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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: nanny jan on Monday 22 June 15 18:38 BST (UK)
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New line up announced: Paul Hollywood, Mark Gattis, Jerry Hall, Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner, Anita Rani,
Frances de la Tour, Sir Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid.
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Hope this series are a bit better than the last one :)
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Should be a good series!
I would think Anita Rani will be tracing her Indian ancestors, which I do find interesting as most of my lot are British!
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More cynically, the celebrity travel junket begins...
Citing wikipedia
Jacobi, an only child, was born in Leytonstone, London, England, the son of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters), a secretary who worked in a drapery store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi, who ran a sweet shop and was a tobacconist in Chingford. His great-grandfather on his father's side had emigrated to England from Germany during the 19th century
What's the betting he's interested in learning about his German roots rather than traipsing round Chingford?
Hall was born in Gonzales, Texas to Marjorie (née Sheffield) and truck driver John P. Hall.[2] She is of English, Irish, Dutch and some Cherokee Native American descent
Could go anywhere or everywhere
Gatiss was born in Sedgefield, County Durham,[4] England, to Maurice Gatiss (1931-) and Winifred Gatiss (née O'Kane).
Ireland again?
Gareth Malone was born into a family of Irish descent.
And again!
Not sure if it is this one but
Gardner's father and mother were both diplomats and when he was six he moved from the UK to the Hague in the Netherlands. The excitement of travel to a foreign country left a lasting impression.
Uh-oh!
Rani was born on 25 October 1977 and raised in Bradford in Yorkshire, to a mother of Sikh origin, and Hindu father
Well, I can guess where that's going...
De la Tour was born in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, to Moyra (née Fessas) and Charles de la Tour,[1] of French descent.
Hmm...
Reid was born in Newcastle upon Tyne,[2] the daughter of Colin Norman Reid (1896-1979)[3] and Annie Eliza Weetman/Reid (1896-c.1980[4]).[5] ... when her father was posted abroad as a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph: she visited her parents occasionally in India, Tehran and Beirut in the school holidays.
Uh-oh!
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The celebrity missing from the lineup is Jane Seymour.
Annette
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Thanks Annette; I felt sure there should have been more names. :)
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New line up announced: Paul Hollywood, Mark Gattis, Jerry Hall, Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner, Anita Rani,
Frances de la Tour, Sir Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid.
Only 2 I have heard of but Paul Hollywood is a hunk & I think his ancestry will be interesting as I think it's an unusual name in Britain ???
Annie
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He's from Merseyside so possibly an Ulster connection
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Jane Seymour
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born 15 February 1951 in Hayes, Middlesex, England,
Now that's what I'd be interested in
the daughter of John Benjamin Frankenberg, an obstetrician, and Mieke van Trigt, a nurse.Her father was a British citizen of Jewish heritage whose family was from Poland (village of Nowe Trzepowo).Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II, and who had lived in Indonesia.
Bah!
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I always prefer the ones where there is an overseas element. I liked Bruce Forsyth's story of bigamy and desertion! I love the part where certificates suddenly appear as if by magic. Maybe de la Tour is a Huguenot name, I don't remember seeing that covered so far......
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Maybe de la Tour is a Huguenot name, I don't remember seeing that covered so far......
It was featured in Julia Sawalha's episode when tracing her mother's ancestry.
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To be honest,
I would rather see "Joe Soaps" picked from obscurity, who really can't afford to delve into their heritage as all those celebrities can more than afford it ???
Annie
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Maybe de la Tour is a Huguenot name, I don't remember seeing that covered so far......
It was featured in Julia Sawalha's episode when tracing her mother's ancestry.
J K Rowling too if memory serves me right.
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I've not seen most episodes in past series' I'm exceedingly bad at (a) spotting programmes are on (b) remembering when and what channel (c) spotting the time for any particular programme.
I hope I don't miss (most of) these. I tend to catch past episodes on the Yesterday channel, which seems to have some at 7am some days (not sure which days) ... and, er, later on in the day (again, I don't know the days).
I do hate missing programmes, but time flies!
I don't like the furren ones, or the war ones. I like the regular tragedy and hardship ones - especially where a previously smug celeb breaks down and gets all emotional. When it's "your people" you can't remain detached.
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Good to see a new series on the way. No matter how bad these are, they're still better than most of the dross on TV. I'll need to google who several of them are though ....
I don't like the furren ones, or the war ones. I like the regular tragedy and hardship ones - [/size]
I tend to agree with you SC. :)
Have had a look and these are the only ones I'm not familiar with:
Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner & Anita Rani. :)
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To be honest,
I would rather see "Joe Soaps" picked from obscurity, who really can't afford to delve into their heritage as all those celebrities can more than afford it ???
Annie
Me too!
Watched the old episode of Richard Madeley again last night, still makes me wonder how we jump from Granddad he never knew to how many times Gt Granddad who was with the founding fathers, and all in the space of an hour :P ??? ;D ;D ;D
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Just seen that these are the people starring in next series....
Paul Hollywood
Sir Derek Jacobi
Gareth Malone,
Mark Gatiss
Ann Reid
Jane Seymour
Jerry Hall
Frances dela Tour
Frank Gardner
Anita Rani
Looks quite an impressive list....only two names I don't know
Ringrose
Moderator comment: topics merged
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I remember hearing that Michael Parkinson was a bit annoyed that his family weren't chosen for a programme. They did the research but there was no 'angle' to it. They were all Barnsley miners, considered by the producers to be too boring for tv.
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Posting so I hear when each episode is on. Would appreciate a heads-up on the day if some kind soul could ping us.
Paul
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Have had a look and these are the only ones I'm not familiar with:
Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner & Anita Rani. :)
Gareth Malone is that mid 30's chap with glasses who get's people together and teaches them to sing,he did the Army wives Choir.
Anita Rani is in Watchdog type programmes.
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Same for me too Carol.
Carol
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I've only seen this show a few times. Last season I watched was the Kim Catrall season.
Haven't caught up. I'm not very interested in the show I just like seeing the scenery and how they find things out.
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Have had a look and these are the only ones I'm not familiar with:
Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner & Anita Rani. :)
Frank Gardner is the wheelchair bound BBC News Security correspondent.
Former Army Captain and banker, son of diplomats.
Shot 6 times in 2004, while in Saudi Arabia.
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I remember hearing that Michael Parkinson was a bit annoyed that his family weren't chosen for a programme. They did the research but there was no 'angle' to it. They were all Barnsley miners, considered by the producers to be too boring for tv.
That sounds about right, why have ordinary working folk, who all did the same job for generations when you can have pioneers, famous folk and other nobility.... I'm waiting for them to find Cleopatra is their great x how many grandmother ;D ;D ::) ::) :P :P
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I'm looking forward to the new series and hope it is good. Re Michael Parkinson, his situation of non inclusion has been cited before, but I for one would have loved to have heard about his miners, seeing as most of mine were miners too!
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Have had a look and these are the only ones I'm not familiar with:
Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner & Anita Rani. :)
Frank Gardner is the wheelchair bound BBC News Security correspondent.
Former Army Captain and banker, son of diplomats.
Shot 6 times in 2004, while in Saudi Arabia.
Thanks for that but I'm still none the wiser (I'm in Australia ;)). I'm sure it will be interesting anyway.
Re Michael Parkinson's boring miner ancestors. I expect it would have been more to do with the fact that they could not concoct a story from his ancestors that was behind the decision to ditch it. As landej said, all of the searches have angle which is followed up - eg. why do I have a certain talent, why do I feel so close to a certain place, or I know nothing about a certain branch of my family etc etc.
Many of the celebrities have had humble origins so it's not related to that but obviously none of Parkinson's ancestors told a particularly interesting story.
I think ditching it is understandable - what could they do? Find the family in each census and note that they were still living in the same place and they've managed to produce a few more children in the 10 years since the previous census - and they're still miners? Oh look, now X Parkinson is dead aged 56 from TB. That wouldn't make very good TV viewing. ;D
Of course the programme makers are looking to find a WOW factor in each journey.
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Agreed. The programme producers are after all in the business of providing an entertainment of general interest to viewers - although you often hear on here " wouldn't it be nice if obscure Joe Soap from Dullsville (who might be my ancestor) was done instead of famous people", then that wouldn't be very likely to attract a huge load of viewers.
