BBC 1 WDYTYA: Series 11, Episode 2, Brian Blessed

[shawsboy]

Brian Blessed - he is one in a million always makes me laugh .

[IgorStrav]

I really enjoyed this one....cast a glance at OH who I thought would have found BB well over the top, but no, we both liked it and followed the story with interest.

Lovely finish.

[Alan b]

I thought this was up there as one of the best WDYTYA's, Brian Blessed clearly had a fascination about his family history which you could see when he came close to tears. It is also nice that someone was actually researching their own direct family.

[mumjo]

Was it just me that was wondering if the ones that died within a few months of each other had the same cause of death.
Apart from wondering that for the rest of the programme i really enjoyed it. I found the programme featuring Julie Walters not very interesting.

[Matt62]

I found the programme featuring Julie Walters not very interesting.

I had the same problem with the Julie Walters episode. There was something lacking in it. Ostensibly the concept of people campaigning over unjust evictions from their land should have been interesting but it just didn't grip me at all. I was bored. This week however, I was gripped.

[Jomot]

This has to be one of my favourite episodes ever.  I just loved how BB became so engrossed in the story, and his OTT ways just somehow added to it (I want my very own BB for Xmas - but only if I can put him back in the box for 23 out of every 24 hours!).

The only bit I wasn't keen on was the contrived guesswork about where Jabez went and how he survived for the couple of weeks after he ran away, but otherwise a great 'ordinary' story of hardship and survival.

[Finley 1]

Now that we know he had older siblings near by... Maybe he ran away to one of them?

xin

[Romilly]

I found the programme featuring Julie Walters not very interesting.

I had the same problem with the Julie Walters episode. There was something lacking in it. Ostensibly the concept of people campaigning over unjust evictions from their land should have been interesting but it just didn't grip me at all. I was bored. This week however, I was gripped.

It's a shame that the Julie Walters one was the first episode, - it probably put a lot of people off the series altogether...

As others have said, there was a lot to identify with in the story of BB's ancestors, - the untimely deaths, the dramatic changes in circumstances, the large families, etc.

But it made absolutely compelling viewing!!

Romilly.

[LizzieW]

I noticed on the 1851 census when Jabez was in Brigg that there was a lodger with the same name as one of my ancestors - Thomas Hobson - so I did a search on Ancestry to find Jabez Blessed in 1851 in Brigg, but having a senior moment  I searched 1861 instead.  Guess what there was a Jabez Blessed birth year 1831, who was born in London City, living in Clerkenwell, Middlesex and who was a Bookbinder.   By the side of the census results Ancestry now gives other instances of the same name, so clicking on a baptism, it showed that Jabez Blessed (born 1831) had parents called George and Ann.  George being the eldest son of Barnabus Blessed, and the brother of the Jabez who went to Brigg.

There's also a George Blessed born 1829 (in Dorset) but back in London in 1861 who was also a bookbinder.  There's also another Blessed, looks like Barnalia, born in Hampshire (wife born in Dorset) who was in London and he was a shoemaker - which was the trade Jabez' brother who was in the workhouse with him was apprenticed to.

It seems there were lots of Blesseds around London, working as Bookbinders, or shoemakers.