WDYTYA (UK): Len Goodman - an engrossing episode

Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman grew up in Bethnal Green in the East End of London.  As one of the  poorest communities in the country, this is a familiar stomping ground for WDYTYA, but that did not stop it being for me once of the best programmes in this series. 

Len followed the lives of his Eldridge ancestors on his mother's side. The silk weaving link was traced back to Danial Eldridge and   I would have liked to have gone back even further as Daniel was prosperous enough to leave his son two properties and presumably there were records to show more.  A downturn in the industry led Daniel's descendants  into poverty. His son died  in the  poorhouse and in turn his son, faced with going into the poorhouse, killed himself.

The episode illustrated  how relatively  easily ancestors (even from a poor background)  could be traced.  As ever the archive searches were impressive, with Charles Booth's survey of poverty in London,  the detailed information provided by Poor Relief records and local newspapers, and the Guildhall freeman records.  

Len also followed the trail of his Polish great great grandfather, Joseph Sosnowski, wanting to find out how Joseph ended up in Portsmouth in 1834 - another example of the producer's favoured trend of   leaping  in time from the early 20th century back about 100 years.  We never found out about Joseph's family life in England

But as Len followed in his great great grandfather's footsteps, he discovered the dramatic part that Joesph played in the  struggle for Polish independence.

 

This Polish angle proved even more fascinating and the archival evidence equally impressive, delivered in impeccable, cultured  English by the Polish expert. 

An engrossing episode that covered a lot in the time available. 

What did you think?