heard of Sam Wanamaker would know why he left the USA so I'm darn sure his daughter would have, so I thought that part of the programme was a complete waste of time.
I didn't think there was anything in it at all to be honest. I'm not sure I'll bother watching the show again, as I've only enjoyed one episode this series and have fallen asleep in two others. ;D
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I did think that it was better than last weeks, but too much time spent on her father. They needed to move the prog. on at a faster pace.
Still. she had a nice kitchen though - equal to Fiona Bruce. ;)
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Still. she had a nice kitchen though - equal to Fiona Bruce. Wink
I liked Rory Bremner's myself - very countryfied. ;D
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I was interested in the fact that although her g.gran was buried in the equivalent of the paupers' part of the cemetery she still had a large headstone. I wonder who provided that?
Didn't it say Mother on it? Perhaps a son made good at a later date.
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Also when Zoe was at the cemetery to see the gravestone,the man behind the desk asked her to fill in a form because they had no family connected with that grave.That was a nice touch.Or maybe they wanted to charge for the upkeep! ;D
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I saw it today on i-player and thought it was really good. I haven't watched this series properly- having fallen asleep through Fiona Bruce and couldn't face Rick Stein.
As is often the case, I did think that she would have known lots about her father - if you have a parent who was passionate about a cause, it is transmitted to you in childhood.
However, as a contrast to the 'golden land of opportunity', Sam Wanamaker's story was essential, following on from the union involvement from grandpa.
Lastly, I thought the Ukraine records were fantastic - overall thoroughly enjoyable.
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I think it was one of the better episodes of this series, at least I did not fall asleep this time (after having looked forward to it all week), but it would appear that I am alone in thinking it is still disappointing compared to the first series.
I'm afraid I'm with you-the first 40 minutes did little more than she could have found out herself by phoning or emailing her own family...
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I'm afraid I'm with you-the first 40 minutes did little more than she could have found out herself by phoning or emailing her own family...
Does that include the FBI?
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Still. she had a nice kitchen though - equal to Fiona Bruce. ;)
And it looks like she had a tortoise in her garden - I would like to have seen more of that ;D
I do like Zoe Wanamaker and enjoyed the episode despite yet more trips overseas. Having the most English of ancestors all these trips for research mean little to me...but I found the info on Mcarthyism and the Pogroms very interesting.
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I have just watched a recording of last night's episode of 'So You Think You're Royal' and it was FANTASTIC!! just like WDYTYA was in the first series. If you guys did not watch it, watch the repeat on Sunday night (Sky 3, I think)
Sorry but I am jumping ship ! I don't know if there are any more episodes to watch but I would rather watch a re-run of this series than this present series of WDYTYA!
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I agree 'So you think you are Royal' is far better the WDYTYA - both Nick Baratt (?spelling) the current series is too 'Individual' obsessed, in my opinion. I dod enjoy Zoë's quest and although she knew WHY her father left the US there were still questions I would have wanted answering.
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As, apart from one unconfirmed birth that both I and a distant cousin have tried for 2 years to get evidence of, I can (I think) trace one branch of my family back to Edward I (G Grandfather x 30.... ha ha) I would have liked to have seen the episode with the family who thought they also had this link.
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I would have liked to have seen the episode with the family who thought they also had this link.
Was that Matthew Pinsent?
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Sorry, I was talking about the series "so you think you're royal" - not that I do of course, however, I've just calculated that Edward I is actually only Great G x 26!! :o ;D
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Perhaps there should be a follow on programme on BBC 3 like they do with The Apprentice, showing all the "leg work". It would give us all an insight into where they find the information. I am sure I am not alone, as a beginner, to sit there and say "where do I find that" or "why can't I find.......".
Perhaps even we could see what the celebrities do with this information once they have it. Has anyone carried on with the research, collected all the information found into somekind of lasting tribute. Or have they never thought about it again >:(
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Welsh Jules, I have Edward 1 as my 23 x GG!!! Distant (very) cousins?!!! Actually on that side I have traced back a long way and found that my husband's distant ancestor and mine were siblings....oops :o ...I'm talking about 100s of years ago, I hasten to add and I think many of us would find we were connected then. ;D ;D
KateW
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I agree with most of the comments here. This week's episode was such much better than the last.
I agree that the McCarthy part was rather prolonged but the latter half of the programme was so much more interesting.
A very good hour's viewing!
Judy
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I thought that this was probably the best episode of this series to date, the variety of people in her tree that she researched and how they all fitted together from her GG Grandfather and his family in Russia to herself born in America and then moving to England.
It was also good to see lots of different documents and information, the census, passenger records, pictures etc, and especially the FBI records, which as Downside has pointed out, she couldnt have found out from anywhere else. (Unlike Rory Bremner who could have just phoned his brother)
Lets hope Kevin Whately's episode next week is in a similar style :)
acceber
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I enjoyed the programme, but still feel it has lost the original genealogical focus.
This week we had an exposition of the McCarthy era in the US taking up at least one third of the programme. Last week we had an extended feature on mental illness taking up about half the programme.
Both very interesting in themselves, but not really what we expect from WDYTYA. Perhaps we should all make our feelings known to the production company, who I believe are WalltoWall productions:
www.walltowall.co.uk
Anne
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I have just watched a recording of last night's episode of 'So You Think You're Royal' and it was FANTASTIC!! just like WDYTYA was in the first series. If you guys did not watch it, watch the repeat on Sunday night (Sky 3, I think)
Sorry but I am jumping ship ! I don't know if there are any more episodes to watch but I would rather watch a re-run of this series than this present series of WDYTYA!
Have never heard of 'So You Think You're Royal' Is it only available on Sky? We can get digital channels, but don't pay for Sky. Sounds like we're missing a great programme.
I agree that this week was the best of the series so far. I assume Zoe's mother's family weren't interesting enough to follow up. I'm sure they do lots of research and concentrate on the most interesting stories.
Angela
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Angela, we've got Virgin cable, and they've recently been including Sky 3 in the package. I've only seen a couple of the 'Royal' programmes, but they really are good. They treat the research seriously, but appeal to a wider audience by giving some suspense as to whether the family do have royal connections or not.
My cable channel also showed an old WDYTYA tonight - the Alastair McGowan one - from a couple of series ago. It was by no means the best programme but it brought home what everyone has been saying about this series. Alistair McGowan was genuinely surprised at each generation they uncovered in India, and the researchers followed his family back until they found the original British (or actually Irish) ancestor that first went to India. That was real research - which we haven't seen much of at all in this series.
Mind you, I did enjoy Zoe Wanamaker - so I'm hoping the next programme is back to the old format.
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'So you think you're Royal' is on a digital channel. I'm sorry I can't remember which one but I watch it & I haven't got Sky! ;) I agree it is a very interesting programme with detailed information.
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So you think you're royal is on sky 3, a freeview channel, on monday nights at 8pm. As far as I know they are repeats, but well worth watching, you get to see 'real' research as well as a history lesson. It can be a little cheesy at times though!!
Apparently 1 in 4 people have a royal connection in their tree - I think I must be one of the other 3!!!
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we watched an old episode on I believe the Blighty channel last night.
Alistair McGowan.
The programme got stuck in straight away, was chock full of research and interesting asides about the British in India, and went all the way back to Ireland (not Scotland as our hero had believed / hoped! ) in the 18th Century.
A very different format and in-depth content compared to the current series.
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I found the program very interesting, but the way they had edited it was a bit strange. To start off with they made out she didn't have a clue what happened about why her father left and wanted to find out more, only to stumble upon the fact that he fled - which she already knew about.
When anyone starts researching their family history, they need to contact family members - which was done, but rather late in my opinion. The first thing they did was ship her to America. Surely a better idea would have been to contact family members beforehand (and get that biography of her grandfather) while in the UK, and then fly over to explore it in more detail. It doesn't exactly point people in the right direction. Travelling to another country to find information is by far the first thing to do. They could have looked at the 1880 census from the UK, too (among others).
Or was that just done so all the information was not given away at once?
I would like to see a program focussing on British heritage to know about other sources I can find to go back further and find out more.
Andrew
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Yes you have a point there Andrew. It was not made clear that there are other ways to research USA censuses without going to the country.
As I said earlier, I did enjoy it and thought the land of opportunity aspiration followed by the juxtaposition of the McCarthy era and the pogroms was thought provoking.
However, reading the comments here, it may have been better as a stand alone programme on that theme rather than under the guise of a genealogical programme. Then it would avoid the 'surprise' elements that were already known.
A worthy programme nevertheless.
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I agree with others who said that the earlier series were more interesting and aimed to shed light on the various research possibilities that exist and not so much on pure entertainment. Zoe's programme was definitely the best so far in the current series. Thank you to the rootschatter who gave the link to the company which makes the programme - wall to wall. I have just spent an interesting hour or so reading about past programmes including one or two which I had missed. The one on Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen has short video clips too. Maybe we should make our views known to Wall to Wall. I would like to see a WDYTYA special where someone's ancestry could be researched in depth to make a two hour or two-part programme. Any suggestions for a subject? Who would you like to see "done"?
Chirp
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I would like to see a program focussing on British heritage to know about other sources I can find to go back further and find out more.
Yes I have to say that I agree with you Andrew, it is certainly where my interest lies and we have seen hardly any this series.
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I would like to see a program focussing on British heritage to know about other sources I can find to go back further and find out more.
The Matthew Pinsent edition went back to Alfred the Great.
Is that far enough back for you? :)
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I enjoyed the Fiona Bruce episode too.
I thought this one was very good, though it doesn't live up in comparison to the old WDYTYA's I agree. Still I found it very interesting, I just wish they'd make more use out of the first 30 minutes of each program.
Might have to watch the Royal one now after reading some of these comments.
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Matthew Pinsent's went back even further than Alfred the Great ... his ultimate ancestor was God !
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According to today's paper the programme on Kevin Whately which will be on TV on Monday goes back 400 years, and as his grandparents had all died before he was born, his father died when he was a teenager and his mother has Alzheimer's, it seems that he really doesn't know much about his family at all, so it could be a very interesting programme (I hope :))
B.
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Saved the best until last, perhaps?