0:00:03 > 0:00:07Lawrence Larry Lamb was born in Edmonton, North London in 1947.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09After a very long varied career,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12he became known to millions at the age of 60
0:00:12 > 0:00:15for his roles in EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Hiya!
0:00:17 > 0:00:19God, not this again, you two.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23He is struggling, Nick, to come to terms with the loss of Gavin.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Gavin's not dead, Pam.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Three days running I've come home to this. Tears at the table.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33I had no inkling that I would become an actor.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Me dad and mum had a fish and chip shop
0:00:36 > 0:00:39so it just wasn't, it wasn't part of the set up.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44There's a real wanderlust in me.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47It's like, what's on the other side of that next hill?
0:00:47 > 0:00:53My mum's got this real move-on gypsy sort of thing in her
0:00:53 > 0:00:54and I certainly have,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57I mean, I can set up camp and be there for a while
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and I can, over the years lived in,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03I don't know, dozens and dozens and dozens of places.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Larry has a son, George, from his third marriage
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and two young daughters with his partner.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Now Larry wants to solve a family mystery on his maternal line.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21I've always been intrigued about what my real background is
0:01:21 > 0:01:24due to the fact that my mother was adopted.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29And so there were people that I knew as my mother's parents,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32I realised later in life, were not.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Knowing that a whole side of me is a bit of a mystery,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40it fascinates me, frankly.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Larry now has the chance to shed light on this unknown family history,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50as his mother has finally accessed documents relating to her adoption.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52This is the perfect time.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Seize the opportunity and really go for it. Find out what I am.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Larry was well into adulthood when he discovered his mother was adopted.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41The people that raised my mum were Fred and Nell White,
0:02:41 > 0:02:45a childless couple who met just after the First World War and married
0:02:45 > 0:02:46and then my mum came along.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51I believe they fostered her and eventually,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56from what I know, that led to them becoming her adoptive parents.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01For everything that I gathered, she'd had a wonderful life with them as her parents.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06I certainly didn't realise they were anything but her real mum and dad when I was a kid
0:03:06 > 0:03:11and so they were, as far as I was concerned, my grandparents.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13They certainly fulfilled that role
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and so I feel no different about them at all,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I'm just inquisitive to find out about who the real ones were.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Larry's on his way to see his mother, Jessie.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29After a lifetime in London, she now lives in Eastbourne on the south coast.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Hello!
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Larry's younger sister, Penny, is visiting too.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43- What are you doing here, eh?- Oh!
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Hah, hah, hah!
0:03:47 > 0:03:51What you laughing at, eh? What are you laughing at?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56- How are you?- All right, thank you.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58You're looking grand, Ma, eh?
0:03:58 > 0:04:00You look lovely.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Jessie is now 84.
0:04:04 > 0:04:05Although she was adopted as a baby
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Jessie remembers a visit from her real mother when she was a very small child.
0:04:09 > 0:04:16- I remember her in a wrap-round overall she had on.- Really?
0:04:16 > 0:04:19But I don't remember her at all, not her face.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21- Just an image?- Yeah.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25But I've got this little silver bracelet from her.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Look at that.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33I remember her saying that was their parting gift to you.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36- So you've had this all these years, yeah?- Yes.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Good Lord.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43Despite this contact, Jessie's adoption was never discussed.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46For decades she didn't even know her birth parents' names,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and there was no official way to find out.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Jessie was born in 1926,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58the year the first ever Adoption Act was introduced in the UK.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01The Act formulised the adoption process
0:05:01 > 0:05:04but it also ushered in unintended decades of secrecy.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Adopted children like Jessie had no right to information about their birth parents
0:05:09 > 0:05:14and could not access their birth certificates or their adoption files.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18As a result of later changes in the law,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Jessie recently discovered her parent's names.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Albert Day and Catherine Walker Burns Rose.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Now an adoption support agency has just helped Jessie access
0:05:31 > 0:05:33all the remaining documents
0:05:33 > 0:05:36connected to her legal adoption in 1930.
0:05:37 > 0:05:43"The child is the legitimate daughter of Albert and Catherine Walker Burns Day."
0:05:43 > 0:05:46So you were legitimate?
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Yes, I was.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48You were.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51I didn't even think they were married but they were.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54This is the marriage certificate, they married in 1925.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00On the 17th August 1925,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04- that was five months before you were born.- Yeah.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08- And she was only 17.- Yeah.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Oh, dear oh, dear.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13"It appears the parents were living apart
0:06:13 > 0:06:16"shortly after the child's birth."
0:06:16 > 0:06:21So they made you legitimate by getting married and then split up.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Hmm.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26"The address of the father was not known
0:06:26 > 0:06:28"and when the child was three months old,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31"she was living with the mother at 100 Camden Road."
0:06:31 > 0:06:33Is that it, Camden Road?
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Yeah.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Catherine was originally from Scotland
0:06:36 > 0:06:42and so was away from her family when she found herself alone with baby Jessie.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44That must've been so hard. 17 and a baby.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Yeah, it must've been.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50When Jessie was three months old,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Catherine placed her with a foster mother.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"To whom ten shillings a week was paid by the mother."
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It's not like today then where the State would pay for that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05She was actually paying a lot of money to have Mum looked after.
0:07:05 > 0:07:11"After 11 months, she could no longer pay the ten shillings maintenance
0:07:11 > 0:07:15"and intended to have the child adopted."
0:07:15 > 0:07:18But I've got to show you this one piece, Larry.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19What's that?
0:07:21 > 0:07:25There's this little note. With Catherine's signature.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Oh, God. "The Infant Welfare Centre, 5th of the 1st '27.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36"I hereby agree to give up all claim to Jessie Dorothy Day,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39"and to have her adopted by Mrs White."
0:07:39 > 0:07:42And it's signed Mrs Catherine Day.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48I just find it so sad that someone must've told her what to put there.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Yeah.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55The mother's only made one visit to the applicant and child,
0:07:55 > 0:08:00on the 27th of the 1st 1928.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04So she came to visit you on your second birthday
0:08:04 > 0:08:08after giving you up, just short of your first birthday.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10So she did come back.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14And since then, nothing has been heard of her or the father.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17That was it. She just disappeared.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Yes, we don't know where.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Good lord.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The documents in the file give very little information
0:08:24 > 0:08:27about Jessie's father, Albert Day.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Do you have any memory at all of him?
