I ran the genealogical research for Who Do You Think You Are? for four years, as well doing professional genealogy for private clients, so I had plenty of experience of family history “revelations”. The research was compelling, but I could never really understand how people wept openly when they met a complete stranger they were related to. For me it was always a bit at arm’s length, a bit clinical: “Here’s the stuff – what do you think?”
I hadn’t even considered what it would be like if I had a famous – or infamous – ancestor. But my dad’s cousin had done some work on our family tree and had discovered there was a file at the National Archives about my grandmother’s brother, Ernest Holloway Oldham. It was only when that file was digitised and placed online that I had a look and went: “Whoa, hold on – what’s this?” It was in the MI5 section, so I immediately thought: “How exciting – a spook in the family tree.”
