0:00:02 > 0:00:05Today, the heir hunters are scouring the country for beneficiaries
0:00:05 > 0:00:07of an estate worth thousands of pounds.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Hello, Hector Birchwood speaking.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14Someone somewhere could be about to inherit a substantial sum of money.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:34 > 0:00:36On today's programme:
0:00:36 > 0:00:39saving lives under enemy fire...
0:00:39 > 0:00:41You were treating the wounded
0:00:41 > 0:00:44but you might very well become wounded yourself.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47A case that goes right to the heart of World War II.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51And an heir hunt with a sting in its tail
0:00:51 > 0:00:55sends the heir hunters right back to square one.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58It meant all the research we'd carried out up until now
0:00:58 > 0:00:59had been a waste of time.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Plus, how you may be entitled
0:01:01 > 0:01:05to inherit an unclaimed estate held by the Treasury.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:16 > 0:01:17Every year in the UK,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20an estimated 300,000 people die without leaving a will.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25If no relatives are found,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29then any money that's left behind will go to the Government.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Last year, they made £14 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35That's where the heir hunters come in.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38There are over 30 specialist firms
0:01:38 > 0:01:41who make it their business to track down missing relatives
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and help them claim their rightful inheritance.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47People are entitled to this money. We ensure they get it.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59It's a busy weekday morning
0:01:59 > 0:02:04and already, heir-hunting firms across the country are hard at work.
0:02:06 > 0:02:07Heir hunter Peter Birchwood
0:02:07 > 0:02:11has just received a tip-off about a man who died in 2004,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15but whose case has remained unsolved for the past seven years.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19I received an e-mail from a man
0:02:19 > 0:02:22who thinks that he's related to a Brian Yanchuk
0:02:22 > 0:02:24who died a few years back.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Although a lot of their cases come from the list of unclaimed estates
0:02:28 > 0:02:30the Treasury publish every Thursday,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33sometimes heir hunters receive information
0:02:33 > 0:02:35from individuals who need help.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41In this case, the person in question, Brian Yanchuk,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44had died without a will in 2004.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47His estate had been advertised
0:02:47 > 0:02:49but had gone unnoticed,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51but someone who believed he was his cousin
0:02:51 > 0:02:55had become concerned and contacted Peter.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00I told Peter that I thought Brian Alexander Yanchuk was my cousin
0:03:00 > 0:03:04and there wouldn't be many Yanchuks in Milton Keynes.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Celtic Research have been in the heir-hunting business
0:03:09 > 0:03:11for the past 40 years.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14The company is run by father and son team Peter and Hector Birchwood
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and they employ a team of regional heir hunters throughout the UK.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Between them,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24they solve over 300 cases a year.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Yanchuk is an extremely rare name in the UK.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36It obviously wasn't of British origin, so where did it come from?
0:03:36 > 0:03:40There are a whole multitude of them back in eastern Europe.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44There are villages full of Yanchuks in the Ukraine.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48This could make the team's task much more difficult.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51If Brian Yanchuk was born in the Ukraine,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54many of the family records and certificates
0:03:54 > 0:03:56would also be in that country
0:03:56 > 0:03:58and the team would have to enlist the help
0:03:58 > 0:04:01of an eastern European agent to access them.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Brian Yanchuk died on 17th December 2004
0:04:10 > 0:04:13in Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16leaving an estate worth approximately £12,000.
0:04:17 > 0:04:18But he left no will
0:04:18 > 0:04:22and only a couple of childhood photos of him survive.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25For Gavin Sweeney, who grew up on Brian's Street,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Brian was a permanent fixture in the neighbourhood.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32He was part of the furniture, you could say, part of the street.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34I just remember him having a drink,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36always having that can in his hand,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39having a fag on the bottom of his stairs
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and when I got older, later, it was always a "Hello,"
0:04:42 > 0:04:44even if he had a drink or something like that,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47sitting on his steps or on the grass or passing by,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49it was always, "You all right, Gav."
0:04:49 > 0:04:52"Yeah, Brian, all right, mate." And that was it.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Brian was proud of his flat on the estate,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and always kept it spick and span,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59as his neighbour June remembers.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01His flat was very clean.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04He used to have spider plants in his bedroom and bathroom
0:05:04 > 0:05:08and his living room, loads of them. And that's how I remember him by.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13He was also a regular at the local pub,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15along with his drinking buddy Jimmy.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22And they used to chat, and tell each other their problems.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25They used to go to the pub together.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Sadly, Jimmy died several years before Brian,
0:05:29 > 0:05:30and without his friend,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Brian went into a downward spiral.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37He just went downhill since then, you know,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41he went downhill because he didn't have anybody to talk to.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43You know, he only had Jimmy.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47But Brian left his mark on the community he lived in,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and is remembered fondly by the people who knew him.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54When you've lost someone that's been, as I say, part of the furniture,
0:05:54 > 0:05:55part of the street, really,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and someone that's been there for a very, very, very long time,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02sadly missed, as far as I'm concerned. God rest Brian.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09In the office,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Peter Birchwood had been looking for a birth record for Brian.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14He was worried that with a name like Yanchuk,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16he might have been born overseas.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20I was fully expecting him not to be registered
0:06:20 > 0:06:23because he was from the Ukraine
0:06:23 > 0:06:26or somewhere in eastern Europe.
