A chance question from a seven year old and an old manuscript from my ninety year old grandmother set me off in search of the 128 5th gg-parents of my daughter.
Kings, paupers, highway men, eminent lawyers, newspaper tycoons, bigamists, slave traders, coal miners and cotton workers; just some of the ancestors uncovered.
Story of a life blighted by drink and cut short by tragic accident just as it seems to be settling after years of service in the British army in India.
After fleeing France in 1686 two huguenot brothers settle in England establishing themselves as successful business men supplying beads desired by slave traders
My 4x great grandparents never divorced but both remarried while the other was still alive. She first, him later but only he was prosecuted for bigamy.
In 1923 my great uncle left home to join a religious order without the knowledge or consent of his father. Will family love or religious divide triumph?
My grandmother knew her late husband's uncle had been killed in World War 1 but nothing else. A little investigation showed he had an interesting story ....
My family name descends from the maternal line four generations back although my 2x great grandfather was originally given his father's name. What happened?
Spot on time, apparently by luck as its reputation for regularity is myth, Old Faithful erupted accompanied by the click of hundreds of camera shutters
Each state has been characterised by its vegetation: saguaro cactuses in Arizona, prickly pears in New Mexico, pine trees in Colorado, now the Wyoming grassland
There is snow on the trail. At first they are small drifts and no obstacle but it is strange to feel so hot under such a blazing sun and yet be negotiating snow
The options for eggs is baffling: easy over, easy up etc and we take a guess. Stewart orders easy up and fortunately it's what he wanted, a plain fried egg.
After a long day in the heat exploring the pueblos we drive up into the mountains and realise we are ill equipped for camping in the near freezing conditions.
If we see anyone picking up pieces of petrified wood we are asked to fill in a report card! Interesting technique for instructing us not to nick the stone wood.
After only two stops on the Creole trail, the Blue Grass trail and the Wetland Walkway we realise it is much later than we thought & jet-lag is setting in.
He took Jane's passport & said we couldn't leave unless we paid more. The flight was being called and we saw our bags trundling across the tarmac to the plane.
For tea we had enormous American style pizzas then went for a final visit to a pie shop for pie and coffee. Our last evening in Kathmandu was drawing to a close
The Budhist temple, Swayambhunath Stupa, known as the Monkey Temple, sits at the top of a hill overlooking Kathmandu. I wish I'd known more about it at the time
We didn't buy anymore food although we bought plenty of chai in little earthenware pots which we threw out of the train window, as appeared to be the custom.
He said this was the very slow train, the Jannata train. It would stop everywhere and take more than five hours. He said I should have waited for the express.
The Rickshaw driver said it was his duty to take me to the marble factory, the jeweller and the silk sari shop. I went, there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I had no idea of the route to the Taj Mahal, but I instinctively felt that we were not heading towards the river. The rickshaw man said it was "a tour".
Via the luxury of Dubai airport to the unwelcoming, dirty and intimidating transit facilities in Karachi, I arrive at Delhi airport just as it is getting light
I'd seen the line of towers in the distance yesterday as we wandered through the colonnades without realising that they were part of an ancient necropolis.
My preconceived ideas of what a mosque would be like are overturned. I expected to see mainly men and a rather solemn, formal place but there are a lot of women
I realise I don't know much about Syria and can't reconcile what the guide is saying with my pre-conceived ideas. I am lost between two sets of propaganda.
