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View Full Version : Who Do You Think You Are - Sarah Millican 11th Sep


kiterunner
10-09-13, 22:52
At 9 p.m. on BBC1.

Please note that the repeat is next Monday at 10:35 p.m. on BBC1, not Thursday as it has been up to now.

Guinevere
11-09-13, 07:59
I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it. Her voice drives me crazy, like nails down a blackboard. I don't mean her accent, I mean her actual voice.

Margaret in Burton
11-09-13, 08:16
Oh I really like her. She's the one comedian I do find funny. Most I just don't laugh at them. Hubby can be howling and I just sit there.

maggie_4_7
11-09-13, 14:51
She irritates me so much and I do not find her funny.

Hopefully the FH might overcome the irritation but going on the episodes I have seen recently I fear it will not.

Liked Minnie Driver and Nitin Ganatra but that is all so far. Didn't mind the Nigel Havers episode but found him irritating.

Piwacket
11-09-13, 22:17
She irritates me so much and I do not find her funny.



Sadly I feel the same :)

So having watched the programme now not quite sure whether I'd changed my mind - a very irritating giggle - perhaps it was nerves? But very interesting history, + a couple of extremely strong ggggrandads! Certainly rather different and what astonishing experiences they both had.

kiterunner
11-09-13, 22:21
Episode synopsis:

Sarah Millican was born in South Shields in 1975 but now lives near Manchester. She was married for seven years and is now divorced.

Sarah visited her parents Philip and Valerie, a miner and a hairdresser, who married in 1965. They had done some research on their family trees already but got stuck.

Philip never met either of his grandfathers, and his father died when he was 15, so he didn't know much about his family history apart from having been told there was a Scottish connection. Valerie's maternal grandmother is supposed to have come from a wealthy family as they owned their own house and had a grand piano. Valerie's parents were James "Jimmy" Prince and Gladys Hoult.

Sarah had a local genealogist do her mother's family tree for her, and decided to find out more about her 3xg-grandfather James Hoult, a diver who was born in Whitstable, Kent, in 1812. His wife Mary Ann Ayres was born in Lowestoft in 1820. Sarah went to Whitstable and met a diving historian who showed her the registration of a boat called the "William" from Jan 1837 with James Hoult listed on the crew list. The boat was a salvage and rescue boat. On the 1838 crew list it is a fishing and diving boat. Diving started around this time in Whitstable, so James was one of the very first divers, diving to salvage goods from shipwrecks.

Sarah visited a diving museum. She was shown a record stating that in 1843 James Hoult was diving to the wreck of the "Pegasus" at Holy Island, and she found online a report of the shipwreck in the "Illustrated London News". She went up to Holy Island to see where the Pegasus sank, and was shown some newspaper reports about the divers, one of which said that the masters of the diving smacks, including Mr Holt, gave all the stuff that they brought up to the orphaned children although they were entitled to keep 40% of it.

Sarah looked at the 1851 census which showed James Hoult living in North Shields, age 39, occupation diver, with his wife Mary Ann and five children, the youngest of whom was born in North Shields. He was employed to clear obstructions from the river Tyne. Sarah was shown a newspaper report of James's death in 1867 at the age of 55, from a brain concussion.

Sarah then got the genealogist to do her father's side of her tree, and decided to find out more about her 4xg-grandfather John Malcom born in Orkney in 1791, a servant of the Hudson's Bay Company. Sarah went to Stromness in Orkney and found out that HBC was a fur-trading company, selling furs etc from Canada. A ship's log from 1817 showed John Malcom, labourer, travelling as a passenger from Orkney to Moose River.

Sarah flew to Canada, to Moose Factory Island, and met a local historian who explained that HBC was in competition with the Northwest Company, forcing them to set up inland outposts. An 1817 report showed that John Malcom was sent to walk about 350 miles from Albany to Gloucester House very soon after his arrival. The Gloucester House journals show that after he had been there for about six weeks, he was sent back to Albany but got lost on the way and was brought back to Gloucester House by an Indian who had found him. He was very ill and had to have his feet amputated, by William Thomas, who was in charge at Gloucester House. The Moose Factory journal from 1819 showed that John was picking oakum and that in Sep 1819 he was sent back to Orkney, with money raised by his colleagues providing him with a small income. An application for an increase in this income to provide for his wife and children was refused.

Sarah looked at the 1841 census entry for John Malcom aged 50 with five children, and the 1851 census entry where they were living in South Shields.

kiterunner
11-09-13, 22:23
She found out some very interesting stuff about those two ancestors, but I don't like the episodes where they are given a family tree and just focus on one or two people from several generations back, as much as the ones where they show them doing some research on who begat whom and you can see how the tree fits together.

kiterunner
11-09-13, 22:30
The Malcom family in 1851, with a servant, so I guess their income was adequate:
1851 census ancestry (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8860/DURHO107_2399_2400-0184/14720895?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3duki1851%252c%26ra nk%3d0%26gsfn%3djohn%26gsln%3dmalc*m%26sx%3d%26gs1 co%3d1%252cAll%2bCountries%26gs1pl%3d1%252c%2b%26y ear%3d%26yearend%3d%26sbo%3d0%26sbor%3d%26ufr%3d0% 26wp%3d4%253b_80000002%253b_80000003%26srchb%3dr%2 6prox%3d1%26ti%3d5538%26ti.si%3d0%26gss%3dangs-d%26pcat%3d35%26fh%3d42%26h%3d14720895%26recoff%3d 7%2b8%26fsk%3dCIAAIpwAkR0t%26bsk%3d%26pgoff%3d%26m l_rpos%3d43&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord)

Olde Crone
11-09-13, 22:48
I thought this was a very interesting episode, most unusual ancestors.

It didn't make me warm to her though. (For quite a long time I thought she was Mrs Merton gone Irish. Even when I realised she wasn't, I still didn't like her!).

OC

crawfie
11-09-13, 23:02
I did find myself yelling at the TV when she was talking about John Malcolm: Can we find out whether he had a family. He was your 4xgreat grandfather - of course he had a family!

kiterunner
11-09-13, 23:18
I did find myself yelling at the TV when she was talking about John Malcolm: Can we find out whether he had a family. He was your 4xgreat grandfather - of course he had a family!

Yes, me too.

kiterunner
11-09-13, 23:27
I don't think they mentioned in the programme that Millican was Sarah's husband's surname and that her maiden name was King, although they did show some Kings in the family tree. The internet says that she married Andrew Millican in Las Vegas.

Margaret in Burton
11-09-13, 23:40
Not managed to watch it, family descended on us so haven't recorded it either. Will have to record the re-run. Not reading any comments on it either.

Langley Vale Sue
12-09-13, 01:10
I did find myself yelling at the TV when she was talking about John Malcolm: Can we find out whether he had a family. He was your 4xgreat grandfather - of course he had a family!

Me too Crawfie. :d I wondered if anyone else had noticed. :)

Apart from that, I enjoyed this episode. My 5 x G grandparents and their children also went to Canada from Scotland, a bit later than Sarah's, in 1821, although to the Prairies not Hudson's Bay. Unlike Sarah's relative they stayed there though. :)

I like Sarah Millican and find her very funny. Like Victoria Wood, but without the songs. :D

JessBow
12-09-13, 06:25
I thought it was good, she certainly wanted meat on the bones, even if it was only the interesting meat.

I liked her straight-forward -ness. They were they interesting people, lets find out more about them. No pretence about where her tree came from, she had someone do it for her, then picked out the interesting bits.

Who else thought Diver would morph into driver?

Guinevere
12-09-13, 06:35
I enjoyed it as a study of history but wanted more genealogy. *huffs*

Her voice did drive me crazy but I like her.

Lynn the Forest Fan
12-09-13, 07:09
I agree with Crawfie, I kept saying "of course he must have survived if she was descended from him. I do like her and found ir interesting. I can't imagine diving in that outfit though, it was so heavy!

kiterunner
12-09-13, 11:12
This looks likely to be Gladys Hoult's family on the 1911 census:
1911 census ancestry (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2352/rg14_30352_0493_03/34910811?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dUKProbateCal%26db%3d%26so%3d2 %26rank%3d0%26gsfn%3dwil*%2bgeo*%26gsln%3dhoult%26 sx%3d%26gs1co%3d1%252cAll%2bCountries%26gs1pl%3d1% 252c%2b%26year%3d%26yearend%3d%26sbo%3d0%26sbor%3d %26ufr%3d0%26wp%3d4%253b_80000002%253b_80000003%26 srchb%3dr%26prox%3d1%26ti%3d5538%26ti.si%3d0%26gss %3dangs-b&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord)

36 Raglan Street, Jarrow on Tyne, Durham
William George Hoult Head 28 Married Chemical Works Greaser Durham South Shields
Catherine Hoult Wife 25 Married 5 years 4 children, 2 living, 2 dead, Yorkshire Startforth
Mabel Hoult Daughter 2 Durham Tyne Dock
Gladys Hoult Daughter 1 1/2 Durham Tyne Dock.

3 rooms.

If my notes from the programme are correct, it is Catherine's family who are supposed to have owned their own house and grand piano? There is a possible William George Hoult / Catherine Arrowsmith marriage Oct-Dec 1905 Teesdale. I'll see if I can find out more about the Arrowsmiths later as I would like to know whether they had money or not! It just seems strange that Sarah was asking one of the researchers / historians on the programme whether the Hoult family had money to confirm her mother's story - unless my notes are wrong about it being Sarah's mother's maternal grandmother's family who supposedly had the money?

Ann from Sussex
12-09-13, 17:00
Yes, me too.

And me!

I thought this was the best of the series so far - very interesting. Thanks Kite for telling us Millican was her married name as I was wondering why we didn't hear anything about it when her father was quoted as saying he thought his family came from Scotland.

I thought Sarah came across well, asking intelligent questions and being very interested in her ancestors. I did notice that her voice became deeper at times which made me wonder if the high-pitched one is a bit of an act. I do find her funny although she can be a bit too crude and vulgar for my taste at times.

Yes, definitely the best of the series for me....although I don't like this habit they have developed of presenting a beautifully produced tree with no explanation of how it was arrived at.

Margaret in Burton
12-09-13, 17:44
Just watched it on catch up. Enjoyed it, so did OH. Not often he comments unless he's bored, he was with Nick Hewer.

JBee
12-09-13, 17:58
I thought I saw someone born in Perth, Scotland who married someone with name starting Pat......

I was intrigued as have Paton's around that area.

Also OH's ancestor drowned just off Farne Islands in 1876 - his ship was the SS Calcium.

Nell
14-09-13, 14:48
I watched this on catch-up and enjoyed it. Although I also thought she was daft for asking if John Malcolm had a family, I liked the fact she was happy to appear naive and genuinely excited at what was found out, as well as gamely putting on that diving gear.

Diving was a new occupation for me too and this episode explored new ground.

Ann from Sussex
14-09-13, 16:17
Although I also thought she was daft for asking if John Malcolm had a family,

According to something I saw on the BBC website, Sarah has said she asked that question because she hadn't been told before she went to Canada whether or not John's children had been born before or after he left Orkney.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/NF1951566?thread=8435873&skip=250#p117337818


Sorry Sarah for shouting at you during the programme!

Olde Crone
14-09-13, 18:48
JBee

I think the PAT name was Paterson - it caught my eye because I have Patersons in my tree.

OC