0:00:08 > 0:00:13John Simpson is one of the most familiar faces on BBC News.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16His nose for a story has taken him to revolutions and war zones
0:00:16 > 0:00:19from Tiananmen Square to Afghanistan,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22where he was smuggled in wearing a burqa.
0:00:22 > 0:00:23This is the front line in a war
0:00:23 > 0:00:26that's been almost completely forgotten.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28EXPLOSION
0:00:28 > 0:00:32'Being in dangerous places, from time to time,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36'I always have a rather crazy, silly, perhaps,'
0:00:36 > 0:00:40feeling that I can kind of get out of anything.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43As a journalist, John is used to digging out stories
0:00:43 > 0:00:45and asking difficult questions.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49But he hasn't always had the time to delve into his own past.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52My wife says I mustn't... mustn't break down in tears.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54"Whatever happens,"
0:00:54 > 0:00:58she said, "It doesn't matter what they do to you, do not cry."
0:00:58 > 0:01:00'I wanted to take part in this programme
0:01:00 > 0:01:05'because as I've got older I think I've become'
0:01:05 > 0:01:08much more interested in my own family.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14And that is your sort of great-great-grandfather.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17He was the first man to fly in Britain.
0:01:17 > 0:01:23I was brought up with stories about Sam Cody, my sharp shooting,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27cowboy, aviator, great-grandfather.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32And I loved the old boy. I mean, I've got huge respect for him.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36And he used to charge around on his horse, with his gun.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40He was a brilliant shot, and a brilliant horse rider.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44'One of the problems that you have with Cody, and with Mrs Cody,'
0:01:44 > 0:01:49was that they both told the most amazing number of lies
0:01:49 > 0:01:50about their past.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54You know, there are a hell of a lot of questions that remain unanswered
0:01:54 > 0:01:57and, I mean, I want to tell my little boy about it.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01I want to tell my daughters and my grandchildren what really happened.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38This is my father when he was about 25 or 26,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43and my mother and me. I think I remember, but I don't suppose I do,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45being photographed there.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48I don't have enough clear memories of her.
0:02:50 > 0:02:51Hmm.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58My mother left my father when I was seven.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00And what I remember
0:03:00 > 0:03:03was standing on the doorstep with the two of them,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07with my mother already packed and prepared to go
0:03:07 > 0:03:09and to take me with her.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12And my father standing there saying,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16"Don't you think we ought to ask the boy who he wants to go with?"
0:03:17 > 0:03:23And so I thought about it and I chose, for better for worse,
0:03:23 > 0:03:24I chose my father.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30My mother was in a terrible state, as you...
0:03:30 > 0:03:34I mean, you know, I'd rejected her and she left.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39And so I kind of lost contact
0:03:39 > 0:03:41with that whole side of the family.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47But there is one member of his mother's family
0:03:47 > 0:03:49that John had always heard stories about.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Sam Cody is, far and away, the most glamorous figure
0:03:55 > 0:03:58that I've got any personal association with.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04I always assumed that I was Cody's great-grandson.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08But my father realised that the ages of Cody's supposed children
0:04:08 > 0:04:13didn't quite match up, and that Mrs Cody must have had children
0:04:13 > 0:04:16by a prior relationship, by a prior marriage.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18And then it all came out that they ran off together.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24The biggest of the Cody myths was that he was married
0:04:24 > 0:04:26to my great-grandmother.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Now I know he's no blood relative of mine.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36That doesn't matter in slightest bit. I admire him immensely.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40But it's very difficult to know where the precise truth lies
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and where storytelling comes in.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48I'm really, really interested to know where that division is
0:04:48 > 0:04:51between truth and invention.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56American cowboy Samuel Cody first made his name
0:04:56 > 0:04:58touring Britain with his Wild West Shows.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03But as the 20th century dawned, he wanted to conquer a new frontier.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13It was a time when many magnificent men were trying to take to the air.
0:05:19 > 0:05:20And in 1908,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Samuel Cody became the first man to fly an aircraft in Britain.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31John's visiting Farnborough, the site of Cody's first flight.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37'I really want to know how this cowboy on the ranges
0:05:37 > 0:05:42'of the Far West turned into an aviator.'
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Welcome to Farnborough. Thank you very much.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48He's meeting aviation enthusiast David Wilson
0:05:48 > 0:05:50at the National Aerospace Library
0:05:50 > 0:05:52to find out how Cody got into flying.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Cody was making a jolly good living in the Wild West Shows
0:05:58 > 0:05:59that he was taking part in.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01He was...he was a "shootist".
0:06:01 > 0:06:05And, at that same time, he made several approaches to the War Office
0:06:05 > 0:06:09in an attempt to get them to accept his brilliant invention.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11This is the Cody Kite.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13No, really?
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Cody developed kites which would carry a man.
0:06:17 > 0:06:18Oh, that's him!
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Yes. Good Lord!
0:06:21 > 0:06:23But how gutsy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Cody knew that the man-carrying kite had military value,
0:06:28 > 0:06:29reconnaissance value.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Because if you could get a man higher, then he could see further.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Yes. So, he tried to sell the patents to the army.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37You can imagine, a man with a ponytail
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and a funny accent. And his flamboyance, you know. Of course.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42It doesn't fit the easily with army discipline.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45No, of course. So, this is the sort of response he got.
0:06:47 > 0:06:499th May 1903.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51"Sir, with reference to your letters.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54"I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to inform you
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"that after very careful consideration of your invention..."
0:06:57 > 0:06:58dot, dot, dot,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01"..it is not proposed to take any further action in the matter,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04"the man-lifting kite not being considered suitable
0:07:04 > 0:07:06"for army purposes." Yes.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It's so snotty and superior, isn't it? Yeah.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12PLUMMY ACCENT: "At the same time I am to thank you
0:07:12 > 0:07:14"for communicating with this department."
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Well, of course, I'm so much on Cody's side in all of this
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and I've got nothing but contempt for these people.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23I mean, how did he take rejection?
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Well, he just didn't take no for an answer.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29He was so convinced he was right and he had a valuable invention
0:07:29 > 0:07:31that he would keep banging on and on and on and on.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34But, eventually, he is taken on... Oh.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36..by the British Army.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39It meant that he was around when the services
0:07:39 > 0:07:42branched out into airships.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46We have here a picture of the gondola of the airship
0:07:46 > 0:07:48which was built by the British Army,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and it was called Nulli Secundus, "second to none".
0:07:51 > 0:07:53That's Cody, there.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54They put him in charge of the engine,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57and he was one of the very few people who could start this engine.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Really. So, this is the first example of cowboy engineering.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09On Saturday, 5th October 1907,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Cody and his boss flew the airship, Nulli Secundus,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14from Farnborough to London.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17But while the British were messing around with airships,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20the rest of the world was developing aeroplanes.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26The American Wright brothers had first flown in secret in 1903,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29but kept their designs under wraps for five years.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32When they finally demonstrated their plane at Le Mans, France,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35on 8th August 1908,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38they became international celebrities overnight.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43This was the sort of flying that Cody dreamed of.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Whenever he had a spare moment
0:08:44 > 0:08:48whilst working for the War Office, he built his own aircraft.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53And in Farnborough there's a replica of his first plane.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Is it exactly like Cody's?
0:08:54 > 0:08:55Oh, exactly...
0:08:57 > 0:09:01..a replica of the very first aircraft to fly in the UK.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Look at it, I mean, it has kind of pram wheels,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11and bits of cloth, and, oh, "Please Do Not Touch," it says.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14You know, and just with bits of wood and wire.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16I mean, how gutsy must that have been?
0:09:18 > 0:09:22I would have loved to have flown in this.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26When Cody first flew, first of all, he couldn't have lessons.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29Right. It's obvious. Secondly... No-one to teach him. No.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32..and, secondly, you don't know whether the aircraft works.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And, thirdly, you don't have an airfield.
0:09:35 > 0:09:36But apart from that, it's brilliant.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Apart from that, it's easy, yeah, yes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39I want to show you this.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45"The Army Aeroplane. Accident at Farnborough."
0:09:45 > 0:09:47You don't mean to tell me that's the first flight.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48That's the headline.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50"Accident at Farnborough," right, OK.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54"The Army aeroplane fell to the ground from a height of 40 feet
0:09:54 > 0:09:56"and broke the right wing..."
0:09:56 > 0:09:57That one? Yes.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00"..during a trial flight at Farnborough yesterday morning.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04"Mr Cody, who was sitting in the steering seat at the time..."
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Sounds as though he had nothing to do with it.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08"..fell with the machine but was not hurt."
0:10:08 > 0:10:09Oh, good old boy.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12But the press was there, and the photograph was taken.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Hmm. There's the evidence of the first flight.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17This is wonderful. British Army Aeroplane No 1.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21There's the old boy fiddling around with the joystick.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Absolutely magnificent.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27When you take off, you know, flying quarter of a mile,
0:10:27 > 0:10:3040 feet in the air, that's brave.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Oh, absolutely, I mean, people would say suicidal.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36What guts that took. Yes, right.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38What sheer, sheer guts.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42And, I mean, how could you have the ability,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46self-taught ability, to fly a thing as complicated as this?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50What I can offer you is an experience of flying it,
0:10:50 > 0:10:51in complete safety.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53How could you do that?
0:10:53 > 0:10:58Well, this simulator is an exact replica of that cockpit.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00So, I'd like to invite you to step in...carefully.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03OK. All right. It's quite strong, but...
0:11:05 > 0:11:09And what we're going to do, we'll take off, we'll do a 180 left
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and then we'll do another 180 left, and find that runway.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13Where do we crash?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16We shall attempt to get on the runway.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Yeah, you'll be lucky if I can get on the runway.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20Well, we'll go flying.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Power coming on...now!
0:11:23 > 0:11:27And I want you to do 35 miles an hour, and then pull back.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28How do I know how fast it is?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30You'll feel the wind in your face.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Cody flew by the seat of his pants.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36He had no instrument panels,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39no altimeters or speedometers.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40I don't seem to be...
0:11:40 > 0:11:42There you go, you're airborne now. Oh, yes!
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Now don't let it get too steep. Fantastic!
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Gentle! That was a bit sharp.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48That was a bit much.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51But it is tiny little movements, isn't it?
0:11:51 > 0:11:52Yes, it is.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56I see, I see, I see. Awesome!
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Fantastic!
0:11:57 > 0:12:00You've already flown for longer than your predecessor.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Cody was in the air for just 27 seconds,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10but he made history as it was the first heavier than air,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14powered, controlled and sustained flight in Britain.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18I'm going to cut the engine now.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Now you are gliding. Keep the nose down a bit, push it, push it.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23That's it, not much! Oops.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25That's much too much turn.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Oh, Cody would be really cross with me by now.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29Ah!
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Oh, no!
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Aaah!
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Crash. Ha-ha!
0:12:38 > 0:12:39Have I landed?
0:12:39 > 0:12:41That was better than Cody's landing.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Well, that's nice. You didn't break the aeroplane.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Well, what an experience. Wonderful, wonderful.
0:12:48 > 0:12:49Well done. Thank you.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54So, he's made his first flight in this.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56He's crashed. Yes.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58What does he do then? He says he'll fly again.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00He sets about building the new aircraft
0:13:00 > 0:13:04and the new aircraft was ready by the end of January 1909.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Yes. He then went flying again in February.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10And then, out of the blue, came this.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12"Confidential.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17"Sir, I am commanded by the Army Council to inform you that,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19"in view of the changes which are contemplated in connection
0:13:19 > 0:13:21"with balloons and flying machines,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26"it has been decided to terminate the engagement of Mr SF Cody."
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Well, why did they..?
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Why did they do that?
0:13:29 > 0:13:31This was one of the decisions the generals made.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35They perceived that it was not worthwhile wasting
0:13:35 > 0:13:38defence money on the development of fixed wing aeroplanes
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and if people wanted to do that, it should be done
0:13:41 > 0:13:43by private individuals at their own expense.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44So, what did he do then?
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Well, he built six more aeroplanes.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50And he earned his living by giving flying lessons,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52by entering competitions, by winning prizes.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55He did a lot of that, did he? He did a huge amount of it, yes.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57There was a round-Britain race.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Yes. And we have some evidence of his popularity with the crowd.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05That's one of the nicest pictures I've seen.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Look at the little smile on his face, yes.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10He did more to popularise flying in the UK
0:14:10 > 0:14:13than anybody before or since, I think.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16So now he was plotting all sorts of activities,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19including building No.6 aircraft,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22which was the water plane and it had wheels fitted to it.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25And that's what he used to demonstrate all sorts of principles,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27including pleasure flying,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30which, again, was a way in which he made his living.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And it was during a pleasure flight
0:14:32 > 0:14:35that the final accident took place.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37When he died? When it went wrong, yes.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42And so this is the newspaper article about the death. Mmm.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Oh this is... I find this really sad now, even now.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51"Dashed To Death. Flying Disaster At Aldershot
0:14:51 > 0:14:53"Colonel Cody & Passenger Killed."
0:14:53 > 0:14:56He was 52 years of age.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Is that it? That's not true, no. He was 46. 46.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Cos he'd put six years on his age.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02To match.. Mm-hm.
