Thank you Shrike and anyone else who has helped me with this. I knew there was at least one. Good old Brucie I'm glad he was one of them to do so. As another poster said some may have done it without the publicity but I'm sure some viewers like myself would feel better for knowing something nice was done for their ancestors.

As an archaeologist I have literally (and I mean that "literally" as well) dug up Bronze Age graves. There are good programmes, better programmes, and mmeh in the full litany.

Shocker!!!

Watch Alan Cumming for a shocker in one of these "gentle" programmes.

WDYTYA used to be one of my favourite programmes and the search for unknown ancestors, however humble, fascinates me. The principle used to be that the celebrity doesn't know where they came from and they find out something amazing during the programme.

I went hunting for family graves myself and found an excellent one with 12 names on it starting from 1807 (my great-great-great-great grandparents and their son's entire family). I didn't know where they were buried, so I just went to the villages where they had come from and there they were.

This programme was more of a murder mystery. I wish they would get back to the old census searches and National Archives because this helps family historians and gives us all hope that we will one day find something exciting in our own ancestry. They used to mange to cover historical themes along the way and make a gripping programme without having to concentrate on one ancestor alone.

John Hurt says that going on Who Do You Think You Are? was the worst mistake of his life.

From todays Times (behind a paywall) http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/u...cle4190120.ece

He was just annoyed that his ancestor wasn't as posh as he claimed he was.

When I first came to Scotland, I stayed with a Catholic family. A relative visited one evening and asked me 'what I was'. I did not understand the question at first but when it became clear I just told him I was neutral / agnostic / whatever. He just could not comprehend this and it was almost the classic 'But are you a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist'. First time I had ever been asked my religion like that.

Most of my earlier ancestors don't have marked graves so it was a very pleasant surprise when I came across the grave of two of my Great Great Great Grandparents.

I remember John Hurts one and he was quite determined that he had Irish ancestors, so it must have been very deflating to find out he didn't. Though he probably set too much store by it and really should get over it - he could've had some right shits as Irish ancestors, would've he been proud of them?

It did seem a bit odd, but I suppose Brucie was party to more info than actually made it onto the programme and he was "with" his ancestor for quite a period as the programme was made. I suppose finding there was no grave at the end of the journey affected him. And, lets face it, Brucie can easily afford the few hundred dollars it cost him

Lol hahahaha. I love that, now... Proddy, Catholic Atheist. So bloody true.. grew up with that. Some down south don't get this but it is like "yeh I know your Hindu, but are you a Catholic or a Protestant Hindu" - and that is said in all seriousness up here. Welcome to the West of Scotland when I grew up. Wrong answer might have got you stabbed, or at least beaten up. Better than Belfast where there was a built in the head.

I love Belfast now and meet up with a "Catholic friend" but as an unmarried mother and someone who sleeps with me... Yeah you are an atheist as well. Your a good person. I am happy with that.

To be fair to Eurostar these are the only amendments that I would make to the original post. The sentiment is totally accurate as with the OP but...

Originally Posted by Eurostar
Yes, but the IRA were a guerilla army with the support of a majority (of those that voted) of the Southern Irish population but not the whole of Ireland. Sinn Fein won a landslide majority in Ireland, in particular outside of the "9 counties" or "Ulster" in the 1918 British General Election and the IRA were their military wing......an armed militia in full military uniform with ranks and everything.

The Sinn Fein and IRA of later years had absolutely nothing to do with the people of 1919-21, they simply stole the name.


X finger I got the terminology right on the 9, Ulster thing. not that I am trying to be pedantic so happy to be put right. Also you CANNOT be a "legitimate" guerilla Army. You are either one or the other. Sorry. Again pedant aplos!

Maybe although at the time I watched it, he went down in my estimations a lot. He was constantly empathising with the fate of ne'er do well, cad of an ancestor and not the victims of the man's behaviour which was outraegeous. Faking his own death, abandoning his wife and children to struggle in poverty with no husband/father. In those days it was a horrendous situation to be left as a single mother in. Then he goes to America and did the same thing all over again!!

Tbh, if it had been my ancestor I would have been disgusted by him, not awwing about him as Brucie did. Having said that it was ages ago I watched it, so I may be being harsh, but it stuck in my mind for those reasons. Far from impressed with Mr Forsyth's attitude.

Got one of those in my family tree, in my case its a G Grandfather who was a bigamist and my Grandfather was born from that second marriage.

What is missing at times though from these programmes is a bit of historical perspective. In the 19th century, what was a man (or a woman for that matter) to do if their marriage broke down?. There was no easy divorce, and even after the matrimonial causes act in the mid 19th century, it was only open to those with money enough to pay the large legal fees needed.

WDYTYA has shown in other progs, it was far easier for the bloke to leg it and make a fresh start than to pay money they didn't have. Also, far from only men were up to it, as in researching my friends tree I found his GG Grandmother had married for a second time while her hubby was serving in the Royal Navy and had a large second family.

As for Brucie, what I found from his prog was that he wasn't so much crowing, as he was amazed the guy got away with it (your take may be spot on btw its just my memory of it)....

Regarding this series, I am afraid that the only one I really enjoyed was the Brian Blessed episode and that was really because of his over the top performance rather than the content which I felt made it look so amazing that Jabez was in contact with his brother, even though he was regularly in London with his sailing job, and must have known where his brother was.

The Tamzin Outhwaite one seemed too contrived and maybe she had to retake her "surprise" shot more than a few times and it just came across as false.

Well I was only pointing out that the IRA of 1919-21 was not a terrorist organisation but a guerilla army and the armed militia of a popular political movement. People hear the words 'Sinn Fein' and 'IRA' and immediately assume terrorist connotations but the Irish War of Independence was a popular revolt (and indeed a political one - the Sinn Fein MPs who were elected in 1918 refused to take their seats at Westminster and instead set up their own parliament in Dublin, the direct forerunner of the modern Irish parliament).

And that is why (a couple of word amendments - more like a teacher [sorry] and probably more pedantry than anything else [well accuracy]) was my only issue. Happy to apologise for that if it came across wrong.

As I said the sentiment in your op's are wholly accurate, especially the last para (in response to your previous points) - was not having a go at you - hope you realise that. Think you have made reasonable and thoughtful responses on the thread.

And you are so right in that people, in Ireland and the UK, need to understand history. PIRA/INLA and their derivatives are in no way shape and form OIRA (1920's bods)
Last edited by longpiggy : 30-08-2014 at 04:21

I thought something similar, to claim to be a uniformed army you have to be wearing uniform all the time and not just putting on a beret or something whilst carrying out an act of terrorism.

I can't remember all the details of the programme but it should be remembered that you only see snapshots of a few details when researching a family, you rarely get the whole story. Also divorce was just about impossible for ordinary people at that time.

I just posted something similar. My GGF appears to have got someone pregnant around the same time as his wife gave birth to twins. His wife moved back to live with her family and had a very successful career (unusually for the late 19th Century). He also moved to a completely different part of the country with 'wife' and son where they lived as man and wife, very unlikely that anyone would ask to see the Marriage Certificate.

Like it or not, Ireland was part of the UK so they were a terrorist organisation. Also in 1918 Britain was still at war so not likely to have much patience with anyone starting a revolt when large numbers were fighting a difficult war (can't remember whether whether the IRA had links to the Germans in WWI as they did with the Nazis in WWII).

The 1916 Easter Rising was actually deeply unpopular with the people of Dublin, they resented it and thought it stupid and totally unnecessary. But the British made a catastrophic blunder in executing all it's leaders. It's leaders weren't a mindless rabble either, it numbered poets, authors, trade union leaders and schoolteachers among it's ranks so the executions violently swung public opinion against the British. The rising was certainly criminal and illegal but the response of the authorities was so harsh that the atmosphere in Ireland quickly became toxic and fiery.

The Brendan O'Carroll episode had 5.3 million viewers - largest WDYTYA audience since 2011.

Don't worry, you're grand The more recent republican terrorist groups had very little in common with those who fought for independence in the early 1920s. The likes of Michael Collins would be absolutely horrified at the thought of bombs being planted in English pubs, women being abducted and "executed" etc

No surprise there. Brendan is a very big draw these days.

The people didn't like it, that's why they revolted & changed it. The people of Ireland were treated appallingly, they couldn't own land, had to pay huge rents to scratch out a living off their own land, they had tried to achieve 'Home Rule' by generally peaceful means barring the odd squirmish. I think in 1918 the Irish saw Britain at war on the continent & realised now was their chance to rid themselves of their occupiers, and isn't that usually how people rid themselves of a bully? wait until the bully is vulnerable!


I couldn't agree more, the IRA of the 1920's were completely different from what came in the 60's, the provos stole the IRA's name only, they are scum and it's sad that the old IRA are even mentioned in the same breath as them!

This series seems to be a bit boring, especially the one on Tamsin Outhwaite and even Brian Blessed - thought he was a big big man but is actually average height - the best one so far was Brendan O'Carrol in the very tragic story of his grandad being shot by some evil looking officer of the British Army when he was quite an old man and his crime was that he would not betray his two sons.