BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 9 Episode #1: June Brown

[ev]

 

well , i liked this one
plenty of documentation , and starting from a time when most of us are hitting
the brickwall
interesting , sad , and yet it even made me laugh when June mentioned the
fact that her ancestors(Jewish) could sign their names and not put a cross , to
which the Dutch archivist replied it would have been more likely to have been a circle

ev

[Sandgrounder1]

I have just watched the June Brown programme.  Oh dear!  They will have to be a lot better to keep me watching the rest of the series.  It was dreary except for the last few minutes.

[Gillg]

Quite agree.  Fascinating to be able to go so far back, but the presentation was frankly dull.  And what about the other side of her family?  They didn't get a mention.

[HeatherLynne]

I really enjoyed June Brown's programme and found it fascinating how so many records were available in each place.  My teenage daughter watched it with me (under sufferance) but in the end she found it interesting too. 

June wanted to follow that particular line, personally I prefer shows where they concentrate on one line as then there's plenty of detail and flesh on the bones.

Heather

[halhawk]

I found it more interesting than some others, in that it was building on work already done by June (and her family?) and therefore going back into much earlier times than usual.  Wasn't it stated at the start that June wanted to find out more about Isaac Bitton?  In general the recent programmes have only looked at one line and I thought this was a fascinating line.

The one thing I would have liked to see was June telling details to her children at the end.  With the family gathering at the start I hoped that they might have met again to hear the story.  They could have made time for it by cutting a few of the 'pretty views' which had no 'voiceover', particularly the one which caused me to think 'Hang on! We were in Madrid - where's this?' before we were told it was the Royal Archives outside Madrid.

[stonechat]

I can't see a thread so will start one

It was an interesting program and although June stated at one time she wanted to find out if she really was from the East End nonetheless a fascinating story of the sephardic jews.

Bob

[millymcb]

I thought it was fascinating.  I wasn't really looking forward to yet another European Jew emigration story - but this was something new. 

Then I thought they had just made a wild assumption about the Oran chap - but they managed to tie it all up nicely and proved me wrong Great detective work

Milly

[Springbok]

Havn't seen it yet (taped) as tonight was also  the last episode of the brilliant 24hrs in A&E on ITV .

We have also  been enjoying the latest series of Heir Hunters .

One or two people on the latest  list for WDYTYA I have never heard of..Larry Lamb?but in the end most will have some points of interest .

Spring

[Lydart]

Too much emphasis on June's fags was my initial impression !!


But I was interested; good to see that so many Jewish records are preserved, when we think of the centuries of Jewish persecution, and that she could access them.  What an interesting family over the generations and to find roots in so many countries.