0:15:02 > 0:15:03..my great grandmother.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And she took years off. Yes.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I think it was probably because of the children.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09They were hers, not his.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12So, on 7th August... 7th, yes.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16"The biplane crashed into a clump of trees and was smashed to fragments.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19"Colonel Cody was killed instantly."
0:15:22 > 0:15:24That's a picture of the fatal wreckage.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39"The most tragic feature of the disaster was that Mr Cody's sons,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43"Leon and Frank, both saw the accident from their father's hangar.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45"He was killed before their eyes
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"and they were utterly powerless to help him.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52"Leon, who was to have gone up with his father on the fatal trip,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55"but gave way to Mr Evans, rushed wildly to the spot,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58"despite all efforts to restrain him."
0:15:58 > 0:15:59Aww.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10"Forcing his way through the cordon of soldiers guarding the place,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14"he flung himself across the terribly injured body of his father
0:16:14 > 0:16:16"as it rested on a stretcher.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17"'Dad..!
0:16:18 > 0:16:19"'Dad!' he cried."
0:16:32 > 0:16:36But he was there and he, you know, ran over.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46This is really, really sad.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51Mmm.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Cody had a hero's funeral.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03He was buried with full military honours.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07More than 1,000 soldiers marched in the funeral procession,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and over 50,000 people came to pay their respects.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14John's great-grandmother, Lela,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17received a message from King George V,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19expressing his sympathy.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22In it, the King called her "Mrs Cody",
0:17:22 > 0:17:25which cemented the myth that she was married to Samuel.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30"In loving memory of Samuel Franklin Cody,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32"aviator and inventor,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35"who was killed while flying over Laffan's Plain
0:17:35 > 0:17:38"on 7th August 1913.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41"Also of Lela Marie, his wife.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44"Died 5th February 1939, aged 87."
0:17:46 > 0:17:49So, she must have been...
0:17:49 > 0:17:51My maths is never terribly good.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55She must have been 61 when he died.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01And he was probably only 46, 47.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04It must have been fairly obvious to people
0:18:04 > 0:18:06that there was this big discrepancy,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08which is why Cody had to pretend
0:18:08 > 0:18:13he was older than he was to have had the children that were Lela's.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15They couldn't actually have been born
0:18:15 > 0:18:19during the time that he was with my great-grandmother.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28I wish I had known all these people better,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30well, the ones whose lives overlapped with me.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36I so would have loved to hear the stories and talked
0:18:36 > 0:18:39much, much more to all of them.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Having been out of touch with his mother's family for many years,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48John wants to reconnect with another of Lela's great-grandsons,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50his second cousin, Peter Cody.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Hello, Peter. Hello, John.
0:18:54 > 0:18:55Very, very nice to see you.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59Peter has family memorabilia that John has never seen.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I've been delving through the boxes and different things,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07and I've got some items here to show you.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11This is a little item, Daily Sketch.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Yes. And this is Lela.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19She was the first woman in Great Britain to go up into a kite.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Really. In one of SF Cody's man-lifting kites.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26My God.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29So the first woman to fly in the British Isles...
0:19:29 > 0:19:32..in the British Isles was Lela Cody.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Not bad. Yes. Not bad.
0:19:34 > 0:19:35But there's an interesting little item here
0:19:35 > 0:19:38saying about her life with Cody...
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Oh, yeah. ..and things that happened over the years.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43"I remember I was up in the air on that occasion
0:19:43 > 0:19:45"from ten to fifteen minutes.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48"When someone reminded my husband that I was still up in the air
0:19:48 > 0:19:50"he exclaimed, 'Good God, yes!'
0:19:50 > 0:19:52"and hauled me down.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54"Afraid? No, I wasn't a bit afraid,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56"I never knew what nerves were in those days,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58"especially when with him."
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Well, I think he was magnificent,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06but, I mean, she wasn't much less magnificent herself, was she?
0:20:06 > 0:20:07No. No, no, no.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11"He had once said, pointing to a camp fire, that if he told me
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"to walk through that fire I would do it and I would willingly too.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"I never disobeyed my husband in anything.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20"His word was always my law."
0:20:22 > 0:20:23Well, tell that to my wife.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Well, I know who wears the trousers in my house.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33I'm so glad you've got these things.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Oh, yes, that's her.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37This is an original. Oh.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38SF Cody...
0:20:38 > 0:20:41..and family. My God, they look handsome.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43The family were called "King of Cowboys",
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and they performed on stage in his little Wild West Show.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50And this is Leon. Yes.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53This is grandfather Vivian.
0:20:53 > 0:20:54Your grandfather.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56And this is Ted.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Oh, yes. None of those were Cody's kids.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02They weren't, no. They were Lela's children.
0:21:02 > 0:21:03Yes.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06And they were... By this man, King.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07..by King. Yes.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10And they were formed into the Cody family.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15When Lela left John's real great-grandfather, Edward King,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18she took her three sons with her.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Vivian and Leon were young enough to pass as Cody's children.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27Their older brother, Edward, became cousin, Ted LeRoy,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and John's grandmother, Liese, only six years younger than Cody,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34was not included in the Cody family at all.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38My grandmother, she was the eldest of the four children,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40but she didn't play any part in the act.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43No, no. She got left behind. She got left behind, I think.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Perhaps she didn't want to. Yes.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47It's an intriguing family,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51but they all worked together very well, doing sharp shooting now.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53It was every young lad's adventure come true.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Imagine, yes.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57This is Grandfather, Vivian...
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Right. ..as a young lad.
0:21:59 > 0:22:00Your grandfather.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02What sort of age would you think?
0:22:02 > 0:22:04He's probably about seven years old, there.
0:22:04 > 0:22:05So, he's very young.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08My kid's seven years old, I wouldn't trust him with a rifle. No, no.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13But we have one when they were on tour.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Gosh, he looks very kind of Wild West.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18And she looks very kind of regal. Yeah.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21I've never seen any of these.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Lela. Oh, yes, look, there!
0:22:24 > 0:22:26You'll notice round the star of this target,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28there are little spheres round there.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And SF Cody would not only just fire at them,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33but he would use a mirror
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and fire backwards. Good God.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39I mean, whatever would the health and safety people make of this?
0:22:39 > 0:22:40They would go mad. They would.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I've got another little piece here of Lela.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46My God, they're right close up to her!
0:22:46 > 0:22:48She wore blood red tights so that it didn't show
0:22:48 > 0:22:50she had a little nick, occasionally,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53with a bullet, or one of the balls exploded from the target.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Can you imagine that? She was very brave.
0:22:57 > 0:22:58Shall I move these over?
