Greg Davies Who Do You Think You Are?

Greg Davies is a giant of British comedy.

He made his name playing the world-weary teacher Mr Gilbert

in the hit TV series The Inbetweeners.

If there's one thing no-one likes, it's a grass.

So I will ask you how this happened and you will reply, "I tripped."

But, Sir, if no-one reported crimes, the justice system would collapse!

I'll ask you again. How did this happen?

I tripped.

-HE TUTS

-Clumsy.

'Are you ready for your closing act of the first half, Comedy Store?'

APPLAUSE

But his first love is stand-up.

'..and he's a very, very funny man. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome...'

-We'll see about that!

-'..to the Comedy Store, London,

'Mr Greg Davies!'

APPLAUSE

My dad died a couple of years ago and I am so my father's son.

He is to this day - obviously I'm biased -

the funniest person I've ever met.

This is the noise she made...

HE SCREAMS

I used to watch him hold court at their parties when I was a kid.

And I remember thinking,

"Yeah, I'd like people to listen to me tell stories."

So it all comes from him.

-Then, I got on with my day.

-LAUGHTER

I think the Welsh roots were incredibly important to my dad.

He told me that's why I had to be born in Wales,

just to make absolutely certain that when my rugby career took off,

I would be a Welsh international.

And I'm very sorry that he got a fat comedian instead.

-Houston, we have a problem.

-LAUGHTER

My dad did suggest there was a Davies secret,

so if there is a secret - great!

I would love it.

Ladies and gentlemen, you were really lovely,

thank you so much.

Enjoy the rest of the show. Bye.

I am embarrassed about my knowledge of my father's side of the family.

I'm heading back to my mum's house in Shropshire

and I'm hoping that she can help me piece together some basics, really,

about my Welsh grandparents and great-grandparents.

Ah.

-Hello!

-Hello.

-Are you all right?

-Yes, thank you.

-Good.

-You got here.

-I got here.

What I've discovered so far is that I know hardly anything

about my family.

-So I'll be intrigued to see if you know more.

-Yeah.

On which side of the family would you like to know more about?

-Well, on Dad's side, I think.

-Yeah.

-Well, I've hunted a few photos and things out...

-Have you?

..which might help.

-Ready?

-OK.

-What have you dug out then?

-Well, this one.

Do you think I look like Dad in this picture?

Not so much in that one.

Not in the one where I'm pulling his ears out.

This one, definitely. Look at your grins, look.

What I like about this is I remember I was deliberately

trying to make him laugh.

-And I did.

-You succeeded.

-And then I'm pleased.

You can see in my face I'm desperately pleased

-that I got him laughing.

-Got one over on him.

I've got this excellent one.

HE LAUGHS

-Your grandmother.

-That's me and Nain, as I shall call her.

Everyone in North Wales calls granny nain, don't they?

-Yeah, and grandfather taid.

-Yes. That's it, nain and taid.

-Yeah.

Do you know, I remember doing that.

What a prat I was.

I was in her hat and coat.

The thing that strikes me about it is there just no doubt

that I am her grandson. Facially.

-No, none at all.

-I don't look unlike her at all.

-Put an old lady's hat on...

-With that hat on.

-..me as a 12-year-old, and I am an old lady.

-You are, yes.

Things haven't changed!

-She was very funny.

-She was great.

-She was great.

Is there a picture of Nain's mum?

-Just this one.

-So this is Elizabeth?

-Yes. Your great-grandmother.

-Blimey.

I remember visiting her in that room.

1972. I was four.

That'll be one of my earliest memories, I think.

So Nain, Edith, was the oldest of Elizabeth's children, is that right?

Of seven. Yes.

The thing I remember that Dad always alluded to was that

her children didn't all necessarily look very alike.

No, because they didn't have the same fathers.

Well, that was the rumour.

We don't know who her father really is.

-We don't know who Nain's father is?

-No.

What was written on her birth certificate?

-I can show you that.

-Right.

-Right. Caernarfon.

-It tells you which area, Porthmadog.

June, 1904, Edith was her name, girl.

And Elizabeth, the mother is listed as Elizabeth Thomas, obviously,

who was a domestic servant, which I didn't know.

-And the father is just left blank.

-Yeah.

I'm just amazed that I never thought to question

who Dad's grandfather was.

So we know that Nain definitely existed

-before Elizabeth got married.

-Yes.

-And Elizabeth married who?

-David Jones.

-David Jones.

-Yes.

-But David Jones definitely wasn't Nain's father?

-Definitely not.

She was born before Elizabeth got married.

The only other person I can think of that would hopefully fill in a gap

-would be Viona. Her mother and Edie were sisters.

-Right.

Greg's great-grandmother, Elizabeth Thomas,

had seven children.

The eldest of whom were Edith, Greg's grandmother,

and her sister Rebecca.

Edith and Rebecca's father was not the man Elizabeth married,

David Jones.

The identity of their father, Greg's great-grandfather,

is a mystery.

Greg is on his way to Mold in Wales

to visit his first cousin once removed, Viona.

Ah, now.

I think we're about to enter the land of my father, Wales.

Yes, we are.

We are officially,

we are officially Welsh now.

It feels different.

Greg's hoping that Viona may know more about their family history.

-Hello, Viona.

