Munki Bhoy wrote:First time I watched the show was last week for Davina McCall. So with all her great family it was good to see a second show where it was basically a bunch of people who lived through bad times in the slums. I'd worried this was just going to be a "look how great my family is - we did loads of great stuff" pompous load of nonsense, but it isn't. And because of that you get to see just how great Chris' family are for completely different reasons. Yes, they didn't design Windsor Castle or whatever it was Davina's ancestor did. But they struggled and fought and sacrificed to get the family to where they are today. I've no doubt Chris probably appreciates the position he's in now all the more for finding out about the humble beginnings. And just to note, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Davina's one. I'm sure she's proud of where she came from and what her ancestors achieved, and so she should be. It's just good to get completely different stories.
But the bit that struck me the most was the bit where he read just how his great-grandfather had died in Belgium. Personally, I couldn't even tell you who killed my great-grandfather - the Russians or the Germans (all I know is it was during the 1939 invasion of Poland by the pair of them) - but here Chris read just exactly how his had died. And that's powerful stuff. He's lucky that it was so detailed and graphic... though I'm not sure lucky is the right word in some ways. How many people died in that war? Millions. Yet here we have someone describing how one person in that war died.
I'd love to go find this stuff out about my own family. But I know what I'm looking for doesn't exist for most of it on one side. Too many revolutions and wars wiping out all records. I can't even ask relatives, my dad's the oldest surviving one on his side now. So if I did it, it would be just a tad lop-sided in my mum's favour. Which is a shame.
There's some right eejits on this thread today though. Like the one complaining about the "I hope I'm not English" comment. That's at worst because it would be boring, but as has been pointed out far more likely because he's been brought up to think he's Irish descended. If someone came along and told me that I wasn't Irish or Polish or whatever I think I'd be pretty cheesed off about it!
And moaning about him romanticising about the Irish freedom fighting bit is just typical of the ignorance of British history in this country (and it is British history even if we're on the "evil" side in this interpretation). I mean, if someone mentions the IRA people immediately think terrorists. Fair enough, that's pretty much what they are today from a British point of view. From their own point of view, they're freedom fighters. Personally, I tend to think they're woefully misguided and their methods leave a lot to be desired, but I appreciate where they're coming from. But then I've read up on the history, and I know that referring to the IRA doesn't necessarily mean terrorism. Sometimes it refers to the original IRA who were freedom fighters and helped create what is now the Irish Republic. Indeed, what James Moyles was part of prior to WWI was pretty much what evolved into the IRA. Of course, saying that Chris' great-grandfather was in the IRA would no doubt have lead to all sorts of complaints. Mind you, ask people like the O'Keaffes what they thought of British rule in Ireland. No wonder they wanted freedom. Anyway, enough about Irish Republicanism, I get enough of that from more misguided and ill-informed people at the football...
All that aside, I think we all had the same thought at one point though. "Dom's gonna love this tomorrow..."
Very well said - I'm half Irish on my mothers side. The worse thing I have even had said to me at work was that all Irish were terriost - to which I replied so you are calling my family terriost to which she went quiet but never had an apology.
I did some research when I was in Ireland last year to my family history so this made Chris' show very meaningful to me. It hit home what conditions my great granny's and granddad's lived in with their families. Their fate was completely turned round when the Republic was formed. As they worked on the local forestery they were granted land and were built houses by the land commission and to this day relatives still live and work on those farms. It is only from my great grandparents that they have headstones before that they too were in un-marked graves - I have visited where my great great grandparents are buried and it was emotional - my great uncle took us and I'm so proud to know where that grave is so I can pass that information down to my children. My great aunt (who is only now 80) only had 6 children survive from 13 - very common in rural ireland even in her day - Chris' relatives were long before then.
The only thing I was surprised they didn't explore the movement to Ireland via Ellis Ireland and give Chris a trip to New York
I know I had 2 great great aunts and 2 great great uncles that did when they were young to stay with family friends as it was deemed to be a better life.
Well done Chris an excellent show
chrismoyles.net
I think it's more his death that they were having trouble piecing together. He starred in films as well as writing and illustrating pulps, and we have a photo and letter sent to my one surviving great-aunt showing him on the set of a Western. We think his wife was in the movies too, and we know they had a son, but I think the trail goes cold after that. There was some kind of natural disaster on Long Island (a hurricane I think...I forget, my parents would know) that we thought they may all have perished in, but we couln't find any records of it.
