General Chat

i thought he was rude, and pompous the way he ended the program when the man asked him a question, he shouted' what a rediculous question,' he was horrible

heard Sheila Hancock on Steve Wrights radio show yesterday, and she said she was not interested in doing it at all, she had to be asked repetedly if she would do the program, but she has no interest in it at all, her grand daughter had to persuade her, what's wrong with these stars, they have it all done for them and there still not interested and i bet they get paid as well

WOW Recorded it last night and just watched it . I felt like hanging my head in shame in case it was one of my ancestors that snitched on his ggrandmother for having a 2nd illegitamate child. Was wondering if it helped anybody with their tree. Maybe some of the descendants of the other 10 children from Scotland or the ones left behind on Suffolk. When they go into record offices it is obviously not the first time they have been there. The researchers would have notified the record offices weeks in advance so that they can gather all the info. Especially the one about the Janitor. Good start to the series. Just shows how privalaged life some of us lead. Gloria

Thanks Merry Nope - I'm a Brit here in good ol' England, but a fair distance from where both sides of my family tree came from, so working full time leaves me little time to visit the places local to my ancestors where I might find photos of the areas as they might have been. will have to make 'pilgrimages' one of my (many) New Year's resolutions - but one I might just keep. Sorry that I have wandered a little from the subject of this board, folks. Still psyched up from the programme. Sx

I watched and thought it was a really good show. Paxman was a good choice as his intial reaction shows how people who are not yet bitten by this hobby react, and his building interest made it seem far more believeable given his public 'face'. If he had been gushing from the start i think it would have been far less watchable. The highlight for me was the chat i had with my daughter when it finished, she was on a rare evening home and moaned about it being on...then got really caught up in it. She was astonished how anyone could die from exhaustion......as she is 21 years old i was amazed at her lack of understanding , so we had quite a long 'chat' about it afterwards which was really constructive, and made a nice change from the usual mother -daughter debates, lol She conceeded it was an interesting show and may just watch it with me next week, however she did moan that there is no point her getting too interested in her family tree as i have done it all already and left nothing for her to find!!! Oh well, at least she 'almost' understands my strange obsession with dead people now, lol Yvette

Shirley, You need to take a visit to your local County Record Office. Even if your family came from a different area, visiting your local one would give you a better insight into what is available. Now you will say you live in Australia! Merry

I just love these programmes. The way that they bring the past to life - how people lived, their hardships, illnesses, uprooting their families to find work, workhouses etc - I just wish that I could 'see' the past of my own ancestors in the same way. The trouble is, I don't really know how to go about it. How can I find the places that house all the information needed like the records which showed the handouts, the shipping list of those who moved around (and emigrated). I realise that I don't know enough about what facilities are available to me. In my ancestry I have a carter and his wife who moved about constantly, presumably to find work, as their children were born in different places throughout Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. He also died of TB. I would love to be able to bring that part of the family to life and find out what 'life' was like for them. SRBx

I thought the program was great........the emotional bits I'm sure were natural, but I do think when he was rude to the interviewer, it sounded staged, ''Come on Jeremy....maybe you could you be a bit more reactionary??'' (right, take 6.....). They needed the contrast!! Also, we don't know how many hours he was filmed for in order for the editor to get what he wanted!! Can't wait for the next one................... Merry

I enjoyed the programme too, it also showed that our Jeremy does have a heart! lol x

Hi This morning my daughter who is not interested in family history was going on about Paxmans tree the children left with no parents and other things and how sad it made her....i said you should look at your own family tree the hardships deaths ,,many children born and disasapeared ?? totaly illiterate but so hard working..i told her how they survived i'll never understand,,,but she showed no interest,i found it hard to beleive she felt more for his family than her own,,,,

I really enjoyed it. It really bought home the poverty of the times. I learnt bits too. I did not know of the scheme to send workers to the Yorkshire woolen mills. i would have liked a brief update on the family in Canada. In radio times it said Mabel went to the U.S.A. with the salvation army but came back. There is only so much you can fit into an hour. I miss the programme afterwards telling us how to do the geneology.

The program was very good, as I has expected it to be, but I wouldn't care if I never saw JP again, his attitude towards the interviewer certainly did not endear him to me. ''Are you proud of your Scottish roots?''.... Not a silly question when you are on television, being interviewed in the back of a taxi, it was 'fill in' that's all, BBC don't want silences - the man was extremely rude in my opinion. I was moved just as he was about his history, but I cringed when for the 3rd time he said ''what a ridiculous question'' The man is an A**E!

I think his comments that we don't know how well off we are summed it up perfectly.

well worth waiting for wasn't it?! Isn't it amazing how a family can go from dying in poverty to public school in a hundred years? Really felt I could relate to the programme and his emotional reaction. One of my gg grandfather's died of TB at 33 leaving his widow and 3 children to survive on nothing too. My gg grandmother on the other side died age 42 (my age) after giving birth to 13 children - exhaustion is listed as one of the causes of death. Like he says - we don't know we're born. Maz. XX

Jim I put this on another thread last night but still applies. Despite his initial astonishment that anyone should want to know about their family history, Jeremy Paxman obviously found it very interesting and extremely humbling and emotional. Thought it was a good start to what looks like another good series. Daisy PS I quite like his abrasive style. Makes a change from some of the sycophants on tv these days.

Hello Zoe - I agree that they do not give enough time for the Scottish roots, but I think they like to do both sides of the family, so they devoted half and hour to Scotland and the other to the Paxman roots. I liked the first series, especially the one with Bill Oddie, very emotional, and it answered so many questions in his life.

I agree with Nell about the research done before the series and then cherry pick the ones who have the most interesting trees or the ones that have the most interesting stories behind all those names, dates, occupations and places. It's about storytelling, I think we established that in the last series. They can only cram in so much during an hour, so probably have to edit certain parts that may go off at tangents but undoubtedly we as genealogists would find interesting. By showing what they have, they probably dangle enough of a carrot in front of anyone who has maybe been tempted in finding out more about their own ancestors but has yet to do so. Of course, because of the research done beforehand, this means making it look somewhat easier than it actually is - 'Got a name? OK, here's their death cert!'. I enjoyed the episode and Paxman as the doubting sceptic was a good choice of a guest.

I missed it, thanks to football! Boo hoo! CB >|<

I thought it was very good and also the program called family ties at 10pm on bbc4 was just as good. jenny

did anyone else wish they'd looked into his Scottish roots a bit more - especially as they mentioned his great grandfather coming from Dundee then completely ignored it. And they never mentioned the fact that the illegitimate child being called Nicholas could have given a clue to who her father was or that the church records would have probably said so too - I was shouting at the telly at that bit Zoe