So, the penultimate episode of this series of Who Do You Think You Are? starred the wonderful Billy Connolly, who's delightful outlook and turn of phrase made every part of this enjoyable. Another fantastic episode, this time we took a trip to India (with Billy sporting come typically and wonderfully eccentric footwear and trousers,) to find out about Billy's ancestral colonial soldiers - with a fair side of alcoholism and syphilis in the mix (which Billy was quite impressed with!)
It wasn't all fun and games though, the tragic events and brutality of war at Cawnpore and other places showed the cruelty on both sides of the Indian Mutiny. John O'Brien, Billy's ancestor, would've seen some very unpleasant things in his military life, as the soldiers witnessed the dreadful atrocities - as Billy said, this is not the history that's taught in schools, and perhaps, to an extent, it should be.
My favourite moment was when the penny finally dropped and Billy realised that 13-year-old bride Matilda Allen was in fact an Indian girl, not a European. So, the famous Scot has some Indian, as well as Irish and Scottish, blood.
I have to say, the experts the series found to talk to Billy about his ancestors were also fairly entertaining - and quite the characters, though, of course, not as funny as the man himself.
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