BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 5 Episode #5: Ainsley Harriott

[nanny jan]

Ready.......Steady..........Ainsley!

**(Not repeated tomorrow BBC2 7.00pm........Paralympic Games instead)**


Nanny Jan

[mshrmh]

For anyone that's missed some of the earlier ones there's signed repeats in the early hours - next one Tuesday 16 September 1.20am BBC1 Jerry Springer.

[Windsor87]

I may not have been paying enough attention, but why was Catherine a Smith?

[kerryb]

Ditto Windsor, I have been wondering that too???

Kerry

[avm228]

I may not have been paying enough attention, but why was Catherine a Smith?

Obvious - her dad was a Briggs and her mum a Davy!

Seriously, I haven't a clue.  Perhaps she wasn't given her father's surname because of the circumstances of her conception.  And perhaps she wasn't given her mother's name because... her mother shared the name with the slaveowner??? Maybe they just came up with Smith as a standard surname for the issue of the slaves on the estate.

Hope someone can come up with a better explanation!

Anna

[meles]

I found it one of the most touching of the series. I don't like the man, much, but I felt for him when he discovered his ggg grandfather was a white slave owner.

meles

[shanew147]

I may not have been paying enough attention, but why was Catherine a Smith?

I was wondering that too - I presumed I missed something

I thought that most slave children ended up with the surname of the Plantation Owner...



Shane

[cuthie]

I've only ever seen Ainsley Harriot in the Ready Steady Cook series and always found him cheerful and full of life.  I think he probably expected to find slaves in his ancestry, but the white slave owner really seemed to shock him.

I too wondered about Catherine being a Smith.  Perhaps the name was just used because it is a very popular surname.

Cuthie

[Nick29]

I may not have been paying enough attention, but why was Catherine a Smith?

Obvious - her dad was a Briggs and her mum a Davy!

Seriously, I haven't a clue.  Perhaps she wasn't given her father's surname because of the circumstances of her conception.  And perhaps she wasn't given her mother's name because... her mother shared the name with the slaveowner??? Maybe they just came up with Smith as a standard surname for the issue of the slaves on the estate.

Hope someone can come up with a better explanation!

Anna

Apprarently it was quite routine in those days for the children born in slavery to take the slave owner's surname, whether he was the father or not.  Since the father of Catherine Smith was merely a hireling "working on bonus", then it's quite possible the surname was plucked out of the air to ensure Mr Briggs' anonymity as the father.