John Hurt Uncovers Customs House Secret | Who Do You Think You Are

[@sonnyroy497]

I'm from West Texas and all through my childhood I was told, "You're Indian (Native American) French and Irish. And having long dark hair and brown eyes reinforced this. A few years ago, at my daughter's request, I did the 23andme thing. I found out I am not Native American at all. Straight up European. Most of my ancestors, 53% roughly, are from England, some from the surrounding areas and north of there and a small percentage of Portuguese and Spanish. I was disappointed to find out I had no Native American blood.

[@CharityS-Minnesota]

This actually made me sad for him. Seriously it’s hard to find out that your family Lore was a lie or it wasn’t the whole truth that’s kind a hard

[@ardendelspain]

What is worse is that almost 3 generations were pretty much lying about who they were/where they came from and their 'grand successes'. The positive? That does mean he naturally came from a line of prolific actors. lol. SOOOO he really owes them a lot no matter the disappointing outcome.

[@CheekandBluster]

@@ardendelspain Nonsense. ONE ancestor of his lied about who he was and where he came from. The subsequent generations didn't lie, they repeated what they'd been told be the previous generations, which is exactly what most people do. It was the truth as far as they knew it. Furthermore, you've got it exactly backward about acting: good acting isn't about lying at all, it's about being truthful.

[@seanfabien1289]

Dear John, your affinity and instinct for Ireland as "home" is right. The same as lots of Irish citizens through no fault of their own, leave Ireland to have to make a living in the hope one day they can come back home. Your beautiful voice and great acting ability and personality do you and your family proud. You can be the root of your families Irish connection forever. We all have to start somewhere. It is an honour to have your natural instinct for feeling you belong in Ireland, the Irish nation would be proud of your company. Welcome Mr John Hurt!

[@heidihall1752]

JOHN you can still do your dna testing.

[@kamilarosinska5404]

No link found doesn't mean there isn't any. And the visual resemblance is striking. Also, it's one side of the family. He may still have Irish ancestors.

[@Pommy1957]

Is reckoned 42% of English people have some Irish ancestry, so quite possible, probably more humble origins than the ones he'd thought through.

[@typower9]

I saw the resemblance between both John and his brother Michael, and various Marquesses of Sligo.

[@racechamp6008]

1:03 That's my grandfather!

[@CatzASMRnMore]

No.. home is where your heart feels like its home..He has a Irish heart weather he is Irish or not.

[@im_so_bored3896]

exactly! i love ireland and never felt more at home anywhere i visited and i have 0 genetic connections to the place!

[@itabatstone721]

@@im_so_bored3896 It’s now filled with Nigerians, who almost knock you over in the street, going to collect their benefits that the indigenous people are paying for.

[@seamus1965]

John your an honorary Irishman in that you felt an affinity when you came here and embraced the Irish as part of your being. Your no different or less Irish by finding this information out than before.

[@WalterKhayyam]

So being Irish is a state of mind rather than an ethnicity? Cause surely the results of the investigation determines that he isn't Irish.

[@EC2019]

If he'd stopped to think about it for half a second, he'd have realised that descending from "nobility" in Ireland would never have made him Irish either. It would have made him descended from British, English or Norman colonisers. Genuine Irish people were not awarded titles, nor did they vote for the Acts of Union. Sad that his fantasy had to be broken but he should have thought it through.

[@colors6692]

So how long to you think a family needs to be in Ireland to be considered Irish???? 1,000 years +?

[@uptoncriddington6939]

A fair number of Irish peers derive from Gaelic Irish chiefs and leaders who made their peace with the Crown. O’Brien, O’Neill, etc.

[@RushfanUK]

@@uptoncriddington6939 Some did but the vast majority did not, a range of the Irish clans had their roots in the Norman and Anglo Norman invaders of Ireland in the 12th and 13th Centuries as well, the Norman nobles would integrate with local families of wealth or status over time. The Tudors did create nobles from the clans but many of these from what I can find from my own researches into our family tree became extant as from the 1700's there was a move to reduce the Irish Peerage, I think it was that for every new Irish Peer created three old peerages were removed to reduce the overall number.

[@uptoncriddington6939]

@@RushfanUK became extant? I think you mean extinct, the opposite of extant.

[@uptoncriddington6939]

@@PartlySunny74 You take my remarks out of context to make your typically irksome erroneous Erse point.

