0:00:02 > 0:00:04Welcome to Heir Hunters, where we follow the search
0:00:04 > 0:00:07for relatives of people who've died without leaving a will,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10hoping to unite them with forgotten fortunes.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Today, the heir hunters are researching an estate
0:00:14 > 0:00:19- worth an astronomical amount of money.- Found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Somewhere out there are some long-lost relatives,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25who have no idea they're in line for a windfall.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Coming up on today's programme...
0:00:45 > 0:00:46Now we can rock'n'roll.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50..it's pennies from heaven for one lucky beneficiary.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53When I discovered the value of the estate, I was staggered.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55An heir hunt that travels across the globe
0:00:55 > 0:00:59and uncovers one of the most valuable estates ever...
0:00:59 > 0:01:02He's going to receive a truly life-changing amount of money.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06An heir retraces his grandfather's footsteps...
0:01:06 > 0:01:11- He's done things that we can never, ever dream of doing.- ..deep in the trenches of World War One.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13When the whistles went and you'd go off over the top,
0:01:13 > 0:01:18you were just sort of floundering almost waist deep in mud and water.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22I find out how to research relatives who served in the military.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It's amazing, to suddenly see them as a human,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28as not somebody on paper - a great grandad you've never met.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Plus, how YOU could be entitled to a share of an unclaimed estate.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:44 > 0:01:49Every year in the UK, an estimated 300,000 people die
0:01:49 > 0:01:51without leaving a will.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53If no relatives are found,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57then any money that's left behind will go to the government.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Last year, they made £14 million from unclaimed estates.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04That's where the heir hunters come in.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08There are over 30 specialist firms who make it their business
0:02:08 > 0:02:13to track down missing relatives and help them claim their rightful inheritance.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15People are entitled to this money. We make sure they get it.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23First up today,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25the heir hunters investigate the case of a man who died abroad
0:02:25 > 0:02:27without leaving a will.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31But with little information to go on, can the team find the right family?
0:02:38 > 0:02:43- It's early Thursday morning at the offices of Fraser & Fraser... - Can you check probate, Debbie?
0:02:43 > 0:02:46..and the team are already hard at work.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49- That could be right. - No, I don't like that. Wrong age.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53The Treasury has just released its list of people who've died without leaving a will
0:02:53 > 0:02:55and boss Neil Fraser
0:02:55 > 0:02:59has spotted a case which is a little out of the ordinary.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02What we're looking at today is the case of Robert Ford Mead
0:03:02 > 0:03:05and he dies in Thailand.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09The list of unclaimed estates normally only covers people
0:03:09 > 0:03:12who have died in England or Wales.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14The only exception is when somebody dies overseas,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18but leaves behind assets in the UK.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Neil knows that this case could be fraught with difficulties.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27This is going to be very, very hard for us to get on.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32We don't know if we're going to be able to get the death certificate. We don't know how old he is,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35because we take that information, usually, off the death certificate.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38We certainly don't know what type of assets he's got.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The team are hoping they're dealing with a wealthy ex-pat,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47who's left behind a property, bank account or pension in the UK.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49But Robert Mead could just as easily have died
0:03:49 > 0:03:52with no more than a few thousand pounds to his name.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55So the team are taking a massive gamble.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Heir hunters work on commission,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00receiving a percentage of an estate's final value.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03If the value is substantial, they'll make a profit.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06If the value is very low, they could have trouble just breaking even.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Neil puts senior researcher Gareth in charge of the case.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17- Have we got a manager on this?- Yeah.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Gareth is an experienced heir hunter
0:04:20 > 0:04:26but already he's worried about the seemingly insurmountable task ahead of him.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I haven't got an area in the UK to look for him.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31So I don't know where he was from, originally.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Was he living in Thailand? Was he just on holiday in Thailand?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38I've, literally, only got his name, Robert Ford Mead.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41So I'm struggling to identify anything, really.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45With no leads to go on, Gareth decides a sensible place
0:04:45 > 0:04:48to start his enquiries is with the British Embassy in Thailand,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50so he gives them a call.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55We are actually in the process of trying to locate the heirs to his estate
0:04:55 > 0:04:58and at the moment, we've got so little information to go on,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01I was hoping you might have some further details.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03This turns out to be a good move,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07as the Embassy in Bangkok is more than willing to help.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Thank you very, very much. Cheers, bye.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16He thinks they will almost certainly have a file on the deceased
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and he's going to root out that file
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and hopefully e-mail or call us back with some details.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Robert was one of around 6,000 British nationals
0:05:26 > 0:05:28who die every year overseas.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Before his name appeared on the Treasury list,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33his death would have set in motion
0:05:33 > 0:05:36a whole chain of events, both in Thailand and the UK.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41The responsibility for deaths abroad lies with the Foreign Office.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42When a death comes in,
0:05:42 > 0:05:48it will always be the frontline services, at our embassy, consulate,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51our high commission, that will generally deal with it.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53And that can obviously mean immediately dealing with
0:05:53 > 0:05:57the authorities, it can mean dealing with the police, the hospital,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59depending on the nature of that death.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01It will be called in to London
0:06:01 > 0:06:04and we will obviously start looking for the next of kin here.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08Finding the next of kin is of paramount importance.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11In an ideal world, there would be, in the back of the passport,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14where it says "next of kin", details,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16but unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20So you may look through some of the belongings,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25you may have to look at the credit card details, any personal letters.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Talk to the ex-pat community, did they know him?
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Was he a member of any clubs? Is he registered with the embassy?
0:06:35 > 0:06:39With the British Embassy in Thailand on the case, things are looking up.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41While Gareth waits for them to get back to him,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44the rest of the team start pursuing other leads,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46and it's not long before they make a breakthrough.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51What we've been able to do is, through a process
0:06:51 > 0:06:54of pure elimination, is identify the address for the deceased.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59By going through all the Robert F Meads they could find on the electoral roll,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02the team have been able to identify one who was living by himself.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05They believe this is the correct Robert Mead
0:07:05 > 0:07:09and the electoral roll provides them with his address.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12He owns a property down in Eastbourne and it looks like a family home,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15so we've got value on it, so we've started rolling on it.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19This is exactly what Neil was hoping for.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23A family home in Eastbourne could be worth a substantial sum of money,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27so the team now know it's worth their while to continue pursuing this case.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Now we can rock'n'roll.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39Robert Mead died on 17 February, 2010, in Koh Samui, in Thailand.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44But the team have now discovered he did have a life in the UK.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46His next-door neighbour, Ramesh Patel,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49knew him from when he was a young man.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Robert was a shy boy. Very, very shy.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58I never saw any friends,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01not even a boy friend, not even a girlfriend.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Robert shared a house in London with his parents,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07to whom he was very close.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Robert loves his mother a lot. That we saw.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Because they always go together, no?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15All three of them.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18His parents eventually retired to Eastbourne,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20but Robert stayed on in London,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23where he worked as a development manager
0:08:23 > 0:08:25for a well-known cake and biscuit company.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30He always comes with the van, Mr Kipling cakes, or McVitie's.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35He always parked the van here, in front of the house.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40That's why I knew that he's working for McVitie's or Mr Kipling.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The team now know that Robert owned a property in the UK,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49which means there is money in the estate.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51But the discovery of his address
0:08:51 > 0:08:54has also provided them with a vital clue -
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Robert's age when he died.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58He's 63 years old,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00which is pretty much how old we thought he was going to be.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The team can now work out the year that Robert was born
0:09:03 > 0:09:08and, thus, identify the correct birth record for him.