I think the reason that one hears so often about Parkinson's "boring ancestry" may well be because he didn't mind stating it! Perhaps there were loads of other boring families to famous people - but when they were rejected after the initial research, they didn't say what had happened?
I'd unusually, heard of most of this list, bar Anita Rani, before. I'm sure hers will be interesting. My personal peeve is, despite having some Irish ancestry myself, I get very fed up with the Irish ones, they always seem to show the same illustrations exactly of the poor crofters being evicted and the potato famine ... there seems to be a bit of a famine of alterative images, in fact ... or is that not really looking for any others?
It's a programme that can often annoy, you think "Why didn't they..." when they suddenly hop from one line to another, but I've often picked up one of those references in an idle moment, and pursued it myself for a bit, and there's usually a good reason, related to the dramatic dynamic of the programme. But it's good to have another series coming.
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The producers have previously stated that for each programme they film about 10-12 hours of recorded stuff. And that doesn't count the research they decided not to film!
Just imagine squeezing any of your family histories into a watchable one hour programme!
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I don't know, I think an hour of this would be fascinating
(Don't read to the end, there's no punchline)
George KING son of Stephen KING ( - ) and Susan KING (1781?-1834?), was born in 1809 (calculated) in Hayes, Middlesex,England. He was baptised on 19 March 1809 in Hayes. The address was: St Mary's Church, Church Road. On 19 December 1830 he was resident in Hayes. On 19 December 1830 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 10 February 1833 he was resident in Hayes. On 10 February 1833 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 8 February 1835 he was resident in Hayes. On 8 February 1835 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 31 May 1840 he was resident in Hayes. On 31 May 1840 he was a Labourer in Hayes. He appeared in the census on 6 June 1841 in Hayes aged 30 or more. The address was: Wood End Green. On 6 June 1841 he was an Agricultural Labourer in Hayes...
I believe I have some tidying up to do... :)
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StevieSteve - think I'll watch the Parky episode!! ;D ;D
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I don't know, I think an hour of this would be fascinating
(Don't read to the end, there's no punchline)
George KING son of Stephen KING ( - ) and Susan KING (1781?-1834?), was born in 1809 (calculated) in Hayes, Middlesex,England. He was baptised on 19 March 1809 in Hayes. The address was: St Mary's Church, Church Road. On 19 December 1830 he was resident in Hayes. On 19 December 1830 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 10 February 1833 he was resident in Hayes. On 10 February 1833 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 8 February 1835 he was resident in Hayes. On 8 February 1835 he was a Labourer in Hayes. On 31 May 1840 he was resident in Hayes. On 31 May 1840 he was a Labourer in Hayes. He appeared in the census on 6 June 1841 in Hayes aged 30 or more. The address was: Wood End Green. On 6 June 1841 he was an Agricultural Labourer in Hayes...
I believe I have some tidying up to do... :)
Love it! ;D And I read to the end ... ;)
I think ThrelfallYorky is probably right in saying there have been many others who have been rejected as not interesting enough.
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Paul Hollywood is a hunk
Annie - I couldn't disagree more with you. I think he's obnoxious.
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Paul Hollywood is a hunk
Annie - I couldn't disagree more with you. I think he's obnoxious.
Lizzie,
I haven't noticed that about him as I've been too busy (l ::) ::) king) at his lovely eyes ;D
Annie
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Sorry Annie, he's all yours and that's one programme I won't be watching. ::)
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Sorry Annie, he's all yours and that's one programme I won't be watching. ::)
Just because you don't like him,doesn't mean that his family history might not be incredibly interesting ;D
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Carol - I agree his family history might be very interesting, but I just can't stand the man so would rather not watch that programme than have to put up with him.
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Carol - I agree his family history might be very interesting, but I just can't stand the man so would rather not watch that programme than have to put up with him.
WDYTYA is interesting because sometimes you like the celebrity and like them even more after you've seen the programme and their reaction to what they've discovered - but equally, I've not really liked someone much and then grown to appreciate them through the programme.
And there've been a few where I've liked them to start and then not liked them at all afterwards!
Added: Chris Moyles was someone who I'd not got a lot of time for, but seeing him finding out about his relatives in WW1 was very moving.
