BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode 9 John Barnes

[nanny jan]

and forgive me.....   but who is John bishop?!!m  no idea...

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-08-15/whats-coming-up-on-who-do-you-think-you-are

Last one on the page.


Nanny Jan

[DudleyWinchurch]

Odd, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and found interesting parallels with my own research. Different country and different times but finding out the contribution made by family members to the development of their society is what, to me, makes family research exciting, rather than just a process of collecting names and dates.

And I don't agree that it could all have been done by google.  Some of it could, if you already knew that these people had made a significant contribution and knew enough detail to know exactly what to put into the google search.  But the people you knew, or knew of, just as family in your early childhood may well have had a public role in life that was viewed and possibly remembered by others in a very different way.  Checking for such things as newspaper articles to enhance your family history research sounds like a great idea but, with names that are not particularly unusual, you need to gather more details before this can be fruitfully applied.

After all the complaints about the show becoming so repetitive, I have found it refreshing that all those predictions that we would be revisiting all the same themes again have proved unfounded.  I do agree that in focussing on the padding, rather than the building, of the tree, this series seems to have skipped over the basic principles a little too much, but it is certainly showing a much broader variety of sources than some previous series.

[Skoosh]

Thought this was excellent. John Barnes was told he should be very proud of his folk but he was anyway.

Skoosh.

[MasterHatter]

Unfortunately, this obsession with only looking at two individuals in one line of a family tree is social history not geneology.   It was an interesting programme about Jamaica's break from English Rule and the rise of the PNP in Jamaica.  But... as a programme billed to be all about tracing John Barnes' family tree it fell short so I can understand why some on this thread found it boring.  I wanted to know why Stephen Hill, his great grandfather had the money to own and race thoroughbred horses and rise to be assistant editor of the Daily Gleamer.  The fact that we were never told has me wondering...  Hopefully someone can shed some light on Stephen's ancestry.....
MH

[panda40]

I know they had only a limited time but they could have gone back another generation and looked at some certificates etc while they were at the archives just to bring the focus of the programme back to the genealogy strand the series is supposed to follow. I love the social history side as well but feel this series has not been balanced in including both sides of discovering a persons family history.
Regards panda

[smudwhisk]

I enjoyed it too, but then again I've enjoyed quite a few that have generally got slated on here in recent weeks.

I get the impression after nine series that they're trying to show that there is more to genealogy than the names, dates and the usually available documents, perhaps to appeal to a wider audience that has seen some of the preceeding  series but not been particularly engaged.  I'm sure I'll get slated for saying this but ....

After several of the recent series becoming somewhat stale, it's been interesting to see a change in emphasis on content.  OK some have worked better than others, but at least they have tried something different.   

Unfortunately, as with so many things, you can't please everybody all of the time.

[Mayan]

I think for a lot of people this programme was instrumental in introducing people to genealogy in the first place.

In earlier series it needed to put all of the various steps required to trace a family tree into the programme.

I believe that in many cases they now feel that this has been established so many times that they can now show the results without the methodology of getting there. If you look at the BBC page for WDYTYA the links are to Family History rather than genealogy and it is classified within the Genre of Factual > Life Stories and by Format : Documentaries.

I know a lot of people have complained about this series on these boards but would be interested if any one has complained to the BBC and if so what the responce has been.

Does anyone know if the shows makers are aware of these boards or their thoughts on the complaints.

I was not a particular fond of tonight's episode either but that was only because I found the pace slow and the subject not that interesting but as a whole I have liked this series maybe because I no longer expect it to try and teach me how to do things and can just enjoy the programme.

[behindthefrogs]

John Bishop is a comedienne from Liverpool
Regards Panda

She will be pleased to read that!

[LizzieW]

I wonder why they've decided to show the John Bishop one later in the year and not next week?

Lizzie

ps.  I got bored with John Barnes episode.  I didn't like the way he kept reading out bits of reports etc. and then being shown something else.  It might have made sense to him but it meant nothing to me and I'm only a bit wiser about Jamaican history after that programme.  As others have said, we never learned how his g.grandfather came to be associate editor of a newspaper and race horses etc.  especially as John Barnes said he didn't have any money.