TV doctors Chris and Xand van Tulleken are the next celebrities to trace their family history on BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? The identical twin brothers, who are best known for presenting children’s series Operation Ouch!, join the likes of Claire Foy, Bear Grylls and Kevin Clifton.
In Chris and Xand’s episode, which airs on Thursday, June 29, the pair find themselves horrified after discovering that one of their ancestors was a prolific slave trader. When they’re told that their 5x great-grandfather Ambrosias Tulleken was successful in the Dutch colony of Suriname, Xand says: “I do have an ominous feeling. If you were making money out there, you weren’t doing anything good.”
The pair discover that Ambrosias started out as an accountant in charge of shipping chained slaves from Angola to a plantation in Demerera, now part of Guyana, which was named Tullekens after him. He later bought his own ship, the Amphitrite, and owned several plantations while managing many others. Are you enjoying the current series of Who Do You Think You Are? Let us know in the comments.
