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Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia.
On March 6th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Latest News.
The dreaded credit crunch doesn’t appear to have reached the family history world.
Last week, I was at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in Olympia to value family heirlooms brought in by the (thousands of) visitors. More used to the scholarly calm of the annual antiques fairs at the same venue, I was staggered by the vast queue stretching around the building before the show opened.
Inside the aisles soon filled up as people crushed around the various stands promoting genealogical resources such as ancestry.com, findmypast.com and the National Archives. The family historians were a pretty ruthless lot (with sharp elbows) as they pressed forward with steely eyed determination onto the besieged experts. Unsurprisingly, most looked retired and of a certain age as it takes time (and money) to pursue such an obsessive hobby. You can of course, never know it all and one small lead can take you in unexpected directions.
The College of Arms was flying the flag for heraldry and I passed a happy few minutes watching an illustrator preparing a coat of arms on their stand. Otherwise, the subject seemed poorly served so I expect a flood of silver surfers when our site goes live in April as people drop in to find their family crest. One visitor who now knows what to look for is actor Kevin Whately who on the latest edition of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? was shown (to his evident surprise) a version of his crest on the tomb of an ancestor. He may not know, however, that the Whately crest, a Stag’s Head, is shared by dozens of other families thus giving Kevin an excellent chance, in time, of finding a nice piece of antique silver with it on at My Family Silver…..
Who Do You Think You Are?
On February 9th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Crestfinder,Fairbairn's,Latest News.
To celebrate its return to our screens, I thought it would be fun to trace the crests of the celebrities profiled in the current series of BBC’s popular programme Who do You Think You Are? Beginning this week with Rory Bremner. According to Crestfinder, the Bremner family crest is A Cock’s Head Erased – very appropriate for a well loved entertainer!
Are there any celebrities crests you’d like us to search for?
Who Do You Think You Are?
On December 22nd, 2008 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Latest News.
One of the most pleasurable duties I have each month is to prepare a piece for the BBC Magazine Who Do You Think You Are? My column investigates reader submitted family heirlooms: from First World War christmas cards to police truncheons! This month I was asked to offer further insight into two generations of eighteenth century London  silversmiths called the Brewoods. The request was made after a reader, having discovered his silversmithing ancestry, found an example of his family’s work via google – and immediately purchased it. Of course, from next year he will be able to search myfamilysilver for further examples! Read my article here:Â
John Culme, who for many years has been connected with Sotheby's Silver Department, is author of several books and articles, including The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, 1838-1914, published in 1987, and co-author with Nicholas Rayner of The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor. He is also a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company, London.
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