0:09:08 > 0:09:09Once they have the correct birth,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14- they can look for other family members.- Now we've got his birth, we can work it in the normal way.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18He appeared to be living with a John and an Isabella, who are probably the parents,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20so we are going to work those.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22We need to see if he's got any brothers and sisters.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Researcher Debbie gets on the case.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32I just want to double-check the spelling of the mother's maiden name.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34She finds a marriage for Robert's parents,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36rather unexpectedly, in Scotland,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40and then goes on to see whether they had any children, other than Robert.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Currently, I'm trying to establish siblings of the deceased.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Debbie's search comes up trumps.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48So far, we think he's got a brother, John.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56This is potentially an exciting development.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58If John is still alive,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00he could be the heir to Robert's estate.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Robert's parents, John and Isabella,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05married in Edinburgh in 1944.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Soon after marrying, they moved to London,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13where they had two children, Robert and his younger brother, John.
0:10:13 > 0:10:14John was born in 1949,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18so there's every possibility he's still alive,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20or so the team think.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Unfortunately, a quick search of the death records...
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Dies in '84.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28..reveals that John passed away in 1984.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31To confirm this death, and eliminate John as an heir,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Gareth needs to get a copy of John's death certificate
0:10:35 > 0:10:38from the register office in Hounslow in London.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Ah, is that Bob?
0:10:40 > 0:10:41And, as luck would have it,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46travelling researcher Bob Smith calls in at this particular moment.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- 'Hi, Bob.'- Hello, Gareth.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50'After you've got Millsy's death certificate,'
0:10:50 > 0:10:53can you get one for me from Hounslow, please?
0:10:53 > 0:10:57- Hounslow, yeah? - It's John Andrew Mead, M-E-A-D.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Whilst the bulk of their research is done in the office,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07heir hunters also rely heavily on a network of travelling researchers,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10ready to hit the road at a moment's notice.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Based throughout the UK, their job is to pick up certificates,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15make enquiries with neighbours,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and make sure they get to the heirs ahead of competing heir hunters.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23- All right. OK, mate. - 'Cheers.'- Cheers.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27While Bob heads off to Hounslow,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31the team set about looking for a marriage for Robert's brother, John.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34- Check marriages for John A Mead. - John A Mead?
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Yeah, dies in Hounslow in 1984.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40And it's not long before they find one.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43- Hounslow?- Hounslow's good. Hounslow's perfect, in fact.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47- So, take that marriage, then. June '78.- June' 78.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51It looks as though Robert's brother, John,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53got married in Hounslow in 1978.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55The team's task now
0:11:55 > 0:11:58is to see whether he and his wife had any children.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01If they did, they could be the heirs to Robert Mead's estate,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04but it's not looking hopeful.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06- Gareth?- Go ahead.- Small issue.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Neil hasn't found any children from the marriage of John Mead.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14This means that there don't appear to be any close kin on this case,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18and the team will now have to expand their search,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Researcher Alan gets to work
0:12:22 > 0:12:25on Robert's father's side of the family.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I have identified the marriage of the deceased's paternal grandparents.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35Robert's paternal grandparents were John Mead and Julia Bennett.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39They had two children, Robert's father, John, and a daughter, Joyce.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44If Joyce had any children, they would be cousins of Robert's,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46and potential heirs to his estate.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48But it's not good news.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Joyce died, unmarried, in 1947 in Brentford.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55As Joyce was Robert's father's only sister,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and as she died without having any children,
0:12:57 > 0:13:02this brings research on the paternal side of the family to an end.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06It would appear at the moment in time there's going to be no full blood
0:13:06 > 0:13:08on the paternal side of the family.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12Things are not looking very hopeful.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15With no close kin and no heirs on Robert's father's side,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18the team's only hope now is the maternal side,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and it looks as though they're all based in Scotland.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Good morning, Alan.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25How are you?
