A new series of the groundbreaking genealogy show starts two weeks today on 13 August (BBC One 9pm). The first celebrity to be featured is Patsy Kensit. The advanced information for the programme says: "The investigation begins with the colourful life of her late father, Jimmy Kensit, who was deeply involved with London’s most notorious gangsters of the Sixties: the Krays and the Richardsons. Wanting to understand the roots of his criminality and to discover how far back the "family trade" goes, Patsy meets a criminologist who has unearthed a copy of her father’s criminal record – which reveals the full extent of his activities. She is then shocked to find documents in The National Archives that show her grandfather was also a prolific criminal. As Patsy’s journey continues, she comes across a truly remarkable vicar who shines a new light on her family history and provides her with a fresh insight into her own faith and values." The series continues with Boris Johnson, Jerry Springer, Esther Rantzen, David Suchet, Ainsley Harriott, and Jodie Kidd, finishing on 1 October with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Incidentally the third Who Do You Think You Are LIVE! Show will be at Kensington Olympia between Friday 27 February and Sunday 1 March. There will of course be full coverage of both the programme and the show in Ancestors.
Free and private genealogy family networking site Geni.com emerges from Beta adding unlimited video uploads and family tree merging to it's list of family focused features. (PRWeb Jul 24, 2008)
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/videosharing/treemerging/prweb1096024.htm
GeneTree Adds Y-Chromosome DNA Testing Option to Trace Paternal Line Ancestors, Research Surnames and Connect with Present Day Relatives
Continue reading about GeneTree Adds Y-Chromosome DNA Testing Option
(BioMed Central) Research reported today should provide relief to women who are worried after a relative’s breast cancer diagnosis. The study in the open access journal BMC Cancer shows that a family history of breast cancer does not give a useful indication of the likelihood that a woman will develop it herself at an early age.
Continue reading about No need for gene screens in breast cancer families
(Rockefeller University) Human ancestors fought back against an ancient retrovirus with a defense mechanism that our bodies still use today. Evidence of this battle has been preserved in our DNA for millions of years.
Continue reading about New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus
Researchers may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world’s most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley’s anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley’s anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans.
Continue reading about Avoiding Spleen Removal For Cooley's Anemia Sufferers
(American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) A genetic variant found almost exclusively in individuals of Asian descent increases the risk of elevated plasma triglycerides over four-fold.
Continue reading about Genetic variant increases triglyceride levels in Asian-Americans
I came across this quiz on the Gather the Jewels website which is devoted to Welsh history http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/familyhistory/quiz. I got eight out of the nine questions posted right (failing on the school attendance register). Unfortunately there is something wrong with the design of the webpage here, so there was nothing for the tenth and final question. It’s a pity because it is an interesting site, particularly if you have connections with the Principality.
(Weizmann Institute of Science) In two complementary studies, Weizmann Institute scientists have developed a new method for reconstructing a cell’s ‘family tree,’ and have applied this technique to trace the history of the development of cancer. So far, the scientists have been able to calculate the age of the tumor and characterize its growth pattern. The scientists believe cell lineage studies of cancer can eventually lead us to the root of cancer.
Continue reading about Weizmann Institute scientists' new technique gets to the root of cancer
Ray Blackmore, 76, has been looking into his family’s past for 28 years and has come up with some interesting discoveries. And he is putting them on show at Taunton Library in Paul Street, Taunton for a week from today (14 July). He will be showing certificates, wills, indentures, tithe documents and items of local history going back to the 14th century. He will also be on hand to offer advice to other people who are researching their own family tree during his exhibition. Mr Blackmore said: "I have found 10,000 related names on my family tree and discovered Alfred the Great, Matilda Flanders and William the Conquerer in there. Not even the Queen has a family tree as detailed as mine." Mr Blackmore’s enthusiasm for starting his family tree came from losing both his parents: "Having lost my mother and father as a child, I became inquisitive about my family background. My older siblings had very little information and what little they did have proved to be influenced by their childhood imagination." He has spent around £20,000 and five hours a day for the past 28 years scouring archives, cemetery records and census registers to trace his roots back 1,500 years.
He added: "When I started I never planned to go back that far but the more I looked the more interested I became. There have been some very frustrating times when I seemingly hit a brick wall. But there is always a way around or over an obstacle and you just have to persevere. I could go back further into my French descendants but I think I’ll leave it as it is."
He has now found relatives right back to the Cerdick family in 500 AD and can link himself through 37 generations to William the Conqueror in the 11th Century and 45 generations to Alfred the Great in 880AD. "The records show that my family were yeoman from around the 10th century when monks first started recording births," he said.
Without wishing to denigrate Mr Blackmore’s achievements (and it is a pity I can’t get to Taunton to see the exhibition) I wonder how far back is it possible realistically to go. Mid-18th century, easy-peasy; mid-17th century one or two lines; but before then, unless you are descended from nobility or royalty, it must be very hard. Certainly I haven’t got that far.
[Story based on articles in Somerset Gazette and the Daily Telegraph]