-Hello, Greg, how are you?

-I'm very well, how are you?

-Very well.

-Nice to see you.

Nice to see you!

So, yesterday Mum showed me

my grandmother Edie's birth certificate.

And looking along the official description, when it says "father",

-it's just left blank.

-Right.

Well, it's the same on my mother's.

-I've got my mother's here.

-Ah!

-This is Rebecca, my mother.

You can see when she was born, 1907.

-And that's blank as well.

-Blank as well, yeah.

In those days, that would have been pretty scandalous, wouldn't it,

for there to be no father, no registered father?

-Oh, yes, yeah.

-Yeah.

-It would have been, yeah.

So you would wonder how, with two daughters out of wedlock,

that Elizabeth would support herself, really.

She was very lucky, really, that her mother brought

Auntie Edie and my mother up.

They were brought up in Porthmadog in Snowdon Street, I think it was,

cos otherwise she would have ended up

on the street or in the workhouse.

So is that the picture of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth?

-That's it.

-That's amazing.

Very stern-looking woman, wasn't she?

She was a very stern looking lady.

If it was from a film, you'd say, "She looks a bit far-fetched.

"We should tone her down a bit!"

Dad told me he went round and took her out once

when she was having a good day,

and he said, "Where do you want to go?"

And she said, "The pub," straightaway.

-She knew exactly what pub she wanted to go to.

-Yes.

Well, she never went out, afterwards.

-They used to bring her a drink to the house.

-Oh, did they?

And she used to hide it in the bed.

-She liked a drink, did she?

-Hide it in the bed!

THEY LAUGH

So have you any clues as to who the father of Rebecca and my grandmother

-might have been?

-Well, this is Edie's marriage certificate.

-Ah!

So if I follow her line, Edith Thomas.

Father's name, David Thomas, deceased. Butcher.

Yes, that's very strange, isn't it?

But why would he be named on a marriage certificate,

all those years later,

and not on her birth certificate and not on your mum's?

-I think she made it up.

-You think this is made up?

-I think it is.

-So David Thomas, the deceased butcher...

..could be a real man,

or could be a flight of fancy from my grandmother!

THEY LAUGH

You know what it's like when you tell a fib?

-It goes on.

-You start to believe it after a while.

-Well, you do.

-You do, yes. You do.

-Not that I've told many, of course, Viona!

-No!

-Going to track down the mystery butcher.

It shouldn't be that hard,

-there wouldn't be so many butchers in Porthmadog.

-No.

It's just tracking down imaginary butchers,

-that's the difficult task, isn't it?

-Well, yes!

That's it. Oh.

Greg has come to Caernarfon in North Wales,

where the local records for Porthmadog,

the town of his grandmother Edith's birth, are kept.

He's looking for any clues which might help him discover

the identity of Edith's father, his great-grandfather.

-Annwen?

-Hi.

-Hello! Nice to meet you.

-You too.

-I'm on the trail, I think, of my great-granddad...

-Right.

..who had some children with Elizabeth Thomas,

-my great-grandmother.

-OK.

I've been having a look through our newspapers

and I think I've found a little snippet

that could be of use to you.

This is the copy of the Herald Cymraeg,

which is the local Welsh-language newspaper for 1907.

And they're giant. That's the first thing I noticed.

They are giant. Yes!

So, this is an entry for May 14th.

You might be able to pick out a couple of words that are familiar.

Well, not really. My Welsh isn't...

No, but you might be able to spot Porthmadog,

which is the area your great-grandmother lived.

Ah! Elizabeth Thomas, yeah.

And Snowdon Street, which is where she lived.

-That's right.

-Right.

Unfortunately, I don't understand what it says.

I have got a translation for you, which...

-You can take that.

-Brilliant.

"On the request of Mr J Jones Morris,

"William Owen of New Street was ordered to pay maintenance

"for the children of Elizabeth Thomas, Snowdon Street."

So...

William Owen is the name of my great-grandfather.

It would seem so, yes.

And that's a totally new name in this.

So the butcher was made up - and that won't mean anything to you.

SHE CHUCKLES

That would have been a local scandal, do you think?

-Um, yes, probably. Um...

-They weren't married.

No, they weren't, no.

And they've had two children together,

so it would have been known about in the local area.

At the beginning of the 20th century,

illegitimacy cases were not uncommon,

but the court system did little to reduce the shame and stigma

associated with being a single mother.

Women seeking child maintenance, like Elizabeth,

faced public humiliation,

as they were expected to testify against the father in court.

I think we can take this a little bit further,

and have a look to see if we can find mention of that case

-coming up in the courthouse.

-Wonderful.

-So, luckily for you, this is in English.

-Yes!

So you should be able to find the entry yourself,

-so I'll leave you to it.

-Well, thank you, Annwen.

Thank you very much.

"Elizabeth Thomas versus William Owen."

There it is.

This is June, now.

So the case is ongoing.

Do you know, I think that says "bastards".

It can't, can it?

It's actually, "bastardy", with a Y.

So they've gone back to court because presumably -

"debt brought up" - yeah, he hasn't paid.

Yeah, he's a very irresponsible father.

Is what we've learned, I think.

Already I am softening towards Elizabeth

and what she's had to deal with.

The amount due was now £1-12-6.

And there's an order from the court,

"Arrears to be paid by instalments of five shillings.

"One month for first payment...

"or 14 days."

"Or?" What does that mean?

"One month or 14 days"?

Probably need Annwen to help me with.

Hello.

This is what I don't understand.

Right, I assumed that the 14 days would refer to a prison sentence,

for not paying the amount.

Oh, so he would go to prison if he didn't pay.

-If he didn't pay the amount.

-Within a month.

-Within the month.

-Yes.

-Of course, it's prison.

Well, they were serious then.

I don't understand why he hasn't paid her.

He admits no effects, so he doesn't have the money to pay.

So he hasn't... Right. So it's not he won't pay, he can't pay.

-It's a case of he can't pay.

-Because he hasn't got any money.

To follow the story of his great-grandfather William,

Greg has come along the Welsh coast to Porthmadog.

It's really quite peculiar having known my grandmother

as well as I knew her, that years after her death

I suddenly uncover the name of her dad.

William Owen is never mentioned by our family,

and the reason he was never mentioned by our family

is because no-one, apart from Elizabeth,

my great-grandmother, I don't think knew who he was.

So I would like to know more about him.

Greg is meeting a local researcher, Eilir Daniels.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you.

Can you tell me something more about my great-grandfather?

-Yes. William Owen?

-Yes.

Luckily for us, he did get mentioned a few times in the local newspapers.

-Oh, was that unluckily for him though?

-Well, we shall see.

The first mention is in 1901.

So this is before my grandmother was born.

Yes. Yes. A couple of years before.

-Interesting.

-Now then...

-There you see his name.

-Hang on a minute.

Well, I mean, straightaway,

-that's interesting because he was a butcher.

-Yes.

HE GASPS

And I've written...

I'd written the idea of a butcher off.

The fact that that half-truth got passed down is so fascinating.

So, "William Owen, butcher, from Bank Place,

"was charged with having been drunk in charge of a horse and cart,

"on the night of February 12th.

"Catherine Caroll and Letitia Evans of Smith Street stated they saw

"the defendant leading a horse attached to a trap

"about eight in the evening.

"Mrs Caroll said she could not say he was drunk,

"neither could she say he was sober, but he was more drunk than sober."

That's a great quote. "More drunk than sober."

-HE LAUGHS

-Oh, William!

Well, he was proved to have been drunk in charge of a horse.

Which, I'm laughing at,

but I suppose was fairly serious business in 1901.

Yes, it wouldn't have been regarded lightly at all.

-It's drink-driving really, isn't it?

-Yes.

The next article relates

to an incident that took place

up the road, on Snowdon.

-What date is this, sorry?

-1906.

-'06.

-So this is moving on a little bit.

-Now, my grandmother is now two.

-Yes.

-"Accident.

"A party of Porthmadogites ascended Snowdon on Saturday night.

"Whilst ascending on Sunday morning, after sunrise, William Owen,

"in trying to jump over some big stones,

"fell and seriously injured his leg."

I don't want to sort of start casting aspersions, but was he...

Climbing Snowdon on a Saturday night sort of suggests to me that

-maybe drink was involved.

-Yeah.

He was probably trying to impress people.

That's my gut instinct, but that might reflect very badly on me,

because I spent a lot of time as a young man showing off.

The first thing that came into my head was he was a bit of a show-off.

So interesting.

We managed to get hold of his birth certificate.

-You can read that.

-So he was born in 1877.

-Yeah.

-His father is Evan Owen.

-Mm-hm. Yeah.

And his mother is Elizabeth Owen, formally Jones.

-Occupation of father. He was a farmer.

-Yeah.

-At Tremadog.

-That's right.

-Where's Tremadog then?

It's just on the outskirts of Porthmadog.

And here we find William himself, in 1881.

So this is the first census he would have been on.

-Four years after his birth.

-Yeah.

-Right. William Owen.

There. There he is.

He lived in Bank Place, in Porthmadog.

Relation to the head of the family, grandson.

-Are these the grandparents?

-Yeah.

Robert Jones, Elizabeth Jones.

-So he's living with his grandparents.

-Yes.

-Not with his parents.

-The Jones grandparents, yes.

Right. What did they do? Did they work?

-Oh, so the grandfather is a butcher.

-Yes.

I presume he went into the family business then.

So why is he living with Elizabeth's parents

and not with Elizabeth and Evan?

That's the big question.

-What's the big answer?

-You need to go to Tremadog next.

-Where William was born.

-He was registered in Tremadog.

-I knew I was born to be a detective.

-SHE LAUGHS

-I mean, admittedly, you've done all the hard work.

-Yeah.

Having uncovered the identity of his great-grandfather, William Owen,

Greg has also found out that his great-great-grandparents

were Evan and Elizabeth Owen.

Greg now wants to investigate why four-year-old William

was not living with his parents, Evan and Elizabeth,

but with his maternal grandparents, Robert and Elizabeth Jones.

Greg has come to Tremadog on the edge of Snowdonia

to meet social historian Russell Davies.

This is the wedding certificate of Evan Owen and Elizabeth Jones.

So they were married in 1875

and William was born, I think, 1877.

All right. So they were married two years before William,

so that's all above board.