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- Nothing.- Nothing?
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Absolutely no picture of him or anything.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36So, Albert Day remains the phantom.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Well, we know one thing, don't we?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41We know that he worked on a fairground.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44- Assistant to travelling showman, he was.- Yeah.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47"Residence at the time of marriage, fairground,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51"corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street."
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Dear, oh, dear!
0:08:52 > 0:08:54But maybe that's why we're all so restless?
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Maybe we're travellers too?
0:08:56 > 0:08:59So do you ever think about Catherine and Albert?
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Oh, often.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03And wonder?
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And wonder where they are and where they went.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Yeah, well...
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Let's see if we can find out, eh?
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Yes, that would be wonderful.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15It would, I'd really like to know.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16You'd like to know.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I'd love to know. We'll do our best though.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Thank you!
0:09:23 > 0:09:27I feel like I've really sort of got the bit between my teeth now.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The first thing I want to find out is what on earth happened to Albert Day, God bless him.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Well, I don't think there's a lot of point in starting looking for a fairground
0:09:36 > 0:09:41at the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street!
0:09:42 > 0:09:45And he's a showman. What does that mean?
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Does that mean that he's a carny boy,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50you know, a traveller that works on the fairground?
0:09:50 > 0:09:52It's just the weirdest thing.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Larry's hoping he can find out more about his grandfather,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Albert Day, by investigating the world of travelling showmen.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08He's come to the Black Country Living Museum in the Midlands,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13home to a traditional fair, to meet fairground historian, Guy Belshaw.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15- Morning.- Morning.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- It's Guy, yeah?- Larry. - Nice to meet you.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Pleased to meet you. Welcome to the fairground.
0:10:21 > 0:10:22Hey, thank you.
0:10:22 > 0:10:23What do you think of it?
0:10:23 > 0:10:28Yeah, yeah, look at it. It reminds me of fairgrounds when I was a boy.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Absolutely! Hah!
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Now, Guy, I'm given to believe that you're the man
0:10:34 > 0:10:37who might be able to help me in my quest.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40This is a copy of a marriage between Albert Day,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44who is in actual fact my grandfather.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48And at the time of the marriage, Albert Day, my grandfather,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53was an assistant to a travelling showman
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and Albert Day was the son of another Albert Day, who was a showman...
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Now that's quite interesting there
0:11:00 > 0:11:04because the name Day was very well known in the fairground business
0:11:04 > 0:11:08from the late 19th century and early part of the 20th century.
0:11:08 > 0:11:09- Was it?- Very well known.- Ah.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13And this could link you to that well-known family.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17And what about the classification of showman, does that imply anything?
0:11:17 > 0:11:21It does, it means that Albert Day, your grandfather
0:11:21 > 0:11:24was in the higher echelons of the business
0:11:24 > 0:11:28because they owned own equipments and were showmen in their own right.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31- So he was at the top end of the business if you like.- Right.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37The early decades of the 20th century were a golden age of the fairgrounds,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41and the Days were one of the best known fairground families.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Mechanical rides were an exciting new invention,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47made possible by steam and electricity.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51And visitors would flock to fairs in their hundreds of thousands.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Fairs would visit most towns and cities just once a year,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59so their arrival was a cause for celebration and a holiday atmosphere.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Though reputable enough for families to visit together,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05the fairs were also a chance to let loose
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and find release from the daily grind.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14So Guy, my long lost granddad, Albert Day,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17as a assistant to a travelling showman, you know,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20what would that involve?
0:12:20 > 0:12:22- Pretty hard graft really, Larry. - Really?
0:12:22 > 0:12:25They probably pulled down on a Sunday,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28- pack it up Monday, move Tuesday and Wednesday.- Yeah.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32If you look at the thing behind us, imagine shifting the mounts on that
0:12:32 > 0:12:34and you've got a kid on each end lifting those.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37- So it would've been a very hard life.- Ah-ha.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41While visitors came to fairs for respite from the everyday,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44for showmen, they were a way of life.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Showmen like the Days were not gypsies or travellers
0:12:47 > 0:12:48but they did live on the road.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Through spring and summer they worked long hours, in all weathers,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55moving their rides and stalls every few days,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58travelling the country from fair to fair.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Families all travelled together.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04As they did not belong to settled communities
0:13:04 > 0:13:06traditional schooling was difficult.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Their nomadic lifestyle created a world apart,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13where show families had their own culture and language.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18This was the close-knit community Albert Day would have grown up in.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24So, Albert Day married Catherine Rose in August 1925
0:13:24 > 0:13:30and then sort of pretty much disappears from my story
0:13:30 > 0:13:36and I understand you might be able to tell me something about what happened to him afterwards.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Well, unfortunately we haven't had a lot of luck in tracing Albert after that,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44because working on a fairground it was difficult to trace people,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47they moved around, but I had more luck in going back in time.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52So I've got something to show you here. This is a birth certificate.
0:13:53 > 0:14:01Good Lord! "13th April 1897, the fairground at Ellison's Tenement, Accrington,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05"Albert, boy, father, Albert Day,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08"mother, Elizabeth Day formerly..."
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- What's that?- Cubbins the name is. - Cubbins?- Yeah.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13"And occupation of father.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16"A Menagerie proprietor."
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- Animal, animal show? - That's right, yes.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22- Good Lord!- So there we are.- Wow!
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- So, an unusual profession? - Yeah, yeah.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31With no information about Albert after Jessie's birth,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Guy is going to help Larry trace Albert's early years.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40The mention of menageries suggests his family were originally involved
0:14:40 > 0:14:43in the world of fairground shows.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47They're starting with the census from 1901.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50So, 1901 is the first one.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53He would have been about four by then, wouldn't he?
