Walk the line
A STROLL DOWN A DUBLIN STREET UNEARTHS A SURPRISING LINK BETWEEN HUGH BONNEVILLE AND JOHN BISHOP, AS A NEW SERIES OF THE GENEALOGY SHOW BEGINS…
Unexpected friends actor Hugh Bonneville and comedian John Bishop are the first pairing in a fourth of the celebrity genealogy series. Both know that they have Irish heritage – but what they don’t know is the ancestral connection they have to each other…
“I have this great affinity with the Irish people,” shares John in the programme. “I’m glad there’s this chink of Irishness I can get to the bottom of.”
Also delving into their families’ histories this series will be actors Adrian Dunbar and Neil Morrissey, comics Johnny Vegas and Alex Brooker, and dancers Oti and Motsi Mabuse – each with their own reasons for taking part. And for Hugh, there’s an emotional motive…
“I’m doing this because my brother Nigel, who passed away in 2017, had been really enjoying looking at the family tree,” he explains. “So this is to pick up where he left off.”
The pair head to London to learn how Hugh’s 3x greatgrandfather Richard Bonniwell made working conditions safer for sailors, while in Dublin, John discovers how his 3x greatgrandfather Andrew Keegan was a musical instrument maker and Trade Unionist…
“It’s very interesting,” notes John, “this link with trade unionism in both families.”
Later, they walk Dublin’s Capel Street – where Keegan and Hugh’s great-great-grandad, baker John Freeman Snr, worked just four doors apart!
“It’s a twist of fate,” muses John to Hugh. “I bumped into you going for a vaccine… and our forefathers were working within 30 yards of each other!”
IT’S INTERESTING TO FIND LINKS BETWEEN