General Chat

Very slow Start .But was surprised at her attitude to the crimes he was a drunk & a forger . .to me she was acting through the programme. as that is what she is good at .love her in Dinner Ladies & Last Tango In Halifax

What is worrying is that she was driving too.

Yes, I should have said that the actual parts that focused on how the convicts were treated, what the punishment was etc was interesting.

Although the programme focused on one person, at least it wasn't recent history. Following through with the Convict records made it more interesting. Now her emigrant niece can claim to be descended from a convict.

Like others have said, she didnt seem to realise the magnitude of his 'crime'. How much did he try to obtain by deception? £49 19s? Some thing in that magnitude and a huge sum in those days. He couldn't hold his drink, caused distturbances and absented himself form his school teaching job. Why did she expect his father in law to put up with it? At least the father in law took in the children.

One thing that is particularly irritating about this series is how vain the subjects are. So far they've all needed glasses to read, or possibly in her case to see where she was going. They've all had to fumble around for them to be able to read the documents. there's no shame in having sight problems!

I had not realised that she is 80. I wonder if the inappropriate laughing at his actions was actually embarrassment?

Wasn't that beach where he died pretty. Yes Maggie I wondered what he was doing there.

Not that good as a genealogical programme though, too much like entertainment rather than research. I got the impression that the researchers were a bit amazed at her reactions as well. :-(

I was unimpressed with her finding her relative's neglect of his duties funny and her constant championing of a man who was a rubbish husband and father, and teacher, well, that was dreadful.

To forge his f.i.l's signature and then expect him to take in the grandchildren, even staying away from them for longer than necessary, was reprehensible and then Anne decried the grandfather - if he hadn't helped bring up the kids, perhaps she wouldn't have been born

Put me right off her!

Liz

I loved her 'inappropriate' reactions :-D
Laughing at his drunkenness, getting really angry at the father in law etc. She seemed to forget John Reids father in law was also HER relation!
I'd still like to know what John Reid's wife died of - she was somewhat sidelined.
.....and what was John doing on that beach?

I found it very interesting because my G Grandfather x 4 was transported to Tasmania in 1826, for stealing carpentry tools.

I agree with you Ann and was quite shocked when
she hoped that ? Husband died a horrible death for
sending him to prison.

Strange one tonight, she really took it all personally especially that he was a convict but somehow she managed to forget the fact he was a forger and a drunk.
Tasmania looked very attractive I thought

Next week Frank Gardner Journalist.

She is a real giggler isn't she?

Anne Reid tonight people :-)

Thanks starry Ann <3

n ;-) ;-)

It's the first one I watched of this series as am usually out on Thursday night,but was too tired to go as had a traumatic time with a friend.

However I really enjoyed it as I love Gareth Malone.

Not only is he a brilliant musician,but his manner of teaching is superb and brings out the best in even pupils who don't want to learn.he gives them self esteem.

I watched him before military wives when he went to really bad estates and clubs and turned around their thinking and belief in themselves.

I saw him work along at a school that wasn't performing well,and then of course the Military wives.then various areas of the country

To me,as a musician myself,his dedication and enthusiasm make me realise that good music is still alive and kicking.

So you can see why I'm glad I didn't miss this one and music and performing is really in his genes.
:-)

I am trying to avert my eyes from your posts, as I am behind!

We just watched the Derek Jacobi one from the recording box, and we did enjoy it.
It was definitely more like the original format of WDYTYA :-) much more interesting than a lot of the latest programmes.

The only thing I noticed (unless somehow I missed it) was that there seemed to be a gap in the information about how the family went from relative wealth and prestigious family connections, to their descendants impoverished status.
I would have liked to know the story behind that, but perhaps there is no available information on that.


I have found Derek Jacobi's Family History on a genealogy website, if any of you are interested.

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2015/who-do-you-think-you-are/derek-jacobi-260/

Yes I liked that bit too. and as soon as I saw it I could see it was 'concerts'. My OH also sat and watched it and enjoyed it. But then he watched all the choir programmes as well.

OH sat and watched it. In his opinion it wasn't as 'exciting' as some of the previous episodes. I found it interesting in so far as it gave a brief history of music halls.
I loved the section were he tried to workout the occupation on the census. They'd spliced together so many of his 'attempts'. :-D

Joan, if you ever get the chance to watch any series that he has done called 'The Choir' You will see why he became popular. He was instrumental first in forming the Military wives choirs bringing together wives who sang with wives who didn't and forming them into choirs. Then he went on to do a programme called The choir where he set up choirs from people who didn't sing (or sang a little) in the work place, setting various corporate bodies against each other (e.g. post office, fire brigade, hospital) And he really taught them to sing in a short length of time. I find him very personable.

Yes I too loved the bit where he showed the film to his grandfather.

I enjoyed it - and most of the information could be found onlineor in record offices and libraries! It's almost made me want to rejoin the Hampshire Records Office and thoroughly research my Hampshire lot :-D

I like Gareth Malone so was looking forward to tonight's episode and I really enjoyed it. The highlight for me was watching his 94 year old grandfather watching his grandfather on the screen for the very first time. Very moving :-)