0:14:53 > 0:14:55He would have been around four, yeah.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58So we'll search for the person's name there.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04So this is it and we're looking for the Day family.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Day, Day, there you go, there's an Albert Day.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11- Four-year-old.- That's him.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14That's him, so that's, that's Albert your grandfather
0:15:14 > 0:15:18and his birth place is Accrington in Lancashire which we know
0:15:18 > 0:15:21- from the birth certificate. - That's right.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23So we know this is definitely Albert
0:15:23 > 0:15:28and his father, also Albert, we're searching for.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- Here you go. - We can see him there.- That's him.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36The address is given as Easter Fair, Back Fields and they're living in caravans here.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- Right.- So that would tell us that they're travelling people.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44And funnily enough, there's this Elizabeth who was the wife is not listed here.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Elizabeth, the mother, isn't there.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48She would be normally, would she not?
0:15:48 > 0:15:50She would, but I've checked
0:15:50 > 0:15:55- and sadly Elizabeth died earlier in that year.- What in 1901?
0:15:55 > 0:15:57In 1901 before the census was taken.
0:15:57 > 0:16:04The death certificate indicates she died of TB at the age of 27.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08So young Albert growing up, only four years old without a mother.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Wow, I wonder what's happened by 1911, can we check on 1911 which will be the next one?
0:16:13 > 0:16:16- Yeah, so we'll see if we can trace them.- Right.
0:16:17 > 0:16:24- So here we are, 1911 and here is Albert, your grandfather. - Aged 15.- Aged 15.
0:16:24 > 0:16:30- The head of the family now is James Day.- And Rebecca, his wife.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35- Albert's the only one who's not...- A son or a daughter.- A son or a daughter and he's a nephew.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39- So he's now with his uncle's family? - He's now travelling with his uncle
0:16:39 > 0:16:43and he's 15, so he's obviously a working man by this time.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48So he'd be employed, I guess, by James Day.
0:16:48 > 0:16:54James Day, we can see here this is 1911, he's down here as a showman stallholder.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59- In previous years he was a very famous menagerie proprietor...- Hah.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02One of half a dozen travelling the country, but Day was very well known
0:17:02 > 0:17:06for that kind of entertainment.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Jimmy Day, travelling showman. Hmm.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13I thought I was the first one.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18- No, there were entertainers in your family generations before.- Yeah.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21And the whole thing and my mum and me being people,
0:17:21 > 0:17:27my sister, my brother can up sticks and move at the drop of a hat, huh.
0:17:33 > 0:17:40Just this whole thing of finding out that one is another in the line of travelling people,
0:17:40 > 0:17:45people that entertain, people that move around,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49transient, picking up people along the way,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54and, you know, from what I gather, going back several generations
0:17:54 > 0:17:56and, you know, that's part of me.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01I'm beginning to feel, this is where I stand in the line of things.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05I don't think I ever felt I would feel that way.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11The records show that by 1911, Larry's grandfather Albert,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14son of his great grandfather Albert,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17was living with his uncle, James Jimmy Day.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Both Albert's father and Uncle Jimmy were menagerie proprietors.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Larry wants to know more about the world his grandfather was born into,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31the old world of the exotic travelling shows.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37He's come to the National Fairground Archive at Sheffield University.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42Larry is meeting the head of the archive, Professor Vanessa Toulmin.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46- Good morning.- Morning, welcome to National Fairground Archive.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51- Good morning, Professor. - Professor, yes, Vanessa. - Professor Vanessa, fantastic!
0:18:51 > 0:18:55- I've had many jokes about that. - I was going to say, you should try being Larry Lamb.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Do you want to know something about your family?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I'd like to know as much as possible about the Day family.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05- A very famous show family, let me show you some material.- Wonderful.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08So it's quite easy,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11we just do a search
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and let's see what comes up.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17And there it is, Day's Menagerie.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21- So this is the front of the show, yeah?- Quite amazing, isn't it?
0:19:21 > 0:19:26- Good lord, so when would this have been?- 1890s, about 1895, this one.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29- Really?- That's just what we call the top flash.- Top flash, yeah?
0:19:29 > 0:19:33The showmen say, it's not the show that brings the dough, it's the flash that brings the cash.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36- I love it.- This would have cost a fortune.- Yeah.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40All hand carved, hand painted and these incredible tableaus telling you...
0:19:40 > 0:19:45- What you're going to see, yeah. - It's slightly over dramatic but... - Yeah.- ..that's the showman.- Yeah.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50- Then you can see just over there, Day's Menagerie.- Day's Menagerie.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Would this have been enclosed in a tent behind where the show was, or was it open air?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was all inside. I can show you what the inside of a menagerie is.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01- Let's go round the table and have a look.- Fantastic. Thank you.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08OK, Larry, you've seen the outside, that's what you'd see inside.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13A travelling menagerie were known on the fairground as the beast shows, the wild beast show.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The show is made up of all the different cages with different animals,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19the hyenas or camels or monkeys.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Amazing, so they'd walk around and see into the different cages?
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Yeah, and then they'll be a performance in the middle in one of the cages.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28Oh, there will, yeah?
0:20:28 > 0:20:32This is great, of the menagerie on the road, but you look at the train,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34- look how massive that is?- Yeah.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38They would have gone from town to town and done this fantastic parade
0:20:38 > 0:20:40of all the animals, a bit like a circus parade.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46- People must have been just absolutely mystified to see this lot turn up.- Oh, yeah.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49And the travelling shows were the first time that anybody
0:20:49 > 0:20:53- in Buxton, Nottingham, Oxford would have seen a wild animal.- Right.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58The travelling menagerie was a 19th century phenomenon,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02and the Days were one of half a dozen families travelling the country with their wild animals.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Menageries had existed for centuries, but had been the preserve of the very rich and royalty.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13The expanding British Empire made it easier to access wild animals
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and enterprising showmen, like the Days,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20saw the possibility of cashing in on the public's love of the exotic.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26Keeping these zoos on the road was an expensive and, at times, dangerous undertaking.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Elephants could cost several hundred pounds,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and lions well over £100 each.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37And there was the constant pressure of buying enough horsemeat to feed the wild beasts.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41But the effort and the investment were worth it.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46At the height of the business, menagerie owners could make their fortunes.
0:21:48 > 0:21:54- So, this is the Day family, very, very large family but these are the main ones.- Yeah.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58That's Albert Day, your great grandfather and those are his brothers and sisters.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03- That's the father of my grandfather, as it were?- Yeah, Albert's son.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05- Albert was living with his uncle.- Yeah.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09- James Day, or Jimmy Wild Beast Day. - Jimmy Wild Beast Day!
0:22:09 > 0:22:13- Here we are.- That's Jimmy Wild Beast?- Yes, yeah.- Cor!
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- Fantastic costume, as you can see. - Yeah, Mexican bandito.- Yeah.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20- Mixed up with a cowboy, mixed up with a pirate.- Yeah.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25- He knows how to strike a pose. - And then what's really interesting...- Yeah God.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27..probably the most famous of all the Day brothers,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30who was even more exotic, is this guy, Martini Bartlett,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35and he was known as the Lion King, the King of the lion tamers.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Martini Bartlett, a lion tamer.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- It sounds more exotic than Tom Day. - Of all the things in the world!
0:22:40 > 0:22:45- And this is Martini. - God, look at him.- Very handsome.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49So Martini Bartlett would have been my actual granddad's uncle?
0:22:49 > 0:22:53- Yes.- He's have been a great, great uncle of mine? - Your great, great uncle.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57- Martini Bartlett!- And a really, really famous showman,
0:22:57 > 0:22:58a really famous showman.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02And we've got some material, some interviews with him,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05reminiscences of him and his life...
0:23:05 > 0:23:10- Are you OK? - Yeah, completely overwhelmed.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13- Lion tamer was a real exotic figure.- Yeah.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19To be related to those people, to be part of that same clan, huh.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22Extraordinary...
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Larry has discovered his ancestors were at the top of their profession.
0:23:31 > 0:23:37This was the extraordinary world that his grandfather, Albert Day, grew up in.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41But he still wants to know what became of Albert, after Jessie's birth.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44With help from the Showmen's Guild,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48he's discovered the Day family are still involved in the fairground business today.
0:23:48 > 0:23:55He's got contact details for a branch of the family in Devizes in Wiltshire.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03Looking for a sign of trailers, caravans.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08It's like looking for a film location as one's done on countless occasions.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Trailers and caravans.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Oh, here we go, here's something, here's something.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20A bit of fairground equipment in there.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43- Morning, I'm looking for John Joseph Day.- And you've found him.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46- That's you is it?- Yes, that's me.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50- How you getting on? - Eh, all right, all right, all right.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53- This is John William Day. - John William, yeah? how you doing?
0:24:53 > 0:24:58- And this is Jason. - Pleased to meet ya.- Jason, yeah? - One of me son's, yeah.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00- So how old are you?- I'm 73.
0:25:00 > 0:25:07- 73, are you?- I'm one of the youngest of them, there's ten of us, but me grandfather, there was 13.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12- So what was his name, your grandfather?- Wild Beast Jimmy Day. - Eh?- Wild Beast Jimmy Day.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16- He was your granddad, was he, Wild Beast Jimmy, was he? - And your grandfather?- Was Albert.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21- Was Albert the younger one. Come in, out the cold, come in. - Come in out the cold, eh.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Over a century on from the heyday of the menageries,
0:25:27 > 0:25:32it's harder now for the Days to earn their living from the fairs, and preserve their way of life.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38But like generations of ancestors before them, the family all still live in trailers.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Look at this lot, eh?
0:25:45 > 0:25:49John Day has a collection of family photos.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Now, that's one of the famous lions, that was Wallace.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- That was Wallace, was it? - One of my grandfather ones.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Man-eating lion, a man-killing lion.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01- Really, really.- Supposed to be.- Yeah.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05That's Joey. My grandfather worked his lions all his life and they'd ride the backs of 'em.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10- Really?- Yeah, to them they was like dogs to them.- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14- That's one of the pets.- And he's an amazing looking beast, isn't he?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18So I've got something specific I want to ask you now,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23the census of 1911 shows Albert Day,
0:26:23 > 0:26:29who we've established is my grandfather aged 15 in the household of your granddad.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31- Yeah, yeah.- Jimmy Wild Beast.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37Why was Albert, my granddad, registered down in the household?
0:26:37 > 0:26:38- In the care of them.- In the care of.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Well, Albert, your great grandfather ended up in Manchester.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I don't know what happened, if he went to drink, cos they did like...
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- All of them liked their drink. - Really?- He ended up with no show.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53So that's how young Albert come to live with my grandfather.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58- Right, and which is your dad there? - William Day here, look, see.- Right.
0:26:58 > 0:27:04- There's William Day, he's 12, look. - He was 12. Well, two to three years younger than my granddad.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Him and dad got on well, that's something me oldest brother said.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10There doesn't seem to be anything about him.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12He went in the First World War.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15- He did, did he? - Yeah, and I'll show you now.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- He fought in the First World War. - Here he is!
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- They call that little Albert. - Little Albert.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24- So that is my granddad?- Yeah.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28- I suppose that's the first time you've seen him?- Absolutely!
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Huh, my granddad.
0:27:32 > 0:27:39- I will tell you, there he is again, look and there's Uncle Jimmy Day. - Yeah.- There's my father, Billy Day.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- Yeah.- That is Albert.- Yeah.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46This looks like they're gathered to have their photograph taken with him...
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Yes, he was like a brother to 'em, not a cousin.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52- Yeah, he's become a brother living with them.- He was a brother.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56You know my mum knows nothing more of him that just a name on a couple of bits of paper.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02- That's all she's ever known. - This thing is, father's sister, Aunt Lizzie...- Yeah.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07Said about 25 years ago before she died, she was telling me about him.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10- Yeah.- And he was restless.- Ah-hah.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12He'd been with 'em and disappeared.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15One morning, they got up and he was gone, where he went they don't know.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19- And was that sort of unusual...- It was unusual.- ..in your community?
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Oh, yes, because if he went with any fair right up and down the country...
0:28:23 > 0:28:26- Yeah, you'd know.- That would come back to us.- Yeah, yeah.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31- That would come back to us. - He must have kept away from... - From the fairground business side?
