I was intrigued to read on TheGenelaogist's website, that their researchers have discovered the real story of James Freeman, as played by Russell Tovey in the BBC TV series Banished. As they say in their article "Freeman's real story is fascinating, if a bit gruesome."
I won't spoil it for you, as you can read it all by heading over to their featured articles on their website here:
http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2015/hang-or-be-hanged-the-finisher-of-the-law-237/
What I can tell you is that the Transportation records to be found on TheGenealogist website is a fabulous resource for discovering convict ancestors that this country wanted to send away "to parts beyond the seas".
Last night's episode of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' featuring Nitin Ganatra was a real international trip crossing continents. Nitin's family history journey involved visiting both Kenya and India as he explored the lives of his ancestors. It was an emotional journey as the tale showed the hard lives of his forebears as they worked on the Kenyan Railway and also battled to escape famine and ill-health in India at the turn of the century.
To travel back and speak to a village elder aged over 100 years old who remembered the Ganatra family did make the episode particularly fascinating. The poor record keeping in India over the years did make this programme more about what can be discovered through different channels of research, including speaking to elders, rather than the standard record sources we normally see used by the celebrities.
All told it was a very unusual but still fascinating episode. Comedienne Sarah Millican is the celebrity featured next week!
After watching the third episode of Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC1 last night, I feel the series so far has been excellent and the intriguing family history story of Minnie Driver and her ancestors did not disappoint.
Last night's episode had family scandal with love affairs and illegitimate births, brave war hero exploits and the psychological scars of war and the discovery of relatives (both living and dead) she had previously not known ever existed. A very interesting discovery of family history!
What did you think? Let us know! The next episode features the actress Lesley Sharp who also has a very interesting ancestral history by all accounts!
The second episode of the popular series 'Who Do You Think You Are?' continues tonight on BBC1 at 9pm. Featuring actor Nigel Havers, it promises to be another great episode after the emotional and 'coincidental' journey of Una Stubbs last week.
Nigel Havers has played many upper class roles over the years and it was assumed his family history would produce a long line of aristocratic characters. However, despite his immediate family consisting of a number of high profile, successful legal professionals, it appears Nigel comes from a family of far more humble origins!
TheGenealogist has looked into his background if you'd like to know more before the show tonight. The featured article can be found here.
Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine has announced the new celebrities to be featured in the forthcoming TV series of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine. They include Gary Lineker, Nigel Havers, Una Stubbs, actress Minnie Driver and BBC News Editor John Simpson. The series starts next month and promises to be a good one. Will you be watching?
There's more information at the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine website