WDYTYA - Jack & Michael Whitehall 5/8/19

[BillyF]

We both liked this episode. I always watch all of them, some are better balanced than others, the one last week being one sided.

The history of the Chartists was covered in a documentary by Michael Sheen, I would like to see him appear WDYTYA.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Vaguely knew that the younger man was some sort of comedy act, not sure how the rather crass father fitted in. Agree too much mugging together, not enough respect for the hard work that the "real" researchers had put in to give those two unappealing men the limelight...
..Guess what?: No, didn't enjoy them, largely because THEY hogged the limelight - could've been interesting if it'd been more sympathetically done.

[Rhododendron]

I hadn't heard of either of the two men - and don't want to hear of them again!

I found them so irritating that I couldn't concentrate on the results of the research.

[Colin D Gronow]

Michael Sheen, I would like to see him appear WDYTYA.

Michael's ancestry was covered by "Coming Home" a much more polished show for the family historian.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5bp1

[Mike in Cumbria]

I watched it last night and enjoyed it - both for the interesting stories that emerged and the interplay between the Whitehalls. As well as the joking, they were genuinely interested in the family stories.

Luckily, we don't all share the same sense of humour.

[chris_49]

Michael Sheen, I would like to see him appear WDYTYA.

Michael's ancestry was covered by "Coming Home" a much more polished show for the family historian.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5bp1

No longer available at the BBC site, but I found it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSqs5E2QKR0

(Not watched it yet)

[chris_49]

Very interesting. Michael was genuinely interested and they seemed to pack as much into half an hour as WDYTYA does into an hour. Lower budget (no trip to New York) didn't matter.

[davidft]

I have just caught up with this episode. Leaving aside the "entertainment" the Whitehall's laid on and much discussed by others I did enjoy this episode when it got to John Frost and the Newport Riots. He was an interesting chap and would be a good subject for a WDYTYA himself (via one of his descendants of course).

What puzzled me, and someone may be able to shed light on it is that the Whitehall's ancestor Thomas Jones Phillips was said in the programme to die in 1843. Wikipedia identify the correct Thomas Jones Phillips in its article on John Frost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frost_(Chartist)

but then links to a Sir Thomas Phillips who dies in 1867, yet they attribute to him some of the actions of Thomas Jones Phillips including the arrest of John Frost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Phillips_(mayor)

So is this a case of two people with similar names getting confused or is there only one person and some of the details in the programme are wrong? (yes there is a death in 1843 for Thomas Jones Phillips)

[chris_49]

I think this is a Wikipedia mistake. FreeBMD and GRO confirm that Thomas Jones Phillips died in Newport district in 1843 aged 53  - the other two deaths are at 28 (Lymington) and 2 (Carmarthen) so can't be him. The Thomas Philiips 1801-67 would be surely to young to have reached an important positions such as magistrate and mayor before 1839?

I think the events ascribed to Thomas Phillips before about 1842 can be ascribed to Jones Phillips, but that the events after his being "called to the bar" in 1842 - rather late in life, cetrainly for the Newpoer mayor - belong to the life of a different Thomas Phillips.