Comments on: Who Do You Think You Are? – Bruce Forsyth digs up success and controversy

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:24:25 +0000

Very interesting story but I think at the New York Archives, he didn’t find Joseph and Frances’ son.
Their son’s name was Roy, not Joseph as shown, and the age of the father shown is 43, when 46-47 would have been expected. I think there’s a lot more to his 1899-1903 visit to London—where he eludes the census takers yet again–that received no mention. Joseph is mentioned on his wife’s grave in London as dying in New York 1906, so someone in the family already knew about it.

By: Joanda Bradford-Reedle

Joanda Bradford-Reedle — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:23:29 +0000

Love Brucie and what a fab story.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:02:27 +0000

I found it a fascinating but sad story. It made a change for the programme to concentrate on one individual. Bruce must be very proud of what Joseph Forsyth Johnson achieved on a career front but obviously sad that he abandoned his two families in the process. He must have been extremely ambitious.

Apparently back in those days it wasn’t unusual for some people to have two families although in England bigamy was still a criminal offence, but in the majority of cases it happened and people got away with it. I suppose it must have been hard and expensive to get a divorce then. Also, maybe he thought that getting an official divorce could have tarnished his career if it came out in the newspapers, plus the story of Frances being pregnant, so hence his need for leaving the UK and secrecy. But why he left his second family we shall ever know.

By: Derek North

Derek North — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:53:25 +0000

As always, an interesting programme. My comment is directed only at the ending. It may be that the programme makers didn’t want to go into more detail but I thought further progress could be made out of the circumstances of his death. This took place in an hotel in New York. Living there alone, the hotel keepers would only be concerned to remove the body. The authorities would have taken over from there. Did anyone try to find out more about him at the time? He only had 309 Dollars but he may have well had a bank account locally. He had publishers.The fact that there was no headstone suggests to me that it was dealt with by people who did not trouble to look further.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:05:37 +0000

Who Do You Think You Are? needs variety in the types of stories it relates to keep it fresh.

Concentrating on one person who had a ‘varied’ life and is the source of a mystery in a family, in Bruce’s case Joseph Forsyth Johnson can be just as interesting as a family history that goes back hundreds of years.

According to Wikipedia, Joseph Forsyth Johnson’s great grandfather, William Forsyth, was a founder member of the Royal Horticultural Society. If this is true, it could have provided some background and explanation about Joseph Forsyth Johnson’s interest and talent for gardening.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:06:26 +0000

Another great show and story, but would be nice to have an episode where the ancestors have normal live and follow them back through the ages, rather then people who had a secret or interesting people. For example an episode on Michael Parkinson.

By: Tweets that mention Who Do You Think You Are? – Bruce Forsyth digs up success and controversy -- Topsy.com

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:11:46 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.co.uk. Ancestry.co.uk said: Who Do You Think You Are? – Bruce Forsyth digs up success and controversy: On last night’s Who Do You Think You Ar… http://bit.ly/990uru [...]

By: Jackie Alderson

Jackie Alderson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:52:30 +0000

I thought Bruce’s story was fasanating and sad at the same time. There were so many twists and turns just with the one family member. The programme gave me some food for thought as I am having some trouble tracing one of my ancestors from that era. Looking forward to the next programme.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:34:39 +0000

I am currently researching my own family tree and am an avid viewer of the programme. the programme last night featuring Bruce Forsyth was really interesting and the journey to America for him I thought was quite moving at the end. I have always believed that my father’s family are Welsh going back generations but have recently found out that the further I go back the more of my ancestors were born in English. I have also recently visited the area where one of my grandfather’s lived as a boy in the early 1900′s. As for Bruce arranging for a headstone for his great grandfather, given the genorosity of the man I would not have expected him to do anything less for a “family” as a whole.

By: Wendy Charnley

Wendy Charnley — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:32:38 +0000

I actually liked the fact that they concentrated just on Joseph Forsyth-Johnson. It highlighted all of the different places that you can look in order to check out just one individual.
Bruce was suprised that he did not leave a will, but surely had he have done so, he would have given the game away to both families.
I was very touched that Bruce is having a memorial stone erected. This is something that we have to rely on our families providing, and if one family thought that he was dead, and the other was thousands of miles away, who was going to do it?
I would list this programme as one of the best that I have seen – Bruce certainly had a lot to take in. Fancy Joseph’s secret coming to light 100 years after his death!