So when they got married, my great-great-grandfather

was living in - I am scared of my pronunciation -

-Cwm Mawr.

-That's good.

-Is it?

-Cwm Mawr.

-Cwm Mawr.

-Yeah.

Farmers at Cwm Mawr.

If we look on to the next document.

-This is a death certificate.

-A death certificate, yes.

-Right.

For Elizabeth.

-HE GASPS

-..she died 1877.

-Yeah.

The year that William was born.

She was only 19 years of age.

She died in...

So she died in childbirth.

Giving birth to William.

HE SIGHS

Nine days after childbirth, she passed away.

Wow.

So, of course, that's why William is not living with his parents,

it's because his mother died.

He lives with the grandparents.

How common would that be?

It would be pretty common, sadly.

You're working the land,

unforgiving the circumstances,

that you can't look after a child.

-Of course not, right.

-And run a farm.

So, what became of Evan and his relationship with William?

-Perhaps, if you take a look at this.

-It's a marriage certificate.

Ah.

So he remarried.

Martha Parry.

1879, so only two years later.

Because Evan is only 24 years of age.

Well, I'm glad he got remarried.

That's, that's a...

There's a happiness there in a sea of woe.

The final document might throw a little light on Evan himself.

This is a clip from the North Wales Observer and Express.

-Yes.

-In November, 1902.

"Mr Evan Owen has been elected a deacon

"at the Peniel Chapel.

"He held a similar post at...

-Cwmystradllyn.

-"..Cwmystradllyn Chapel."

-He's found God and he's rising through the ranks.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Greg now wants to go one generation further back,

to discover more about his great-great-grandfather Evan's life.

I'm going to try and find some more clues about

what had happened to Evan over those years,

since losing his wife and try and find out

if there's any connection at all between him and his son William,

my great-grandfather.

The last time I came on this little railway,

which is stunningly beautiful,

I was with my mum and dad,

and over 30 years later, it's really exciting to be back on it.

And it's really exciting

to be delving into my dad's past in this way.

I can't tell you how much he would have loved this.

I can't tell you how much he would have loved to have been part of it,

and how sad I am that he isn't.

Nantmor!

Greg has come to find the Peniel Chapel

where his great-great-grandfather Evan was elected deacon in 1902.

-Hello.

-Hi.

I'm really looking for evidence

to see what role religion played in his life,

cos it was a big part of my immediate family's life.

Certainly my grandmother was also a deacon,

which is what Evan was at this chapel,

and my dad described a lot of chapel activity

when they were kids.

Well, there it is. Peniel Chapel.

It's very strange.

It's very strange to find it.

CHOIR SING "CWM RHONDDA"

SINGING CONTINUES

SINGING CONTINUES

Watching the service, imagining a blood relative

who I didn't know existed until three days ago,

being part of this very building, it's most peculiar.

SINGING CONTINUES

HE SPEAKS IN WELSH

It's lovely to see a ritual that was a big part of my dad's life,

and my grandmother's, and now I'm learning

of my great-great-grandfather's.

It's been a pretty overwhelming day.

It's amazing. And very exciting.

And quite moving.

To learn more about Evan's life,

Greg is meeting historian Dr Eryn White.

What I'm trying to find out is a little more

about my great-great-grandfather Evan and anything that might explain

his relationship with his son.

-We've got some information from the 1891 census.

-Ah.

So this is when Evan was living in Tal-y-llyn,

-before he moved to this area.

-Right.

So you see he's listed here with his family.

Oh, with his new wife, Martha.

Oh, so he had more children. Three daughters.

-So he has a whole second family of half-sisters to William.

-Yeah.

And they had two servants. So the farm was going well.

He was doing all right, wasn't he?

He WAS doing all right.

So it's interesting that, of course, you know,

the elder son is not living with him at this point.

No connection with William,

he's just moved on and had another family.

That's interesting, isn't it?

Right. This whole process, I'm very quick to make judgments.

This is what's so difficult to get to the heart of,

because we've got the historical documents,

but it's so hard to get the human story behind these,

so it's very difficult to know if they had any contact whatsoever.

I think it's not unfair to say that father and son

are on very different paths, from a certain point onwards.

William liked to have a drink

and he had two illegitimate children.

The fact is they were actually geographically very close,

Porthmadog isn't that far away from Nantmor here,

but socially and culturally,

-they seem to have been living very separate lives.

-Yeah.

Somebody like Evan, of course, who was elected a deacon

with the Calvinistic Methodists would probably be expected

to sign the pledge to be teetotal.

So we know for a fact that he would have disapproved of alcohol.

We know for a fact that he would have disapproved of alcohol.

-And actively disapproved of alcohol.

-Yes, actively disapproved.

During the 19th century,

a rise in heavy drinking sparked mounting concern.

Local temperance groups preached the evils of the demon drink

and encouraged members to sign pledge cards,

committing them to lives of sobriety.

I can show you the banner...

that...

-..we have from 1836.

-Right.

-From Beddgelert, this very area.

-And this is anti-alcohol?

-This is anti-alcohol.

This is a temperance society banner,

and it shows you the sort of contrast.

So you have this devout Victorian patriarch, who frowns on alcohol,

and goodness and prosperity will come if you keep away

-from the demon drink.

