Well, I thought it was interesting. Very striking contrast of the man who couldn't write his name in a recession driven to crime to survive and the boy given an education who was able to build a reasonable life for himself. Gary wasn't the most articulate person ever on the show but he was all right.

It's always a struggle to dress up the unavoidable truth that if your working-class ancestors lived a life of drudgery and hardship in the 19th century, not much happened in the way of thrills to fill one hour of telly.

As it happens I thought Gary's sardonic contributions made this episode, and so much more genuine than the usual emoting luvvies weeping over some dubious imagined Victorian melodrama.

what sort of showbiz career?

thought it was good tonight funny for the first half hour and then a bit more serious after that

'sardonic' Hmm. To me he was humourless, dull and without any imagination or empathy. Nothing wrong with the life story.

Indeed it would be topical to have looked at framework knitters in more detail as they were effectively on zero hours contracts - but even worse since they needed to pay their frame rent of two to three shillings every week even if there was no work provided. This rental was itself profitable (as two years' rent paid for the cost of the frame but which lasted 10 years or more) so there were far more frames rented out than needed.

Apart from the brief showing of the no work no bread no hope leaflet there was nothing made of this.

Maybe I'am missing something...but I can't fathom the hostility towards Gary Lineker....I thought he came over all right...ok there were probably a few too many references to his playing days...I did't see the first 5 minutes so I missed the new flash house which was mentioned earlier in the thread...but other than that I don't understand why so many posters seem to have it in for him

I don't have it in for him. I posted on page 15 of this thread about why I thought he completely missed the point of what his first ancestor went through. This relative was desperate, he had to feed his family, he had no work - so no income.
He had no education. The landowners and fat cats of that time exploited the poor. People starved in those days. That is why this man poached.

Gary thought it was amusing. He described him as a bit of a rogue. He even described it as comical, even after the dire situation poor people were in was explained to him. I gave up after that.
Maybe it improved with the second relative? Although other posters don't seem to think so. I didn't watch long enough to see the references to his playing days, although I don't know why they would even be included anyway. I always thought he seemed like a decent enough person, I am not a rabid football fan, so was not influenced in any way by his career.
I came away from what I saw thinking he lacked empathy, warmth and any understanding of the plight of those who went before him.

How rude!!

Just because you didn't like the programme doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to. It's posters such as yourself who discourage others from joining in for fear of ridicule.

I can't understand the hostility either. But then people in this country have never needed much of an excuse to put the boot in to someone who has made a success of their lives....

I think most people would find it amusing there was a "black sheep" in the family's history when first told.

I disagree with your view he "missed the point", especially when his ancestor's circumstances were explained whilst he was sitting in Hinkley church. But then with modern living it is very difficult for us to truely comprehend just how dire things could be 150 years ago, with our modern welfare state, etc.

I suspect that many are not regular Who Do You Think You Are? viewers and only watched because it was an ex-footballer. Football fans tend to be very tribal towards one team and hate anyone from other teams.

What struck me was the number of people in Leicester who stopped to shake hands with him or have their photograph taken with him.

I think a bit like the social and cultural impact and legacy of the framework knitting industry of Leicestershire, the Lineker (typical self-deprecating style of the Midlands) humour obviously got a bit lost on some viewers. Surprising really as he's been peddling the same schtick for 20 years through his crisp commercials, They Think it's all Over, etc, etc...

I admit, if a joke has to be explained it probably wasn't worth making in the first place, but the setup scene was Gary showing us round his house, in the process of being gutted by builders, stumbling over rubble down to the basement which he called his "media room or as I call it the football viewing room", while the camera panned round the unremarkable shithouse that he was describing in such loving terms - an obvious pee-take of the stereotypical "footballer's gaff" feature which sets us all yapping like Pavlov's dogs.... NEXT.

It was very, very bland. Lineker did not seem interested at all - as if the Beeb made him do it to justify his mega-salary. Grey weather, grey clothes, grey man - it all seemed forced on the poor chap. Lineker - where did the name come from?
Gary - stick to MOTD in future.

