Genes Reunited Blog
Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!
- We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
- The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
- In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
- The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.
Official Blogs
The British Newspaper Archive
Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
Who Do You Think You Are? Len Goodman - Episode 9
Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman delves into his family history on this week's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Will he uncover that dancing runs in his family? Here's a sneak peek at what we've found out.
Lennard Gordon Goodman was born in 1944 in Bethnal Green, East London. After an unfortunate football accident that damaged his foot, he took up dancing as part of his recovery and this is when he discovered a talent he never knew he had. By the time Len was 23 he became a professional in the field of ballroom dancing.
His family history is said to unearth that dancing does run in the family. He also discovers a poorer side of his Victorian ancestry that were sent to the workhouse, and his Polish grandfather and his arrival in Portsmouth in 1834.
We've found Len's paternal great-great-grandfather David Goodman:
We can see he's registered as a shoe maker. I wonder if this has anything to do with dancing as a profession in the family?
We've also found his paternal great-great-great-grandfather John Spanton who we can see is a Farrier (a shoeing smith for horses):
Dancing and shoeing? It seems Len's family have taken to professions that involved feet.
I'm quite looking forward to this episode! Don't forget to tune in to Who Do You Think You Are? tonight, BBC1 at 9pm.