0:13:25 > 0:13:26It's Gareth, by the way.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Gareth puts in a call to the company's Scottish agent,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32to request some help with their research.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35It's a very short family tree, cos we don't have much information.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38The deceased is Robert Ford Mead,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and that's M-E-A-D.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Robert Ford's parents are John Clifford Mead
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and Isabella Ford Finlayson.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50They get married in 1944, in Edinburgh.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53That's our Scottish agent,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55who's going to get the marriage of the deceased parents
0:13:55 > 0:13:59and will almost certainly be working the Finlaysons in Scotland,
0:13:59 > 0:14:00I would have thought.
0:14:02 > 0:14:03All the team can do now
0:14:03 > 0:14:07is play a waiting game and hope that the Scottish agent
0:14:07 > 0:14:08will find some heirs
0:14:08 > 0:14:11on Robert's mother Isabella's side of the family.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14We're really pinning all our hopes on Isabella.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Hopefully, Isabella's got a nice family
0:14:16 > 0:14:17and we'll find some heirs from that.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Nice, big family. Nice, big Scottish family, that's what we want!
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Coming up, the team gets confirmation
0:14:27 > 0:14:29of the estate's final value,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and it exceeds all expectations.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35When I discovered the value of the estate, I was...
0:14:35 > 0:14:36Well, I was staggered.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39It's 45 minutes, an hour's worth of research,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41which could make Fraser & Fraser's year.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48The heir hunters are pinning their hopes
0:14:48 > 0:14:52on Robert's Scottish mother leading them to heirs on this case.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55'I'm going to meet case manager Simon Grosvenor,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59to find out how the team research Scottish records.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Why does Scotland have their own set of records?
0:15:02 > 0:15:06It's because Scotland is a separate country and, despite
0:15:06 > 0:15:09James I succeeding to England and the Act of Union,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12it retained its own legal system, so when they set up the
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths, they set it up separately.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21It was on January 1, 1855 that civil registration
0:15:21 > 0:15:24of births, marriages and deaths replaced the old system
0:15:24 > 0:15:29of parish records in Scotland. From 1855, registration
0:15:29 > 0:15:31became compulsory, regardless of
0:15:31 > 0:15:33religious belief or denomination
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and followed a standard format for each record type.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Are there any differences between Scottish records
0:15:40 > 0:15:42and English and Welsh records?
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Scottish records, very helpfully, from our point of view,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47have more information on them
0:15:47 > 0:15:50than you would get on a standard English or Welsh certificate.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Whist extra information do they have?
0:15:52 > 0:15:56As an example, we've got here the birth of Alexander Fleming...
0:15:56 > 0:15:58- Who discovered penicillin.- Indeed.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Now, the certificate says here, he was born on August 6th, 1881.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05It gives you the time of day that he was born, which you
0:16:05 > 0:16:09wouldn't standardly get on an English or Welsh certificate.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13The exception is twins or multiple births, when they give you the time.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15On Scottish births, you get it for everybody,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17so if you wanted to do a horoscope or something,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20you've got the time, and it tells you where,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and then it gives both the parents' details,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25so you get the maiden name of the mother,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28but also - again, you don't get this on English or Welsh certificates -
0:16:28 > 0:16:31you get the place and date of the parents' marriage.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The rest of the information - "who informed?" In this case, the father.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37And when and where it was registered.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40That must be really useful information, as an heir hunter?
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Yes, it is, because if we were doing this in England or Wales,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46we'd have to search for the marriage. Here, we've got the date.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49We can go straight to it and don't have to look.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Also, if it's a common name and you know
0:16:51 > 0:16:53when it was, you know it's the right one.
0:16:53 > 0:16:54Also, the marriages are different.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58We've got here the marriage of J M Barrie.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01- Yes, he wrote Peter Pan, my favourite.- Indeed.