0:06:26 > 0:06:27But luckily, on this occasion,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31his hunch proved incorrect.
0:06:31 > 0:06:32No, here he is.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34He's born in the Wandsworth area.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38This is a huge relief. Now the team know
0:06:38 > 0:06:40that Brian was born in London,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43they can begin the search for his heirs in this country.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Armed with his date of birth and his date of death,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50they can move on to the next stage of their research.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Between those two periods, there's every possibility
0:06:53 > 0:06:56he may have married, he may have had children,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58so we look for those events,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02we make sure that if he's married, we know who his wife is,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05if he's got children, we know their names,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07but in this instance,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Brian never seems to have married
0:07:10 > 0:07:15so therefore, does not also appear to have had any children.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17With no wife or children in the picture,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21the team must now go up a generation to Brian's parents
0:07:21 > 0:07:23to find out when they were married
0:07:23 > 0:07:26and whether they had any children other than Brian.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Peter sends Hector to Wandsworth Register Office in South London
0:07:33 > 0:07:37to pick up Brian's parents' marriage certificate.
0:07:37 > 0:07:38- Hi, there.- Hello, there.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41I'm Hector Birchwood. I'm just here to pick up a certificate...
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Certificates play a crucial role in the heir-hunting process.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47They supply vital information
0:07:47 > 0:07:49such as dates, names of parents,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52addresses and occupations.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55So a lot is riding on this one piece of paper.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57The certificate's all done. It's in there.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59- Thank you. Good afternoon.- Bye-bye.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02It will help the team first to establish
0:08:02 > 0:08:05whether Brian has any siblings, and second,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09to uncover more information about his parents' families.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11If Brian has no siblings,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14the team will have to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18If they are still alive, they could be heirs to his estate.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23The certificate tells Hector that
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Brian's father, Alexander Yanchuk,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27married Violet Smith
0:08:27 > 0:08:29in Battersea in 1941.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Hmm.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35And it also provides some surprising information about Brian's father.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37"Alexander Yanchuk, bachelor,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41"Private number H11058,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43"Canadian Field Ambulance."
0:08:43 > 0:08:45His home address is
0:08:45 > 0:08:49in Fort William, Ontario, Canada.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Although he has a Ukrainian name, it appears
0:08:52 > 0:08:56that Brian's father Alexander may have been born in Canada
0:08:56 > 0:08:58and once again, this complicates matters.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01While the team will need to look for records
0:09:01 > 0:09:03of Brian's mother's family in the UK,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05on the father's side,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08they may have to turn their attention to Canada.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Heir-hunting cases often cross borders and continents
0:09:11 > 0:09:15as families move around in search of work and a better life,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18but how did Brian's father's family end up in Canada?
0:09:18 > 0:09:23And what brought his father Alexander from Canada to the UK?
0:09:27 > 0:09:30In the 1890s, the Canadian government
0:09:30 > 0:09:34began to actively encourage immigration from eastern Europe.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Canada was underpopulated
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and settlers were needed to come and occupy its vast prairies
0:09:39 > 0:09:41and cultivate the land.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Keen to escape hardship in their own country,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and attracted by offers of free land in Canada,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53tens of thousands of Ukrainian peasants responded to the call.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Thus began a wave of Ukrainian emigration to Canada,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00which continued until the Second World War.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Brian's paternal ancestors
0:10:04 > 0:10:07were probably part of this Ukrainian exodus.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10They settled in Canada, where Brian's father grew up.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15He worked as a farmer there until the Second World War.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Then, when the war started,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20he joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22During the Second World War,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Canada made a terrific contribution to the Allied cause.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31It had the third-largest Allied navy
0:10:31 > 0:10:32and the fourth-largest air force
0:10:32 > 0:10:36and an army of just over 700,000 men and women
0:10:36 > 0:10:41and Canada lost 42,000 men and women killed during the Second World War.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47Although Canada didn't introduce conscription for overseas service,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49a vast number of people volunteered
0:10:49 > 0:10:53to go and serve alongside the Allies in Europe.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58Many of these volunteers were from Canada's immigrant population.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01A large number of the descendants
0:11:01 > 0:11:05and even immigrants themselves that had come from the Ukraine to Canada,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07felt they too should play a part.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Britain was at war, Canada was at war,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11and they should play a part in the fighting.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16The Canadian Army numbered 730,000 men and women.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22Of that number, 35,000 served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Brian's father Alexander was one of those 35,000.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29He worked as a private in a field ambulance.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The field ambulance was the basic medical unit.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37They were the ones that actually dealt with the immediate casualties
0:11:37 > 0:11:40caused by enemy fire on the battlefields.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43They would transport the wounded men to regimental aid posts
