What are your favourite facts about families of famous people?

[NewDayNewLife]

I really enjoy history and trivia, especially the names and family dynamics of famous people. Some interesting facts I have come across are:

1. E. M. Delafield, who wrote Diary of a Provincial Lady, had a daughter who was famous in her own right as a runner.
2. US President John Tyler had 15 children, 2 with the same name.
3. Babe Ruth had two sets of twins as siblings, but most did not survive.

What facts related to families do you find interesting?

@BattledoreAndShuttlecock so Giles Corens wife is the sister of Alexander Armstrongs wife?

Yes - though they don't have the same surnames so I don't know what the deal is with that.

And Gloria Steinem was Christian Bale's stepmother.

The actor Edward Norton’s grandfather was instrumental in bringing the concept of the shopping mall to the USA. The indoor type, originally intended to be a sort of social enterprise, ‘town centre’.

This is one of my al time favourite threads. I never knew any of these celebrity facts or linkages.

Such an interesting thread.

Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty are brother and sister.

Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson used to flat share.

Kirstie Alsopp is the cousin of Cath Kidston.

@dreamygirl25

Harry Hill is a medical doctor. (a neurosurgeon I believe!) Not about family... But one of my fav famous facts.

I don't think he's a neurosurgeon is he?

Richard Ayoade from the IT crowd is Laurence Fox brother in law.
You can choose your friends.....

Jodie Comer and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the Olympic athlete are childhood best friends.

Olivia Newton-John's grandfather was scientist Max Bourne.
Gloria Swanson had an affair with the father of JFK (and her life in general is really interesting).
None of US President Franklin Pierce's children survivedto adulthood. The last surviving child died in a train crash on the way to his father's inauguration.
Samuel Adams was married twice, both to women called Elizabeth.

I also found something really interesting when reading about the women who were victims of the Whitechapel Jack the Ripper murders in 1888. Many of these women had married someone, some then started a family: then they separated and were seeing someone else at the time the events occurred.

Queen Anne had 17 children, but none survived, the longest living to age 11.
US President Andrew Jackson initially married his wife Rachel when the divorce was not yet complete.

Sorry, I meant to say when the divorce from her first husband was not complete.

Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Married the son of her former future husband.

It’s true.

Learned it on a tour at fonterveraud abbey.

Noel Coward was somehow related to Field Marshall Haig.
If I remember correctly, their mothers were first cousins.

John Mahoney, Frasiers dad in the American sitcom was born in Blackpool.

The plant Forsythia is named after one of Bruce Forsyth's ancestors.

Now well known because it was on The Crown, but Prince Philip's mother was a nun who hid Jews during the Nazi occupation of Greece. She is listed in Israel as one of the Righteous Among The Nations....

I'm disappointed that Princess Alice's efforts in World War II weren't covered in The Crown actually. I wanted to see the scene where Philip goes to Jerusalem to witness her being honoured. I guess it still might happen in the next series because it didn't happen until 1994.

The facts about Eleanor of Aquitaine and the forsythia are particularly interesting.
Charles Lindbergh's wife Anne was herself famous as a writer.

All of Karl Marx’s daughters were named Jenny (after his wife).

I find it hilarious that someone's pissed off that Harry Hill wasted his medical education!🤣😂🤣

Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Moon

@BattledoreAndShuttlecock
Yes, there has to be a simple explanation (half-siblings, adoption, etc.) but while I found a lot of places saying they are sisters, I didn't find anything about the surname difference.

Yes. Surely better than going into practice when for whatever reason his heart isn’t in it