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I enjoy the show a lot. I watch the BBC ones, and even though I dont know who most of the people are its interesting... And MUCH more entertaining than those "we are naked on a desert island" programs that are usually on.
The US episodes have either been "dumbed down" or the celebs are just not real bright. I saw an episode where a woman found out her family was in a workhouse in Ireland and she wanted to know why no one knew about this part of history.
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Hope someone on here will let people know when it starts on the telly. So I can find it on youtube. As that is the only way I can watch it over here and all my family come from England. Even have Barnsley coal miner ancestors, like Michael Parkinson. In fact I was born in Barnsley and we had a Michael Parkinson who lived on our street but know it is not the same one lol.
Cheers
Anne
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Carol - I agree his family history might be very interesting, but I just can't stand the man so would rather not watch that programme than have to put up with him.
Often, the enjoyment of the programme is unrelated to what we think of the subject. What we know of the person is almost entirely their on-screen persona - just an act (and the majority are actors).
One such I remember was Bruce Forsyth's episode, where he came over as a real person. I enjoyed the programme a lot, but still hate his stage/telly act.
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andrew - your could be right but Paul Hollywood is not an actor, so I think he's probably somewhat like he is on his TV appearances.
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- Since first posting on this subject, I realised I really havn't even heard of this "Paul Hollywood" - I must've slipped over that name in the list. Please (Mi'Lud) - who the heck is he?? If anyone? He sounds very "marmite".
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Celebrity chef/baker. He is on Great British Bake Off with Mary Berry... I shan't mention his USA exploits ::)
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http://paulhollywood.com/
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Celebrity chef/baker. He is on Great British Bake Off with Mary Berry... I shan't mention his USA exploits ::)
Maybe the angle with this one might be his journey to discover if any of his ancestors were philanderers? ;D
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when will the show start?
cheers
anne
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Sorry Anne but I've not seen any start details...........watch this space!
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Series 8 is being repeated late mornings BBC1.
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Series 8 is being repeated late mornings BBC1.
When will that start as they are showing Heir Hunters at the moment?
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Sorry - My mistake! It's Heir Hunters Series 8!!!
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New line up announced: Paul Hollywood, Mark Gattis, Jerry Hall, Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner, Anita Rani,
Frances de la Tour, Sir Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid.
Only 2 I have heard of but Paul Hollywood is a hunk & I think his ancestry will be interesting as I think it's an unusual name in Britain ???
Annie
I have not got any particular feelings one way or another about Paul - however his surname interests me greatly. I have been searching for my 2 x great grandmother's family for years . They are CULLINAN. Over the years I have slowly discovered that she has been recorded in various ways other than Cullinan - Holly, Holley, Hollywood. Who would have thought! :o
Hollywood Name Meaning Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó Cuileannáin ‘descendant of Cuileannán’, a personal name from a diminutive of cuileann ‘holly tree’, which is more commonly Anglicized as Cullinan.
CD
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That is interesting CD. :)
With him being from Liverpool I thought there would probably be an Irish connection.
(I don't mind him - he's personable and a good presenter on The GB Bake Off, though I suspect he spends a fair amount of time in front of the mirror ;D)
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(I don't mind him - he's personable and a good presenter on The GB Bake Off, though I suspect he spends a fair amount of time in front of the mirror ;D)
My thoughts exactly ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Mo
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I am hoping Paul will be inspired by his Irish roots and put together an Irish themed cook book - with perhaps some lovely scone or cake recipes :D
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Saw this on the 'net' today
Although the below schedule may still be subject to change, Frances de la Tour’s story is set to close the series on 22 October.
•13 August: Paul Hollywood
•20 August: Jane Seymour
•27 August: Derek Jacobi
•3 September: No episode
•10 September: Jerry Hall
•17 September: Gareth Malone
•24 September: Anne Reid
•1 October: Frank Gardner
•8 October: Anita Rani
•15 October: Mark Gatiss
•22 October: Frances de la Tour
Moderator comment: topics merged
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Thanks for sharing this, I'm really looking forward to it.
I like Mark Gatiss, it will be interesting to see what he is like.
