Who Do You Think You Are? - Joe Swash

 

Joe Swash’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? aired last Tuesday on BBC One — and it was such a good one!

Joe was keen to learn about the Italian side of his family — so that is exactly what this episode focussed on.

Especially note-worthy was the story of Joe’s great-grandfather, Giuseppe Raimo, an Italian living in London who saw the rise of fascism for the danger that it was

— not only in his home country, but also in the Italian community here in Britain.

Giuseppe spoke out against the fascists at a time when doing so within the Italian community would have meant facing some pretty unpleasant opposition. But he did speak — and, as Joe found when reading Giuseppe’s moving words, he did so poignantly and beautifully.

Looking further back in his Italian ancestry, Joe was keen to find out if stories of criminality and mob-ties were true. 

I won’t spoil the story — but, in true family-history fashion, the family story isn’t untrue, but isn’t quite true, either.

History can be quite complicated — because people can be quite complicated; and that’s part of the joy of it, I think.

This was an excellent episode, and I look forward to seeing what this series has in store for us next.

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