I don't like to be mean but Gary Lineker is just a retired footballer. He is no-one special and quite dull. He got lucky to have a tv career afterwards

Lineker, as a 'tv personality', appears entirely a BBC1 creation.

He presents competently on MoTD but, beyond that, I find him cringeworthy and dull.

I thought he got it very wrong last night in not grasping the motives of his criminal ancestor - but then he has led an adult life of great privilege.

I'd imagine there have been but I don't think I've seen one of these before without any living relative of the subject ...

I agree it wasn't one of the better episodes but I still enjoyed it as I always do. It was quite noticeably padded out though which I can't really remember before. The way they had to do that combined with the way they sent Lesley Sharp off to track someone who wasn't even a member of her family suggests maybe the programme is approaching the end of it's time.

Despite what he said I didn't think Gary Lineker felt any great affection with the two selected relatives possibly because they didn't lead him down the family line as the programme usually does. Therefore they were just two old characters from a long time back rather than people who felt like direct ancestors. In my experience there are certain surnames in my tree which interest me more than others even though they are all ancestors. They seem to be ones with surnames still closely connected to me currently and I think Gary would have felt more empathy with his ancestors if one had been from the Lineker line.

The programme makers seemed unable to develop the poacher's story to make it interesting and I agree it would have been better to have stressed the poverty side to make it a more rounded human story or even to have done a bit more on prison life at the time although I know this has been done before. I know we didn't hear it all but there didn't seem to be enough information to make sketch of what he may have looked like. When they showed it was I the only one who couldn't see any similarities to Gary Lineker although the historian seemed to think there was.

I found the second story more interesting last night, partly because I recently took a train journey into Sussex and we stopped at a station called Christ's Hospital which it turns out is the stop for the school Gary visited. There can't be many schools with their own railway station but the school does look incredibly posh. The boys looked embarrassed to be wearing that pompous uniform. I'm all for tradition but I think that's a step too far.

Overall I don't think it will be one of the more memorable episodes but we move on and see what is served up next week.

I've seen a programme on that school before. It's an independent charitable school, many students there have their fees paid for them or have reduced fees.

Far from it, the majority of pupils are on full scholarships from inner London state schools. The uniform is provided free and most are proud to wear it.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...-the-fees.html

His family were full of Pratts and Hoares. The Pratt stuff was mentioned, so possibly in bad taste with the other.

I certainly did not get the impression that they were in any way embarrassed by the school uniform.

Er - the kids voted to keep the uniform
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...hion-1552.html

When I worked in Blackfriars House (next door to the Unilver Building) in the City in the early 1990s, I watched the pupils of Christ's Hospital process through the streets, as explained in Wiki :"Links with the City and the Lord Mayor of London are maintained, with an annual parade through the City of London on St. Matthew's Day and a regular place in the Lord Mayor's Show."


Unless the Hoare side is related to the Banking dynasty which would have produced comments on money staying with money

Well, according to Google the name Linekar - and numerous variations - dates to the Norman Conquest (the Norman side).

Might have been worth a mention ....

A bit harsh to say the least and a slightly odd take on his appearance on the WDYTYA...Gary Lineker is one of the most successful English football players...he is England's second highest goal scorer;..to this day his Goals versus Game ratio is still one of the best in the English game and he won the Golden boot for the most goals scored in the 1986 World Cup..Gary Lineker is also the holder of one other notable record...He is the only professional footballer of the modern era to have never been booked or sent off during his entire career....all the above explains why he is still popular in football circles and no doubts accounts for his warm welcome on the streets....as for his TV career..like others he probably did luck out on that one

re other posts in the thread referring to his lack of empathy with distant relatives...I just didn't see that at all...the tone of his voice and demeanor definitely changed when the reasons behind his relatives criminal activity became apparent...so it just goes to show how you can watch the same program and come to a very different conclusion