0:11:43 > 0:11:48and from there to casualty clearing stations and ultimately hospitals.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Alexander's exact role in the field ambulance is unclear,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57but it seems likely that he worked as a driver.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00It may very well have been that Alexander, as a farmer,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02may have driven a tractor on his farm
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and of course, his driving skills would have been transferred
0:12:06 > 0:12:10into the driving ambulances, jeeps or trucks
0:12:10 > 0:12:13in transporting the wounded from the battlefield.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17When the war ended, Alexander and Violet settled in England.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Brian came along seven years later
0:12:20 > 0:12:24and they don't appear to have had any other children.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Now that Peter has established that Brian was unmarried
0:12:27 > 0:12:29and had no children or siblings,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33he must expand his search to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35In order to do this,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38he would normally go up to the deceased's grandparents
0:12:38 > 0:12:40on both the mother's and father's side of the family
0:12:40 > 0:12:42and then try to identify
0:12:42 > 0:12:45all the children that these grandparents had.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47But as Brian's father's side of the family
0:12:47 > 0:12:50are likely to be back in Canada or the Ukraine,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Peter turns his attention to the maternal family
0:12:53 > 0:12:55in his search for heirs.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59And now he really has his work cut out.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Brian's mother's maiden name is Smith,
0:13:02 > 0:13:03so his search has taken him
0:13:03 > 0:13:05from one of the most uncommon names in Britain
0:13:05 > 0:13:07to one of the most common.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Smith is not a good name to work on.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13The mother - Violet Smith -
0:13:13 > 0:13:17is a very common name, unfortunately.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18Coming up...
0:13:18 > 0:13:22the search for heirs leads right to the heart of war-torn London...
0:13:22 > 0:13:25I remember these old tenements
0:13:25 > 0:13:27and they were three storeys high.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29There used to be families on every floor.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33How one London family coped after the Blitz tore their city apart...
0:13:33 > 0:13:36They wanted somewhere to live and there wasn't anywhere
0:13:36 > 0:13:38because half of London was destroyed.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Sometimes families are keepers of secrets,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53passed down from generation to generation.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Once these secrets come out into the open,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58they can turn an heir hunt completely on its head.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02This is what happened in the case of Alexander Gibson.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Alexander died on 22 July, 2004
0:14:11 > 0:14:13in Brighton in Sussex.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15He was 82 years old.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20He spent the last seven years of his life in a nursing home
0:14:20 > 0:14:24in neighbouring Hove, just a stone's throw from the sea.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Prior to this, he lived with his mother
0:14:28 > 0:14:31in a flat in the Preston Park area of Brighton.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Alexander left an estate of £70,000
0:14:40 > 0:14:42but died without leaving a will.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45His case was taken up by heir hunter Bob Smith
0:14:45 > 0:14:48at probate research firm Fraser and Fraser.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50We were originally contacted by the solicitors
0:14:50 > 0:14:54who'd been acting on behalf of our deceased during his lifetime.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57The deceased had died.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00There were no known family members and they'd sought our assistance
0:15:00 > 0:15:03to try and locate a family member who could administer his estate.
0:15:03 > 0:15:04Bob's first step
0:15:04 > 0:15:08was to establish whether Alexander had a wife and children.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11We tried to identify any marriages of the deceased.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14He was born in Kent and died in Sussex
0:15:14 > 0:15:16so we stuck to the south-east.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19No marriages were identified so we assumed he had no children.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23With no wife or children in the picture,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27the next thing the team had to do was track down Alexander's parents.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30We then obtained a copy of his birth certificate,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32which gave his parents details
0:15:32 > 0:15:35as John Gibson and Winifred Daisy Gibson, nee Clift.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38As we now had the names of the parents,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41we then identified their marriage which took place
0:15:41 > 0:15:43in 1920 in Medway
0:15:43 > 0:15:46and determined they had died before our deceased.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Since Alexander's parents had both passed away,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53the team now had to determine whether they'd had other children.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58We then began a search to see if our deceased had any brothers and sisters
0:15:58 > 0:16:00and we discovered he was an only child.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Alexander was born on 20 September 1921
0:16:06 > 0:16:08in Gillingham in Kent.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12His mother, Winifred, was a tailoress and his father, John,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14worked in the Chatham dockyard.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Chatham dockyard on the River Medway,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22began its life in the 16th century,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24during the reign of Elizabeth I.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26It was here that the Queen's ships were built,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29repaired and maintained.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Chatham dockyard developed
0:16:31 > 0:16:33wooden sailing ships
0:16:33 > 0:16:35until they were second to none
0:16:35 > 0:16:38and they took part in quite a few major battles
0:16:38 > 0:16:40which ended up with being the envy of the world
0:16:40 > 0:16:42and foreign countries.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Over the next 400 years,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Chatham provided over 500 ships for the Royal Navy.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Wooden sailing ships were gradually replaced by iron ships
0:16:53 > 0:16:56run by steam engines and in the early 1900s,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59when Alexander's father John worked there,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Chatham began building the Royal Navy's new weapon of war -
0:17:02 > 0:17:05the submarine.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07Captain, I have the ship. Clear the bridge for diving.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11This was an exciting time in the dockyard's history.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Submarine construction would span two World Wars,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18enter the nuclear age and provide continued work for Chatham dockyard
0:17:18 > 0:17:20until the mid-1960s.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22'Diving now, diving now.'
