TV host Alex puts her Jewish roots in focus
THE NEW permanent host of BBC show Football Focus, Alex Scott, has uncovered Jewish ancestry on her mother’s side.
The 36-year-old former Arsenal player unravelled her family history in a new series of BBC1’s ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are? due to hit our screens this October.
Ms Scott, who also explored her Jamaican heritage on the programme, discovered that her great-granddad had battled fascism in London’s East End in 1936, the BBC said.
This isn’t the first time that a public figure has delved into their Jewish ancestry on the programme.
In 2019, Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe broke down in tears during filming as he read his Jewish great grandfather’s suicide note for the first time. He learned that his ancestor, Samuel Gershon, had been financially ruined by a robbery at the family’s Hatton Garden jewellery business in 1936. Faced with destitution and the police’s suspicions that he had staged the raid himself to claim an insurance payment, he took his own life aged 42.
The latest sevenpart series, which will also feature Dame Judi Dench, Ed Balls, and a cast of other public figures, will take viewers on a journey across the world to Jamaica, Denmark, Ireland and the UK. “The incredible personal stories they unearth of their ancestors’ lives — from royal love triangles to labourers fighting for their rights, from Victorian child sweeps to battling fascists in London’s East end — reflect and illuminate all our collective history,” said the programme’s executive producer Colette Flight.
Her greatgrandfather battled fascism in 1930s London