Who Do You Think You Are? - Andrew Lloyd Webber

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber kicked off series 20 of Who Do You Think You Are? last Thursday with a strong episode.

Though it may have come as a surprise to him, many people would probably have assumed Andrew Lloyd Webber - a Lord who composed music for the recent coronation - had nobility in his family's background. He is, after all, very much an establishment figure - though his own personal background is far more humble.

His mother's side of the family, though, revealed a knighted hero from the Battle of Waterloo - commemorated in the official paintings of that event, no less - and, further back still, a woman whose wardship (essentially a form of custody for nobles,) was sold by Henry VIII to a man who would marry her in her teenage years. 

This was a state of affairs even the Spanish ambassador felt worth mentioning, since her 'guardian' and husband was in what we would now consider middle-age at the time of the union.

Her second marriage, after being widowed, appears to have been for love (and more power to her,) and it's from this second marriage that Andrew Lloyd Webber's family is descended. Things were not all plain-sailing however, with the family having to flee the country during the reign of Queen Mary I due to their staunch Protestant faith.

Further back, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's working-class paternal line, is where the most interesting stories come in, though 

- tales of show-men and musicians from the Magito family, making their names in the world of 18th Century European entertainment.

There were odd parallels between Andrew Lloyd Webber's distant ancestors and the lives of himself and his brother, Julian, Britain's most well-known cellist. 

Not least the existence of Alexis Magito - a Dutch cellist, often known as 'Mr Alexis,' who composed and performed in England.

While the other parts of the episode were entertaining enough, it is this last focal point of the Magito family that truly makes this episode fascinating, and well worth the watch.

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