0:17:22 > 0:17:27Alexander's father, John, was employed as a clerk -
0:17:27 > 0:17:31a job which was essential in keeping the dockyard running smoothly
0:17:31 > 0:17:32at such a busy time.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36The clerks in the dockyard either worked for the cashier,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38doing the accounts and the money for the men,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40or for the store superintendent,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43which would keep an account of all the things
0:17:43 > 0:17:46that entered the dockyard and left the dockyard on ships.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It was considered a job for life
0:17:49 > 0:17:51and the skills you learnt in here,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54in some cases, couldn't be learnt anywhere else.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01After Alexander's father retired, the family moved to Brighton.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Alexander appears to have spent some time in the Royal Air Force,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07where he was in employed as an engineer.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10He then worked for Brighton and Hove Council,
0:18:10 > 0:18:11delivering school dinners.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Having established that Alexander was unmarried
0:18:20 > 0:18:25and had no children or siblings, the team now had to expand their search
0:18:25 > 0:18:27to look for more distant relatives.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29We then looked for the grandparents on both the mother's
0:18:29 > 0:18:31and the father's side of the family
0:18:31 > 0:18:33and the list of their children
0:18:33 > 0:18:36who, of course, will be aunts and uncles of our deceased.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40The grandparents on Alexander's mother's side of the family
0:18:40 > 0:18:41proved easy to find.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44John Clift married Mary Ann Brain
0:18:44 > 0:18:47in Medway in Kent in 1893.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50They are listed as having eight children -
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Alexander's mother Winifred and seven others.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Of the seven maternal aunts and uncles,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04five of those have married and had children themselves,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06who would be first cousins to our deceased.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10We then had the task of tracking them down.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12One of Alexander's maternal aunts
0:19:12 > 0:19:16was May Clift, who married a Leslie in 1939.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20They had three children including a daughter, Christine.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Christine would be a maternal first cousin
0:19:24 > 0:19:27and we believe would be one of the family members
0:19:27 > 0:19:30entitled to a share of our deceased's estate.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35It looked like all the team's hard work had paid off.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Bob had found his first potential heir
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and he wasted no time in getting in touch.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43When I opened the letter from Fraser and Fraser,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47it was a complete shock. I was surprised.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50I wondered, erm...
0:19:51 > 0:19:54..secondly, if it was a bit of a scam,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59but then the, sort of, optimist in you takes over
0:19:59 > 0:20:03and you feel quite excited, thinking you might be inheriting.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Christine was Alexander's first cousin.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08She didn't know Alexander very well,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12but she thinks she may have met him once or twice as a child.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16He was always a rather shadowy, reclusive figure
0:20:16 > 0:20:18and I rather heard more about him
0:20:18 > 0:20:22than actually had any contact with him.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Christine agreed to sign with the heir hunters
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and the team then set about contacting the other cousins.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32In total, we had 20 first cousins
0:20:32 > 0:20:36who we believe would be entitled to a share of our deceased's estate.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38We then began contacting those first cousins.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42But just as they were about to sign up the last heir,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45one of the cousins dropped a bombshell.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Alexander might have a closer relation
0:20:47 > 0:20:50who the team had not discovered.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53We were told the surprising news
0:20:53 > 0:20:56that a maternal aunt was, in fact,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59an illegitimate daughter of the mother of our deceased.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Coming up...
0:21:02 > 0:21:05all the team's research so far is thrown into disarray
0:21:05 > 0:21:10as it looks like Alexander may have had a sister after all.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14If this information was correct, she would have a prior entitlement
0:21:14 > 0:21:16to all the family members that we've just contacted.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Heir hunters work hard to solve thousands of cases a year,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31ensuring millions of pounds are paid out to rightful heirs.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34But not every case can be cracked.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The Treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates
0:21:37 > 0:21:40that have baffled the heir hunters and remain unclaimed.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44These estates stay on the list for up to 30 years
0:21:44 > 0:21:49and each one could be worth anything from £5,000 to many millions.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Today we're focusing on three names from the list.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54Are they relatives of yours?