0:28:31 > 0:28:34And they all died saying that they never know where he went to.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38- But it was spoken of, his disappearance, yeah?- Oh, yes.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43That's the interesting thing, because to us he was a disappearing person who never really existed.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47- No, he did have a family. - To you he was a disappearing person who disappeared.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51- I'm glad your mother's found him. - Yeah.
0:28:51 > 0:28:57- Did anybody ever tell her anything? - She never ever knew anything about her father at all.- Didn't she?
0:28:57 > 0:29:01- By the time all the documentation was put together...- Yeah.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03- To, to adopt her.- Yeah.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06He'd been long gone and nobody knew where he was.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11That's unusual with our people, because they'd have took the baby back to the family.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13- They would have.- When you see...
0:29:13 > 0:29:17- When you see your mother, if they'd have known...- Yeah. - She'd have been took in.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20- Yeah, but it seems to me he wouldn't have known at all.- No.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25- He just disappeared and nobody known what happened with him since.- Yeah.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33Seeing the picture of the long lost,
0:29:33 > 0:29:40deeply mysterious, enigmatic Albert, Albert Day,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Little Albert as they called him, is just a little bit strange, you know.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47So all of a sudden, there's a face to this name.
0:29:47 > 0:29:53And strange to think that, er, had Catherine and Albert stayed together,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57that this would have become my mum's life.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01This life would certainly suit her, that's for sure,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04constantly moving on.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07She'll be tickled pink when I tell her about this, absolutely.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13In a way, it's a rounding off of the story.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15And then meeting all these extraordinary people,
0:30:15 > 0:30:20finding out about this element of my life that I had no idea of.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25This travelling instinct, for sure, this element of the showman,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28that's the answer to a lot of questions for me.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30I just love it,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32it's wonderful.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Despite everything he's discovered,
0:30:37 > 0:30:42Larry still doesn't know what became of his grandfather Albert Day.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47It appears there are no further records relating to him after 1926,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51when Albert was named on Jessie's birth certificate.
0:30:55 > 0:30:56Back home in London,
0:30:56 > 0:31:02Larry now wants to turn his attention to his mother's birth mother, Catherine Walker Burns Rose.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05My mum has always had this
0:31:05 > 0:31:10sort of image of this female character in her mind.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Now, whether that's just been generated over the years,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17I don't know, but she seems pretty certain
0:31:17 > 0:31:21that she remembers this person who was her mother.
0:31:21 > 0:31:27And that sense, that feeling, is really important to her.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32I mean, she's always nursed this, you know, increasingly impossible dream
0:31:32 > 0:31:37of seeing her mum and she, you know, she's 84.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43According to the file, Catherine visited and saw my mum
0:31:43 > 0:31:48on her second birthday, but that's it, she's disappeared.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52So, what happened to Catherine Day?
0:31:55 > 0:31:58To start his search, Larry's checking the marriage index
0:31:58 > 0:32:02to see if Catherine married again after separating from Albert Day.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Walker...
0:32:06 > 0:32:08Burns...
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Change the Day and put Rose in there.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Search.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22Well, this could... This says there's a Catherine B Rose which may or may not be her,
0:32:22 > 0:32:27but there doesn't seem to be anybody else with that name or similar,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30marrying somebody called Rosen.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34December 1932 in Hampstead.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38She's dropped the Day but that's it, doesn't tell me any more.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48To find out more about this marriage Larry needs the full certificate.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52He's ordered a copy from Camden Town Hall in Central London.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Um, I've come to get a marriage certificate
0:32:54 > 0:32:57and the surnames are Rose and Rosen.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00- OK. There you are, sir.- Thank you.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03If you want go in there and just check it through,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- you're more than welcome to do that. - Thank you, thank you.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Wow,
0:33:11 > 0:33:1531st December 1932,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19Catherine Burns Rose - 24 years,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23and her father's name John Rose - deceased. That's her.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Louis Rosen, rank or profession - hairdresser.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33Wow, and she's described as a spinster, interesting.
0:33:33 > 0:33:39I think I'm going to ask the lady here, I think she'll be very helpful. Excuse me?
0:33:39 > 0:33:43- Um, do you think you could just, um, have a look at this with me...- Sure.
0:33:43 > 0:33:44..and check something out.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47I've got a...
0:33:50 > 0:33:52I've got a copy of...
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Catherine Burns Rose, my grandmother.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02- That's a copy of her wedding certificate to the guy who was my grandfather.- OK.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04- And she's down as a spinster.- Right.
0:34:04 > 0:34:10- Married to Rosen.- So this marriage was in 1925, that marriage was in 1932 so that's seven years.- Yeah.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14- After seven years, if she had no contact with this Mr Day...- Yeah.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17- ..she could, um, she could have him presumed dead.- Really?
0:34:17 > 0:34:22If she'd have gone down the legal channel and said, "I married this man in 1925,
0:34:22 > 0:34:23"I haven't seen him for seven years.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29- "I haven't heard from him, nobody's seen him."- Yeah.- He then can be presumed dead.- Right.- OK.- Right.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32- She would have gone down as a widow. - Right.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36- Technically, she's committing perjury.- Yeah, because she's...
0:34:36 > 0:34:39- This is supposed to be sworn as true, right?- That's correct, yes.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45Maybe she thought after seven years, you know, "I haven't seen him, haven't heard from him, you know,
0:34:45 > 0:34:50- "I'll just declare myself as a spinster."- Yeah.- And, you know. - Take the risk?- Yes.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Right, what's the next step if I want to find out about them?
0:34:54 > 0:34:57- Going by his name, he could be Jewish.- Rosen.- Yeah.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00His father's name's Isaac Rosen.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05Yeah, so there are Jewish records that you could perhaps, um, research.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Hm, wow, thank you.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Here, in 1932..
0:35:13 > 0:35:20..my mum would have been approaching her seventh birthday,
0:35:20 > 0:35:25just short of her seventh birthday, six and eleven months.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30And not too very far away,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33her mum is beginning a new life.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37A completely new life.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45To discover if there are any Jewish records relating to Catherine,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49Larry is on his way to meet genealogist, Lawrence Harris.