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Yes, please, John, yeah.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04He had some very odd shaped posters printed in those days.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07This is, again, shooting.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09And this was an actual one used.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Oh! I've never seen this.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14"Cody Famous Shooter." Yes.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17This shows the glass balls round the little target as well.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19She's legless there, I'm afraid, but...
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Mind you, she might've had to have a drink,
0:23:21 > 0:23:22to stand behind the target.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24You never know. Extraordinary.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33It was lovely to see my great-grandmother
0:23:33 > 0:23:37with all these sort of balmy bulbs around her and everything.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40It's absolutely lovely.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44I'm really quite moved by it
0:23:44 > 0:23:48and I'd like to know more now about how they learned to shoot
0:23:48 > 0:23:53and who they all were and what the background was.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Intrigued by the family shooting act,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09John is visiting a reconstructed Western town in Kent...
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Howdy, partner.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13Howdy, John.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17..to meet another Wild West showman called Cody,
0:24:17 > 0:24:18Tod Cody.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21So your Codys are...
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Where do they come from?
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Our Codys are originally Irish American.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29It was C-O-A-D-Y.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31From the States? Yeah, yep, yep, yep.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32They originated in the States?
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Yeah, yeah, yeah. My dad came over here early '50s...
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Fantastic. ..and we've stayed here pretty much since, yeah.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39What a tradition there.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Well, we just try and keep it going. Yes.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44It's hard work now, but we keep it going.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47I want to show you some pictures
0:24:47 > 0:24:49that I was shown yesterday
0:24:49 > 0:24:51of fancy shooting. Sure.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54There's my great-grandmother. Yeah.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58That's where she stood. Was he really shooting out the bulbs?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Yes, he would have been, because this is a steel plate.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Right.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06That would just break up the bullet, flatten it. Yes.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I figure glass bulbs, probably filled with powder.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12So they'd puff when they were... Yeah, yeah.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Just a little bit more oomph,
0:25:14 > 0:25:15and a little bit more flash.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17If it had gone through her head,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20that would have killed her. Absolutely.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Here is the little one, Vivian.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24And he's got a mirror there and he's...
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Through a mirror? Yeah. Yeah.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29This is what it was all about, trick shooting.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33"I'm going to do stuff that you haven't seen done before with guns."
0:25:33 > 0:25:34Let's get organised. OK.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Let's go and find some stuff.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46All right, you've shot before, and I know you've been shot at.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48So, just want to see how you can shoot.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52See if you can take that silver balloon, John,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55in the good old-fashioned way - straight shot. OK.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58To your shoulder. There we go.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59Ready to roll.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Wow! Good shot.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06Try that pink now, John.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Go low on the pink, low on the pink.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11Oh, John! Oh, another one!
0:26:11 > 0:26:14You've got another one, now it's getting smaller!
0:26:14 > 0:26:15Now we're talking! OK.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Now it's moving!
0:26:17 > 0:26:18Ah, missed.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Again, hit it again, John! It's a moving target now.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24It doesn't get harder than this.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Yeah! You the man!
0:26:27 > 0:26:30That is outstanding. John, that is real good!
0:26:33 > 0:26:34Yes!
0:26:37 > 0:26:39I got something for you.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40Let me go get this. OK.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42I think you're going to like it.
0:26:46 > 0:26:47Ta-da!
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Oh, I can't shoot my great-grandmother.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53We're not asking you to shoot your great-grandmother,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56we're asking you to shoot targets, yeah.
0:27:05 > 0:27:06I've got one.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Yes, you've got powder down her hair now, OK?
0:27:09 > 0:27:11What we don't want is blood.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19I think you're good.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21How far are we off?
0:27:21 > 0:27:24I feel a bit sort of Codyish now. I really do.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Yeah, you better. I'd almost call that ballistic genetics.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29I really would.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Good, I'm proud. Thank you, thank you.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36I think if I'd hit even a bad picture of my great-grandmother,
0:27:36 > 0:27:37I would have felt pretty sick.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41I really, really didn't want to hit her.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49I've always wanted to know more about Lela.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53My great-grandmother's family lived not very far
0:27:53 > 0:27:55from where I live in London, in Chelsea.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Her father owned a big stables in Sloane Square,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and she kind of morphed into Lela Cody,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05the glamorous bareback rider.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07I would love to know more.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12John knows that Lela starred in a Wild West melodrama,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16performed by the Cody family in various venues across the country,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19including the Theatre Royal, Stratford, in East London.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24He's come here to find out about Lela's life in showbiz,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27from an expert in Victorian entertainment,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28Professor Vanessa Toulmin.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Vanessa, there's my great-grandmother,
0:28:34 > 0:28:39she's got four kids, she's living in suburban London.
0:28:39 > 0:28:40Mm-hm.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43What's she doing running away with the circus?
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Do you know anything about all of that?
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Well, we have to think about
0:28:47 > 0:28:50where did your great grandmother meet this dashing American cowboy?
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Do you know?
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Well, I've got an idea where they could have met.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57By the 1880s, you get these incredible venues,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00like The London Aquarium, Earl's Court, Olympia.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04And these are for massive spectacle shows.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06And they would have casts of thousands.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11One of the most famous acts at the time was Buffalo Bill,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15whose Wild West shows at Olympia drew thousands of people.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19Samuel Cody had followed in his footsteps,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23bringing his wife Lillian to England in search of fame and fortune.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27This is at Olympia.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29And this is a show that Cody was in. Yes.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32And if you want to have a look...
0:29:32 > 0:29:36"The French Exhibition, London, November 1st 1890.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40"This is to certify that Mr SF Cody, Junior, and Miss L Cody..."
0:29:40 > 0:29:43His first wife. Well, his wife.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47"..were specifically engaged for the parts of Lieutenant de Franceville
0:29:47 > 0:29:50"and Mademoiselle Louisette in the Arab
0:29:50 > 0:29:55"or 'Wild East' Arena Section of this exhibition."
0:29:55 > 0:29:59This show had casts of maybe hundreds of horseman and horsewomen.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01God. So, they would have been auditioning,
0:30:01 > 0:30:03they would have been asking people.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06And this is where I think your great-grandmother met Cody.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08I think they met,
0:30:08 > 0:30:10she was a very accomplished trick rider,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12she was a very accomplished horsewoman, wasn't she?
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Yes. Well, so I was told. Yes.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18And it would have been very unlikely for her to go into that world
0:30:18 > 0:30:19without having any background in it.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Well, she could have got it through her father, I suppose.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Yes. Her father dealt and provided horses. Yes.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27And it was very common at that time
0:30:27 > 0:30:31for the daughters of the people involved to do the demonstrating.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35We've got Lela King, Elizabeth King, as she was called...