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Could you be in line for an unexpected windfall?
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Daisy Violet Lily Rose May Poppy Fern Barnes
0:22:02 > 0:22:07died in Fulham in London in March 2008.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Does this distinctive selection of floral names ring a bell with you?
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Benhilda Tandi died in Lewisham in London in August 2008.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Benhilda is an unusual first name in the UK,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24as is the surname Tandi, spelt with an I instead of a Y.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Do you remember Benhilda?
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Can you help solve this case?
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Dorothy Caroline Geddes
0:22:33 > 0:22:36also died in London in December 1996,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39but the vast majority of Geddes live in northern Scotland.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Were you a friend or neighbour of Dorothy's?
0:22:42 > 0:22:44If no heirs of hers are found,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47her money will go to the Government.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51If the names Daisy Barnes,
0:22:51 > 0:22:52Benhilda Tandi or Dorothy Geddes
0:22:52 > 0:22:56mean anything to you or someone you know,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Peter Birchwood from Celtic Research has been looking into the case
0:23:08 > 0:23:13of Brian Yanchuk who died in Milton Keynes in 2004.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15The team have established that Brian was unmarried
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and had no children or siblings,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21so they're now looking for aunts, uncles and cousins
0:23:21 > 0:23:23who could be heirs to Brian's estate.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26As Brian's father's side of the family
0:23:26 > 0:23:28appear to have settled in Canada,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31the team are concentrating their attention on the mother's side
0:23:31 > 0:23:34whose surname is Smith.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36We're looking for the birth of a Violet Smith,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40who was 18 years old in 1941.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of people
0:23:43 > 0:23:47with the surname Smith in Britain, but the marriage certificate
0:23:47 > 0:23:49that Hector picked up from Wandsworth Register Office
0:23:49 > 0:23:53provides two clues which will help them track down the right family.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56We know that families
0:23:56 > 0:23:58in the Battersea area
0:23:58 > 0:24:01which is really
0:24:01 > 0:24:05within three separate registration districts -
0:24:05 > 0:24:08that's Battersea, Wandsworth and Lambeth.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12So the team are able to narrow their search down to this area,
0:24:12 > 0:24:13just south of the Thames in London.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18The second clue is the name of Brian's maternal grandfather.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23And we know from the marriage certificate that Violet's father
0:24:23 > 0:24:25is Albert Smith
0:24:25 > 0:24:28and he works on the railways.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31We might well have several Violet Smiths,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33but we can buy each certificate,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35just to make sure that one of them
0:24:35 > 0:24:39has got a father's name which is correct.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43The team eventually manage to identify the correct birth
0:24:43 > 0:24:45for Brian's mother - Violet Smith.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48They can now go on to find her brothers and sisters.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51We know what street they were living in
0:24:51 > 0:24:54in the Battersea area,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56so based on that street address,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59we know that we can look in the registry office,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01in Battersea Registry Office,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04for any other Smith births
0:25:04 > 0:25:07in that specific sub-district.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Now there are a lot of them,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12but it's manageable.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16The team's painstaking research pays off.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20They discovered that Violet's parents - Albert and Nelly Smith -
0:25:20 > 0:25:23had one son - Albert - and five daughters...
0:25:28 > 0:25:30So a family of six,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35all born within the same general area,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38all born, really, within a couple of streets
0:25:38 > 0:25:40of the original address.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44So they stuck fairly close to home.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Peter quickly discovers that all of Violet's brothers and sisters
0:25:47 > 0:25:51have passed away, but four of them have had children,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54including Brian's aunt, Ivy.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57She married a Cecil in 1935 in Battersea
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and they had two children - a son and a daughter, Ann.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06They are both potential heirs to Brian Yanchuk's £12,000 estate.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Peter needs to confirm that his research is correct
0:26:13 > 0:26:17so he's arranged to go and visit Ann, who lives in Birmingham.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28Mrs Anderson is a cousin of the deceased.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32She's the oldest of the first cousins
0:26:32 > 0:26:35by maybe five or six years
0:26:35 > 0:26:38and we found her by
0:26:38 > 0:26:41finding her mother's marriage...
0:26:43 > 0:26:47..and from the mother's marriage, just who the children were.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Peter wants to meet Ann face-to-face
0:26:50 > 0:26:52to go through the family tree with her.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57- Hello.- Hello.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59This way he can be sure
0:26:59 > 0:27:02he's identified all of the correct family members.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I've got the family tree here
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and you might tell me if I've got anything wrong.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- Certainly I've got your grandad as Albert...- Yes.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17..marrying to Nelly Beatrice Lilian Potter.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19Yes, that's right. It is Nelly,
0:27:19 > 0:27:20yeah, it was Nelly Potter, yes.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Yes, and they married in 1908 in Wandsworth.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Wandsworth then covered Battersea.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30- Yes.- It was only a little bit later
0:27:30 > 0:27:32that Battersea became its own registration district.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Ann is able to provide
0:27:34 > 0:27:38some more information about the family's life in Battersea.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41St Philip Street, Battersea.
