WDYTYA? - Lee Mack

Lee Mack's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on Monday, starting us off with Lee finding out about his fellow comedian, ancestor Billy Mac.

Billy's story encompassed both variety/music hall performances, and the Western Front in World War One.

Billy performed with a gallows-humour style comedy troupe called 'The Optimists' on the front lines.




Also part of Lee's episode was a look at his maternal family in Ireland.

Life wasn't that easy for his ancestors, and Lee was perhaps a little quick to judge an unmarried mother who emigrated to Canada while leaving her son in her parents' care.

Often, family members who emigrated would send money home to their relatives - additionally, not having her as another mouth to feed would also have benefitted the family financially.

Of course, not knowing the exact circumstances, it may have been just as Lee suspected at first - or something else entirely.

That's the thing about trying to understand the actions of people in the past - without more context, it can be very difficult to understand how acceptable something was.

Lee did begin to wonder whether he was being too harsh, and judging his ancestor too much by modern standards, when the conditions and economic difficulties his family were in became clearer - it can be worthwhile to understand that survival is often the top motivating factor behind the actions of our forebears!

WDYTYA? - Olivia Colman

Monday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured actress Olivia Colman.

For me, Olivia's bouncy attitude is what made this episode worth the watch - she really did make it interesting just by being there!

Of course, her family's story was also really interesting!

This episode really benefitted from a family that could've waltzed straight out of Dickens or Austen, encompassing India, Portugal, and France, and death, divorce, and some very strong women.

And of course it's hard not to be at least a little envious when someone's family were posh enough to have actual painted portraits!

This episode had all of the amazing twists and turns you would hope for in a episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and hopefully is a great indication of the standard of the rest of the series.

Again though, what really made this episode was Colman's investment in not only the highs, but the lows as well.

Yes, there were the patented Who Do You Think You Are? tears. Many of them, in fact!

WDYTYA? - Michelle Keegan

Michelle Keegan's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was a tale of survivors.

One of her main family lines originated in Gibraltar - which, if you don't know, is a British dependency off the coast of Spain.

Gibraltar was largely evacuated in WW2, due to both its strategic importance, and it's vulnerable position in the heart of Europe.

The civilian refugees - people who, though largely Spanish-speaking, considered themselves Brits - were sent to many locations, including the UK mainland.

These British citizens found themselves in the odd position of being treated as foreigners on the British mainland - strangers in their own country.




Another Gibraltarian ancestor had emigrated from Genoa in Italy, alone, at the age of just 13.

He worked his way to a moderately successful - if slightly on the edge of the law - business at the port.




A separate line of Michelle's family hail from her own native Manchester, where Michelle found that one of her ancestors was a suffragist.

I think that a little more could have been made of the differences between suffragists and suffragettes, since this seemed a bit rushed-in at the end, but I guess it can be hard to decide what to include sometimes!






The BBC are doing one of their patented random gaps between WDYTYA? episodes, so I have no idea when the next one's on!

New WDYTYA? Series (+ Info on My Privacy Policy)

The 15th series of Who Do You Think You Are? starts this week with Michelle Keegan, actress from BBC series Our Girl.

Other celebrities featured in series 15 are:

• Olivia Colman, actress
• Boy George, musician
• Shirley Ballas, Strictly Come Dancing judge
• Lee Mack, comedian
• Marvin Humes, former JLS member and TV presenter
• Robert Rinder, TV's Judge Rinder
• Jonnie Peacock, Paralympian

Here in Wales, the series is premiering at 23.05 (11.05pm) on Wednesday (6th June,) on BBC1 Wales.

In Scotland, it premiers at 21.00 (9pm) on Thursday (7th June) on BBC1 Scotland.

And everywhere else, it premiers at 21.00 (9pm) on Wednesday (6th June,) on your local BBC1.

I'm hoping to write summaries for the episodes again - so look out for that!










Also worth a look for fans of history is Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley, on tonight on BBC1 at 20.30 (8.30pm)

On a business note, you may've heard about the new GDPR EU regulations.

I take your privacy and the collection of your data seriously, and you can see my privacy policy here.

Christmas Order Details

Christmas is coming!

I know it may not feel like it now, but the truth is that December 25^th is less than three months away!

And what do you want to give this year, as a special present?

What about something which is:

• Special
• Personalised
• Unique
• Thoughtful
• Heartfelt

I still have room for Christmas orders of Family History research packages.

But the absolute last date for Christmas 2017 orders is 31st October 2017.

The earlier you order, the more time I will have to make it special and uncover more about your (or the gift recipient's) family's past.

It's also advisable that if you want a common surname researched (Jones, Smith, Williams, etc.) you order early!

It takes time to unravel the details of numerous individual William Jones'!

While I have other services available, I recommend either my branch or double-branch packages – which make a beautiful and unique gift.

So check out my services on familyhistorybycerys.co.uk, and then get in touch via the e-mail address on the site!

Don't be worried if you're not sure how to start - just drop me an e-mail, and I can discuss your research with you!

WDYTYA? - Ruby Wax

After an impromptu (and unexplained) break, Who Do You Think You Are? was back last night with the final episode of the series, featuring Ruby Wax.

Ruby's parents were Jewish Austrians, who fled Vienna in the 1930s.

Unfortunately, the story of persecution and hardship was pretty continuous throughout the episode. Ruby's family struggled through some of the worst times in history, and perhaps it went a little way to explain her parents and their problems to her.

Ruby's parents travelled, as refugees, to the USA. They were lucky in being able to get visas, as the US (and many other countries) were less than friendly to those fleeing the persecution.

Their marriage, and Ruby's childhood by extension, was deeply unhappy. We can only speculate that her parent's lives were altered, and damaged, to a great extent by their experiences of persecution, torture, and fear. If you put people through hell, they aren't always going to be ok afterwards.

Ruby also found answers about mental health problems within her family.

She seemed to have found the process quite beneficial, joking that she didn't need to spend so much money on therapy when she could've just done genealogy!

This was a striking episode, rounding off the series similarly to how it began (with Charles Dance's amazing family revelations.)

Hopefully it won't be too long before we get another series!

WDYTYA? - Lisa Hammond

Lisa Hammond's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured a lot of interesting stories!

The stories included were Hollywood-worthy, moving from World War Two, to the East End of London, to Seventeenth Century Wales!

The most poignant of these stories was perhaps the most recent of them - the story of Lisa's grandfather, Harry, who was a Prisoner of War.

Interesting too was the details of Harry's return to the UK, at a time when mental health care for the military services was starting to develop.

Most of Lisa's family were from London, which she was happy about, given that she considers herself a true Londoner.

Given that, it was really funny to see her reactions to finding rural Welsh family - and even more amusing to see her reaction to cows!

A really interesting episode, with only one episode now left in the series.