Tell me one interesting fact about one of your grandparents

[listsandbudgets]

Because I'm bored and nosey.

My nan could speak Italian but only in the imperative because she and my grand dad had Italian prisoners of war on their farm during world war 2

My grandmother got pregnant whilst grandad was away fighting in the war. She had the baby adopted when he was a few months old, before grandad came back. My long list uncle tracked my dad down a couple of years ago, which prompted him to tell us all about the baby, and how he and my aunt looked after him, till one day, they woke up and he was gone. Grandma told them he was dead, and instructed them never to speak of him again.

My Grandfather was exiled from France for reasons unknown to us after serving in t he french legionaires.
My English grandfather was a guard at and English POW camp where my German great grandfather was held, they knew each other and 38 years later my parents happened to meet and marry.

My Nana was a famous Indian Athlete.
She and my Grandad were a couple from age 13 until she died at age 71.

My nana left school at 14 and was a messenger girl, running around 1920s London delivering messages to all the offices. Then she worked in the women's department in big department stores including Harrods and, her favourite, Barker's of Kensington

My Grandfather was sent into occupied Europe as part of SOE

My Nan spent most of her time growing up in a sanitarium having contracted TB when she was 3, her parents were told to leave her there and forget about her (they didn't) as she wouldn't live long.....she was 93 when she died.
My grandad knew the krays.

Both my maternal grandparents were in the police and worked on crowd control on the day of the Queen's coronation.

My grandad had his nose broken by a professional boxer in a street brawl when he was young.
Also when he died he had the biggest funeral I have ever been to. About 200 people, in a cathedral. He was a very popular man...😮

My grandmother used to pronounce off as “orf”. Her house always smelled lovely.

My gran was born in Russia and came over here with her siblings and parents in 1902. I have the passport they used. The rest of the family were later sent to the Warsaw ghettos and perished in the holocaust. My gran was issued a new birth certificate and they used her date of birth as the date she arrived in the country. So when we celebrated her 80th birthday she suddenly admitted she must be at least 2 years older than we’d been celebrating!

My paternal grandfather was in the 8th army and fought in the WW2 Africa campaign. He was with an artillery unit and it was his job to do the maths to angle the gun correctly so they'd hit accurately.
He would never talk of his experiences, but we think he was involved with El Armain and the effective siege of Tobruk.

Grandad never spoke much of the war other than to tell us he was "half an hour off Rommel". My dad dug out some old pictures and there's some amazing ones like him playing cards with his army pals on a beach in Italy.

My gran gave birth to my dad (born just before the war) at home - he was a breach birth!
She also told me the way to treat men was "find 'em, fuck 'em, forget 'em". She was married for over 50 years

My grandfather emigrated to Canada with no passport and fought in a Canadian regiment in WW1.

My grandad was born in the uk to Italian parents and went back to Italy when he was young. He was called up for national service and learned English in the army. His language was shocking but I thought it was hilarious.

My grandad was a baker/confectioner on Queen Mary in 1930s.

My other grandad was in Goodbye Mr Chips as it was filmed at his school.

My grampy could halve and apple by twisting it with his hands.

My grandmother sat next to Albert Einstein at a dinner party. Her opinion of him was “he was very old”. In her defence it was the 1930s and she was a bright young thing.

My Gran got pregnant aged 16 by an American GI during the war. She was sent off to a Mother and baby home, the baby was going to be adopted.

On the morning of the adoption her Mother turned up and said she couldn't make her go through with it after all, and took my gran and the baby home. Back then my gran must have faced a lot of stigma being an unmarried teenage mother. No financial help either.

When my mum was two she met my Grandad and he took my mum on as if she was his own. I think he faced a lot of criticism from his family etc for getting involved with a 'fallen woman'.

I didn't find any of this out until after my Grandad's death.

My granddad died when my mum was 2 in the war.
Out at sea in the Navy.
He couldn't swim!!!

My Nan was forced to give her first born daughter up for adoption (1950s, Irish nuns).

They were finally reunited a year before she died. I am so happy that after all those years of heartache, keeping such a sad secret to herself, my nan died knowing her daughter was happy and loved. And also having got to meet two grandchildren she didn't know she had!

My grandmother had all her teeth removed and a set of wooden false teeth for her 21st birthday present. Liverpool, about 1930.

My grandfather lent Amy Johnson a pair of trousers when she landed at Croydon Aerodrome after one of her round-the-world flights. Apparently. I think there's a possibility this could be family myth and legend, though

My grandfather that I never met was a stretcher bearer in WW1 and my other granddad used to sew and make clothes including dresses for his grandchildren.

My grandad was the only man on the island to be an independant farmer that sold his sugar cane to the white landowner, rather than being employed by him (so basically being a serf). Aforementioned landowner had a thing for VERY young girls and DGD had 10 pretty daughters he was determined to keep away from the bastard. So he refused to work for him.

My grandparents were married for 65 years. When when my grandad died my grandma was that insistent she still wanted her holidays, she continued to fly abroad and travel alone in her late 80's.