0:35:50 > 0:35:56He's asked to meet me at the Walford Road Synagogue
0:35:56 > 0:35:58in Stoke Newington.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59Interesting.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Well, there we go.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Right on the corner.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13Walford Road Synagogue, Shaare Mazal Tov.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28- Larry, welcome.- Lawrence.- Welcome to Walford Road Synagogue.- Thank you.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33- Would you like to pop a skullcap on? - I would, I'd love to.- That's great. - Thank you, thank you.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38- You've never been here before, I guess?- I've never been here, I've been to Walford before,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41- but not Walford Road! - This is an amazing building.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Wow.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50I'm just wondering why you chose here to meet.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52I have to tell you that your grandmother Catherine
0:36:52 > 0:36:55was actually married here in 1938.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59Oh, was she, in 1938?
0:36:59 > 0:37:021938. Now you know she was married in a registry office.
0:37:02 > 0:37:08- Six years after the registry office wedding, yeah.- Yeah.
0:37:08 > 0:37:131938, my grandmother was married here.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Would she have been allowed to marry in the synagogue as a, I assume, a gentile?
0:37:24 > 0:37:28The simple answer is no, she would have actually had to have converted.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33- To have married here, she would actually had to have converted to Orthodox Judaism.- Right.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38- In fact I've got some documents I'd like to show you that actually describe that process.- Thank you.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42This is the first one.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Certificates of proselytisation.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Right, CW Rose,
0:37:48 > 0:37:50now Rosen.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Oh, date of application is October 1933
0:37:53 > 0:37:57and the date of reception 1938, so it's five years.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59- She took five years to convert. - Right.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02They didn't make it easy for somebody to convert.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05- Yeah, she was obviously committed, wasn't she?- Yeah.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08And this is the declaration she made.
0:38:08 > 0:38:14"I, the undersigned, Catherine Walker Rosen, nee Rose,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18"declare that I have accepted the Jewish Faith of my own free will,
0:38:18 > 0:38:24"and solemnly undertake to lead the life of a true Jewess."
0:38:24 > 0:38:25There we are.
0:38:25 > 0:38:32So by this time May, May 26th 1938, she's 30 years of age.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35- Yeah.- That's when she's been accepted in, right.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39- So I have a Jewish grandmother because she converted.- Yeah.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Well, well, well, well, well.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53On the day of the marriage, it's likely that this ark would have been open.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03- These are the ark scrolls.- Wow.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06And there would have been a number of blessings,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09they would have drunk wine from a glass.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13It must have been a really big moment for her, very obviously at this point
0:39:13 > 0:39:17joining the community and joining the family.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19- Yeah, she's been accepted. - She's been accepted.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Also, I've got to tell you there was another reason why it was important
0:39:23 > 0:39:27for her to officially marry in 1938.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32At the time of her marriage, she was actually four months pregnant.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37And I've got a little document.
0:39:37 > 0:39:429th September 1938 at Willesden Maternity Hospital,
0:39:44 > 0:39:51John Michael - a boy, name and surname of father - Louis Rosen,
0:39:51 > 0:39:56and there she is Catherine Burns Rosen formerly Rose. Hah!
0:39:56 > 0:40:01- So my mum at that moment in time had a half-brother.- A half-brother.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04A half-brother John.
0:40:04 > 0:40:10And I, another uncle, hah!
0:40:11 > 0:40:17Larry now knows that in 1938, when his mother Jessie was 12 years old,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20her mother Catherine had another child, John Rosen.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27At the time, Catherine and her new family were living and running a hairdressing business
0:40:27 > 0:40:30just a few miles away from where Jessie was growing up.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Only a few hours after leaving the synagogue,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Larry receives some new information from Lawrence,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41relating to Catherine's life after her conversion.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44OK, and about what year would that be?
0:40:46 > 0:40:51Early '50s, OK, early '50s. OK, and I'll just wait for your text.
0:40:51 > 0:40:58Fantastic. All the best to you, Lawrence. Thank you, bye, bye.
0:40:58 > 0:41:04Well, everything seems to come to a stop around the 1950s,
0:41:04 > 0:41:09and as everything up to then all sort of adds up, the only thing
0:41:09 > 0:41:15that he can think of, is that they maybe emigrated and left Britain.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18He's going to text me a number of a good website to get onto
0:41:18 > 0:41:21for tracking passenger records of people leaving the country
0:41:21 > 0:41:23around the early '50s.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Supposedly, according to Lawrence, this is easy.
0:41:30 > 0:41:31I'll put Catherine in.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37Rosen.
0:41:37 > 0:41:44Now, year of birth - 1908, port of departure - all ports, I guess.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48Destination - all countries, ba-boom, search.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Here they are. She went to America, ha!
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Date of departure - 9th February 1953.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00The ship name - United States, there we are.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02I just love it.
0:42:02 > 0:42:08And they've gone to 426 South Hill Street,
0:42:08 > 0:42:10Los Angeles, California.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17Cor, dear, oh dear, oh dear. Dear, oh dear, oh dear.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22I suppose the next thing is to start checking up records in America.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31To follow Catherine's story, Larry must travel to the United States.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38So, here we are, on our way to Heathrow to fly to LA
0:42:38 > 0:42:43to find the whereabouts or something about Catherine Rosen
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and John Michael Rosen.
0:42:45 > 0:42:51I'm excited, but I know just how excited my mum would be to find,
0:42:51 > 0:42:57after all these years, that she had, or has, hopefully, direct family,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and at times when I've been there, conceivably,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04there were relatives of mine,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08you know, full blood relatives of mine maybe living there.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09Interesting.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19Los Angeles has always attracted immigrants in pursuit of the good life
0:43:19 > 0:43:21and the 1950s was no different.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27When Catherine and her family arrived in the city, LA was a boom town.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30It offered a temperate climate, affordable housing
0:43:30 > 0:43:34and, as the home of the Hollywood film industry,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36a touch of glamour as well.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41The contrast of bomb-damaged post-war London would have been stark.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44At the time, the United States operated a quota system for immigrants,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47that favoured Western Europeans including the British.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50It also helped to have relatives in the country,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54and records show that Louis Rosen already had a nephew in LA.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02To find out how Catherine and her family fared in this new world,
0:44:02 > 0:44:07Larry's come to the Norwalk Library in Los Angeles to meet genealogist, Ted Gostin.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09So Ted,
0:44:09 > 0:44:14I am so hoping you can take me on to another step.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17All right, well, one of the first things I did, was to look to see
0:44:17 > 0:44:20whether Catherine became a citizen here in the United States.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23- And we found that she did become a citizen.- She did.
0:44:23 > 0:44:29And this is a copy of her naturalisation petition which she filed in 1962...
0:44:29 > 0:44:32- 1962, yeah.- ..after she'd been here for about nine years.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35- Yeah.- But it's got quite a bit of information about her.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Yeah, Catherine Walker Burns Rosen, from Orange County.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43- Just south of us.- My personal description is as follows,
0:44:43 > 0:44:48complexion - fair, eyes - brown, and a beauty operator.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52From what I understand of their occupations, probably would have been easy to get a job in LA
0:44:52 > 0:44:56with the entertainment industry going on and things of that sort.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00You know, what I never even thought about that.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03My husband is Louis and I have one child there, John Michael.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06And then there are a couple of witnesses who are attesting
0:45:06 > 0:45:11to the fact that she's been here for the required number of years, that they know her personally.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Yeah, Millie Levy and Maurice Levy,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18- Well, they're Jewish people as well, by the look of it.- Yeah.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23I'm sure there was a big Jewish community at that time in Los Angeles, yeah, in the '50s and '60s?
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Absolutely, California was attractive to a lot of people,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29- we had a large Jewish community then, as now.- And it has now.- Yeah.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34Well, the next thing we want to do then is find out what happened to them after 1962.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38- Yeah.- They're here, they're citizens, they're planning to stay.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41In California we have a death index that's state wide,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43and we can take a look
0:45:43 > 0:45:49to see here on the computer whether we can find Catherine or Louis.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52- If they're dead, it will come up? - It should.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54- Got ya, it should. - So, we'll see what we can find.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57If there is no death record for Catherine,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01she would now be alive at the age of 102.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05- I'm going to do a quick search for Catherine Rosen.- Yeah.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10- And we only get one Catherine Rosen. - Born in '53.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12- Yeah, so that's clearly not her. - Yeah.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16But let's look for Louis because if we find information about him,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19it might lead us to more information about her.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23- About her, yeah. - So, we'll look for Louis..
0:46:24 > 0:46:28- ..and as you can see, there are quite a few.- That's him.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32- You can see it by the...- That's him. - ..by the birth date we have.
0:46:32 > 0:46:33Yeah, 13th April 1907.
0:46:34 > 0:46:39So, it looks like Louis died in 1967, he died relatively young.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41- He did, didn't he?- He was in his 60s.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43Well, he was 60, wasn't he? He just made 60.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45Yeah, exactly, exactly.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49I ordered a copy of the death certificate which we have here.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Name of deceased - Louis Gershen Rosen -
0:46:53 > 0:46:57name of present spouse - Kay Rosen.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02- OK, so that's... - Kay - K-A-Y.- Her nickname.- Yeah.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05- So, we should probably check again on the deaths.- Yeah.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07To see if we can find her as Kay Rosen.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10We'll, er, we'll do the same kind of search
0:47:10 > 0:47:12but we'll look for the name Kay.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16- Kay Rosen.- No results, no matches.
0:47:16 > 0:47:21So since Louis died in '67, this raises the possibility in my mind
0:47:21 > 0:47:23that maybe she got remarried.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Now, this would be very late in life to remarry,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28so we'll go over here to the marriage index
0:47:28 > 0:47:31and we'll look for her under her legal name.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34- Yeah.- Catherine Rosen.- Yeah.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37We have several Catherine Rosen's who got married in California.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42- Well, that's about right, that's the closest.- It is, Catherine W Rosen...
0:47:42 > 0:47:45- Yeah, Walker. - Catherine Walker born about 1909.
0:47:45 > 0:47:51- None of the other dates fit at all. - No, no.- She married Sam Levitz.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55- And that marriage took place.- 1971.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00- Right, so a few years after Louis died.- Sam Levitz.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03So I ordered that certificate so that we could take a look at it
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and you can see right here where it describes the bride.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Catherine Walker Burns Rosen.
0:48:09 > 0:48:101908,
0:48:10 > 0:48:16that's it, that's her aged 62, number of this marriage, two, oooh.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20Oooh, another little porky pie!
0:48:22 > 0:48:25- So then what we do is we put that in there.- Absolutely.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27As Catherine Levitz now, yeah?
0:48:27 > 0:48:28There we go.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34And again we get no result.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39- But from her husband's death certificate, we know that she had a nickname.- Kay, yeah.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41She had the nickname Kay, so let's try that.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Look what shows up.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51- Can you read that?- Kay... Oh, no. - You can see what we got...
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Kay Rosen Levitz...
0:48:55 > 0:49:00..died on the 20th February 1991,
0:49:00 > 0:49:01Los Angeles.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08That's what will upset my mum, I know that.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11She was still hoping she might find her?
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Well, you know, I guess you do, don't you?
0:49:13 > 0:49:16If you've lived all your life wondering where she went,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19the one thing your doing is hoping you're going to see her.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23She died aged 83 in 1991.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29So I had been here in Los Angeles...
0:49:32 > 0:49:35A really, really interesting time in my life, 1988.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Three years before my actual grandmother died here.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46- So you were here when she was. - I was here, yeah.- Yeah.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50I was, didn't know, didn't know.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55She died on the 20th February 1991.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15Before Larry leaves Los Angeles, he wants to see if he can track down Catherine's son John.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Using local records, he's found just one John Rosen,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29who could be his uncle, living on the outer reaches of the city.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33He's agreed to meet Larry.
0:50:33 > 0:50:39I'm, er, I'm feeling rather excited, really.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Here we are in a, unfortunately rather rainy, California,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47which everybody assures me is not the case normally,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51um, about to meet this...
0:50:53 > 0:50:59..long-lost remnant of a long-lost part of my family.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05So, er, yeah, great moment.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22- Hello.- Larry?- John.- Good to meet you.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24- Eh, nice to meet you, nice to meet you.- Come in.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28- Nice to meet you, hey, what a lovely place.- Thank you.
