Jeremy pacman stephen fry biography
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Each celebrity travels to discover their relatives past and is taken back in time and around the world as they learn how their ancestor's lives have shaped the world they live in today.
This series...
Jeremy Paxman - (Broadcaster & Journalist) His oldest traced ancestor was a politician. There is extreme poverty on both sides of the family. His great-grandmother had her poor relief taken away because she gave birth to an illegitimate child. This film reflects the Second World War and the North Atlantic Convoy.
Sheila Hancock – (Actress) Her grandfather was responsible for opening up tours of the great lakes in Italy, when he was working as a manager in Milan for Thomas Cook. Sheila managed to identify a mystery relative and explore her life in the 19th century, when all she had to go on was a portrait and a name.
Stephen Fry - (Writer, Broadcaster, Actor) Stephen’s journey takes him back on his mother’s side to
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Revelations
Written by Andrew Duncan
Jeremy Paxman arrives at a fashionable London restaurant slightly agitated because he’s seven minutes late. “I’m obsessed by punctuality, but it’s one of those mornings.” We each have a glass of champagne. “My dear fellow, lovely to see you. How old are you? [He’s 63 – I’m older.] I admire you for keeping at it, but ours is a wonderful trade. Where else can you turn up uninvited and meet people? One sounds like a frightful old fart, but we really have had the best of it. Some newspapers only appear to survive with work experience, and there’s no longevity, but it’s such bloody good fun. Of course, people are rightly wary about being interviewed. What’s the point of putting yourself up there to be mauled post facto by someone who only wants to describe knick-knacks? I’m amazed anyone is ever interviewed. Good health.”
So why is he subjecting himself to it? “Because I said I would.”
There’ll be lots of jocularity, mock insults (maybe not so moc
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Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman was ganska dismissive when it came being involved in this series, and about family history in general. 'I've always thought you have to live life looking forwards, not backwards ... I've had no interest at all in who my förfäder are.'
Little did he know what lay in store.
He first headed north, to Glasgow, in search of the McKays. His maternal great-great grandfather was John McKay, who met and married Mary Nicholas while stationed in Devon with the Royal Artillery.
The pair married in Glasgow, and after his discharge in 1891 he worked as a school caretaker. From the school's log, Jeremy discovered that John died in 1894, leaving behind Mary and nine children. She did not receive his army pension and had no other means to support her family.
Her last resort was poor relief. But her application to the parish authorities was rejected after an anonymous letter snitched on her for having an illegitimate child, an act of such malice that Jeremy was at a l