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Great! Thanks for that jan57, will mark the date on my calendar. frostyknight
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it will be great to have an insight into some of these people...
has anyone seen the hateful 'ad' for the new series of bake off.... !!
oh my
I cant wait to have something to watch on TV with this kind of histerical context. :) whoops another spelling error... or maybe not :)
xin
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Tonights the night !! first show of the new series !
Moderator Comment:
Topic: BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 12: Episode #1 Paul Hollywood
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=728255.0
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What is the point of having "celebrity" names?
Everyday tales of Ordinary people would be infinitely more interesting, surely?
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What is the point of having "celebrity" names?
Everyday tales of Ordinary people would be infinitely more interesting, surely?
Just as interesting perhaps, but who would tune in for an hour to watch the exploits of Scouseboy's Liverpudlian ancestors and see your mug on their TV screens? :-\
It is the celebrity that people are interested in, and the idea is to show how ordinary most of these famous people and their ancestors are.
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Agree with Ruskie - each series we hear the line about "ordinary people would be better..." but whilst I might find the story of mine fascinating ( and most certainly would really welcome a free trip to Canada, another to Ireland, time in the highlands of Scotland - oh, and I've heard of a really distant rellie in Jamaica ) I expect everyone else would be bored out of their bloomers by it!! And the series would rapidly cease.
It is fascinating when you find links with places your own ancestors were, jobs they did, even from time to time really distant brushes with their family trees - but we all like to see the difficult stuff - pre-censuses, found in dusty and restricted records, not the "easy" stuff we all can manage online, that so seems to gobsmack all the celebs who say things like " I always wanted to know what my Uncle Joe was doing when he was with the Xth Yorkshire Hussars in 19** in *****" - that information could be obtained relatively easily with a little effort and a small amount of cash.
Let's get back before the Second War, possibly even the first war, and see where the roots really lie. I was wondering where Hollywood's surname came from, actually, thinking of the many "Holy Wood"s.
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The WDYTYA producers seem to have a fixation with WW1 and WW2. I know we've been remembering the beginning of WW1 and the "real" end of WW2 (my dad was one of the forgotten army in Burma), but is every celeb only interested in their family member's war time experiences?
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but we all like to see the difficult stuff - pre-censuses, found in dusty and restricted records, not the "easy" stuff we all can manage online,
Heartily agree! The early series were so good at that.
I'm afraid I found the first half of Hollywood's programme very dull and although I loved the second half (having spent a summer working in Gairloch) I would have liked to hear more about the crofting life. Paul Hollywood, on being told his ancestor was a crofter, said 'So a peasant then?' And the presenter just agreed & moved on. How patronising! How much land did he have? Who managed the croft whilst he was running back and forth with the post?
Paul Hollywood, like several celebrities, seemed quite incurious, I felt!
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The WDYTYA producers seem to have a fixation with WW1 and WW2. I know we've been remembering the beginning of WW1 and the "real" end of WW2 (my dad was one of the forgotten army in Burma), but is every celeb only interested in their family member's war time experiences?
I wonder if that there might be a couple of reasons for that Lizzie -:
Every family would have been touched by events related to the war so there will be a war story for each of the celebrities even if nothing else of interest can be found in their family history.
There is a fair amount of information about the events and people who participated in wars so a cheap and easy way to pad out a programme. You don't have to dig very deep to find the required documentation.
There are many interesting, heroic and tragic stories related to wars - everyone had a tale to tell, so a constant supply is available. This also brings in an element of pathos, and the possibility that the celeb might tear up providing a good opportunity for a close-up. ;)
PS. My father in law was also one of the forgotten army in Burma.
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just wanted to add that my uncle was also one of the forgotten Army in Burma as well.
was a bit disappointed with the show as well. would have liked more research going back on the family lines.
Cheers
Anne
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I've moved my post to the thread specifically about this episode.
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A very interesting programme on Griff Rhys Jones' father last night, sorry some of you would have found it boring as it was his pa's service in the war.He was a doctor in the jungles of Burma, with the West African division. Fascinating I thought.
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Yes Rootpat you are right about the patronising attitude toward the crofter. Very rude l thought.
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Topic has been locked at there is already a topic here ;)
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=728255.0
Sarah