-Stay away from the evil drink

-and you'll have wonderfully rosy-faced children.

-Yes.

And here we have, "Glwth a meddw yw efe."

"He's a glutton and a drunkard."

Glutton and a drunkard. Dear me!

So that does tell you an awful lot

about the relationship between father and son.

-They're almost acting out these roles, aren't they?

-They are.

Of course he's going to disapprove of that boy.

It's very sad.

-There is one other item we've got from a newspaper.

-OK.

This takes us forward to 3rd August 1920.

This headline here - "Trychineb yn Llanrothen."

-We do have the English translation here.

-Just as well. Yes.

"Disaster in Llanrothen.

"Two drowned."

Oh.

"Friday afternoon, Mr Evan Owen and Mrs Anne Hughes were travelling

"in a vehicle to the market in Porthmadog.

"It appears that when they were crossing Point y Traeth,

"a bridge, the horse became disturbed

"and started to move backwards until he hit the rail

"and fell into the River Glaslyn."

"The bodies of Mr Evan Owen and Mrs Hughes could be seen

"carried away by the flood."

HE SIGHS

Oh, dear, Evan.

Well, I wasn't expecting that.

And I wonder what William thought of this,

I wonder if he was even in touch with William.

It's very difficult to know at this point.

We're sort of willing him, "Get back in touch with your son!"

-That's what I'm thinking.

-Mm.

"Get back in touch with your son!

"Maybe he needs you, he's drinking too much."

So I'm willing their relationships to all sort themselves out,

and then he goes and drowns.

I mean, you know...

It's so strange when you get involved in someone's life

like this, someone who's long dead.

I'm so sad to hear that he drowned.

Greg has come to the Point y Traeth, the scene of Evan's drowning,

to meet local historian Nia Powell.

-So I was given this report, Nia, that gives more detail.

-Yes.

There's a witness statement here, actually, from Doctor Tarleton,

who was the person who got Evan's body out of the water?

Well, he was a fisherman and he happened to be here

on the bank fishing and saw what happened.

Right. "Doctor Paul Tarleton gave evidence and stated that he was

"on the furthest side of the bridge when he saw the vehicle approach

"from the direction of Garreg.

"The horse started to take fright and it went against the rail,

"which broke, and the cart and its passengers fell into the river.

"He could not say what caused the horse to take fright."

What happened, apparently, I've heard,

is that as they were crossing the bridge,

the water was so high that it actually bubbled through the planks.

-Yes.

-And the horse shied because of this,

started backing and the whole cart fell through the railing,

which was defective, into the water.

Right. "Doctor Paul Tarleton jumped into the river and he swam as far

"as he could but he could not reach them as the current was too fierce.

"Then he called on Jones to give him a fishing rod and he succeeded in

"dragging the body towards the river bank.

"He tried to resuscitate him but to no avail.

"He saw the other body being carried away but couldn't reach it."

Yes, sad story, isn't it?

It is, it really is a sad story.

So, Nia, this story at the time was pretty big news in the area then?

Oh, it was.

I think it shook the whole area.

He was such a well-known figure, really.

-A prosperous farmer, etc.

-Yeah.

And in a sense, I think, well,

some modern myths have arisen out of it.

My mother always told me that around this area there's ghosts

of a man and a woman, in a horse and cart,

-with the man cracking his whip to get the horse to go.

-Really?

And that it's associated with this accident.

Well, I think that's a fitting point for us to leave here,

with the idea of my great-great-grandfather

still riding the bridge and cracking his whip.

-I think that's wonderful.

-He may just come along that road now.

He may, he may.

Learning about the sad demise of Evan throws up lots of questions

about fathers and sons.

This whole area of Wales brings back lots of memories

of spending time with my dad.

And for me to be discovering the story of two men from my family,

a father and son, who seemingly had no relationship,

is quite a contrast.

And sort of niggles at me,

to the extent that I have to find out more about William,

because I do think it will have cast such a shadow on his life.

The last thing Greg discovered about William was that he fathered

two daughters, Edith and Rebecca,

with his great-grandmother, Elizabeth,

and that she was pursuing him for child maintenance for them.

Greg's now picking up William's story

and he's come to Snowdon Street in Porthmadog,

to see the house where the girls were born.

-Eilir.

-Hello.

-Hello again.

-Hello again.

-Nice to see you.

-And you too.

-So, this is number 56,

-the place where my nain was born.

-Yes.

Which is most peculiar, to think of Nain being born here.

So I've learned an awful lot, Eilir, since we last met, about my family,

but I'm sort of at a bit of a dead end with William.

I've been delving deeper.

See what you make of this.

Something tells me this isn't going to be good.

Ah! Now, this is a birth certificate.

So this is a daughter that William's had, Elizabeth,

a girl, in 1907.

So this is a new...

This is a new daughter by a different lady.

Martha Owen, formerly Williams.

Formerly Williams?

So that suggests that he was married to this lady?

It suggests that, doesn't it?

Oh, goodness me. Well, this is...

-This is complicated.

-It does get complicated now, yeah.

-So this is 1907.

-Yes.

-And...

I'm just trying to remember,

Edith, my nain, was born in 1904.

-That's right.

-But Rebecca was born in 1907.

That's right, yes.

Oh.

You're doing the maths, and...

