They Abhorred Hoarding

Model Jodie Kidd's great-grandfather was a shipping tycoon and a baronet. He was also a convicted food hoarder.

In the final year of the Great War the Government introduced strict food rationing. Food cards were issued to everyone, including the King and the hoarding of food had become a serious offence carrying heavy penalties.

The Tyne and Wear Archives holds Gosforth Urban District Council records and specifically those of the Gosforth Local Food Control Committee 1917-1919, including the Profiteering Committee minutes, which details the conviction of one Rowland Frederick William Hodge for food hoarding in 1918.

Chief archivist Liz Rees explains: “We weren’t aware of the scandal. We knew his name and we knew that the shipyard had closed but we didn’t know the story behind it.” [Link]

Bare Naked Genealogy

Leland Meitzler spotted this ad for the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? Whether it's safe for work may depend on your boss's eyesight.

Who Do You Think You Are Fooling?

At least one scene in one episode of the BBC genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? was staged. The featured celebrity, Carol Vorderman, was unaware of the manipulation.

Vorderman wanted to know where a photo of her great-grandfather was taken and was shown asking passers-by in Prestatyn for help.

Finally, shop assistant Dawn Farrell identified it as Bodnant Gardens in the Conwy Valley.

But Dawn revealed: "A man told me Carol was going to come into the shop with a photo and ask me about it. He said, 'She is going to show you a photo - could you tell her it is Bodnant?' [Link]

Dead Relatives Are Always More Interesting

Griff Rhys Jones had always been told his great-grandparents, Daniel and Sarah Price, had died together in a railroad accident.

But while in Wales researching his family tree the TV presenter found that Daniel was a drunk who died in a street brawl in Llanelli, and Sarah was an unfit mother who put three of her four children in the workhouse.

The discoveries left Rhys Jones "feeling pretty miserable," but perhaps not as miserable as he felt as a child.

“My mother used to dump me on my relatives for holidays and they were so utterly boring it was hard to imagine I’d come from a fascinating background or have interesting ancestors.” [Link]

A Forebear Suitable for Framing?

British TV chef Nigella Lawson was asked recently about finding a felon in her family tree.

You did BBC2’s Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered you had a criminal in your family tree. What did you make of that?

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. There was a felony and a conviction and an appeal but he left the country before the appeal was heard. I’d like to think he was stitched up. The programme told me things I didn’t know but nothing so shocking I needed to sit down and have my brow mopped. [Link]

The BBC's programme info does not mention her ancestor being "stitched up" for stealing and fencing lottery tickets. Maybe she can get O.J. Simpson to help her find the real culprits.

Who Do You Americans Think You Are?

This is very, very, very good news. Several American television networks are vying to broadcast a U.S. version of the BBC's hit series Who Do You Think You Are?

NBC, Fox, ABC and CBS are all competing for the programme rights. Discovery, National Geographic and the History Channel have also shown a strong interest.

CBS has already proposed a prime-time special to launch the show with Julia Roberts as the first participant. [Link]

This is even better news. I would watch Julia Roberts clip her toenails if a network chose to air it.

The Price of Procrastination

Another anecdote from The Times, this one even more troubling than the last. It concerns Giles Gauntlet, who was inspired by the television show Who Do You Think You Are? to find the father he hadn't seen since age five.

The 30-year-old Southampton man traced his father’s address in nearby Portsmouth via the website, Genes Reunited and plucked up the courage to call, but there was no answer. Looking through the letterbox, he could see his father, 56-year-old Barry Alp, lying dead in the lounge. An inquest in Portsmouth was told that Mr Alp had died of pneumonia and may have been dead for a few days. “I really cannot believe it,” Gauntlet said at the time. “I just wish I hadn't left it so long.” [Link]

For the Rest of Us, It's an Honor Just to Be Non-Related

Jeremy Irons is the latest celebrity to have his family history probed on the BBC program Who Do You Think You Are? Upon learning that one of his ancestors came from County Cork in Ireland, Irons confirmed what I had long suspected: all actors aspire to be genealogists.

And as luck would have it, the Beeb found that David McCreight, an old Irons who owned a linen mill, once lived 20 miles from the actor’s abode in Ballydehob. Said Irons: “It was a strange feeling of validation, not dissimilar to winning an Oscar. And with my great-great-great-great-grandfather working 20 miles down the road — that was quite extraord—”

At which point his microphone was turned off and the BBC Orchestra began to play the theme to Jackass 2.

There's No Crying in Genealogy!

From The (London, U.K.) Independent:

Paxman reduced to tears by journey into his past

By Ciar Byrne Media Correspondent
Published: 08 December 2005

It is a sight few people would have expected to see on television - Jeremy Paxman, that most ferocious of political interviewers, reduced to tears.

[snip]

Mr Paxman is one of six well-known faces who have taken part in the second series of the genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? to be shown on BBC2 in early 2006.

[snip]

His journey takes him to Scotland, where in one clip he is seen reading his great, great-great-grandmother's death certificate. He learns she was a charwoman who died from "TB and exhaustion" in her 30s; his eyes moisten and he lifts his arm to wipe them. With emotion in his voice, Mr Paxman says: "I don't know these people, I wouldn't recognise them if I fell on them, but I'm connected to them."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]