0:17:01 > 0:17:02And it gives you his name
0:17:02 > 0:17:06and the name of his wife, and when and where the marriage occurred.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08It gives his occupation and notes she is a spinster.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10It also, and this is again
0:17:10 > 0:17:13the difference. On an English certificate, you'd just get the name
0:17:13 > 0:17:16of the father of either the groom or the bride.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20On the Scottish certificate, you get the name of the mother, as well,
0:17:20 > 0:17:21including her maiden name.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24So, if you're going to go backwards, you know who both
0:17:24 > 0:17:26the parents are, you can find their marriage and it makes life
0:17:26 > 0:17:30a lot easier, cos we don't have to guess the maiden name of the mother
0:17:30 > 0:17:32or check loads of other marriages. You just go straight for that one.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37- How can people access these records? - Again, one of the other differences
0:17:37 > 0:17:41is that you can actually see the entries. If you go into one of
0:17:41 > 0:17:43the websites where they have the births,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45marriages and deaths, or the census records,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48up to about 1906, you can actually see the entry.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Instead of having to apply for a certificate in England,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54then wait for it to come back and get information, you can just
0:17:54 > 0:17:58highlight it, click on it and get all the information straight away.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00- Amazing! - You can go back much more quickly,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04- which makes it rather more exciting, I think.- Yes.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08If you want to trace your Scottish ancestors, before the introduction
0:18:08 > 0:18:10of civil registration in 1855,
0:18:10 > 0:18:14the old parish records are also online and some of the records
0:18:14 > 0:18:17date back as far as the mid-1500s.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21However, the amount of information found on parish records
0:18:21 > 0:18:26can be variable and some entries contain little detail.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Scotland keep their own records. Are there any other places within the UK
0:18:31 > 0:18:35- that do the same? - Virtually everywhere other than
0:18:35 > 0:18:39England and Wales is kept separately, so Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43the Channel Islands and, curiously, Lundy, which was privately-owned
0:18:43 > 0:18:47for quite a long period and seem to have "escaped".
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Their records are kept at Kew. The others
0:18:51 > 0:18:55are kept either on the Isle of Man or Jersey or Guernsey,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59depending which one it is. The records in Jersey are slightly
0:18:59 > 0:19:01more complicated, cos they're kept in French, so if you don't
0:19:01 > 0:19:04speak French, it makes life more difficult.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06In that sense, the Scottish records,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09although they're also different, they're much easier to see
0:19:09 > 0:19:14than a lot of the others. The others are a more complicated process to do.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18You just have to, perhaps, travel a bit further to find them.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19- Thank you.- OK.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Heir hunters solve thousands of cases a year and millions of pounds
0:19:31 > 0:19:35are paid out to rightful heirs, but not every case can be cracked.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39The Treasury has a database of over 2,000 names,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42which have baffled the heir hunters and remain unsolved.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45This is known as the Bona Vacantia list.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Bona Vacantia is the Latin term for ownerless property.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50There's two main types.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53There's the property of now-dissolved companies
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and the estates of those who die without a valid will
0:19:55 > 0:19:57or entitled kin.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01And this unclaimed money could have your name on it.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The Crown doesn't want all estates at all costs.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06It's not how it operates.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11It wants kin to be found and that's what we work very hard to do.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Could you be the heir they've been searching for?
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Could you be in line for a windfall worth hundreds, thousands
0:20:17 > 0:20:19or even millions of pounds?
0:20:19 > 0:20:24Pollyanna Frances Charley Burnett died in Hereford in November, 2009.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Although Burnett is a relatively common surname,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Polyanna's forenames make her name combination very unusual.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Are you related to Pollyanna?
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Does her combination of names mean anything to you?
0:20:40 > 0:20:46John Emmanuel O'Hosi died in Leeds in February, 2007.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50O'Hosi is a very unusual clan name, with unclear origins.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Do you share the surname O'Hosi? Could you be John's heir?
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Mary Griffiss died in Woodford Green in Essex in November, 2004.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04The surname Griffiss,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07probably a corruption of the popular surname, Griffiths,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09is extremely rare in the UK.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Were you a friend or neighbour of Mary's?