So the same year...

The same year William fathered Rebecca,

my nain's younger sister,

he also fathered a daughter called Elizabeth,

by a different - a different lady.

-So really, we're into proper scandal territory here.

-Yes.

He's been shockingly irresponsible.

-That's one way of putting it!

-That's what I would say.

Oh, goodness me, William.

So there were two ladies pregnant, for a period of several months,

-by the same man.

-In the same town.

In the same town, which is not a big town,

-Porthmadog.

-Not at all, no.

That would have been really scandalous.

And he's still listed as a butcher, so he's still in the same place.

We know it's an established butcher's,

so everyone will know him.

-Very much so.

-Do we know where the butcher's was?

We do, yeah. It's along the High Street, not far at all.

Right.

-The butcher's shop, number 11, Bank Place.

-There it is.

-Shall we go in?

-After you.

Clearly not a butcher's any more, but the signs are there.

These presumably would be for hanging the meat on.

So, dare I ask, Eilir, if you have anything else,

now we're here, where William worked?

I do, yes.

I have this document, well, it's an article from the Cambrian News.

-Right.

-And See if you can have a look at this article

in the middle, there.

"Lot number one. Mr Henry Roberts,

"is instructed by the representatives

"of the late Mrs Jones, butcher,

"to sell by auction at 11 Bank Place."

1907, so the year of this great drama of William

fathering two children by two different ladies.

The butcher's shop has been put up for sale.

It was owned by his grandmother.

-Yes, it was his grandparents' business.

-Yes.

His grandmother had only just recently died.

And now he's essentially lost his job, lost his livelihood.

So, now, now we know why in a court case with Elizabeth,

he was unable to pay.

-It's pretty grim all round, really.

-Yes.

I can't imagine, in a small town like this,

faced with this situation what he could do.

There weren't many options available to him.

He was mentioned again in the local newspapers.

-In the news.

-Now, this is three years on.

-Three years later.

An English translation.

-"Avoiding payment."

-"Avoiding payment."

"In the courthouse on Thursday, Mr William Owen,

"butcher from Porthmadog was prosecuted for not paying

"maintenance for his illegitimate child

"in accordance with a court order of May 1907.

-"It was said that the debt was £16 by now." A lot of money.

-It is.

"Mr John Humphrys, for the defendant,

"said that William Owen had behaved well in the South."

"He had behaved well in the South."

What does that mean, "in the South"?

-The South would mean South Wales.

-Right.

So I wonder why he went to South Wales, what led him there?

Presumably he had to flee North Wales and put some space

between him and the mess he's created.

"The bench committed him to prison for a fortnight."

So he did go to prison. Blimey.

I think what I've got to find out now is where he went

in South Wales, to get a full picture of what happened next.

Well, Eilir, thank you so much for delivering...

..you know, by any definition, an amazing raft of grim news,

in the story of William Owen.

Greg has discovered that by 1910 his great-grandfather William

had left Porthmadog.

-Thank you.

-There you go. You're welcome.

-Thank you.

Right, so, I'm going to try and find out where William went to,

after a pretty disastrous period in his life.

We know that he went to South Wales.

Ah-ha, right, there he is, William Owen.

And he's listed as living in 25 Upper Terrace, Stanleytown,

in Glamorgan in South Wales.

His spouse is still listed as Martha Owen,

so I guess that bodes slightly well for him.

He's got two children now, Bessie Owen, and a son, Robert.

He's no longer a butcher.

He's now down as a colliery labourer.

So he's in mining now.

So it feels to me, if I'm going to really find out about, uh,

about William's life from this point,

I probably need to go to Stanleytown.

The thing that strikes me is what a long distance it is,

even in a modern car.

It's going to take the best part of four hours.

Of course, William would have been, presumably,

travelling by horse and cart.

I can't shake the idea that William may have been taking

his family away from the chaos he's caused in North Wales.

But if my great-grandfather did think he could evade

his responsibilities,

I'm here to tell him that 105 years on,

I'm coming for him.

Into the Valleys, real mining country.

By the early 1900s,

when Greg's great-grandfather William came to work in Stanleytown

in the Rhondda Valley, the area's mining boom was in full swing.

At their peak in 1913,

the mines of South Wales employed a quarter of a million men,

and produced 57 million tonnes of coal.

Greg is meeting local historian Dr Daryl Leeworthy,

who's been looking into William's life in Stanleytown.

So, welcome to the Rhondda, Greg, and to Stanleytown itself.

Thank you, I'm happy to be here.

And I must say, it's really surreal to be standing outside

William's next home, from Porthmadog.

If I show you this photograph here,

which you can immediately place yourself in just by looking

-at the rows of houses.

-Absolutely, yeah.

You can see the pits along the valley floor there.

-Following the line of the valley.

-Absolutely.

-Going round.

So that picture was taken probably when he was living in the house.

-Yeah.

-So, my feeling is that as well as finding work here,

he was using this distance to get away from a fairly sticky situation

up in Porthmadog.

Well, if you think there were about 500 people

living in the Rhondda in 1801.

And by the time William is down here, there's over 150,000 people.

-Wow.

-They've come from the North, the North of England,

the West Midlands, the West Country.

His neighbours, they've never met him before,

-they might be from Bristol.

-Right.

So it doesn't really matter. You're making a new society.

-Yeah, it's an entirely logical journey in a way.

-Yeah.

So, the big question is, Daryl,

have you found any other information that would give me more of a picture

-of William?

-Well, we've managed to find,

to trace William and Martha's last surviving daughter, Meirionwen,

who's rather keen to meet you.

-Who's still alive?

-She is indeed, yes.

Well, that is incredible.

I'm trying to think what relation she is to me then.

Step-grandmother?

No. Half-granny?

I've got a half-great-aunt.

-HE LAUGHS

-I didn't know about!

Greg knows that as well as having two daughters

with his great-grandmother Elizabeth,

his great-grandfather, William Owen,

had another family with Martha Williams,

the woman he married.

Their eldest children were Bessie and Robert,

and Greg's now discovered that their youngest daughter, Meirionwen,

who was born in 1928, is still living in South Wales.

Greg has come across the valley to the Welfare Hall in Tylorstown,

which has been the hub of the local community since the 1930s.

He's meeting Meirionwen here.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello, Meirionwen.

-Hello.

How lovely to meet you.

-I'll need a ladder for me to get up!

-You will.

-THEY CHUCKLE

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-It's nice to meet you.

-You're like my family.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-Do I look like them?

-Yes, you do, yes, yes.

I can see it in your face as well, I really can!

You've such similar eyes to my nain.

-Have I?

-Yeah.

-You look like a big great-grandson.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Well, it's pretty recent news to you that there were,

-that you had two half-sisters.

-Of course it was, I was gutted.

I couldn't believe it. Never, ever thought of it.

What I know is that by the time your dad came down here,

-he already had two children.

-Yes, that's it.

How many brothers and sisters were there in the end?

Six boys and three girls.

Now then, that's Evan, a bit like you, by there.

-I can't tell you how much he looks like my dad.

-Yes.

-And my brother Gwynedd.

-That's your brother?

-Yes.

-He was a smooth one, wasn't he?

-Oh, yes.

-Yeah.

-And there's me, by there.

-Ah!

-And that's my mother.

-That's your mum?

-Yes.

-Hard-working woman, she was.

-Martha. Was she?

-Yeah.

Do you think your mother knew that he had other children?

No, I don't think she did.

-She didn't have a very nice life with him at all.

-Really?

-Very jealous. Very moody.

-He was a very jealous man?

-Yes.

So, he wanted to be jealous and all, didn't he?

Well, it's amazing that he was the jealous one, because he was...

Yes, yes, awful jealous. She had three daughters,

and my mother used to say to us,

"If you had the life that I've had... I'd rather bury you."

Didn't want us three girls to get married.

Because life with William was that bad?

-There he is, by there.

-There he is.

-Yeah.

-William.

-Mm.

-It's the first time I've seen him.

And I feel like I've got to know him very well over the last few days.

-SHE CHUCKLES

-Yeah.

The picture we've picked up of him as a young man,

he was a real Jack-the-lad, you know?

Oh, yeah, oh, he was Jack-the-lad, all right.

-He looks tall, was he tall?

-Yes, he was, yes.

-Big man, very big man.

-Like, over six foot, was he?

-Yeah.

-Not freakish, not 6"8? Not like me.

-No, no, not like you, no!

Here's his great-grandson, tracking his daughter down,

hundred years later, I bet he never thought that would happen, did he?

-No. I bet he's turning in his grave, he is.

-Well, yeah. He got found out.

You always get found out in the end.

-In the end, even if it is 110 years later.

-Yeah.

William died in 1941,

and Meirionwen has told Greg that his grave is just up the road

in the local Tylorstown Cemetery.

I'm looking for William's final resting place.

Ah, here he is.

I don't think it would be right for me to be too negative

about a man, when I'm standing next to his grave.

I don't think my nain would like that, but the truth is,

I've followed the journey of, by most accounts,

quite a difficult man.

What I'm left feeling is, that I don't connect with him.

I can see my family in Meirionwen

but I can't see my family in William,

from everything I know about him.

Weirdly, I feel more connected to Evan.

What it feels like to me is I should go back to North Wales,

where my family really started.

The final thing Greg wants to do is retrace his steps to North Wales,

where he hopes to find out more about his Owen family roots.

So I'm on the road towards Cwm Mawr, probably pronounced badly,

which is the farm that we know Evan was living in when he got married.

So it will be interesting to see what sort of farm it is.

He's come to the hills of Snowdonia to visit the Owen family farm,

where he knows Evan lived as a young man.

The view is amazing.

Yeah, that is an incredible view.

Here it is.

Greg is meeting another of his Owen relations, Alwena Lamping.

-Hello, Alwena.

-Hello, Greg.

-How nice to meet you.

Yes, lovely to meet you too.

I understand we have a shared heritage.

Well, a shared ancestry in Evan Owen, I think,

-yes, certainly, yes.

-Yes.

I am Evan Owen's great-great-grandson.

-I'm his great-granddaughter.

-Are you?

-I am.

-Right.

This is where he grew up, then?

I can trace back the family to this farm since about 1660.

-Really?!

-Yeah.

-Wow.

-So little Evan, in the 1850s, with his brothers and sisters,

would have run around here.

