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Who Do you Think You Are? New Series |
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#101 |
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,812
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Whoever is looking for their ancestors it’s always an absorbing programme to watch.
Not ever meeting your grandparents and not knowing their names is incredible. To hear her grandmother had been proud of her was as endearing and as lovely as Una herself. |
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#102 |
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Join Date: Nov 2004
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One thing that stuck me about this though is, why have these people never thought to ask any of this themselves? Particularly when there is a big black hole in their past? Saying to camera, I've always wondered what happened, when you've had years to look seems odd.
) but it's too late, no one to ask now who can give any answers. Funny how I never ever asked my parents about relatives, life got in the way I suppose.
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#103 |
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,812
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I thought Una was absolutely adorable. Really lovely. I had a tear in my eye when her cousin told her that her grandmother had been really proud of her. And two great stories, Annie's tough start, marrying the boy across the road and watching on TV her famous granddaughter she'd never been allowed to know; and the creation of the Garden Cities and her campaigning grandfather.
I think a lot of us absorb certain family rules from our parents - if it's our parent's family and they don't talk about them, we accept from an early age that the subject is off limits, and it's often only long after they're dead that we question it. I'd go on the principle that if my parents or grandparents don't want to talk about something I should respect that. Quote:
Something similar happened to me. If you're a baby boomer (as I am), people didn't talk about their past and certainly nothing that may have been considered 'shameful'. My mum had confided something to my sister and neither of them ever told me. I was quite hurt at the time (and my sister still won't discuss it with me) but I understand now why they kept it to themselves. I would like to research my family tree but my sister thinks it's best to leave 'skeletons' in the cupboard.
I agree with moondew, our ancestry is fascinating. I have discovered family secrets that I feel I was entitled to know about. Don't wait until it is too late to get the answers. Mind you, our recalled memories are not always accurate and can confuse. I discovered that a younger sister who my mother had said died at a few weeks old, in fact was adopted ( I discovered this by sending off for her birth certificate as I had been unable to find a death certificate. ) One of my brothers said she had definitely died, whilst the other said she had been 'given away'. I discovered that there had been a still birth after the adopted baby, so both my brothers were correct in their memories, just a little jumbled. Quote:
My advice would be to ignore your sister and start researching - you'll find out all kinds of fascinating things about your ancestors. You can always keep certain things to yourself if you think your family will be upset by them.
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Unfortunately for many of use there are not many around to ask. But it is always worth asking, the story that you get might not be right but later you will find there are elements of it that are true and it can give clues.
That was my experience too. |
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#104 |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 52,176
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Anyone in the baby boomer age will know that their parents very rarely talked about the 'war years' other than in a romanticised version.
I know my parents didn't, what I have found out since I'm pretty glad they didn't, but I admire them more for it. |
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#105 |
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: South Westish
Posts: 3,157
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Was there an explanation as to why she had never met her grand parents? Seems strange, and rather sad. All my grandparents had died before I was born and I never ever thought to ask anything about them. Researching my ancestry has been quite a revelation, and finding I had relatives that I'd never met, but are now dead, was very frustrating.
If her mum and dad never talked about them and she never went to see them as a child there’d be no connection. All too easy to think they were dead if no one spoke about them but sadly Una learnt they didn’t die until she was in her 20s but her grandmother knew of her and her dancing. |
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#106 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 6,547
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Anyone in the baby boomer age will know that their parents very rarely talked about the 'war years' other than in a romanticised version.
I know my parents didn't, what I have found out since I'm pretty glad they didn't, but I admire them more for it. This meant when he was demobbed, he couldn't use his new skills as he wasn't allowed to talk about them, so he had to go back to being a greengrocers delivery driver. Soon after he left my Grandmother for another woman, but they never talked about him - I assumed he was dead. Then when I was 20, I heard my Gran on the phone to the pensions dept, and saying she was separated - not widowed. I think my Mother and Sister went to meet him before he died, but I never did - he left my Gran and Mother in absolute complete poverty - never sent them a penny. However I would quite like know what he did in the war that was so secret. They only use Celebrities with good stories for WDYTYA. |
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#107 |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 52,176
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My Mother's Father was in the RAF in the War, stationed in Wales, but was never allowed to talk about what he had done as it was "official secrets act" stuff. (Might have been something to do with radar or wireless stuff they thought)
This meant when he was demobbed, he couldn't use his new skills as he wasn't allowed to talk about them, so he had to go back to being a greengrocers delivery driver. Soon after he left my Grandmother for another woman, but they never talked about him - I assumed he was dead. Then when I was 20, I heard my Gran on the phone to the pensions dept, and saying she was separated - not widowed. I think my Mother and Sister went to meet him before he died, but I never did - he left my Gran and Mother in absolute complete poverty - never sent them a penny. However I would quite like know what he did in the war that was so secret. They only use Celebrities with good stories for WDYTYA. |
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#108 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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My Mother's Father was in the RAF in the War, stationed in Wales, but was never allowed to talk about what he had done as it was "official secrets act" stuff. (Might have been something to do with radar or wireless stuff they thought)
This meant when he was demobbed, he couldn't use his new skills as he wasn't allowed to talk about them, so he had to go back to being a greengrocers delivery driver. Soon after he left my Grandmother for another woman, but they never talked about him - I assumed he was dead. Then when I was 20, I heard my Gran on the phone to the pensions dept, and saying she was separated - not widowed. I think my Mother and Sister went to meet him before he died, but I never did - he left my Gran and Mother in absolute complete poverty - never sent them a penny. However I would quite like know what he did in the war that was so secret. They only use Celebrities with good stories for WDYTYA. The only very secret areas of wireless were the Direction Finding and intercept stations which were part of the intelligence operation. I don't know of any in North Wales apart from those using Voluntary Interceptors who were mainly radio amateurs working at home but these were usually people under age or too old for the military. It could be that he was not in a technical job, there could be hundreds of servicemen and women on a radar site and probably the majority were not technical. You can get hold of his service record but often do not have a lot of information and can take some interpreting. |
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#109 |
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: London or Valencia
Posts: 5,732
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Came across this by a sort-of accident before...I've never seen the show before, and thought it was brilliant.
Una was very endearing and it was fascinating stuff...I'll be catching up with future episodes on iPlayer as and when I can (I'm usually not around on Thursday nights). |
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#110 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 4,847
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I'd love to find out my family tree but I find it hard cos I'm Scottish and most of the sites just seemto do England and Wales
I love this show I find people's history fascinating |
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#111 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Dagenham Essex UK
Posts: 9,714
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I'd love to find out my family tree but I find it hard cos I'm Scottish and most of the sites just seemto do England and Wales
I love this show I find people's history fascinating As regarding the opening episode, was surprised by the change in voiceover, but thought it very good. The subject matter was excellent, although they didn't explain why they lumped Ebenezer Howard in with the "poor" as he was the son of a shopkeeper, and went to more than 1 boarding school. |
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#112 |
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 483
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www.findmypast.co.uk now includes 1841-1901 census for Scotland and is available free to access in some libraries.
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#113 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 11,981
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www.findmypast.co.uk now includes 1841-1901 census for Scotland and is available free to access in some libraries.
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#114 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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Came across this by a sort-of accident before...I've never seen the show before, and thought it was brilliant.
Una was very endearing and it was fascinating stuff...I'll be catching up with future episodes on iPlayer as and when I can (I'm usually not around on Thursday nights). |
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#115 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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I'd love to find out my family tree but I find it hard cos I'm Scottish and most of the sites just seemto do England and Wales
I love this show I find people's history fascinating The big difference in Scotland is that you can search online and print out the certificate straight away (for a fee) whereas in England you have send away and probably wait weeks. Local archives usually have a lot of information available but they vary from council to council. The Scottish censuses are on Ancestry and FindMyPast but just the indexes, no images. Best thing is to see if there is a local Family History Society or ask at the local archive / library. I know that Highland Archive has a room for family research. |
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#116 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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Why don't you start by going to scotlandspeople link, its a great resource for you to begin your search.
As regarding the opening episode, was surprised by the change in voiceover, but thought it very good. The subject matter was excellent, although they didn't explain why they lumped Ebenezer Howard in with the "poor" as he was the son of a shopkeeper, and went to more than 1 boarding school. There is a lot more to him than came over in the programme. He had travelled to the US before becoming a stenographer. His first wife's father is described as a 'prosperous innkeeper' but it says he remained poor all his life. 'and he died, at home, in a neglected state on 1 May 1928'. |
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#117 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Dagenham Essex UK
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I was puzzled about him going to boarding school if he was poor. I wondered if he got a scholarship. I see in the DNB he was at boarding school from age 4 to 15 and his father had several shops in the City - he is described as a 'confectioner' rather than 'baker'.
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#118 |
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 15,280
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Time to send for his war records, you may be surprised/shocked.
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#119 |
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 483
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Came across this by a sort-of accident before...I've never seen the show before, and thought it was brilliant.
Una was very endearing and it was fascinating stuff...I'll be catching up with future episodes on iPlayer as and when I can (I'm usually not around on Thursday nights). http://www.radiotimes.com/search?q=w...nk%20you%20are |
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#120 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 394
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I love this programme. The Jerry Springer episode was really interesting. I liked the John Bishop episode too because of the naval history
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#121 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,637
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I thought this episode was great, there was a fantastic connection between both sides of the family which she never knew about, from the responsible chocolate employers (who would probably be horrified at the links between obesity & early death) & their employees to the court stenographer who wanted to make a difference to the lives of those living in city slums with no thought to personal gain. I fear the world needs more people like that these days.
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#122 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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My Mother's Father was in the RAF in the War, stationed in Wales, but was never allowed to talk about what he had done as it was "official secrets act" stuff. (Might have been something to do with radar or wireless stuff they thought) ......
All RAF radar stations had an A.M.E.S. number, these are easily identified from various reference books. They might actually have more than one number if several different types of equipment there. AMES = Air Ministry Experimental Station. |
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#123 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,459
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I thought this episode was great, there was a fantastic connection between both sides of the family which she never knew about, from the responsible chocolate employers (who would probably be horrified at the links between obesity & early death) & their employees to the court stenographer who wanted to make a difference to the lives of those living in city slums with no thought to personal gain. I fear the world needs more people like that these days.
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#124 |
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,274
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: Quote:
Be funny if her family turn out to have a connection with the makers of Mars bars.
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#125 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,637
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Nigel Havers tonight, wonder what his will be like
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All times are GMT. The time now is 17:30.




) but it's too late, no one to ask now who can give any answers. Funny how I never ever asked my parents about relatives, life got in the way I suppose.