0:27:41 > 0:27:42Yes. Do you know that street?
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Yes. That's where they all lived.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Ann's grandparents Albert and Nelly
0:27:51 > 0:27:54moved to St Philip Street during the Second World War,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57probably after their own house was bombed,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and when their children grew up and married,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02many of them stayed in the same street.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05At one point, they even shared the same house.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07When we used to go down there,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I remember these old tenements, and they was three storeys high,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14and there used to be families on every floor.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And in the first one I remember going to,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21it was me grandma on the bottom, Auntie Beatrice in the middle,
0:28:21 > 0:28:26and Violet Yanchuk on the top one with her husband and her child.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34During the Second World War,
0:28:34 > 0:28:39millions of British homes were destroyed or damaged by bombs.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42This, coupled with a post-war baby boom in the 1940s,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45led to an acute housing shortage.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50As a result, people often had no choice but to share accommodation,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53with several families living under the same roof.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56In many cases, houses had no bathrooms
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and no central heating or hot water.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03In them days, they were poorer, really, and when they had chops,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06they used to scrape the bone with a knife to get every little bit off.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10And when they had butter, they shared it, they weighed it all out,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12so everybody had their own bit of butter.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17I know they used to all live on top of one another,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20but they got on, they always seemed to get on all right.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Having been through the family tree with Ann,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Peter can now confirm that she is definitely an heir,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30and that she shares her inheritance with six other heirs
0:29:30 > 0:29:31on the maternal side.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33I think that's about it.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37- I'm confident that we've got all of the Smith family together.- Yes.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40I would hope within a fairly short time,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42although I have to say it might be a year,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46then you'll be receiving a little bit of good news,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48but there you are.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52- Thank you very much.- Well, thank you for seeing me.- Thank you.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55For Ann, this has been a trip down memory lane.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59After the Second World War, the Smith family began to lose touch
0:29:59 > 0:30:04as Brian's parents and his Aunt Beatie moved out of London.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06They moved them out to Milton Keynes
0:30:06 > 0:30:10and that's how Vi and Beatie
0:30:10 > 0:30:12became Milton Keynes,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16because they moved a lot of Londoners out of the suburbs,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19because it was a new town in them days, Milton Keynes was.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24In 1946, the UK government passed the New Towns Act
0:30:24 > 0:30:28to tackle the problem of congestion and poor quality housing
0:30:28 > 0:30:30in the inner cities.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Areas of land were designated for the construction of these new towns,
0:30:34 > 0:30:36with improved housing, schools,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38healthcare facilities and shops.
0:30:40 > 0:30:41The new towns were a world apart
0:30:41 > 0:30:44from the dirty, smog-ridden streets of inner London.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48People were enticed there with promises of low-rent council houses
0:30:48 > 0:30:50with indoor bathrooms
0:30:50 > 0:30:51and hot running water,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56and access to extensive lakes, parkland and green areas.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Brian's parents and his aunt signed up for this new life
0:30:59 > 0:31:03and appeared to have spent the rest of their days there.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07The disadvantage was that they lost touch with their family.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Well, I suppose with my mother moving away
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and Lilian moving away from home,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15and the two sisters going to Milton Keynes,
0:31:15 > 0:31:16it sort of all went mislaid,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19we didn't see much of each other, really, after that.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21But for Ann, becoming an heir
0:31:21 > 0:31:25has allowed her to reconnect with her long-lost family.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27I've got in contact with a cousin
0:31:27 > 0:31:30that I hadn't seen since he was young
0:31:30 > 0:31:33and I've even spoken to his son, which I didn't know existed.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37It's nice to get in touch with people.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39We've exchanged e-mail addresses
0:31:39 > 0:31:41so we can keep in touch that way as well.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46'It's been very good. I'm really overwhelmed with it, really.'
0:31:48 > 0:31:51For Mike Smith, who originally contacted Peter
0:31:51 > 0:31:55to say he thought he was related to a Brian Yanchuk,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58the gamble has paid off. Peter has proved that like Ann,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02he is an heir to Brian's estate on the maternal side of the family.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Mike's father Albert was a brother of Brian's mother Violet.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Albert had two children, Mike and one other.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13They are Brian Yanchuk's first cousins.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17Mike wasn't expecting to inherit any money.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21I didn't think I would ever get anything. It was just, anything...