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Can you help solve this case?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18If you think you might be related to Mary,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20or to any of those featured today,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24then follow the Treasury Solicitor's advice.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26If people want to find out information about
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Bona Vacantia Division, the first port of call
0:21:29 > 0:21:31is our website. We have a dedicated website
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and there is information on there
0:21:35 > 0:21:38for them to find out about what we do and how to make a claim.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Those names again... Pollyanna Burnett,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46John O'Hosi and Mary Griffiss.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51If any of the names today are relatives of yours,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53then you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Next, the case of a man from Coventry,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02who died without leaving a will.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The task for the heir hunters is to find out if he had
0:22:04 > 0:22:08any living family entitled to inherit his money.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14This is what happened in the case of Robin Miller.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Robin Miller died on November 26, 2008, in Coventry.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25He was 73 years old.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31He lived alone in a flat in this house,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34where his neighbours knew him as a quiet, reclusive character.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38But Robin was actually a man of hidden depths
0:22:38 > 0:22:40and had a bit of an adventurous streak,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44as his lifelong friend Roy can reveal.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Robin's main passion was cycling.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51He used to do Land's End to John o'Groats
0:22:51 > 0:22:55on his summer holiday fortnight. In those days, he used to manage
0:22:55 > 0:22:58to do it in the fortnight. I should think
0:22:58 > 0:23:00he must have done it 20 times in his lifetime.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Robin was also a man
0:23:03 > 0:23:05of rather old-fashioned tastes.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07'A pure Victorian'
0:23:07 > 0:23:14and anything past the, sort of, the war, he didn't want to know about.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17He just felt that it was a waste of time.
0:23:17 > 0:23:18If it was horse and carts
0:23:18 > 0:23:23or that type of transport, he'd love it,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26but if it was cars or planes, he'd boycott it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28He lived for Victoria.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40When Robin died, he left an estate of £33,000, but no will.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43His case was taken up by heir hunter Tony Pledger.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45This case first came to our attention
0:23:45 > 0:23:50on the Bona Vacantia list. At that time, we couldn't establish a value
0:23:50 > 0:23:53'for it, so we put it to one side, until such time'
0:23:53 > 0:23:56as we did know a value. That turned out to be £33,000.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58'We then started looking into it.'
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Tony's first step was to establish whether Robin had been married
0:24:02 > 0:24:04and whether he'd had any children.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09We're unable to trace any marriages of him in the Coventry area.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13We then have to assume that he was a bachelor at the time of his death.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And, as a bachelor, had no children.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19As Robin had no descendants, the team would now have to go
0:24:19 > 0:24:22back a generation, to find his parents.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Once they had his parents' names,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27they could see whether Robin had any brothers and sisters.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30The birth certificate of Robin told us who his parents were.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34We then found that they'd married in 1922, in the Chipping Norton
0:24:34 > 0:24:36registration district.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40From that marriage, there were two children,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Robin's elder sister and Robin.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Robin's parents were Walter Miller and Kathleen Dore.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51They had two children - Cicely, born in 1926,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53and Robin, born in 1934.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58If Cicely was still alive, as Robin's only sister,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02she could be the sole heir to his £33,000 estate.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05The team's task now was to try and track her down.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12Robin Miller was born on December 12, 1934, in Coventry.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15As a boy, he worked in a local grocer's shop,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19where he soon progressed to become manager.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23He then went on to work for the railway.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Well, he has to shovel the coal in the fire
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and keep the steam up and all this, you know?
