Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Who Do You Think You Are?

102 replies

HPD76 · 14/10/2021 01:25

Can I just recommend to you the latest Josh Widdecombe episode of this? I’m not a huge fan of his, and I can mostly take or leave WDYTYA, but this was the most incredible hour of telly I’ve watched in a long time. It gave me goosebumps.

OP posts:
Classica · 14/10/2021 01:39

I did enjoy his episode.

But...he was so clueless.

Had never heard of a groom of the stool, didn't know Mary Boleyn had been there first with old Henry, didn't know that Elizabeth I never married. Lots of other things!

Unless he was told to put it on for the cameras?

It was a very interesting line he discovered to be fair, but I was thinking that he must be one of several million direct descendants of...the person he discovered he was descended from. (don't want to spoil it for anyone yet to view!)

I do enjoy a nice autumn series of WDYTYA

Original poster
HPD76 · 14/10/2021 01:45

@Classica I think he was putting on some of the daft ness for the camera. Henry VIII and his antics are so well known, I’m pretty sure they asked him to feign surprise at a few of the details.

All the same, it was a tremendous line to uncover.

OP posts:
Wingedharpy · 14/10/2021 02:03

I've never heard of a groom of the stool, to be fair, and I've been around a lot longer than Josh Widdecombe.
It's hardly a popular career choice.Wink

Inkanta · 14/10/2021 06:38

Oh wow yes that was a good episode! And couldn't happen to a nicer more humble chap - Josh

Washeduponthebeach · 14/10/2021 06:41

Is this a new series?

grafittiartist · 14/10/2021 06:43

It was a brilliant episode! Lucky him!

PoetryLaser · 14/10/2021 06:45

That's interesting because I would say the opposite; I didn't particularly enjoy it. It felt too far into the past to have any real connection to the people being investigated. And the family history was suddenly taken back ten generations with no real explanation.
I prefer more recent history with more "real" people. Also think that 10 or 14 generations back, more people will have a royal connection than you might imagine (I think I have one).

DobbyTheHouseElk · 14/10/2021 07:13

I enjoyed it. I went to school down the road from Josh and recognise the wilderness.

I knew of “groom of the stool” from Horrible Histories.

I’m sure he’d have known Elizabeth 1 never married.

Can’t wait to see how much the last leg team tease him about this.

ChildOfFriday · 14/10/2021 07:28

@DobbyTheHouseElk

I enjoyed it. I went to school down the road from Josh and recognise the wilderness.

I knew of “groom of the stool” from Horrible Histories.

I’m sure he’d have known Elizabeth 1 never married.

Can’t wait to see how much the last leg team tease him about this.

The teasing was in last week's episode Wink There will probably be more this week too though!

I also enjoyed the episode. There were a few things that I was surprised he didn't seem to know about (though as others have said he may have been told how to react) but I must admit that I had also never heard of groom of the stool or knew that Mary Boleyn had been with Henry VIII Blush

HeronLanyon · 14/10/2021 07:50

Bloody hell op thanks for alerting me of the new series - hadnt realised.
Absolutely amazing episode which I’ve just watched losing all track that this is a work day fir me!
Even though many many thousands will have this same line (joining at different stages) it remains so brilliant to trace back and allow the line to open up such amazing history.
Looking forward to others in the series esp judi dench.
Over the series there’s usually a good mix of this type of show stopping ancient lineage and the more immediate social history of more recent ancestors.
I really wanted to see josh go back to dartmore and start to share with his parents in that stable block. I always want to see them share at the end and don’t know why they don’t show a bit of that.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 14/10/2021 09:53

ChildOfFriday

Oh I can’t find that episode on the 4 player thing. I didn’t think there had been one. Oh I missed it

HeronLanyon · 14/10/2021 10:22

BBC - I watched it via bbc iPlayer. Looks as though episodes are Tuesdays.

HeronLanyon · 14/10/2021 10:23

Taking absolute rubbish there. It is channel 4. I found it on sky player. New series. Series 18. Episodes 1. Tuesdays.

ChildOfFriday · 14/10/2021 12:05

@DobbyTheHouseElk

ChildOfFriday

Oh I can’t find that episode on the 4 player thing. I didn’t think there had been one. Oh I missed it

The Last Leg episode? I can see it on All 4- it's the one that was on Fri 8th October Smile
DobbyTheHouseElk · 14/10/2021 12:17

Oh I wonder why my All 4 isn’t showing it. Odd.

knittingaddict · 14/10/2021 12:22

I loved this episode so much. I would have been beside myself with excitement and completely incoherent if I was JW, so he did very well to keep it together.

I knew about the groom of the stool and the other historical stuff, but I studied history at A level and read a lot of historical books. Not everyone does that, so I excuse the gaps in his knowledge.

Wonderful tv and I'm looking forward to some of the other subjects in this series. Joe Lycett and Judi Dench should be intersting. I hope.

jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey · 14/10/2021 12:55

What a wonderful family tree he had. I would be dropping that into every conversation for ever, if it was mine 😀

MrsMoastyToasty · 14/10/2021 14:43

Danny Dyer was related to William the Conqueror. I suppose that means Josh Widdecombe is a distant cousin.

minou123 · 14/10/2021 14:47

Danny Dyers WDYTYA is similar and is on BBC iplayer, so worth a watch.

If I remember correctly Matthew Pinter also had a similar family tree, but they manged to trace his roots all the way back to God.

He is a direct descendant of God!

I would drop that everywhere I went Grin

Classica · 14/10/2021 14:55

@MrsMoastyToasty

Danny Dyer was related to William the Conqueror. I suppose that means Josh Widdecombe is a distant cousin.
William the Conqueror has something like 5 million descendants so it's quite possible you're related to him too.
PastMyBestBeforeDate · 14/10/2021 23:08

DH shares some of that Tudor tree :)

MissMarpleRocks · 15/10/2021 07:45

Was a cracking episode! But I was shocked at the lack of his knowledge tbh. But then I’m a bit of history buff. I knew exactly where it was going as soon as they mentioned K***s connection. Blanked it so not to spoiler it 🤞🤞

Auroreforet · 15/10/2021 08:00

Apparently the WDYTYA team began research into Michael Parkinson but could only find Barnsley miners and nothing interesting enough to make a programme.
Michael Parkinson was a bit miffed I think.

Wtf86 · 15/10/2021 08:04

I said to my DH there will be a few million related to Henry VIII or even his wife and mistress on this occasion but amazing to see how they do it/found the connection. I found Josh very endearing. Really liked him.

PineappleWilson · 15/10/2021 08:11

I gave up on it I'm afraid. If you're looking at someone's 10x great grandfather, for me it's too far back to have any real link to today's individual. It just suggested to me that the generations in between were really dull and had done nothing of note Wink.