General Chat

I also thought the John Barnes programme was one of best in this series.

Firstt, he was one of my favourite footballers. Really fantastic speed and skill - there, thight might redeem me in the Pool slightly :-D :-D

Secondly, both Stephen Hill ands son Frank Hill were incredible people. Stephen was part of establishment in Jamaica when it was under white colonila rule - how difficult was that.

And Frank (who I think looked like John rather than Stephen, as John's mother claimed) was right in the middle of Jamaican politics at a crucial time in 1940's and 50's.

And seeing granddaughter of the great Norman Washington Manley was a real treat - reminded me of Norman and son Michael Manley as that country became proud and independent.

I too found it boring.I think when it concentrates on just one theme instead of going back to earlier generations ...it loses some of the magic.

It might have been gripping if you had an interest in Jamaican politics, or the Caribbean’s’ struggle to become Independent. Probably a very tiny percentage of viewers would have been.

If the programme had tried to trace John’s family back to Slave registers or beyond, it would have appealed to more people even if they didn’t have an Afro-Caribbean heritage.

This series isn’t as interesting as previous – the 20th Century is too recent for many of the viewers with an interest in FH.

Good points, DET Was wondering how viewing figures for this series compared to older series. Perhaps it was getting stale and they have decided to try something different this time :-S Have enjoyed them all, but not really in any FH context - more a social and political history context.

No apparent interest either in recent Servant series on BBC2, which was quite well researched. :-)

Maggie/George/John - I know Roundheads used churches as barracks etc but Salisbury Cathedral for a stables. The parish church in Burton Latimer was the same , they discovered murals under the ancient whitewash.

OH's direct ancestor (puritan vicar) is documented as from his pulpit he was urging on the Roundheads who desecrating the church he was in!

Oh the shame! OH is more of a royalist.

Disappointing AGAIN....
W.D.Y.T.Y.A. was once a good & interesting programme to view. Going by the last two shows it has been uninteresting & boring. What are they doing? :-\

Well for the first time ever I got bored with the John Barnes WDYTYA and gave up at about 9.40 and went upstairs to my study (small bedroom lol) Hubby was asleep in the chair so I just walked away. Very uninteresting to me was this one , sorry John !!

It was ok,,,and a bit interesting and would have been thrilled if the Hills had been part of my family ,,,,,,, but it was just too condensed on the Hills which was too much.....

and John Barnes-------has got right podgy.......

I enjoyed the story about the 4 H's and the way they helped to pave the way to Jamaican Independance.

A real contrast to last week (Celia Imrie) where they took us back to Celia's 8 x great-grandfather in one sudden leap. Didn't even join up the dots!

This time they were talking about someone John actually knew. However, like a lot of us, it appears that John wasn't interested in his grandfather, when he met him and was able to speak to him. As he put it himself, "I was an outside man, like my father, while he (Frank was an indoor man, sitting at his typewriter"

So many of us now wish that we had shown an interest and asked questions of our grandparents, when we had the chance.

John Barnes was lucky in that his grandfather was a person of note, and there were people around who could share Frank's (and Stephen's) stories with him.

Have recorded it, so will be able to watch again and this time take in more of what was being said.

Yes, I agree, that this was a bit of a modern history lesson, but it is still an important part of history, which affected not only the people of Jamaica, but also people of U.K. as one of the colonies was " lost" to us.

It was also a timely lesson, as not only is Jamaica celebrating Fifty Years of Independance this year, it is also Black History Month this month (October), or it is in my neck-of-the-woods, anyway!

I really don't know what to make of this weeks WDYTYA.

It seems that most of this series is concentrating on celebraties who may have an individual in their trees who should be remembered for what they achieved in their lifetime and against whatever hardship.

It would be more interesting if you should have any connection with that particular hardship (for the want of a better word).

The program only interests me, when they go back through the generations and perhaps indicate a new resource to find more out about an individual within the tree or if the individual has been influenced by their own upbringing etc.

That said, I am really looking forward to John bishop next week!

Dee

Is this the John bishop one? Why has it been posponed?