0:32:21 > 0:32:22I mean, it's a bonus, really,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26but I was more interested in the facts of what has happened, really,
0:32:26 > 0:32:28than any inheritance.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32But the experience has stirred up memories for Mike
0:32:32 > 0:32:36of playing with Alexander back in St Philip Street in the 1950s.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39When you was working class in them days,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42you were happy with whatever you got.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45There was no jealousy of somebody else
0:32:45 > 0:32:49because everyone was pretty much in the same boat.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54Peter has now signed up all the heirs to Brian Yanchuk's estate
0:32:54 > 0:32:57on the maternal side of the family - seven in total,
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and research on the paternal side is continuing in Canada
0:33:01 > 0:33:05so for Peter, it's a satisfying end to a fascinating case.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10We've got everything now that we need to put the claim in
0:33:10 > 0:33:12and that claim is going to go in immediately
0:33:12 > 0:33:15so I hope we'll have it accepted within a few days.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20Then we can get the administration started, get the whole thing moving
0:33:20 > 0:33:22and make sure that there's no delay
0:33:22 > 0:33:26in recovering the assets for the family.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Bob Smith at heir-hunting firm Fraser and Fraser
0:33:36 > 0:33:39was looking into the case of Alexander Gibson,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41who died in Brighton in 2004.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45Alexander had never married and had no children
0:33:45 > 0:33:48and initially, he didn't appear to have any siblings,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52so the team had been busy signing up cousins as heirs to his estate.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56But one of these cousins then dropped a bombshell
0:33:56 > 0:34:00when she told Bob she thought Alexander had a half-blood sister.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03This revelation was obviously a bit of a shock.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06It meant all the research we'd carried out up until now
0:34:06 > 0:34:07had been a waste of time.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11The family members that we contacted would no longer be entitled.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16The half-sister in question was Ethel.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19She was brought up as the daughter of John and Mary Ann Clift,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23alongside her seven supposed brothers and sisters,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26but it now appeared that she was not their daughter at all
0:34:26 > 0:34:28but their granddaughter,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30and her mother was actually Winifred,
0:34:30 > 0:34:33who'd been passed off as her sister.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36So it was back to the drawing board for Bob and the team,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39who now had to find a birth certificate for Ethel
0:34:39 > 0:34:43to prove she was the daughter of the deceased's mother Winifred.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46When we originally tried to identify her birth,
0:34:46 > 0:34:47we couldn't, because, of course,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50we were using the surnames of both the grandparents.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56With this new information, we began looking for a birth of Ethel Clift,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58daughter of Winifred Clift,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02between 1911 and Winifred's subsequent marriage in 1920.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08This new search would make or break the case.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12If the team could find the correct birth for Ethel, they'd be halfway
0:35:12 > 0:35:13to finding the right heirs.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19As hoped, their search turned up trumps.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24There was an Ethel Clift born on 18th March 1917
0:35:24 > 0:35:28and her birth certificate gave her mother as none other
0:35:28 > 0:35:30than Winifred Daisy Clift.
0:35:30 > 0:35:36This birth certificate proved that Winifred had had another child.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39As there was no father shown on the birth certificate,
0:35:39 > 0:35:44it suggested that Ethel was actually an illegitimate child of Winifred.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48But there was something strange about this birth certificate.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51On the birth certificate of Ethel,
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Winifred's address was shown as in Chatham in Kent.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58However, Ethel herself was born in Hanwell in London.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Why did Winifred go all the way to London to have her baby?
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Why did she not have her in Chatham in Kent?
0:36:05 > 0:36:10Pat Thane is a professor of history at King's College London.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14She's carried out extensive research into unmarried mothers
0:36:14 > 0:36:17and the attitudes they faced in early 20th-century Britain.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Winifred probably wasn't unusual in having her child away from home.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24This seems to have been quite common.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Very often, it was because
0:36:27 > 0:36:30they didn't want everyone to see them heavily pregnant
0:36:30 > 0:36:32in their neighbourhood
0:36:32 > 0:36:35because some people might be hostile or disapproving.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37It was also sometimes hard
0:36:37 > 0:36:41for women to get medical attention in their own neighbourhoods.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43There were some midwives
0:36:43 > 0:36:49who wouldn't deliver the children of unmarried mothers, for example,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52and some places where there were fewer midwives and doctors
0:36:52 > 0:36:56and it's possible that in the middle of the First World War,
0:36:56 > 0:37:01when her child, when Winifred's child was born,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05that many doctors and nurses would have been off at war.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08What is certain is that once Winifred had had her child,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10she came back to live with her parents.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14And her daughter Ethel was brought up as her sister.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18It was very hard for a woman to earn enough
0:37:18 > 0:37:20to support herself and a child.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25A lot of them seem to have gone back to live with their own parents
0:37:25 > 0:37:29and the child might grow up thinking the grandmother was their mother.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32In Ethel's case, this family secret
0:37:32 > 0:37:34was passed down through the generations,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38as Alexander's cousin Christine can confirm.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42I knew Ethel as my Auntie Ethel,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44my mother's elder sister by one year.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49I only found out that Ethel wasn't my auntie,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54when I was with my mother one day and my mother said to me,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59"You know, Auntie Ethel isn't really my sister."
