Was anyone else mildly amused by the news that Michael Parkinson's family tree was too boring for Who do you think you are?

[HerBeatitude]

I was.

Though the fact that all his ancestors were miners and labourers should have provided them with some interesting social history but I suppose that's not commercial enough for the BBC...

[TsarChasm]

Yes, it made me chuckle too. Apparantly he really wanted to be in it too.

I'm not a huge MP fan though. I can't understand the reverence in which he's held tbh. He just rather seems grumpy to me.

[edam]

I was mildly offended that ordinary working people aren't considered good enough for the Beeb these days. His family come from Barnsley - bet some of them were involved in mining disasters (Silkstone Common, for instance, where a bunch of children drowned, leading to the law being changed to prevent children working down the pits).

And servants are also jolly interesting in terms of social history.

Maybe it's because they couldn't confront Parky with the harsh realities of life as a miner as he knows it all too well anyway?

[HerBeatitude]

Yes it's a bit thick that they can't cover some of the marvellous social history that would be there.

Loved Davina's glamorous ancestors. Did anyone else think her half-sister looked just like their chief of police relative?

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

My father was very amused.

[Ponders]

Isn't it more that they like to find surprises (nice or nasty) & MP hasn't got any?

[Ponders]

Hence the title of the prog?

[AitchTwoOh]

how can anyone's ancestors be boring? it's so DUMB. mining was life and death.

[Ponders]

Well of course it was aitch, but when you know that's what they did, what could the prog reveal?

[HerBeatitude]

Ah is that it.

I've only watched a few of these progs so hven't got the hang of it yet.

I always wonder how much of a surprise it is to some of them. With Boris frinstance - I thought his family would already have known about all their ante-cedents.

[Ponders]

Scope for a new prog called "I Know Fine Well Who I Am Thanks But I'd Like The BBC To Research Some Details For Me"

[AitchTwoOh]

i suspect it wasn't cos they were too boring but because he's a well known miserable old bastard who they knew would be unlikely to cry all the time.

[PortBlacksandResident]

I can't stand the boring old fart and his endless name dropping and appalling taste in music

But

The everyday lives of people working down pit or in servitude is interesting in itself.

Swap dodgy old northerner for someone like say, Peter Kay (amusing young northerner) and the same family history would be more interesting to the BBC.

[Threadworm2]

yes, you have to emote I think.

There is a 19th century leader of a nudist American religious cult with the same slightly unsusual surname as me. I'd like to go on the prog to find out if we are related. Might become a sleb for that.

[Ponders]

Mind you MP seriously pissed off one branch of his family with his autobiography didn't he? Maybe they could have pursued that line for laughs & fury.

[AitchTwoOh]

best ever was patsy kensit. me and dh were HOWLING with laughter, she blubbed constantly.

[HerBeatitude]

oh yes all her relatives were villains weren't they?

[FattipuffsandThinnifers]

"I can't stand the boring old fart and his endless name dropping and appalling taste in music"

Hear hear. Sycophantic bore. Him and his bloody "good friends" Billy Connolly and Jamie Cullum.

I think it was Peter Cook who said MP was was incapable of interviewing anyone without mentioning the fact he was from Barnsley.

[AitchTwoOh]

yes, and this came as a HYUUUUGE surprise to her despite it having been the main thrust of the marketing campaign of absolute beginners.

[FattipuffsandThinnifers]

Ha ha yes I remember the Patsy Kensit one. Didn't she blub a lot in a church (?) and the vicar didn't really know where to put himself.

Aitch, am impressed (and lol a bit too) at your very specific memory about the marketing campaign for Absolute Beginners

Does anyone else remember her in the video for Haircut 100's Nobody's Fool? Or just me?

[Dumbledoresgirl]

Ah that sucks. I totally agree with all who have said that anyone's ancestry could be made into an interesting programme. I am sure the early programmes used to go into the social history behind the jobs more. Nowadays, if you aren't related to royalty or didn't have an ancestor present when history was made, you don't get a programme made about you.

My ancestors were all Cornish stonemasons and I still dream about writing a book about them one day.

[AitchTwoOh]

lol i do. and i remember that smash hits persistently referred to nick heyward's girlfriend, a haematologist, as a 'bleeder'. i found this HILARIOUS.

[HerBeatitude]

I think an interesting programme idea would be the reverse: to take famous people from the past and see what their descendents are doing now

[Dumbledoresgirl]

The best one imo was Nicky Campbell's, and I also loved Orangeface Dickinson's (sorry, can't remember his first name). David Tennant was a complete jerk: standing in a church with the floor dug up saying "Are those real bones?!" Twit.

[PortBlacksandResident]

HerBeatitiude - market it forthwith!!!

Fab idea - Renaissance artist's GGGGGGGSs who are painters and decorators.

Emmeline Pankhurst's GGGds is a SAHM

.....and as for Henry VIII's descendents - whatever happened to them eh?

[UnquietDad]

Amused by the Parky thing. This happened to Rick Spleen in "Lead Balloon" as well.