0:51:28 > 0:51:29Hey, what a lovely place,
0:51:29 > 0:51:34Let's just give you that old hat down there, I'll take this off.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37- Do you want to sit here? - Yeah, just here.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41OK, I'll sit down, I'll sit slowly.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44So, um, I don't know how to do this,
0:51:44 > 0:51:51I guess you must be sort of fascinated to know why I'm here.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56- That is mild.- Yeah.- Yes.- An understatement, right?- Very much so.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01Well, it would appear from everything we've discovered
0:52:01 > 0:52:04that you are my uncle.
0:52:06 > 0:52:12- OK.- So, so, er.- Hello, nephew, how are you?- There you go, there you go.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17Your mum, was the mother of my mum, yeah.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21Your mum had a life before your dad. She's had an extraordinary life,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25I mean, you know the end of it, we know the beginning of it.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Actually, I know very little of it, she never ever told me anything
0:52:28 > 0:52:32about what happened prior to her marriage.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34- You, you being born, yeah.- Mm-hmm.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40She married, very briefly, a man called Albert Day.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46It just didn't last but they had a child, the child was my mother.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52- Wow.- She tried to support the child because he disappeared off the map,
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Albert Day. He's another... I'll tell you about that story, there's another enigma.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01So she decided to have the child adopted
0:53:01 > 0:53:03and seven years later,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06she marries your dad, Louis Rosen.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09- All right.- And then..- So how old was she when she had your mum?
0:53:09 > 0:53:13She had my mum when she was 17 years of age.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15Right.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18We'll, I've got something that I think maybe you'd like to see.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19Oh, I'm sure you do.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24Just one thing, if I can find it.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32I think this is the woman that had your mum.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40- That's Catherine as a young girl. - Probably around 16 or 17 years old.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43Good God.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49Oh, wow, she was a beauty, wasn't she?
0:53:49 > 0:53:51I think so.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53That's where I get my looks from.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59- There you go, you got it, you got it. She's a beauty.- So...- Hm.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04- You're my nephew. God, that's funny. - Yeah, I can imagine.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09This is a picture of my mum and dad in the shop we had here in Glendale.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12- Oh, wow.- Back in the late '50s. - Yeah, look at that.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19- What was she like, your mum? - Made a good home.- Yeah.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25- Er, I never wanted for anything. - Yeah.- Good cook.- Yeah.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29Very good cook, tenacious, once she started something,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31once she put her mind to it...
0:54:31 > 0:54:34- Yeah.- ..it was going to get done.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38- A very giving person. - Yeah.- But, er...
0:54:38 > 0:54:43Well, I'll tell you what, you've just described my mum to a T.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48- Well, I guess she passed something along the way.- Yeah.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52That's my mum, Jessie, that's the name that your mum gave her.
0:54:52 > 0:55:00- Cor, she's my sister?- Yeah, there you go.- That's so exciting.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03- Tell me about it.- It is SO exciting.
0:55:03 > 0:55:09- I've always been an only child, at 72 I got a...- So is she, so is she!
0:55:09 > 0:55:15- Not any more. - And, I'm, er, I'm going to call her.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19- 'Hello.'- Hello.- 'Hello.'
0:55:19 > 0:55:21I'm in California.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24- 'In California.'- Yeah.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28And do you know, I'm sitting next to somebody.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31- 'Who is it?'- Well, you...
0:55:31 > 0:55:33'Yeah.'
0:55:33 > 0:55:38- ..have got a brother. - 'I've got a brother?!'- Yeah.
0:55:38 > 0:55:39'How old is he?'
0:55:39 > 0:55:47- He's a younger brother. Yeah. He's 72 and he...- '22?'- 72, not 22, Mum, no!
0:55:49 > 0:55:53- 72 and his name's John.- 'John.'
0:55:53 > 0:55:57And I'm going to put you on to him because he, like you,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00has spent all his life as an only child...
0:56:00 > 0:56:02'Oh, I say!'
0:56:02 > 0:56:05..and he's the son of your mum.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10And there you are, here he is, your long lost brother John.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14'Oh, my goodness. So you felt just the same as I did?'
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Yes, I did. Jessie, I'm John.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21'Hello and I'm Jessie and I'm so glad to speak to you.'
0:56:21 > 0:56:24This is so exciting.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26'What a surprise.'
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Oh, yeah, I had no idea and I gather you didn't either?
0:56:30 > 0:56:36'No, no idea at all, I never knew where she went, is she still alive?'
0:56:36 > 0:56:39No, we lost her almost 20 years ago.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42'Oh, 20 years. Oh, I say.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46- 'So perhaps you've got a photograph you can send me.'- I'll be happy to.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50'It's so kind of you all to ring, it's really, really lovely.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56'So I've got a brother! It was lovely to speak to you.'
0:56:56 > 0:57:00- My pleasure.- So there you go, Mum. - 'Oh, it's marvellous, isn't it?'
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Eh, the end of the trail, all right.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05'Yeah, and you can, you can bring me some pictures, can't you?'
0:57:05 > 0:57:10I shall being you some pictures and we're just going to have to fix it up so you get to meet him.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13- 'Lovely.'- All right, darling. - 'Thank you very much.'
0:57:13 > 0:57:17- I'm going to love you and leave you. - 'All right then. Bye, bye.' - Bye, bye, Jess.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20- He's saying goodbye. - Goodbye. Bye, bye.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26God, dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28My mum's brother.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31- My yiddisher uncle.- Yeah!
0:57:38 > 0:57:40Well, I said at the beginning
0:57:40 > 0:57:44that half of myself was missing,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47and I guess that really was the quest,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50that's really what I wanted to find out about,
0:57:50 > 0:57:55what the other part of... The other part of me.
0:57:56 > 0:58:01So the gradual discovery of Albert Day and Catherine,
0:58:01 > 0:58:07it's sort of not only fulfilling, but it's sort of strengthening for me.
0:58:10 > 0:58:11Because...
0:58:17 > 0:58:20TEARFULLY: Because you're just a part of the journey yourself.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Now that I have an understanding of those two other grandparents,
0:58:27 > 0:58:28I feel stronger.
0:58:46 > 0:58:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:49 > 0:58:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk