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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: greenrig on Friday 08 April 16 12:55 BST (UK)
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At WDYTYA Live yesterday in Birmingham, I asked some members of the production team about the likelihood of a new series of the TV programme. They replied that they have been commissioned to produce another series. No indication of content, although one researcher said she would "love to do Hugh Laurie".
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... one researcher said she would "love to do Hugh Laurie".
That wasn't the question she was asked!
I've got a spreadsheet of all the episodes, which I mark off every time I watch one, just to see if I've seen them all yet .... and I seem to have seen many of the same ones several times, so still no wiser as to how many I've seen yet!
When I see celebs/similar dying I think "Awww, shame they weren't on WDYTYA before they left". e.g. Ronnie Corbett last week.
So pleased the Bee Gees chap got to do his, one year before he died.
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I watch some episodes each time they are repeated, others just the once will do!
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I'd be delighted to have a NEW series. Especially if I knew WHO the "celebs" were ... often haven't heard of them prior to programme.
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When I see celebs/similar dying I think "Awww, shame they weren't on WDYTYA before they left". e.g. Ronnie Corbett last week.
So pleased the Bee Gees chap got to do his, one year before he died.
My "grab them before they go" list would have to include:
Mick Jagger
Professor Robert Winston
Sir Simon Rattle
Evelyn Glennie
Virginia Wade
Sir Clive Sinclair
Salman Rushdie
Bill Bailey
- people I enjoy watching or listening to!
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Mine would be:
Rod Stewart
Ken Bruce
Andy Bell (Erasure)
Eddie Izzard
Deborah Harry (US series)
and my dad (get the experts solving my family mysteries!)
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Mine would be:-
John Nettles.
David Jason. His Welsh mothers father was John Jones born c1877 in Liverpool, they can find who his parents were.
Ross Kemp.
Steve McFadden.
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Morrissey
Bryan Ferry
Nicola Sturgeon
Denis Law
Jenny Agutter
John Prescott
Lucy Worsley or Mary Beard if some of the above can't do it
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Chris Evans
Paul Weller
Jasper Carrott (born Robert Norman Davis)
Jon Bon Jovi (just for my wife, then she might take an intrest in our hobby)
Jeremy Corbyn
Chris Kamara
Cheryl Tweedy
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Morrissey
Bryan Ferry
Nicola Sturgeon
Denis Law
Jenny Agutter
John Prescott
Lucy Worsley or Mary Beard if some of the above can't do it
John Prescott has already been on it, actually.
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When Paul Hollywood knocked on the door of his brothers house in Wallasey, I wish his brother had said to him: "If we knew you were coming, we would have baked a cake"
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Justin Welby, (Archbishop of Canterbury) would be an interesting one. I wonder which Father he'd choose to follow?
Romilly :)
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Problem with this programme is they research quite a few people, before the show is commisioned to video. But they are looking for either the scandal or the tear jerker, to make it suitable for the non geanealogists to view. So many good people who would interest people like us, are discarded as being too plain.
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John Prescott has already been on it, actually.
I'll play one of my reserves then
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Morrissey
Bryan Ferry
Nicola Sturgeon
Denis Law
Jenny Agutter
John Prescott
Lucy Worsley or Mary Beard if some of the above can't do it
John Prescott has already been on it, actually.
Was Prescott on WDYTYA? I thought he was on the Welsh genealogy program "Coming Home"
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Yes, - I remember that. Dark secrets were discovered!
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/john-prescott-chokes-backs-tears-2072966
Romilly.
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Mine would be:
Rod Stewart
Ken Bruce
Andy Bell (Erasure)
Eddie Izzard
Deborah Harry (US series)
and my dad (get the experts solving my family mysteries!)
Eddie Izzard has been done ....
I don't think John Prescott has been on (unless I missed that one).
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Declan Donnelly
Bernard Cornwell
Paul O'Grady
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Grayson Perry
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Declan Donnelly
Bernard Cornwell
Paul O'Grady
Would love to see
Paul O'Grady
Colin Firth
Somebody off Corrie :D
David Jason
Ricky Tomlinson
Caroline Ahearn
Shirley Bassey
Tom Jones
and many more
I would also like them to give Michael Parkinson a real shot and see if his family are really *that* boring, surely there must have been one interesting or juicy bit in there??!!
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Boy George
George Michael
Elton John
Paul McCartney
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Elton John
Might even interview me - I was at school with him :)
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;D ;D ;D
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Just thinking about this, I have only ever seen maybe 4 or 5 of the US series, are they on Freeview or on subscribed channels? I think I saw these episodes on youtube.
Have the Aussies made a series yet?
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My "grab them before they go" list would have to include:
Mick Jagger
Professor Robert Winston
Sir Simon Rattle
Evelyn Glennie
Virginia Wade
Sir Clive Sinclair
Salman Rushdie
Bill Bailey
- people I enjoy watching or listening to!
I don't know who some of those are, to be honest :)
I'm sure it's very expensive for them to make the programme, which has to be offset from the marketing budget and measured against sales/income/cashflow before they do another one.
The trouble is - it's not cheap to start with. I bet they pay the celebs too (bit of a cheek, they should volunteer for free), then there's all the travelling costs (plus all the film crew/sound crew/etc etc). And the experts they wheel in, just to hand over a bit of paper.... could cull some of those as half are pointless.
It's a bit interesting when they get some "expert" to explain the industry and changes that were occurring at the time, but that does seem to be expensive fluff.
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I've been watching some of the old Who Do You Think You Are U.S.A on the W channel early mornings and afternoons. I don't know of half the people featured but they're quite enjoyable.
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Have the Aussies made a series yet?
Yes I think the lat one made was the 6th or 7th series. Unfortunately the BBC seems to think we'd only want to see the US series. I've seen several but most I bought online and had posted to UK. They do appear on youtube but quickly get deleted for copyright infringement. :-\
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Have the Aussies made a series yet?
Yes I think the lat one made was the 6th or 7th series. Unfortunately the BBC seems to think we'd only want to see the US series. I've seen several but most I bought online and had posted to UK. They do appear on youtube but quickly get deleted for copyright infringement. :-\
Oh yes that's right we had a convo about this before lol. ::) I managed to see about half of the one about Magda Szubanski but couldn't pick all of it up......
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I've been watching some of the old Who Do You Think You Are U.S.A on the W channel early mornings and afternoons. I don't know of half the people featured but they're quite enjoyable.
The W channel you say? Off for a scout and to set up some recordings :D Thank you and Cheers.
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Yeah that's right, three episodes this morning, if only I could stay awake!!
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I agree with any comments that WDYTYA is made more for the shock and wow factor, the Bambi style tear jerker instead of what us genealogists like, which is seeing them trawl through census records, BMD records and being told their birthplaces, how they lived etc instead of just one person.
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I agree with any comments that WDYTYA is made more for the shock and wow factor, the Bambi style tear jerker instead of what us genealogists like, which is seeing them trawl through census records, BMD records and being told their birthplaces, how they lived etc instead of just one person.
That's not what I like, that's what I do. I'm not interested in watching people sift through documents, I'm interested in the stories behind them. Granted, more recent episodes end up being more of a biography of a single person, but I like how older episodes would weave the records into the narrative rather than focus on the records themselves.
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Who Do You Think You Are' Has taught me how to research my family.I will always be grateful. I see the program on Sunday night on the W channel.
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Declan Donnelly
Bernard Cornwell
Paul O'Grady
Would love to see
Paul O'Grady
Colin Firth
Somebody off Corrie :D
David Jason
Ricky Tomlinson
Caroline Ahearn
Shirley Bassey
Tom Jones
and many more
I would also like them to give Michael Parkinson a real shot and see if his family are really *that* boring, surely there must have been one interesting or juicy bit in there??!!
I would love to see Tom Jones.
My Jones Grandfather was born in Shropshire.
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I agree with any comments that WDYTYA is made more for the shock and wow factor, the Bambi style tear jerker instead of what us genealogists like, which is seeing them trawl through census records, BMD records and being told their birthplaces, how they lived etc instead of just one person.
That's not what I like, that's what I do. I'm not interested in watching people sift through documents, I'm interested in the stories behind them. Granted, more recent episodes end up being more of a biography of a single person, but I like how older episodes would weave the records into the narrative rather than focus on the records themselves.
I think that they should do a programme for us mere mortals not just celebs
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I like the format of working from behind it keeps you moving in the right direction if I had not watched WDYTYA I would not be it the right family.
I have a great-grandmother in 1891 Census,Mary Jane b. Ardwick (that is it) no nee name.All census taken 1871-81-91- are the same(no added info except the birth of each child.
So I start looking for marriage info, two years prior to the birth of her 1st.born.
Mary Jane and my great-grandfather in Manchester.
I find the registration which give me her nee name,then I find the marriage at the Cathedral it confims she is Mary Jane b. Ardwick and it gives the name of her Father,how hard can it be to find birth reg.
I can not find my 2nd great-grandfather in census of Ardwick 1861-51-41.
So I go back to 1861 census looking for Mary Jane now I have her nee name.
There she is living with her Uncle and Aunt,she is identified as their niece, she must be the niece of the wife ,her name is different from the head of household,but I am sure this is her,in the 1891 census her last child bears the name of the Uncle.
So now I am searching the marriage of he Aunt and Uncle,lo and behold I find the marriage reg.and the name of her Aunt is her nee also,born in Ardwick.
Now I find the Aunt and Uncle in 1851 census,but the lower half is decayed.
Aunt and Uncle are in 1841 census of Ardwick,below them my 2nd greatgrand parents with my 2nd great grandfathers name is a transcribed in error. Mary Jane is 3mo.old.
I never would have found them had I not found the Aunt and Uncle 1st.
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I learned all the format from WDYTYA.
The small things overlooked can oft times lead you to the person you are looking for would otherwise never find.
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Just watching the Tracy Emin one on Yesterday. I did watch the Babs WIndsor one and she was shocked to find a Suffolk connection in her London line. Babs, London was a magnet for people from all over the UK and more recently other countries.
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I did watch the Babs WIndsor one and she was shocked to find a Suffolk connection in her London line. Babs, London was a magnet for people from all over the UK
Don't I know it. All four of my grandparents were born in London, as were all of the previous generation. I've ancestors from almost all counties in Southern and south central England, plus some from further north and overseas. While its interesting to have them from so many different areas, I do sometimes wish there was at least one line that had just stayed in the immediate few parishes for numerous generations as it would make things so much easier. :-\ Or perhaps not if you get the problem of so many with the same name you can't work out easily whose who. :-X
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I did watch the Babs WIndsor one and she was shocked to find a Suffolk connection in her London line. Babs, London was a magnet for people from all over the UK
Don't I know it. All four of my grandparents were born in London, as were all of the previous generation. I've ancestors from almost all counties in Southern and south central England, plus some from further north and overseas. While its interesting to have them from so many different areas, I do sometimes wish there was at least one line that had just stayed in the immediate few parishes for numerous generations as it would make things so much easier. :-\ Or perhaps not if you get the problem of so many with the same name you can't work out easily whose who. :-X
My great gran Catherine was born in Islington. Her maternal grandfather was born in Kent and maternal gran born in Sussex. Catherine's father was born in London, and his parents from Soho and Shoreditch respectively but futher back it is Dorset, Norfolk and France through the Huguenot lines. Some Londoners do have lines from London for generations but to think your latest London born ancestor was 100% London by ancestry they will be in for a shock. Tracy Emin found a ancestor from Warwickshire and she was a bit perplexed, she says she always felt East End.
Catherine met her Durham born husband in about 1918. He then took her up north. On dads side, his 3xgreat gran born in Oxfordshire and 3xgreat grandfather born in Essex met in London in about 1864 and wed in Lambeth in 1866.
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Trying to avoid going to far off topic, but I have directline ancestors born in, excluding London (City of London, Middlesex and Metropolitan Surrey), Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, non-metropolitan Surrey, Wiltshire, Somerset, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Bedfordshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Durham (well Gateshead and possibly over border into Newcastle), and Fife (my sole Scottish line). One line in Somerset is rumoured to be from Monmouth but no conclusive proof yet, others likely to be from Huntingdonshire and Leicestershire but struggling to view the registers to confirm as they were in neigbouring counties on the border and disappear. I also have others born outside of London who migrated in well before the Census whose surnames are predominantly found in the north of England, namely Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria so chances are there are some there. I have one germanic ancestor who arrived in London in the early 1800s but died in 1833. We don't know where he was from but he signed his marriage Johan and was, at one point, a sugar baker, something many German immigrants did before moving into other professions. I have four separate Huguenot and Walloon lines and a possibly a Scandinavian emigrant born in the late 1600s but we're unsure where he was from. In the case of the latter, the clue is in the surname which isn't from any of the home countries and not a corruption of an known "British" surname, its most likely Scandinavian in origin.
I should also mention that all my grandparents and great grandparents were born in London (if you include 1870s Plaistow as London, albeit I think it was still Essex then), but after that one grandparent's ancestors all migrated into London in the early to mid 1800s, but on the other three grandparent's lines there is a mix of some born in London before the Census and a few who migrated in the early 1800s. There are a few we've managed to trace because of unusual surnames even though they were born and died prior to the Census. ;D
So, as you can see, a wide selection of places and the possiblity of ancestors from other counties when the records become more easily available to view.
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I've just watched Bill Paxton on WDYTYA U.S.A on the W channel. It's not often the programme brings tears to my eyes but this one did..
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Is the W channel on Freeview and, if so, what number is it please?
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Hi, no. It's on S 109 and V 124. Hope you have one of those channels. :)
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I'd like to see Michael Wood, Neil Oliver and both of the Hairy Bikers.
Barb
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I'd like to see a few more Brummies! Or else some Midlanders.
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Hi, do u know if a michael burnet is running the new series? He contacted me re interest in my ancestry! Just want to check it is above board
thanks
marjorie smith
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Hi, do u know if a michael burnet is running the new series? He contacted me re interest in my ancestry! Just want to check it is above board
thanks
marjorie smith
Do you have somebody famous in your tree Marjorie? :o
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http://www.walltowall.co.uk/index.aspx
Wall to wall are the TV company producing WDYTYA - you could always contact them to check whether Michael Burnet is real or not!
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Eddie Izzard definately.
Lenny Henry
Darcey Bussell
Idris Elba
Judi Dench definately
Michael Portillo
James Dyson
Brian Cox, (not the actor)
Richard Branson
Ade Edmonson
Richard Ayoade
Michael Cain....
I think one of my favourites was Jason Donovan. I found it truly fascinating and he was so interested and involved. His heritage proved to be one of Australia's defining moments. Superb television!!
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Problem with this programme is they research quite a few people, before the show is commisioned to video. But they are looking for either the scandal or the tear jerker, to make it suitable for the non geanealogists to view. So many good people who would interest people like us, are discarded as being too plain.
I replied to an e-mail that I got from a TV production company asking me to describe any family mysteries that I wanted solving. Wait for it, in less than 150, or, 200 words. I tried to do so, but, obviously, failed to impress the recipient what a rich, lying, serial womaniser my late father was. I have uncovered a lot about him but am certain that there is so much more detail that could be uncovered in the hands of a competent researcher with greater means at their disposal. For instance, his second divorce was a Test Case in the High Court, he took illicit bets from figures at Pinewood studios, he had stories concerning him printed in national newspapers for 'disturbing the peace of the countryside', tax fraud and had exotic girlfriends some of whom were models for magazines of the 'likes of Vogue'; one of who is supposed to have commited suicide because of his chinagins. Apparently here is a story concerning him and his aptly named 'female snake-charmer companion' being involved in a motor accident that wrote-off his Jaguar XK 150 in an issue of The Daily Herald circa 1960 that I would love to view.According to his MIL, in is hay-day he lived in a big house that over-looked Windsor Great Park which she likened to a bordello.
i feel that with the of backing from the likes of a TV company and some publicity it might be possible to find out more about this.
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Boy George
George Michael
Elton John
Paul McCartney
My cousin (WVM) knew George better than most.
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I would like: Anthony Hopkins, Elton John, David Starkey, Ruth Goodman, Barry Cryer, Diana Rigg and Ian McKellan (cant remember if he's been done )
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Problem with this programme is they research quite a few people, before the show is commisioned to video. But they are looking for either the scandal or the tear jerker, to make it suitable for the non geanealogists to view. So many good people who would interest people like us, are discarded as being too plain.
I replied to an e-mail that I got from a TV production company asking me to describe any family mysteries that I wanted solving. Wait for it, in less than 150, or, 200 words. I tried to do so, but, obviously, failed to impress the recipient what a rich, lying, serial womaniser my late father was. I have uncovered a lot about him but am certain that there is so much more detail that could be uncovered in the hands of a competent researcher with greater means at their disposal. For instance, his second divorce was a Test Case in the High Court, he took illicit bets from figures at Pinewood studios, he had stories concerning him printed in national newspapers for fraud and had exotic girlfriends some of whom were models for magazines of the 'likes of Vogue', one of who is supposed to have commited suicide because of his chinagins.