That's incredible, I had no idea there were generations

-before him even at this farm house.

-Absolutely.

I have got a photograph of him and his wife,

and I think it's the four daughters.

-Here.

-Can I take it out?

-You can indeed.

-That is an incredible photograph.

-You see, there's the man himself, there's Evan Owen.

-Yes.

-There's his wife, she's called Martha.

-Yeah.

This is my grandmother, Mattie.

-This is clearly their Sunday best, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Is that a Bible he's got there?

-Yes.

-Of course.

-Of course it is.

-What else? What else?

The impression I've form of Evan is that he was a very upright

and respected member of the community and a chapel man, or,

as my nain would say, he was chapel.

But I haven't really formed an impression of the man

outside of that.

One of the obituaries, one of the tributes to him was from this,

-The Herald Cymraeg.

-After the awful horse incident.

-After the accident, yes.

-Yeah.

I do have a transcription of it here, in English.

"Mr Evan Owen had lived for many years in Tal-y-llyn.

"He was a very intelligent man,

"a great theologian with extensive knowledge of the Scriptures.

"He could talk skilfully of both religious and national matters.

"He also had a certain mischievous or comic talent,

"which showed when he was with his closest friends

"and he was a very sociable man."

That's great to know.

Mischievous, comic talent, that is not,

-that is not a phrase that I would attribute to that face.

-No!

My nain had a wicked sense of humour and was extremely mischievous,

and my father was a wonderful show-off, yeah,

-and a very funny man.

-So it was there?

It was, yeah, it was there.

Through her research, Alwena has discovered that at least

eight generations of the Owen family farmed at Cwm Mawr.

So is this farm still in the Owen family?

No, it isn't. Evan Owen's brother was the last one to farm this land.

The actual land belonged to one of the big estates

-and was sold in 1897.

-I see.

Which was actually detailed in Gwalia.

And there's quite interesting information about the family in it,

-which I've got a translation here for you.

-OK.

"At the recent farm stock sales in the Eifionydd area,

"we were surprised to see the last of the old lineage

"of the Cwm Mawr family was leaving.

"We find that the current family and their ancestors had lived there

"for at least 200 years.

"The Owens, who lived there, were descended from Owen..."

-Gwynedd.

-"..Gwynedd."

-Do you know who Owen Gwynedd is?

-I don't.

-Right.

He was King of Gwynedd in the 12th century.

He was king of this area?

King of the whole of this part of North Wales in the 12th century.

And he was the first Prince of Wales,

he was the first to be styled Prince of Wales.

Are you saying we're descended from the first Prince of Wales?

-I am, yes.

-I knew it!

-SHE CHUCKLES

-I knew it!

-I knew I had royal blood.

-Yes...

But it is a long time ago,

this is the 12th century and Owen Gwynedd had a lot of children,

I mean a lot of children.

So if you think of the descendants coming back from the 12th century,

he did have a lot of descendants.

He had, some reports say he had 19 children...

I'm sure he did but...

-I'm sure he had an awful lot of children.

-Yes.

And I'm sure there are many, many descendants,

but all I'm hearing is that I'm descended

-from the original Prince of Wales.

-Yes.

And that's all I'm going to hear, I'll be honest with you.

That's fine. And this, of course, was Gwynedd,

which is what he was king of, look, behind you. All of that.

-It's not a bad landscape to be king of.

-No, it's not, is it?

If I've read you correctly...

..I rule this.

Owen Gwynedd became ruler of Gwynedd in 1137,

and afterwards conquered most of North Wales.

In 1165, he triumphed over the English king, Henry II,

who had invaded his kingdom,

and afterwards took the title Prince of Wales.

I've been led to believe that there is an outside chance

that I may not be the only person who is descended from Owen Gwynedd.

So I'm heading to an appropriately named pub.

Hello. I'm looking for people who might be related to Owen Gwynedd.

-ALL:

-Us...

-Me.

-All of you?

-Yes.

-Of course.

-Right.

-LAUGHTER

-Let me guess...

You're all descended from Owen the Great.

-ALL:

-Yes!

Hands up who's got proof of that?

All of them.

How many of you are descended from Owen Gwynedd?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-You all are?

-Yes.

-And you've all got proof?

-Yes.

There we are, look.

How many of you are descended from Owen Gwynedd?

Including our little friend there, as well?

Is there anyone in this part of the world that isn't descended

-from Owen Gwynedd?

-Not many.

-Not many!

People at home are going to be very upset by this.

They thought they'd found their new leader.

North Walians thought their leader had come home,

and now I find out they're all the Prince of Wales, even the women!

It's been quite an overwhelming journey,

there's a lot to think about.

I've never really considered the significance of extended family

before, because we, as a family, were quite a tight unit,

and obviously I knew my grandparents,

but didn't really consider the influence of those further back.

And that's one thing that I'm left in no doubt of -

is that the people who've gone before you,

shape who you become, to a degree.

And I haven't really worked out to what extent,

but I've felt it for the first time ever, really.

So much of this has been, for me,

about fathers and sons and the relationship of fathers and sons,

and the importance of that,

and I think my father would be, uh,

both delighted and annoyed

that I have at last taken an interest in his family,

and the roots that were so dear to him,

and I will come back here and I will find out more,

and I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner.

All mine!