BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode #3 - Patrick Stewart

[Skoosh]

Maggie,  these programmes are made for money, Patrick's brother looked a bit uncomfortable, presumably he still lives in the area and there could be people who know more about the family, but I'm sure he would be getting a cheque as well. Why else would you do this.
 The oldest of my uncles was a professional soldier in India before the war, he got away at Dunkirk but most of his regiment was trapped at St Vallery with the rest of the Highland Division and sent to Germany. He spent the rest of the war in a Lowland regiment, a very good natured and funny guy, indulgent to his family by all accounts. Don't remember the war being mentioned.

[danuslave]

It all seemed a bit heartless to wash his mother's dirty linen in public as it were, and also to highlight his brother's situation in such detail, plus his paternity question,when his brother was still alive.

There were 3 brothers.  Geoffrey b1925, Trevor, & Patrick b1940

The brother we saw at the end was Trevor

The one whose parentage had been in question was Geoffrey.  Although it was never actually stated that he had died, Patrick seemed to speak about him in the past tense.

Linda

[jan57]

There's  a Geoffrey  Barrowclough    born 1925 (mmn Barrowclough)  death in 1974   Leeds  there's also  a second  birth registration  in 1933    surname Stewart mmn Barrowclough

[LizzieW]

I watched the programme tonight.  I didn't find it as interesting as usual, although I was interested to learn of the British invasion of the South of France and capture of German soldiers.  I'd never heard about that before.

I got the impression that Patrick Stewart's father was a bully towards his eldest son and his wife and Patrick was trying to find something to justify his behaviour.

My father was in Burma during WW2 and I know when he came home, my mum said his character had changed.  He certainly had a bad temper that mum had never seen before, the smallest thing would make him angry, yet larger problems didn't seem to worry him.  Almost as if he could cope with large problems but it was the everyday minutiae which annoyed him.  Most of the time he was a very happy extrovert man and although he used to smack me and my brother (as all parents did in the 1940s/50s) I never once saw him hit my mother.

Lizzie

[weste]

Baggygenes i was talking about what was said about the hints of his charachter in joining the regimental police, it probably does take a certain type of charachter and really his father sounded like a person who likes the control and have his own way.

[baggygenes]

There's  a Geoffrey  Barrowclough    born 1925 (mmn Barrowclough)  death in 1974   Leeds  there's also  a second  birth registration  in 1933    surname Stewart mmn Barrowclough

The first reg was for Geoffrey Stewart mmn Barrowclough in Dewsbury Mar 1925 and again Sep 1933 in Dewsbury
 - assume 1933 was when they married and Geoffrey would have had to been reregistered to show his mum married his dad (legally required to do this with my eldest when I married his dad even though he was named on the first bc)

so would also assume a death reg would be under stewart  (unless of course he changed his name) - and assuming Geoffrey is deceased

[baggygenes]

Baggygenes i was talking about what was said about the hints of his charachter in joining the regimental police, it probably does take a certain type of charachter and really his father sounded like a person who likes the control and have his own way.

ahh got you - sorry had a blank moment

[sarahsean]

Found this episode informative but personally I would have preferred if there had been some information on Patrick`s mother as well. Although of course for Patrick all he wanted to know was what had happened to his father to make him such a character.

Perhaps as well as suffering from post traumatic stress he also was unable to make the transition into civilian life? Once a soldier always a soldier?  I would guess that he was always an angry character who expected to be obeyed and this lead to the domestic violence.

Looking forward to next week!

Sarah

[genjan1953]

I must admit I didn't enjoy this episode at all.  It was disappointing after such a promising start with the first two episodes.  This one seemed to be an in-depth study into the mindset of one man through an exploration of his career as a wartime soldier.  My heart sank halfway through when I realised it was just going to be all about one man. 

If the programme was suggesting that Alfred's wartime experiences as a soldier somehow explain his violent, controlling nature towards his family, then I wasn't convinced of that at all.  Many men who had similar such wartime experiences were not violent within their own families.  I agree with Sarah here that he was probably an angry man long before he was ever a soldier.  Perhaps we could have had more info about Alfred's own parents and upbringing and more on Patrick's mother too.  There was definitely more to her than met the eye.  A little more genealogy might have given Patrick more insight into his father's complex character and we, the viewers, a more rounded and interesting episode to watch!