0:30:37 > 0:30:38..sitting there at home, you know.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41What did she say to her husband? "I'm sorry, darling,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44"I'm just going off to Olympia to take part in a Wild West Show."
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Can't have been entirely respectable.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51It wasn't seen as going off to a music hall or variety,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54it was a place where Queen Victoria went.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Yes. You know? I see, I see.
0:30:56 > 0:30:57This is Queen Victoria.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01I try to explain it to people and I suppose the equivalent is
0:31:01 > 0:31:03the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
0:31:03 > 0:31:04It's that kind of show. Oh!
0:31:04 > 0:31:06Really? Yes.
0:31:06 > 0:31:07But because the shows are so big,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10we never can find out all the people who are in them.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13So, I can't say a hundred... So, there's no name on a..?
0:31:13 > 0:31:16There's no name on a handbill, but I would say that, to me,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18that's the most likely scenario.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20So, let's look here now.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24November, 1891. so it's a year later.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29"Fenton Street Drill Hall. Today the Cody family.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32"Marvels. The World's Greatest Fancy Shots."
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Hmm. Well, that's them, isn't it? Yes.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38So that is your family now, isn't it?
0:31:38 > 0:31:44That is. That's Lela, plus her kids, and they're performing. Yes.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46Think of the resourcefulness of your great-grandmother.
0:31:46 > 0:31:47I mean, apparently, you know,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49obviously she leaves her husband
0:31:49 > 0:31:53and runs off with an American cowboy
0:31:53 > 0:31:5415 years younger than her.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Takes her children on the road, leads a fantastic life.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02I wonder about poor old Edward King, her husband.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07You know, "Evening, Mr King, how's the wife?", you know?
0:32:07 > 0:32:08And he's going to say, "Ah, well,"
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and he's perhaps thinking about them.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Perhaps as a bloke of a certain age,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17I'd have really sympathised with the old boy.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28'I've got the feeling that Lela Cody, my great grandmother,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30'wanted a bigger, better,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34'more exciting life than poor old Edward was capable of giving her.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39'I'd love to find out more about Edward.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44'He's the one person I've never thought of before now.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48'Somehow or another he's starting to exert a bit of an attraction
0:32:48 > 0:32:49'and an interest for me.'
0:32:51 > 0:32:54John's father told him that his great-grandfather,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Edward King, lived in Chelsea.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03John himself lives locally, so he's meeting genealogist Martin Lowe
0:33:03 > 0:33:05at Kensington Library to find out more.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10I found out yesterday that my great grandmother, Lela,
0:33:10 > 0:33:15must have left her real husband, Edward King, by 1891.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19OK. I don't know, do you have any further information about that?
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Well, from the dates you have mentioned, it strikes me
0:33:22 > 0:33:26that the thing to do would be to go back another ten years. Right.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28And we'll go to the 1881 Census. OK.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Right. Perhaps he's that one.
0:33:34 > 0:33:35Lizzie May.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Lizzie May. Her name was Elizabeth, so perhaps that is it.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42She changed her name umpteen times.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Did she? Yeah, well, she was Lela when she was racing around the ring
0:33:47 > 0:33:51on bareback, firing guns and throwing knives. Gosh.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53So, yeah, I think this is it.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Here he is, Elm Park Road.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Oh, it's only about 200 yards from where I live.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01Well, there you go.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Isn't weird that after...?
0:34:03 > 0:34:04I've lived in countries
0:34:04 > 0:34:09all round the world and I've come back to settle within about
0:34:09 > 0:34:12I don't know, 200-300 yards of my great grandmother.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14That's a very weird. You've come home.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16I've come home, I suppose, yes.
0:34:16 > 0:34:22"Edward King, head of the household, married, male, 38,
0:34:22 > 0:34:24"retired licensed victualler."
0:34:24 > 0:34:26What's that mean, he had a pub?
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Pub landlord. Yes, yes.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31He was neither deaf and dumb, nor blind, nor imbecile or idiot,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34or lunatic. That's a relief... That's always worth knowing.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37..since he's my great grandfather.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39But he's 38, and he's retired.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Quite young.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43Very young. I mean, I'm 30 years older
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and I'm still bashing away.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48And, I mean, owning a pub
0:34:48 > 0:34:50can't have been that hard work.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53No, I mean, the normal thing you would expect
0:34:53 > 0:34:56would for there to be some sort of illness.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58Yes. Or something may have happened.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01You don't know what pub he owned, do you?
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Well, I think perhaps we need to go back another ten years.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Have a look on the 1871 Census.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09So, if we do it for you.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Great. Fantastic.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17"Edward King, son, 29." That's him.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Now, what we find here...
0:35:20 > 0:35:23"Head of the household, John King", so that's his father.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25That's his father.
0:35:25 > 0:35:26"John King, Head."
0:35:27 > 0:35:30"Age 61, licensed victualler."
0:35:30 > 0:35:32So, he was in the pub business.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35And it also tells us where the pub was.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Does it? Can you see what that is?
0:35:38 > 0:35:40That looks like Keppel Street.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42I don't know Keppel Street.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44I don't know one in Chelsea.
0:35:44 > 0:35:45Well, Chelsea has changed a lot...
0:35:45 > 0:35:47It has. ..over the years,
0:35:47 > 0:35:48so what we could do is
0:35:48 > 0:35:51we could actually look, perhaps, at an 1865 Ordnance Survey Map.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55This is a wonderful old thing. Right, so...
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Oh, here we go, yes.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59So we have King's Road...
0:35:59 > 0:36:02Right. ..going down here. Yes.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05It was a proper little small town, wasn't it?
0:36:05 > 0:36:08It was a working town, dotted with churches,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11dotted with pubs, dotted with industry.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Yep. Do we have Keppel Street? There's Keppel Street.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Then down here we have Keppel Terrace.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Now what we'd be looking for now would be a PH,
0:36:19 > 0:36:21to signify a public house.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23I can see it from here, gosh.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26Exactly, right on the corner, on the corner of Keppel Terrace.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Immediately you can see, right behind it,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31you have an oil cloth manufactory.
0:36:31 > 0:36:32And also next to the pub
0:36:32 > 0:36:34you have a Wesleyan Chapel.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37So you can choose which way you want to go when you leave work.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39God or the Devil, as some might say.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42Anderson Street is still there.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45You know, the street's going to be there, isn't it?
0:36:45 > 0:36:47They don't change streets. That's right.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50And then we can perhaps try and locate it, what it is now
0:36:50 > 0:36:53and even see if the pub's still standing.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55That would be wonderful.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58OK, that's the King's Road. There's Anderson Street.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Well, there's this little one called Tryon Street.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Tryon Street. That's it.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05Yes, and that's the one, isn't it? Keppel Street, isn't it?
0:37:05 > 0:37:11OK, so if we enter in "pub, Tryon Street, Chelsea."
0:37:11 > 0:37:12Yeah, OK.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19The Queen's Head. Top one. Good Lord.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23The pub where your ancestors lived is still there.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30John wants to discover what happened
0:37:30 > 0:37:34in the ten years between 1871 and 1881,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38why his great grandfather, Edward, left the pub he had run
0:37:38 > 0:37:42with his father, John King, and retired from his life as a landlord.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Hello, Elsa.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47He's arranged to meet genealogist, Elsa Churchill,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50at what was his family's pub, the Queen's Head.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Looks as though two of my ancestors ran this pub
0:37:56 > 0:37:58in their different ways.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03John King and his son, Edward King, who's my great-grandfather.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08Well, the pub is absolutely central to the family's life.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10So here we've got Edward.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13My great-grandfather. Yes.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18This is his birth certificate. So he's born December 1841.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21"Occupation of father - licensed victualler.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24"10 Keppel..."
0:38:24 > 0:38:25Terrace. "..Terrace."
0:38:25 > 0:38:27So he was born here?
0:38:27 > 0:38:29He was born in this building. Oh, really, how extraordinary.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32So, basically, his whole life started out in this pub.
0:38:32 > 0:38:33And then he learned his trade,
0:38:33 > 0:38:35and he's working with his father.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Yes. As a publican,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41he would have been in the centre of a thriving business and a community.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Pubs were so integral to the life in their community.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49And a publican is a good living.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52But life in the pub didn't stay that great. Oh?
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Cos you've got them in the 1871 Census,
0:38:57 > 0:38:59and I know they were here earlier.
0:38:59 > 0:39:00Well,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04this is what we know about John, the father. Oh, yes.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07This is a death certificate.
0:39:07 > 0:39:0922nd June 1872.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Gosh, look at this.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15"He died violently. Poisoned, accidentally."
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"Postmortem." Mm-hm.
0:39:19 > 0:39:25And the information comes from the Middlesex Coroner, Thomas Diplock.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Let's see what the coroner's said in the newspaper reports.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31The Victorian journalists...
0:39:32 > 0:39:35..invariably report gory deaths.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39They sold newspapers.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41I'm in the wrong side of the business, aren't I?
0:39:41 > 0:39:43I ought to have been doing this.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45June 29th 1872.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48Oh, yes, "Fatal case of accidental poisoning.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50"An old man named King,
0:39:50 > 0:39:54"the landlord of the Queen's Hotel, Keppel Street, Chelsea
0:39:54 > 0:39:57"has been poisoned through the carelessness of his son."
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Oh, God.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02"Mr King, who had been taking medicine, went out for a drive
0:40:02 > 0:40:05"and during his absence his son sent the waiter
0:40:05 > 0:40:06"to a neighbouring chemist's
0:40:06 > 0:40:11"for some oxalic acid with which to clean the metal counter."
0:40:11 > 0:40:12So just there.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17"He gave the waiter one of his father's empty medicine bottles,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20"and afterwards placed the bottle with the poison in it
0:40:20 > 0:40:21"on a shelf in the bar."
0:40:23 > 0:40:26"When the father returned from his drive, he took up the bottle,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30"swallowed some of the poison, and fell down dead in the bar."
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Yep, absolutely.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35I've seen people in Iraq,
0:40:35 > 0:40:37killed by that kind of poison,
0:40:37 > 0:40:42dropped from the air by Saddam Hussein,
0:40:42 > 0:40:46and it's instant but while it happens, it's pretty nasty.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49You wouldn't wish it on anybody. No.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Certainly not on your great-great-grandfather.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55So, I'm really sorry about poor old John King.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59But, I mean, doesn't it sound just a bit suspicious?
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Obviously, the coroner would have gone over
0:41:03 > 0:41:06the question in his mind or in the case,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08whether the son actually left it there
0:41:08 > 0:41:11because he wanted to take over the Queen's Head.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13And here you've got the inquest.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14Oh, yes, "Inquest on Mr King."
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Here we are, "The deceased son, Mr Edward King, was recalled,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22"having had to retire before his examination was complete,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25"in consequence of his distressed mental condition."
0:41:25 > 0:41:26So, he was very upset. Yep.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28"The witness was again
0:41:28 > 0:41:31"so overcome by his feelings he had to be led out of the room.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34"The coroner and jury were perfectly agreed
0:41:34 > 0:41:35"that the occurrence was a result
0:41:35 > 0:41:39"of misadventure and a verdict to that effect was recorded."
0:41:39 > 0:41:41Well, they certainly believed...
0:41:41 > 0:41:42They believed him.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Did he leave a will? Have you found a will?
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Well, what you would do is look in the Probate Court Records
0:41:47 > 0:41:51for 1872, anyone called John King leaving a will.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53Oh, yes, there it is. The one that's of interest, here.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"Effects under £800." Mm-hm.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59"Administration with the will of the effects of John King,
0:41:59 > 0:42:00"late of the Queen's Head,
0:42:00 > 0:42:05"was granted at the principal Registry to Edward King, the son."
0:42:05 > 0:42:09So, yes, we know that John King did leave some money.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12But... Not much. Could you retire on that?
0:42:12 > 0:42:16It's the equivalent, I suppose, of one or two years' average salary.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Let's go on to see what else we can find out about Edward
0:42:20 > 0:42:22after the will was proved.
0:42:22 > 0:42:28This is a marriage certificate. January 22nd, 1873.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31So the year after the old boy keels over in the pub.
0:42:31 > 0:42:32Six months, almost.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34Six months, it is, yes.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Edward King marries Elizabeth Mary
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Davis, my great-grandmother,
0:42:40 > 0:42:42who became known as Lela.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47He's 32, she's 19, so there's a 13-year age gap.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51He's a licensed victualler now, so he's taken over.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54He's inherited some part of the 800 quid.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56He can afford to marry.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57They're certainly...
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Oh, yes. ..going to do what married couples
0:43:00 > 0:43:02would do in the Victorian period. Here's the birth...
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Oh. Now, who's this? Lizzy Caroline Merear.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Now, this must be my grandmother.
0:43:09 > 0:43:10Registered as Lizzy.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13So, there we go. She was know as Liese.
0:43:13 > 0:43:14Liz, well yes.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16L-I-E-S-E.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Oh, and then he's a licensed victualler still,
0:43:20 > 0:43:21and they're here.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23They're at Keppel Street.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27And now because Edward King is such a common name...
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Mmm. ..no-one's really been able to track him down properly,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31in the later censuses.
0:43:31 > 0:43:37He seems to almost disappear off the radar, until he actually dies.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39Ah. So we've got his death certificate.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42So there is his death. 1904.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46He's 62 and he dies of chronic Bright's disease and hepatitis.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48What is Bright's disease?
0:43:48 > 0:43:51It's some kind of chronic kidney disease. Oh.
0:43:51 > 0:43:52A disease of the kidneys.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Maybe too many tots.
0:43:54 > 0:43:55It's something that...
0:43:55 > 0:43:59"Have one for yourself barman," you know. Possibly. Mmm.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01So, this is 1904.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05He's been ill with Bright's disease for 13 years.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08So that was 1891.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14He must have been starting to get ill
0:44:14 > 0:44:19when Lela, his wife, left him with the kids.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23Maybe she left him because he was ill.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26Life is not going well for this man, is it?
0:44:26 > 0:44:27It isn't, it isn't.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30But then we have
0:44:30 > 0:44:35"The informant, AE Whittall, son-in-law,
0:44:35 > 0:44:36"present at the death."
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Now, that was my grandmother's married name,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43and she didn't go off with the circus. Really? No.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46So Edward was living with his daughter
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and son-in-law by this time. Yes.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54I feel really very sad about poor old Edward King.
0:44:55 > 0:45:00Been dumped, you know, and he's got health problems,
0:45:00 > 0:45:02going down in the world.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07I feel really quite sympathetic towards him.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09Does make me wonder, too,
0:45:09 > 0:45:13whether he didn't pick the wrong girl to marry, slightly.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Just when he needed her most,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20she was careering around looking for somebody,
0:45:20 > 0:45:25and she found Cody and she took all but my grandmother
0:45:25 > 0:45:27on to the Wild West Shows and everything.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36When Lela left Edward for Cody,
0:45:36 > 0:45:37she took her three sons
0:45:37 > 0:45:40but left John's grandmother,
0:45:40 > 0:45:41Liese, behind.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43Liese never took part in the shows
0:45:43 > 0:45:45and was written out
0:45:45 > 0:45:47of the Cody family stories,
0:45:47 > 0:45:50so what little John knows about her is through hearsay.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54I always believed, through what my father told me,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58that there was a big rift between my grandmother,
0:45:58 > 0:46:03whose name was Liese, and her mother, Lela, Lela Cody.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09I'm really keen to know more now about my grandmother.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11I've never seen any photographs of her at all,
0:46:11 > 0:46:13wouldn't know what she looked like.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17But, I mean, that's all a complete blank to me.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26One reason why I don't know anything very serious
0:46:26 > 0:46:28about my grandmother and my grandfather
0:46:28 > 0:46:32is that when my father's marriage to my mother broke up
0:46:32 > 0:46:37that just divided the two parts of my family.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40And I was really never, never very close
0:46:40 > 0:46:43to anybody on my mother's side after that.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49John is visiting another cousin, Tony Reed.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52They haven't seen each other since John's mother's funeral.
0:46:53 > 0:46:54Tony. Oh!
0:46:55 > 0:46:57Hello. It's a long...
0:46:57 > 0:46:59It's very nice to see you after all these years.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01A long, long time. Come in.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02Thank you.
0:47:02 > 0:47:03Thank you very much.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Unlike John, Tony has childhood memories of their grandmother.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15The thing is, Tony, I know absolutely nothing whatsoever
0:47:15 > 0:47:17about our grandmother, Liese.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20I only knew her when I was very young.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23I was about eight years old when she died.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27But, I mean, she was marvellous to my sister and I.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30And what did she look like?
0:47:30 > 0:47:31Well, here we have...
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Oh, my God!
0:47:33 > 0:47:34..photographs of Liese.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36Is that her? That's Liese.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38What a nice-looking woman.
0:47:40 > 0:47:41And this is a postcard, is it?
0:47:41 > 0:47:42This is a postcard.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44Yes. Madam Cody.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47So, she calls her mother
0:47:47 > 0:47:49"Madam Cody". Cody.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54Well, well. "Dear Lela." Ah, but she calls her Lela there. Yes.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Which is kind of interesting, isn't it? Isn't it? Yes.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01"Give my best love to the dear boys." Her brothers. Yes.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Presumably. "And yourself. Yours, Liese."
0:48:05 > 0:48:10My father said that Lela, Madam Cody,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12used to say to her daughter,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16"You're so ugly, I can't believe that you're my daughter."
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Have you heard any stories like that?
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Well, I've heard this business of, "You're big and ugly."
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Mmm, that's right, "You're so big."
0:48:24 > 0:48:27And I could never believe it, especially having seen her.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29Lela didn't seem to like girls very much.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32She much preferred the boys.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Mmm. Perhaps not the most loving of mothers.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38No, she had another side to her, it seems. Yes.
0:48:38 > 0:48:44I'm beginning to see really a different side to the whole thing.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48She obviously was a really sweet woman, Liese.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Because she had her father to live with her, and he died,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55and can't have been very well.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57You know, she obviously looked after him,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59and so did Arthur Whittall.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Grandfather. Grandfather, and your grandfather too.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04And mine, yes. Arthur Whittall.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Oh, gosh, he's tremendous, isn't he? Isn't he?
0:49:07 > 0:49:11It seems to have been an extremely happy marriage.
0:49:11 > 0:49:12Oh, was it?
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Well, I have two letters
0:49:15 > 0:49:17and it's not so much what it actually says,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20but the manner in which it's written.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22"From your loving husband,"
0:49:22 > 0:49:27and asking after the family and all sorts of little nuances
0:49:27 > 0:49:31that give the impression that they were extremely happily married.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33And, of course, at this stage...
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Oh, gosh!
0:49:38 > 0:49:40And that is your mother.
0:49:40 > 0:49:41And that's my mother.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44That's Viva, and that is?
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Leonie. That's our aunt, your aunt and my aunt.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50At this stage your mother has not been born.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55And this is your mother's birth certificate.
0:49:55 > 0:49:56Oh, yes. Oh, yes!
0:49:56 > 0:50:02"29th July 1906, Joyce Lela Vivian.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Father was "Arthur Ernest Whittall, deceased."
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Well, this is his death certificate. Oh.
0:50:11 > 0:50:18Arthur Whittall died 21st August 1906.
0:50:18 > 0:50:25So, what's that? That's 23 days after my mother was born. Mm-hm.
0:50:27 > 0:50:33And her birth and his death were registered at the same time.
0:50:33 > 0:50:3523rd August, 23rd August.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It's the same day.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Poor Liese.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42And how did he die, do you know?
0:50:42 > 0:50:45What does it say? "Cause of death - enteric fever."
0:50:45 > 0:50:49I was always told that this was at a TA Camp. Ah.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51And he drank infected water.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54Good Lord.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58What a tragedy.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Dear, oh, dear, and he was only 32. Yes.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04And, of course, her world falls to pieces.
0:51:04 > 0:51:05Falls to pieces.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07So, she has to be taken in somewhere.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09Yes, so who took her in?
0:51:09 > 0:51:10The Cody family.
0:51:10 > 0:51:15Did they? Yes, but I suspect that it was Grandpa Cody... Yes.
0:51:15 > 0:51:16..rather than Lela...
0:51:16 > 0:51:18that said, "We must do something about this."
0:51:18 > 0:51:20Yes, I'm sure you're right.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25It sounds like something Cody would do. Some big-hearted gesture. Yes.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28After Arthur Whittall died,
0:51:28 > 0:51:30Liese and her three daughters,
0:51:30 > 0:51:31Viva, Leonie
0:51:31 > 0:51:34and John's mother, Joyce,
0:51:34 > 0:51:35were reunited with the rest
0:51:35 > 0:51:36of the Cody family.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Liese and her three daughters went to live with Cody and Lela,
0:51:45 > 0:51:47in Farnborough.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55And this is the census return for 1911.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59"SF Cody, aeronautical engineer, 49."
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Now was that genuine? Well...
0:52:02 > 0:52:05according to my calculations, I think it was...
0:52:07 > 0:52:09..44
0:52:09 > 0:52:11would be more accurate. Would it?
0:52:11 > 0:52:14And Lela Cody was supposedly 48
0:52:14 > 0:52:16and she was a lot more than that, wasn't she?
0:52:16 > 0:52:1858. 58!
0:52:19 > 0:52:23"Lela Cody, wife, 48." Liar.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25"Married.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30"Completed years the present marriage has lasted...30 years."
0:52:30 > 0:52:32Well, they weren't married anyway. Weren't married, no.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35And a resident of Spain.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37This is a load of nonsense, isn't it?
0:52:37 > 0:52:41Leese Whittall, so that's our grandmother? Yes.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43It's spelt slightly weirdly.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44We're told "cousin".
0:52:44 > 0:52:47She... No cousin, no, nonsense,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51cos she was Mrs Cody's daughter.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53It's like any lie. You tell a lie
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and the next thing you know it's got worse. Yeah.
0:52:57 > 0:52:58And you have to keep lying more.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00And so the whole thing snowballs. Yes.
0:53:00 > 0:53:07Until your children are your cousins, and things like this. Yes.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09You know, I mean, all this sort of...
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Obviously Liese was a great embarrassment.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16Yes, I suppose...to Madam Cody.
0:53:16 > 0:53:17Indeed, yes.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19"Put her down as 'cousin.'" Yes.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23"And 'housekeeper.'" Yes.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25I wonder if she was the housekeeper, though.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27I wonder if she did look after them, and...
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Oh, she did other things as well.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Did she? Well, yeah, this is a section here
0:53:32 > 0:53:34showing some of Cody's team.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36This, of course, is Liese.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Is Liese, yes, yes, yes.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41She helped with the planes.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43No! Did she?
0:53:43 > 0:53:45I have here a letter.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47This is from Auntie Leonie.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50"Mother used to make the silk covering..." Oh, there we are.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52"Mother used to make the silk covering
0:53:52 > 0:53:54"for the wings of the aeroplanes
0:53:54 > 0:53:59"and she worked at a treadle machine at the back of Grandpa's big shed.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01"Mama never got appreciation
0:54:01 > 0:54:02"in either of the books that were written,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05"but it was she who made the wings for the planes,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08"and Grandpa gave her permission to take us,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11"only one at a time, to spend the day at Laffan's Plain,"
0:54:11 > 0:54:12where Cody did his flying.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16"Those were gala days to us and Mama always dressed us in our best,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21"and especially washed our hair so that we should do her proud."
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Gosh, I'm amazed.
0:54:25 > 0:54:26Oh, here.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29You don't think that that's our grandmother, one of those, do you?
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Well, it's difficult to tell, isn't it?
0:54:32 > 0:54:33I think that that might be her...
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Yes, yes, yes.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37..in this one. Yes.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Good Lord.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44How do you know all these things? Cos your mother told you, I suppose?
0:54:44 > 0:54:46Er, yes, you ask your mother.
0:54:46 > 0:54:47Your mother and Leonie.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51When they died, we tended to keep their memorabilia.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Yes, so you got all the stuff.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55That's right, yes.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58And this is, of course...
0:54:59 > 0:55:00Oh, there's my mother.
0:55:00 > 0:55:01That's right, yes.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03And that's Liese. Yes.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Ah, I haven't seen a picture of my mother that...
0:55:12 > 0:55:15..you know, a new picture of my mother for a very long time.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20Mmm. And here's another picture...
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Oh, yeah. ..of your mother.
0:55:22 > 0:55:24Oh, yes. And who's that, then?
0:55:24 > 0:55:25That's Leonie.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30That's Leonie. Our aunt, your aunt and my aunt.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32That is absolutely lovely.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36You know, I've got a picture of myself
0:55:36 > 0:55:39and my mother standing at the same gate.
0:55:39 > 0:55:40Gosh.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44Some of my earliest memories were here.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47Smelling wallflowers and things. Yes.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53It's quite melancholy, actually, all of this.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56But it's a strange old family to come from, a bit, isn't it?
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Well, it is a bit odd. It is a bit odd.
0:55:59 > 0:56:06But I feel, thanks to you, I've kind of rediscovered Liese.
0:56:06 > 0:56:13Who was just always a sort of nothing and a nobody,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15as far as I could make out.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19On the contrary, I mean, she's a really interesting, charming,
0:56:19 > 0:56:21charming woman.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26And I must say, just seeing these pictures of my mother,
0:56:26 > 0:56:29also very, very moving.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39There's quite a lot to digest here.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45I found this very complicated family...
0:56:46 > 0:56:52..and now I feel I'm much better aware of the forces that made me.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59I feel an awful lot closer to my mother now.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Seeing those photographs of her really did...
0:57:06 > 0:57:08..bring it all home so much.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15I felt dreadful that I'd sided with my father against my mother
0:57:15 > 0:57:19and it kind of built up this tremendous burden of guilt, I think,
0:57:19 > 0:57:24on both our parts, that kept us separate.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Now, I'd just go straightaway.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39The worst thing is to know that it's too late.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47I'm determined, absolutely determined to make sure
0:57:47 > 0:57:51that my family doesn't allow distances
0:57:51 > 0:57:56and separations to grow up, cos they don't do you any good.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Terribly corny to say it,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02but, I mean, it is a fact of our lives.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Don't let the gaps grow.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08You know, shrink them.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd