Watch Wednesday: Lesley Sharp Who Do You Think You Are Review

Yes, I know, another Who Do You Think You Are/Family history review, but I promise I do have a life and some more comprehensive reviews are on their way as well! Last night Lesley Sharp (Scott and Bailey English actress) appeared on her own Who Do You Think You Are, a fascinating episode which primarily investigated her biological father's line (a complete mystery to her before the show). In a change from the rest of the series the episode took Lesley to Canada to investigate her paternal great-great grandparents. Adopted at five weeks old, Lesley only discovered her birth parents names in adulthood.  As is the case with family history programmes, Lesley's story serves as a prime example of family history research as a route into social history. As such, the programme is as much an insight into Victorian poverty, Barnardo's ragged children and adoption and illegitimacy in the 1950s as it is into the actress herself. A great watch.

Carpe Diem xx

Watch Wednesday: Una Stubbs Who Do You Think You Are review

This kick-off to the tenth series of what is becoming a British institution proves that one of the most important elements of the show is personality. The charming, sweet character that comes across whenever actress Una Stubbs is on screen, sporting a black beret, makes the episode, but it is her family's story that's at the heart of it. As is often the case in Who Do You Think You Are, and in family history in general, you don't have to look far to unearth a hidden past. 

Una knew little of her family and learns more about her grandparents, specifically her grandmother who grew up in poverty in York and followed Una's career without her knowing, and her great-grandfather Ebenezer Howard, founder of the idealistic Welwyn Garden City. A great start to the series and a sign of good things to come, although I'm sure fellow enthusiasts will agree that  the programmes only touches on some of the more interesting stories.

Who Do You Think You Are, Wednesday 24th July 2013, 9pm BBC1 is available on BBC iPlayer

Carpe Diem xx

Genealogy: My Family in 1911

In a short diversion from both beauty and food, I wanted to write a blog about my genealogy work. Here's some of my family history, told through the stories of three of my ancestors living in different classes in 1911.

Upper Class:

My paternal great-grandmother Agnes Grace 'Jan' Cancellor (10) living in Kensington with her brother, aunt, and uncle, my paternal great-great uncle Henry 'Harry' Lannoy Cancellor (49). Her mother had died and her father had was exiled abroad for fraud, and she spent most of her childhood living with different 'aunts'. 'Uncle Harry' was a wealthy barrister and kept three servants. His wife, Lily 'Aunt Lil', ran a bookshop and was involved in the suffragette movement.

'Jan' Bateson (nee Cancellor), in her 80s

Middle Class:

My maternal great-grandfather Albert Miller (10), living with his parents Richard (67) and Sarah (49), sister Ruth (9) and housekeeper Ellen Message (41). His parents ran a laundry in Hailsham, Sussex.

Albert Miller, 1989 (aged 88)

Working Class:

My maternal great-grandmother Clara Wright (14), living with her parents William (37) and Clara (37), brothers Frank (9) and Frederick (3), and sister Ida (7). The family were poor and lived in the East End of London; the census shows that Clara gave birth to 2 children who later died.  Her father was a bricklayer and possibly Jewish. I believe that my grandfather Peter Wright was born illegitimately in Wandsworth in 1922, where he then was adopted and lived with a large family in Sussex.

All Rights Reserved to Ancestry.co.uk

Carpe diem xx