[@rick43pen]

So sad to see his pain. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[@MrConigli]

It sounds like his ancestor was a great actor, playing a part.

[@mmcleod8148]

PLEASE combine segments to make one show as it was on TV.

[@Gershwin48]

So true, they don’t even number them in order.

[@pennychurchward1481]

The Marquis of Sligo who owned a grand house, Westport House, was one of the better English aristocrats during the potato famine. He provided food for the poor. Many came from areas around to benefit.

[@mickeymortimer4407]

a wonderful wonderful actor, and human being, I am sure he has some Irish ancestors, without a doubt he has celtic ancestry. This show doesn't dig deep enough

[@peggyeichten2972]

@@PartlySunny74 Thank you. Exactly!

[@RichieRich1234RICH]

Wow. He had the same surname and just built a whole background around it. Amazing.

[@JACKDAWFISH]

Ironic, John Hurt thought he had Irish ancestry and didn't have any. Through 23&Me I found out I did have Irish ancestry that I didn't think I had, (via illegitimate grandfather I thought was English but was 100% Irish) crazy.

[@pennychurchward1481]

I’m surprised he did not have DNA done……too late now

[@itabatstone721]

You won’t be 100 % unless both of grandpa’s parents were Irish and everyone else since. However there was a great deal of exchange of people between both countries from way back when they were both in the slave trade. If DNA show Celt and Viking ancestry then you are Irish.

[@pauladuncanadams1750]

​@@itabatstone721 How bout just Celt? And we're Scotts-Irish or Ulster to you.

[@jillybe1873]

If you think you're Irish, you're Irish

[@bcent5758]

We want you to be one of us!

[@tamarab5751]

At least he found out before he died; but I'm not sure the truth was a comfort.

[@darrinarnold2325]

I’m sorry John Hurt, if you were saddened or disappointed with the results of your search because you’re still nobility to Us.✌🏻

[@jayare2620]

John have a few Guinness and the spirit of Ireland will come to you - if your worthy

[@pauladuncanadams1750]

Sadly, I'm McGinnis and can't stand the stuff😮, but I do love a nice Newcastle.😊

[@llchapman1234]

I wish he would have been more interested in who his ancestors were as people rather than chasing the "I'm descent from nobility" pipedream.

[@jillybe1873]

It's just this part of the show

[@pleappleappleap]

That Laura Barry. What a beautiful woman.

[@clairebevington4679]

if John's strong reaction was due to him believing that he is from Irish descent and that helped to give him some sense of identity and an affinity towards Ireland and the people, then I can empathise with his disappointment and it has shaken his idea of who he is and where he comes from. if his reaction was merely down to snobbery because Walter lied about his ancestry and infact was of a much lowlier background then I can't say I feel much sympathy atall. on a side note, our sense of identity and sense of self and who we are comes from inside us and external resources shouldn't shake that within us. John maybe shouldn't have believed everything he did before embarking on this journey. when you set off as he did to learn about your ancestry, nobody can guarantee that what you find is what you want to find or that there aren't skeletons in closets, illegitimate babies, criminals to be found. I am of Irish and Scottish descent and the Irish were apparently travellers and a well known name in that community, id love to know more about it.

[@itabatstone721]

There is a difference between Gypsies and Tinkers. Tinkers were small land Irish farmers who were deprived of their land by the British, they travelled the country doing odd jobs, sharpening knives and mending Pots and Pans, and doing small jobs, which they had been accustomed to doing for themselves. They trade has died out now.

[@christianstreit950]

It's always problematic if you base your sense of identity upon heritage. In the end he said something like " I'm not nothing now". That really kind of shocked me,, because as a Hollywood actor he has had so many opportunities to express him- self, to keep on growing and thereby to find out more about who he really is - that can't be found in who his ancestors were. I think the problem here is a completely false approach to the topic. An identity cannot be found, it can only be developed. I think he should still enjoy returning to Ireland. Everyone does, because the nature is beautiful and the architecture is fascinating, no matter where you come from - if you have an eye for these things.

[@hurfyable]

Still working on the Stafford, Douglas, Stafford I/2 brother and sister relationship where their mother and fathers were unknown to them, especially Henry Douglas who spent his whole school life living at Dr Walter Lords school off broadway in Tooting, Surrey England 1818-1835

[@Rony2453]

was this research before DNA's done? He could have had that done to see if Irishness was in an ancestor.

[@EC2019]

Seems unlikely that a member of the nobility would offer up a DNA sample to compare ancestry. It could end up showing a broken paternal line in the inheritance and they could lose an awful lot.

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@EC2019 You dont need any DNA from the nobility to check for Irish DNA in John Hurt, only from John Hurt himself. He would only need dna from the Marquis to confirm they were related, but not to confirm he had Irish roots.

[@Pommy1957]

Yeah, it's donkey's years old you can tell by the fact they look at the census on microfiche instead of a computer.

[@StevenJeNova]

So acting runs in the family, so to speak.

[@balletteacher621]

Oh, that's sad!

[@pauladuncanadams1750]

We're all in the same boat❤

[@cate4338]

...however, Emma Stafford came from money - I can't find where the lead to the Staffords ended...

[@dannicatzer305]

Most families have stories of ancestors that are probably crap.. In my family we are supposed to be descendants of the Stuarts which I find implausible but nevertheless the story still persists among some family who are utterly convinced even to the point some wear the royal Stewart tartan at weddings which I always find cringe worthy..

[@itabatstone721]

Many illegitimate births didn’t always record the father cause sometimes the father was unknown to the mother. Not necessarily through promiscuity put from attack.

[@redzora80]

i think there are any open end wich are not follwoed. Still the parents of Emma are not that clear. also as we all know with some commen sense know, sometimes the father on the paper isn't the father in Biology. So maybe there was a link already told trough the family. Sadly John Hurt has passed away. A dna test would maybe have bring more truth to everything. Maybe if his brother is still alive he could do one. Maybe Johns inner feelings for irland came from a past life, who knows.

[@STICKITINYOUREAR]

I feel sad for John, because he was so upset by what he found out.

[@cyndifoore7743]

I feel bad for Emma and any children she had to that scoundrel.

[@Mspindare]

Is it safe to say that John is .... hurt?

[@tamarab5751]

He's dead, so...

[@wandaferrer6527]

He has to do DNA TESTING

[@OllieRamone]

It’s too late now since he sadly passed away in 2017

[@padghd]

Omg what a shame... 😱

[@susantaylor9923]

Oh get over it. You just didn't go back far enough or maybe follow another of the female lines.

[@JayArgonauts]

I’m laughing lol😂

[@JayArgonauts]

Charity S I could certainly sympathise with him if the circumstances involved near family relationships but this was so far in the past that his reaction was an overreaction and frankly ridiculously self indulgent and extremely irritating. Perhaps people should avoid genealogy if they are going to be disappointed that their ancestors belonged to the peasant class rather than members of the nobility.

[@pamelaleannefreeland9025]

@@JayArgonauts it wasn't about not being descended from royalty, but finding out that he didn't have an Irish ancestry like he had grown up thinking and later felt was substantiated by his feelings toward Ireland. He's aloud to be disappointed and hurt. Try some empathy instead of harsh judgement.

[@JayArgonauts]

@@pamelaleannefreeland9025 I’m a very empathetic person actually but I don’t believe that his reaction is remotely deserving of empathy and will not be persuaded by you or anyone else to believe otherwise. The premise of the programme was to establish a link with Irish Nobility and the Marquis of Sligo rather than an Irish link generally. As the narrator said ‘John’s hopes of finding a link to Irish Nobility came to nothing.’ I think John Hurt had a rather colourful family history and it would have been really interesting to have learnt more about his Stafford ancestry.

[@dannicatzer305]

@@pamelaleannefreeland9025 He can have some of mine if he likes I've got Irish ancestors coming out of my ears..

[@alfieburns9019]

@@JayArgonauts Anyone who says I'm a very empathetic person and then continues on by saying but I can't feel empathy for his reaction tends to be a very unempahetical person

[@colors6692]

Damn she is pretty!

[@itabatstone721]

The so called Gentry who lived in Ireland on stolen Irish land weren’t Irish aristocracy, they were and are British, or more strictly French being the descendants of those who came with William. So John Hurt wouldn’t have had Irish ancestry, unless one of his Irish Female relatives, had lifted her skirts for her employer.

[@pauladuncanadams1750]

Some were given back a bit of their lands and given title. They tried kissing up to the English, especially N Ireland, but got buggered anyway as they couldn't stand seeing allied clans get screwed and so they eventually revolted.