Crumbs, I thought my step grandfather had an interesting story. He allegedly was a martial arts expert who injured someone in a card game whilst in the army and ran away.Then he appears to have had a bigamous marriage to my grandma when he ran off after marrying an underage girl. He changed his name and lived under a nom de plume for the rest of his life becoming a respected local councillor.
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Lucky guy!
but seriously, how does one imbue the general viewer with the sense that one feels on the discovery of such tit-bits of information. There must be so much more to many of these family stories. Unfortunately it seems so much of it is obliterated from history. I look upon it as a challenge to substantiate hear-say. Apparently my GF walked from Crook to Slough (?) after Jarrow Marches. Fact, or another lie? Possibly common at that time? I have 'met' second cousin online who tells me that GF's younger brother walked to Oxford from same area.
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NooshieW, Have you obtained your step grandfather's army record ?
I got my father's RAF record but it was quite thin on all but basic detail. His RAF Flying Logbook was of far greater practical use.
Another question I would like to know the answer to is why 'PHOTOGRAPHIC DUTIES ONLY' is stamped on Ramsay Marsh's RAF Record.
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How about a Naturalists/Anthropologist list as David Attenborough is 90 this weekend (before it's too late)
David Attenborough
Desmond Morris
Bill Oddy
David Bellamy
Saba Douglas Hamilton
etc....
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Boy George
George Michael
Elton John
Paul McCartney
My cousin (WVM) knew George better than most.
Mr Michael or Mr Boy? :)
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How about a Naturalists/Anthropologist list as David Attenborough is 90 this weekend (before it's too late)
David Attenborough
Desmond Morris
Bill Oddy
David Bellamy
Saba Douglas Hamilton
etc....
Hasn't Bill Oddy had one in the earlier series?
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Boy George
George Michael
Elton John
Paul McCartney
My cousin (WVM) knew George better than most.
Mr Michael or Mr Boy? :)
GM
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Boy George
George Michael
Elton John
Paul McCartney
That man is one of our best singers, LOVE him :D
My cousin (WVM) knew George better than most.
Mr Michael or Mr Boy? :)
GM
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Hasn't Bill Oddy had one in the earlier series?
Yes
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Ah, I'd forgotten his. Apologies.
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A few years ago when my sister started doing family research she discovered that our great, great grandfather came from a small village in North Devon. Coincidentally her son had just moved to the neighbouring village so she phoned him to have a look around the churchyard. Half an hour later he phoned back to say that he was leaning on his 3xG.Grandfather's gravestone.
So what I hear you say. Well my nephew is a reporter for the local TV news and produced a five minute slot researching his family tree, so to a limited extent we had our own WDYTYA!
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The better programmes are those where the person is genuinely interested in whoever appears in their tree, and not just the "moneyed" side if any.
There have been quite a lot of good ones in this respect, but others in which it has been too obvious that the poorer side of the family is better "airbrushed" out.Odd really because both sides contributed to MTWTA (make them who they are)..like it or not
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Has Daniel Craig already been mentioned? I'd like to see his as he's from my family history's part of the world and has an interesting background according to an old article I read yesterday.
Plus he's very nice to look at. ;D
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Duncan Jones (Warcraft Director and son of David Bowie)
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The better programmes are those where the person is genuinely interested in whoever appears in their tree, and not just the "moneyed" side if any.
There have been quite a lot of good ones in this respect, but others in which it has been too obvious that the poorer side of the family is better "airbrushed" out.Odd really because both sides contributed to MTWTA (make them who they are)..like it or not
That's what made Brian Blessed's episode s good.
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Do we know yet if we're going to get a new series this year? I've had a look online but can't seem to see anything.
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In the news yesterday
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36782964
Nesta
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From who do you think you are magazine
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/wdytya2016
N
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And from right here on RootsChat: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=752072.0
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This series, and Heir Hunters (which featured us a few years ago) do tend to spark off people's interest in genealogy - we usually get a lot of enquiries after the shows.