Emilia Fox, Who Do You Think You Are?

[MelinaM]

I love her, and found this to be another interesting family! ...I do think they could have popped Laurence on though

Yes, I was fascinated by Samson and his corrugated boiler flue!

She was lovely - glad to see she is so happy and down-to-earth, as she had previously struck me as a little fey - must have got her confused with her roles!

The great-aunts were wonderful - loved the interjections about their father running off with his 'American tart'- 'silly bugger'! Sad to see in the credits that the younger sister, Pam, had died since filming.

She was so sweet and interested and bouncy, wasn't she. And Samson was a hell of a guy.

I watched it because it was trending on Twitter, although I do like WDYTYA anyway. Really enjoyed this one.

yes, I was quite surprised that her background wasn't wealth, and oh my god! was that (i've forgotten his name!!) a complete and utter twat and waste of space! wasting all that money over his life, and running off leaving a wife and four children to fend for themselves!

I loved Samson, though. Shame he never got to see how important his water-gas was after all. practically died in shame, just because the coal-gas companies couldn't cope with the competition.

How is that your ancestor paid to build the Royal College of Music ......and you don't know??????? Loved it though...

yes, I loved the great-aunts too!

beachyhead - because it was hushed up, because of the scandal with the water-gas

I think she's fab, I was worrying about her overdoing it though! Loved the great aunts too, hope I'm still that sharp when I'm 104!

Oh yes great-aunt Mary was fab "American tart" and "Silly bugger" had me in fits of giggles! I think Mary deserves a show of her own!
It was very sad to learn that Pam had died at the end

It was the best WDYTYA in ages. She seems genuinely lovely, I loved the guy at the Leeds museum... "I give you the Corrugated Boiler" Ta dah!

It was a really enjoyable and interesting episode. Great Aunt Mary had me in fits with her comments. Sad to see that Pamela had died though, she seemed very well in the programme. What a fantastic legacy Samson left behind. Sad that he was denied proper recognition because of coal gas industry jealousy, especially after his fabulous corrugated flue.

ooo, thanks for flagging it - I can watch them on iplayer now! Will have to watch it tomorrow though, tis bedtime here.

Great Aunt Mary was ace One of those old ladies with selective hearing problems - she could hear well enough when she needed to comment

I'm still not entirely sure why, when he invented such important things and built the Royal College of Music, that he wasn't more well known, or mentioned in the family.

Ok so someone wrote him a Wiki entry yesterday...

lovely programme. I didn't like her much before as I'd seen her in something where she played a complete b - totally changed my view!!!!
She was lovely and smiley and very interested in it all - thought it was great [smile

What exactly was the passing connection with Ellen Terry? I lost concentration for the minute where that was revealed. I was a bit that the family did not know about that connection either. You would think a family of thesps would know that.

oops

there are more internet things on him:

wiki
originating in leeds
yorks gov

spaces!! north yorks gov

Great programme -I really wanted her to name her daughter Hilda though.

Ellen Terry's brother married one of Hilda's cousins (that were all actors too)

Thanks PorkChopSter. That is a very tenuous connection. I forgive the Foxes for not knowing about it.

Oh I've watched it now - it was brilliant! love the corrugated boiler flue stuff. So :( about the water gas fiasco though.

I wondered while I was watching it - do they research both sides of the family and then only pick the interesting bits to make the programme? Because Emilia's mother is an actress as well, isn't she - but they barely even mentioned her.

Only saw the second half but it was fascinating. I too kept thinking "How can they not have known" but I suppose stuff just gets lost in family history.

Yes, they only pick the interesting (or most interesting) bits. Several people do not make it past the early stages as their ancestory is just too boring - Michael Parkinson being a case in point.