0:37:59 > 0:38:02She was, in fact, Auntie Winnie's daughter.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06To save the family name,
0:38:06 > 0:38:11my mother's parents had brought Ethel up as their own child
0:38:11 > 0:38:13and then, to make the story even more convincing,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16they'd had my mother,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20so that it would look more natural.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Now, the team knew that Alexander had a half-blood sister,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26their next step was to see whether she was still alive.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28We were able to confirm that Ethel had passed away,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31in 1991 in Portsmouth,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34but she had married and had two children.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37We now had the task of trying to track those two children,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39because they would be the entitled family members
0:38:39 > 0:38:41from our deceased's estate.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45The team were finally on the right track.
0:38:45 > 0:38:46Alexander's half-sister Ethel
0:38:46 > 0:38:50had married a Cyril in 1940 in Medway.
0:38:50 > 0:38:51They had had two sons,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54who would be Alexander's half-nephews
0:38:54 > 0:38:56and his closest living relatives.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58The team managed to find these two sons,
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Andrew and David, living in Portsmouth
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Finally, they had the right heirs.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08For Andrew, who knew Alexander as Alec,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11the news of his death came as a bit of a shock.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16'My brother and I were both very sad that Alec had died.'
0:39:16 > 0:39:20My mother died in 1988 and we lost touch with Alec,
0:39:20 > 0:39:26because he, sort of, turned into a bit of a recluse,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30so he became rather unsociable
0:39:30 > 0:39:32and, sort of, didn't want any visitors,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35so it sort of fizzled out after that.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40Andrew's mother Ethel knew that Winifred was her real mother
0:39:40 > 0:39:41and that Alexander was her brother.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45That's at Alan's wedding.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47But Andrew and his brother David grew up thinking
0:39:47 > 0:39:50that their Uncle Alexander was their cousin.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53And their grandmother Winifred was their aunt.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Well, we used to call Win "Aunt",
0:39:55 > 0:40:00because I suppose they wanted to live the lie.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02My brother often used to wonder
0:40:02 > 0:40:08why his other aunties used to send him a shilling for his birthday
0:40:08 > 0:40:10and Auntie Win used to send him a pound!
0:40:11 > 0:40:13But Andrew does have some happy memories
0:40:13 > 0:40:17of spending time with Alexander as a boy.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Me and my mother used to go to visit Alec on the train in Brighton,
0:40:21 > 0:40:26in the late '70s and that was quite a pleasant memory for me,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29because it was one of the first times I went anywhere
0:40:29 > 0:40:32on a day trip, and then, a little bit later, in the early '80s,
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I passed my driving test and we used to go in my car.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Andrew also reveals some fascinating information,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41which deepened the mystery
0:40:41 > 0:40:44of his mother Ethel's true parentage.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Well, our mother told us that Auntie Win,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50who was really her mother,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54had an affair with a Russian seaman during the First World War
0:40:54 > 0:40:55and that led to my mother.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Who was this mysterious Russian sailor?
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Was it a fly-by-night affair or something more serious?
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Andrew believes his grandmother Winifred
0:41:05 > 0:41:09may have paid tribute to her sailor, in her children's names
0:41:09 > 0:41:11When Fraser & Fraser told me
0:41:11 > 0:41:16that Alec was actually called Alexander,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19perhaps this was taken from the Russian sailor's name,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23because my mother's middle name is also Alex.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28Andrew and his brother will now be the sole beneficiaries
0:41:28 > 0:41:32of Alexander's £70,000 estate.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36As nephews of Alexander's, they are of a closer bloodline
0:41:36 > 0:41:39than cousins the heir hunters originally found.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42For one of these cousins, Christine,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45being told she was a beneficiary and then she wasn't,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47was something of a disappointment.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Well, I wasn't surprised that I wouldn't be inheriting.
0:41:52 > 0:41:53I was disappointed,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55because everybody would like to inherit something.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00But, of course, I realised that
0:42:00 > 0:42:05David and Andrew were closer bloodline than I was.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08But for Andrew and David,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11any happiness they feel on becoming beneficiaries,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14is tinged with sadness.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17We would have liked to have gone to the funeral and so on.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21So... we were very sad about that.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26For heir hunter Bob Smith,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28it's been a case of surprises, twists and turns.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33We had no way of knowing that Winifred had had another child.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35We would normally look for children from a marriage
0:42:35 > 0:42:37and there was no previous marriage
0:42:37 > 0:42:41and you wouldn't assume that someone would have had an illegitimate child.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Despite all the twists and turns and disappointments
0:42:45 > 0:42:47to the family members that we'd originally found,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50I'm very pleased that we have identified
0:42:50 > 0:42:54the correct family members, who will share from our deceased's estate.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd