The thread in which PHers reveal tenuous links to famous people.

[Doofus]

Is he famous though?

[RustyMX5]

psi310398 said:

RustyMX5 said:

Here's a tenuous link. I'm related to a knight who fought in the Crusades.

No desire at all to pee on your chips, but aren’t most of us? I seem to recall that some 98% of the Western European population (at least the white population) can trace back to Charlemagne himself.

I would cast a little doubt on 98% but it wouldn't surprise me if most of us have ancestors who fought in the crusades. I can only lay claim to 'knight'.

psi310398 said:

But I guess a direct, ie unbroken, male descent could be trickier to establish and statistically at lot more interesting.

Yes, there was a clear male line up to my great grandfather.

Doofus said:

Is he famous though?

Famous? Probably not in modern terms although the records that were found would suggest he was a noble. Not an A-List royal but probably a C-List Country Squire.

[MrBig]

Johnny Ball attended my Dad's funeral. Timmy Mallet compered the dedication ceremony for the Sunshine club bus he led the fundraising campaign for.

[Abbott]

RustyMX5 said:

psi310398 said:

RustyMX5 said:

Here's a tenuous link. I'm related to a knight who fought in the Crusades.

No desire at all to pee on your chips, but aren’t most of us? I seem to recall that some 98% of the Western European population (at least the white population) can trace back to Charlemagne himself.

I would cast a little doubt on 98% but it wouldn't surprise me if most of us have ancestors who fought in the crusades. I can only lay claim to 'knight'.

psi310398 said:

But I guess a direct, ie unbroken, male descent could be trickier to establish and statistically at lot more interesting.

Yes, there was a clear male line up to my great grandfather.

Doofus said:

Is he famous though?

Famous? Probably not in modern terms although the records that were found would suggest he was a noble. Not an A-List royal but probably a C-List Country Squire.

All you need to do is find a link to some landed gentry. The family trees going up from there are usually very well documented

[psi310398]

Abbott said:

All you need to do is find a link to some landed gentry. The family trees going up from there are usually very well documented

Here we are:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-...

Fascinating stuff.

[4154QLD]

Some years ago, I was flying business class from Phoenix, AZ back to the UK and Brian May (of Queen fame) was sat in the row of seats in front of me.

Bruce Grobbelaar bought me a Coke, when I was about 12, in the players bar at Loftus Road - my uncle used to play for QPR.

[beagrizzly]

My kids went to the same primary school as Liz Hurley, albeit some 40 years later, and she only went there for a year.

[President Merkin]

One of Brucie's Play your cards right dolly dealers was in the year below me at school. I think there were about thirty of them overall, so not much of a claim to fame.

[jdw100]

President Merkin said:

One of Brucie's Play your cards right dolly dealers was in the year below me at school. I think there were about thirty of them overall, so not much of a claim to fame.

About thirty? Can you be more accurate?

Higher or lower?

[ApOrbital]

Lower.

[President Merkin]

She's in this list but I'm not saying who

[80quattro]

My cousin is a music exec and has signed numerous famous musicians, including Ed Sheeran, who he signed before he released his first single. My other cousins' hubby has a BAFTA for animation. However, I'm not sure if either are therefore famous as such.

[pingu393]

80quattro said:

My cousin is a music exec and has signed numerous famous musicians, including Ed Sheeran, who he signed before he released his first single. My other cousins' hubby has a BAFTA for animation. However, I'm not sure if either are therefore famous as such.

He'd be more famous if he'd turned down Ed Sheeran .

No one has heard of the guy who signed The Beatles, but there's a wiki page dedicated to the guys who turned them down. Now that's fame

[Trevatanus]

My ex girlfriend has a friend who has a BAFTA (resides in his downstairs toilet) for something or other.

[languagetimothy]

jdw100 said:

President Merkin said:

One of Brucie's Play your cards right dolly dealers was in the year below me at school. I think there were about thirty of them overall, so not much of a claim to fame.

About thirty? Can you be more accurate?

Higher or lower?

You were Lucky there wasn’t two of them as you get nothing for a pair… not in this thread.
(This comment could have been different but I thought it might get deleted)

[PurpleTurtle]

I went to a funeral recently where one of the fellow mourners was former Aston Villa goalkeeper, Nigel Spink.

Being a lifelong Villa fan it felt rather awkward to ask him to autograph my order of service, so I gave it a swerve and just gave a polite hello at the coffee stand at the wake!