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Yeah, and he was on one or two of the bigger engines.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36He went to London,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38and from London to Glasgow and that
0:25:38 > 0:25:41on the Royal Scot and one or two others, I think.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Tragically, Robin's parents both died within a year of each other
0:25:46 > 0:25:48when Robin was just 18,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52and his neighbour Roy and his family took him under their wing.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56My dad invited him round for Christmas lunch,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01which he thoroughly enjoyed, because we lived on...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04It was like a smallholding, on Tile Hill Lane,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08and we used to rear our own poultry,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and we used to have goose for Christmas lunch,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and it really went down well.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15And he never missed a Christmas lunch
0:26:15 > 0:26:19with my father and myself for 60 years.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25In the office,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29the team have discovered that Robin had a sister, Cicely,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32who could potentially be the heir to his estate.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37But a search of the death records soon put an end to this possibility.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39She passed away in 1933, aged six years,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43in Coventry Hospital, of bronchial pneumonia.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47This meant that Robin had no surviving close kin,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and the team would have to go back a generation
0:26:50 > 0:26:52to investigate the families of Robin's parents.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Tony started to look into Robin's mother's side of the family.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00He discovered that Robin's mother, Kathleen,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03was the daughter of James and Louisa Dore.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06She had six siblings, who would be aunts and uncles of Robin's.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11The team began to work their way through these uncles and aunts,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14to see whether they had married and had any children.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16It transpired that all of the uncles and aunts
0:27:16 > 0:27:17had family of their own
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and so, it became immediately apparent
0:27:20 > 0:27:24that we were looking at a fairly sizeable maternal family.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27With such a large maternal family,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30the team had high hopes of finding some of them still alive.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35It looked like they were on the verge of finding their first heirs.
0:27:39 > 0:27:40Coming up... The search for heirs
0:27:40 > 0:27:44reveals the horror of life in the trenches during World War One.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47I'm glad it was those guys and not me.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50It's not something I'd fancy doing, that's for sure.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Here are some more unsolved cases, where heirs still need to be found.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03The list of unclaimed estates is money that is owed
0:28:03 > 0:28:07to members of the public and new names are added all the time.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10The Bona Vacantia unclaimed list is a list of cases
0:28:10 > 0:28:12that we haven't found kin for.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16The list goes back to 1997, because that is when
0:28:16 > 0:28:18our case management system came online.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20The idea is to produce a list of all those solvent cases,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23so there should be at least a few pounds in there,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25possibly, many thousands.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Do these names mean anything to you? Are they relatives of yours?
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Vesterborg Bendix Sorensen died in Brighton, back in June, 2000.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40The surname Sorensen is Danish or Norwegian
0:28:40 > 0:28:44and probably gives a clue to Vesterborg's heritage.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46Do you know anything about Vesterborg's family?
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Can you help solve this case?
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Nicholas Daniel Gabrilenko died in Cardiff, in March, 2001.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58The surname Gabrilenko is extremely rare and may be
0:28:58 > 0:29:00from Russia or the Ukraine.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04It also appears that Nicholas had a wife, who pre-deceased him,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06called Rita.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Do you know Nicholas? Did he ever speak to you about any family?
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Eva Price died on June 19, 1998, in Birkenhead.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22I've got Eva's death certificate here. It contains more information
0:29:22 > 0:29:24about her. It says she was born
0:29:24 > 0:29:29on September 14, 1932, in Birkenhead. As she was born
0:29:29 > 0:29:33and died in the same area, perhaps she was from a local family.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38The death certificate also reveals Eva's middle names, one of them
0:29:38 > 0:29:41being Barnett, which could have been her mother's maiden name.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Does this ring a bell with you? Was there an Eva in your family?
0:29:45 > 0:29:48If you think you're related to any of the names today,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51you need to show your relationship to the deceased,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53in order to claim their estate.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56People need to prove their entitlement,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58by producing documentary
0:29:58 > 0:30:02evidence - certificates of birth, death and marriage.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04We will tell them what's required
0:30:04 > 0:30:08and then they will need documents of identity.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10A reminder of those names again...
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Vesterborg Sorensen...
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Nicholas Gabrilenko....
