The History Anorak

The History Anorak

Saturday 8 August 2015

Who Do You Think You Are?

I don't know about you, but I'm addicted to the BBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? and I'm excited about the new series that starts this Wednesday. History has always seemed a bit too fixated with 'Kings and Dates' for me. I've always been far more interested in what ordinary folk experienced, rather than the politics. Maybe that's why I studied archaeology, not history.Archaeology is the science of reconstructing cultures from physical remains. Texts can be part of the story, but not all of it, unlike in history.

But when it comes to Who Do You Think You Are? it's text evidence all the way - so why is this so different?  Because it's about real people. The programmes start with somebody well-known, but their ancestors were rarely important. They were ordinary folk, experiencing ordinary things. And in many cases those ordinary things were pretty harsh.

Wednesday's new series begins with baker Paul Hollywood, but for some reason the BBC is being coy about who else is involved. I've recognised Derek Jacobi in the programme trailer, and Military Wives choirmaster Gareth Malone. There's also actress Frances De La Tour. I THINK I've spotted foodie John Torode, and maybe actress Anne Reid (Derek Jacobi's Last Tango in Halifax co-star), but my celebrity-ometer is not particularly well developed and the other faces are lost on me.

It doesn't matter, though. Even when I've not heard of the person, or even when I don't particularly like them, their ancestors are fascinating to me. Roll on Wednesday!

6 comments:

  1. Yes, I love this programme but then I've been researching my family history since about 1988. At school we used to do mostly political history and although I enjoy that I also love to know how how the ordinary folk lived and worked which is why I much prefer social, local and family history:)

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  2. I like the programme too Anne particularly as they always seem to dig up something really interesting. Perhaps we all have at least one fascinating fact in our histories if we go back far enough.

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  3. Yeah - it's a fab series, really enjoy it - though some episodes do focus too much on one ancestor, in my view. I think it's on Thursday, though.

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  4. I enjoy this programme as well and didn't know that a new series is about to start so thank you for drawing it to my attention. It's now bookmarked on the TV!

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  5. I love this program too. Oops, better get a move on - it starts in 5 minutes :).

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