BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 9 Episode #7: Robin Gibb

[Plummiegirl]

Must say that on the whole this series has lived up to my expectations!!!!

Robin Gibb was so boring.  No feeling at all, he did seem to become more enlivened once they got onto his mothers side, which was very interesting.

And although his family reflected that of many of ours in the abject poverty of the weavers and the Ragged Schools, he was just too unemotional.  No I do not want weeping and gnashing of teeth, just something.

Larry Lamb was the best so far.

Such a shame about Emilia Fox's being so contrived.  See the letter in this weeks Radio Times.  Her 'unknown' actress and philanthropic Samson Fox, were both subjects in a book written by her aunt a few years ago.  Boy were we all conned on this one!!!!!

[lizdb]

Despite the issues raised I still enjoyed watching it and loved his home too.

My thoughts exactly!

Yes, it was a bit slow - but I dont put that down to the personality of the celbrity - I couldnt care less who it is or what they are like.
I put it down to the slowness in doing the research!
They found MAtthew with his family in one census. Then in the next they found him in a ragged school, and kept on and on saying I wonder what happened to the family, and then whizzing off to explore weaving and the downturn in the industry. I was chomping at the bit to look in the cesnus to see where the rest of his family were! Or through BMD's to see if they had died. 

[Floss]

Must have been a slow one, I kept dropping off every few minutes which is usually unheard of when watching WDYTYA!


Kerry

Me too had to keep rewinding Sky, found it pretty boring to be honest

[jillruss]

Crikey, so many RCers who seem to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat....is there a plague of tsetse flies? 

I found it rather interesting, especially after last week's inferior programme. I did glaze over for the first few minutes when we were covering the army yet again but then it became interesting, what with the ragged schools and the hand loom weaving, both of which must feature in most people's ancestries.

I too loved Robin's home (I watched Location, Location, Location before this so I'm now thinking of putting in an offer for it!! As if!!    )  I had to smile when he said he was a down to earth kinda guy and then proceeded to be chauffeur driven about for the rest of the programme. However, I didn't find him cold. I thought he was totally absorbed in the subject, determined to get to the bottom of the case against his midwife ancestor and had some really intelligent questions and comments.

All in all, QI!!!!

Jill

[Parmesan]

The second boring one in a row

following two of the best!

I agree both Alan Carr and this one were boring.  My two faves to date (that I can remember!) are Davina McCall who I'm not really a fan of and Jason Donovan - ditto for him but very interesting tales to be had in both progs.

[mshrmh]

  I had to smile when he said he was a down to earth kinda guy and then proceeded to be chauffeur driven about for the rest of the programme.

I wondered whether it was connected with his apparent sight problems (need for magnifying glass sometimes & possibly the tinted specs)?

[kooky]

I enjoyed this one! Robin's naturally lugubrious expression may have given the impression of disinterest. However I found him genuinely interested in all the information he was given. He also had a 'go' at censuses
He was moved by Matthew Gibb's plight. He was also determined to find out about Cecilia Lynch's prosecution.
There was a great deal of social history, right down my street!
Kooky

[nospringchicken]

I don't think you have this correct. When he was demoted for drunkenness he held the rank of Corporal which is NOT a warrant officer. That being the case the rest of the supposition falls. (Warrant Officer was not introduced into the army until 1879 ie long after the drunkenness episode)

I do agree with you thought that it was a poorly put together programme - perhaps it was a rush job

Hi David,

Thanks for your answer. I'm no expert on this - what led me to this was that it was said, if I remember rightly, that he was demoted from being a corporal and then took eight years to become a corporal again? Or perhaps the latter was a warrant officer and not a corporal? I'll have to look at the programme again. But they did make great play about him being made to read and write without explaining how this was fundamental to becoming a "warrant officer".

My hunch about the several programmes in this series so far is that family members may have already done much of the research, sometimes not being acknowledged at all, which is rather rich for a genealogy programme!  The cousin Anne mentioned may have done a lot on the GIBB side and it seems very, very disingenuous not to mention Samuel Crompton (the "Sir Samuel Crompton"  on the website I previously cited seemed to be mixing him up with a politician - altho' genealogy has taught me it could be the spinning jenny mule Samuel Crompton was from a poorer side of the family?).  It's also to be noted that he seems to have been a talented violinist as well! What was also not mentioned in the programme is how the weavers went from being wealthy to amongst the poorest in society which is why it is quite possible that Samuel Crompton and Sir Samuel Crompton were related.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Crompton
http://bit.ly/r73pC1
http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?pageid=603&language=eng
http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/local-history/local-life/samuel-crompton/
http://www.bolton.org.uk/samuelcrompton.html

It may be this connection helped Matthew Gibb.

[davidft]

.......... if I remember rightly, that he was demoted from being a corporal and then took eight years to become a corporal again? Or perhaps the latter was a warrant officer and not a corporal?

Hi

the way i remember the programme is he was a corporal and got busted for drunkenness. It then took eight years for him to become a corporal again. However this was not the end of the story as in time he did go on to become a Staff (?) sargeant by the time he retired, which they seemed to equate with being a warrant officer (or perhaps he was retired as a warrant officer - its not unknown to promote someone just before retirement to give them a bigger pension)