![]() ![]() The first hint that Widdicombe might be from esteemed stock came from his own recollection that his family had something to do with Barings Bank. The point was to show just how insignificant and peripheral little Josh had always thought he was – and then, this being WDYTYA, to prove that Josh was proper posh. It was, as he said, like something from Enid Blyton. Widdicombe began at his primary school in Dartmoor, where his class had consisted of four other people with names like Jemma Lee Waghorn. So it was no surprise to find that episode one, which saw comedian Josh Widdicombe trawl back through his own archive, was sprinkled with revelations. #DANNY DYER FAMILY TREE SERIES#“But can you get off my drive now please, paupers.Each new series of Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One) tends to work a bit like a sundae – the really good stuff goes at the top. “It’s been lovely, it’s been a wonderful journey,” he says to the crew. Respect, too, to the genealogy folk, for finding the connection.ĭanny drives home to Essex, with the extra swagger that comes from knowing his blood runs blue. And you can’t spoil The Best WDYTYA Ever, a lovely and super-amusing hour of television. You might say Dyer has millions of 22 x great-grandads, it’s not surprising one of them is Edward III, and you’re probably descended from him too but that would make you a spoilsport. Never mind ruff, what about a crown? I’m thinking God Save King Daniel “My blood is his blood, I can’t compute it in my brain,” says Danny, at Edward’s tomb in Westminster Abbey. ![]() He says he’s going to treat himself to his own ruff: “Just bowl about with it, if anyone questions it I’ll explain why I’m wearing a ruff, and then they’ll have to walk away won’t they, embarrassed?” Yes, Danny Dyer is a direct descendant of Edward III, and he’s got a scroll to prove it. Cromwell’s son Henry, from whom Danny is descended, was married to someone called Seymour go up her branch, through people called Hotspur and Plantagenet, and you get to Edward III. Maybe he does.Īnd that’s not the end of it. He’s walking round like he owns the place. The gaffs just keep on getting grander and bigger, as does Danny’s head. ![]() “You could have a right rave in ’ere couldn’t you babe, eh?” Danny says to Cromwell’s biographer in the great hall at Hampton Court. And both controversial earls of Essex (only one official), villains, canny, cheeky, cocky, top dogs, started humbly and done good, against the odds. Yeah, Wolf Hall – they share that, Danny and his 15 x great-grandfather: both stars of BBC drama. And her great-great-grandfather was … Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s right-hand man. “I’m going to put the lips on her Tim,” says Danny, kissing the portrait of his ancestor, a lady in a rough ruff and a bit of rough. In the church Tim introduces Danny to Catherine Cromwell. You don’t have to approve of the English class system to be amused by it, especially extremes of it.ĭanny’s amazing social ascent continues. Now cousins from neighbouring counties (Danny lives in Essex), they might as well be from different planets. They make a lovely pair – Tim and Danny, Lord Tollemache of Helmingham and the landlord of the Vic in Walford, a proper old-school plummy toff and a proper East End geezer. “What a gaff you’ve got here,” he says to the man who has lowered his drawbridge so Danny can drive his SUV over the moat. That’s before he’s seen Helmingham Hall in the next village, which is where his 11 x great-gran was from. “I think it’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen,” says Danny, standing outside Otley Hall in Suffolk. It does, thanks to an expert, who finds a 10 x great-grandfather with an actual manor – as in a big Tudor pile, not just the part of town he lived in. “I just hope this journey gets a little bit more jolly to be honest,” says Danny, jolly meaning more posh and more minted. No one’s freaking out yet, though the criminal is a sad story of a woman – Danny’s great-great-gran – who tried to conceal her dead baby.Īncestors called Buttivant (“however you pronounce it, Bootivant, I’d say Bu’ivan’ – there’s no Ts in it”) bring hope of Frenchness: “Am I French? How French am I? I know I look French and all that.” French nobility peu’-ê’re? It’s another cul-de-sac though the Buttivants came from Whitechapel. Daddy Dyer can’t provide aristocracy, only a few black-and-white photos, a workhouse, and a criminal. He wasn’t around much when Danny was growing up, which is probably why he’s so eager to find strong male relations further back. In an (actual factual) East End pub he meets up with the old block from which he was chipped. ![]()
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