BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 8 Episode #2: Rupert Everett

[Siamese Girl]

Navvies.

As a rule navvies don't go to sea. They dig things. Perhaps someone should have told him this?

Carole

[Phil Goater]

There was a piece in the Telegraph about the programme which reported that his grandfather had an alternative family in Nigeria and that they found a coloured uncle Jacob aged 84 near Lagos. (Why wasn't that shown? Instead we were left with the insinuation his grandfather was bi-sexual.)

On his mother's side he is apparently the great nephew of Donald Maclean the soviet double agent and a direct descendant of the Liberal Opposition leader in Parliament from 1918-20.

There must be enough material for an entire series!

Yet another example that somewhat belies the idea of "Victorian values" which is reflected in my own tree.

Phil

[Windsor87]

I think we are being a tad too harsh on this particular personality.

To call him 'odious' is perhaps a bit over the top - but then you do get some drama queens on this forum.

We should remember that the host personalities are only following the leads put infront of them. With regards to him jumping to conclusions, keep in mind he is reacting to a camera. He has to give some reaction to the information presented to him. I jump to 'initial conclusions' all the time when researching - then I set about researching these things further - because I know how to. As we have seen some of his conclusions were far off - but he is only an actor (apologies to the members who don't like stereotypying).

Anyway with regards to the episode - I thought it was alright.

Windsor87

[LizzieW]

I found Georgina in 1881 and her parents in 1861 but on a quick skim nothing obvious in 1871 - I think I found her mother's death in 1883 .  Her father's death in 1875 in Marylebone.  Her marriage to Frederick Everett in 1883. No sign of the Teague's in 1871 .....where does Georgina go.  I did a quick search for Georgina Everett  but nothing seemed to jump out !!!

I wondered if she had remarried which is why Cyril thought his father was deceased when he married in 1919.  That doesn't show where she was in 1891 onwards though.

Lizzie

[antiquesam]

I feel very sorry for Rupert. He didn't manage to get a jolly to some far flung location, but then he seemed very happy to ham it up. As the son of a Merchant Navy 1st Mate I don't think I like him referred to as a navi.

[stonechat]

OK he mistakenly though a navvy was something to do with the merchant navy

Otherwise a good show
As always looking at too limited a part of the tree

I felt that as an actor he was trying to get inside the characters - but his guesses were clearly off

[Ruskie]

Although difficult, I am not going to read this discussion until I have seen this episode. I read before I watched Bruce Forsyth last week and spoiled it ...  So I'm just bookmarking.

[Nick29]

I found Georgina in 1881 and her parents in 1861 but on a quick skim nothing obvious in 1871 - I think I found her mother's death in 1883 .  Her father's death in 1875 in Marylebone.  Her marriage to Frederick Everett in 1883. No sign of the Teague's in 1871 .....where does Georgina go.  I did a quick search for Georgina Everett  but nothing seemed to jump out !!!

I wondered if she had remarried which is why Cyril thought his father was deceased when he married in 1919.  That doesn't show where she was in 1891 onwards though.

Lizzie

Well, that was one of the conclusions that Rupert jumped to, that I was referring to.   Did Cyril think his father was dead ?  Or did he just hope he was ?  It wouldn't be the first time that a bride or groom had stated that one or both of their parents were dead, when they knew it wasn't true.  Only the truly naive think that what's contained on a BMD document is the absolute incontrovertible truth.

[Mobo]

This won't be on my list of favourite episodes, because (1) Rupert Everett was such a drama queen, and (2) I wouldn't want him doing any genealogy research for me, because he jumped to too many conclusions.  There were lots of facts that were skipped over on certificates which would have ended the programme 20 minutes earlier, which would have suited me just fine 

 

I quite agree.  In fact, these later episodes all seem to focus on the personality and silly twitterings of the celebrity concerned, rather than the family being researched, and I find it totally off-putting.  It's a shame really, because the original progamme concept seems to have been lost.