0:30:16 > 0:30:18and Eva Price.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20If today's names are relatives of yours,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23you could have a windfall coming your way.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Now, let's return to the hunt for living relatives of Robin Miller.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36The team's on the verge of finding their first heir.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Heir hunter Tony Pledger was looking into Robin's case.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44He died in Coventry, aged 73,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48leaving behind an estate worth £33,000.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52As Robin had never married and had no children or living siblings,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Tony had expanded his search to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58And it looked like there were quite a few.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00It became immediately apparent
0:31:00 > 0:31:01that we were looking at
0:31:01 > 0:31:04a fairly sizeable maternal family of the deceased.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09One of Robin's maternal aunts was Violet Dore,
0:31:09 > 0:31:11who married a Thomas Sandland.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15They had a daughter, Dorothy, who had sadly passed away.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20When she died in 2009, she had survived the deceased,
0:31:20 > 0:31:25but unfortunately, she had died before we were able to contact her.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27So Dorothy's share of Robin's £33,000 estate
0:31:27 > 0:31:31would now pass to her son, Marshall.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35The team tracked Marshall down to an address in Bedfordshire
0:31:35 > 0:31:37and got in contact.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41Their call came as a bolt out of the blue.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43It was a shock to get a call from Fraser,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46cos I only met the guy once, back in the '60s.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50So to think we were entitled to something was an absolute knockout.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53I had no idea. It was amazing.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58The only time Marshall had met Robin was at his grandmother's funeral.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02I know absolutely nothing about cousin Robin.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05I only met him the once. I didn't even know he was a relative of mine.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09He walked in and somebody said, "This is your cousin Robin."
0:32:09 > 0:32:11I said, "Oh, really?" So that was it.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Marshall is actually Robin's first cousin, once removed.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19His mother, Dorothy, was Robin's first cousin.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23She married Reginald in 1944 and Marshall was their only son.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25My parents met during the war,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28while they were both working for AC-Sphinx,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31a company that made spark plugs for Spitfires and such like.
0:32:34 > 0:32:35WHISTLE PEEPS
0:32:35 > 0:32:38During the Second World War, working for a factory like AC-Sphinx
0:32:38 > 0:32:41would have been a reserved occupation.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Reserved occupations are those civilian jobs
0:32:45 > 0:32:50which are so important, either to the munitions industry
0:32:50 > 0:32:52or to the national economy,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55that the people who hold them are exempted from conscription.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59A spark plug factory would have fallen into this category.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Britain fights a very motorised war.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06It's reliant on an enormous aerial campaign against Germany,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08from 1941 onwards.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Every bomber that's flying against Germany
0:33:13 > 0:33:16has four of these huge engines powering it across the Channel.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It's reliant on an awful lot of spark plugs.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Marshall's father, Reginald, worked as a universal grinder,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27sharpening the tools used to make the spark plugs.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29His mother, Dorothy, was a production worker.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35As the war progressed, more and more men were called up to fight
0:33:35 > 0:33:38and this led to an increased need for manpower
0:33:38 > 0:33:39to fill the jobs back home.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43One of the ways to do that, is to bring a lot more women
0:33:43 > 0:33:45into the engineering labour force
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and particularly into the munitions production system.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Most of those women
0:33:50 > 0:33:53are undertaking what are fairly unskilled jobs,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56but some of them go on to take up what would formerly have been
0:33:56 > 0:33:58reserved occupations held by men.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02The introduction of women into the engineering workforce
0:34:02 > 0:34:05provided plenty of opportunity for romance to blossom,
0:34:05 > 0:34:08which is exactly what happened in the case of Marshall's parents.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12They did their courting at the back of the factory
0:34:12 > 0:34:14during the air raids and during the war.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17But, yeah, they enjoyed it. They had good fun there.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21And, er, that's how I happened to come into this world.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Inheriting from a cousin he hardly knew
0:34:25 > 0:34:28has awakened Marshall's interest in the family that linked them.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33In particular, his grandfather, and Robin's uncle, Thomas.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Just like Marshall's parents,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38who were brought together by the Second World War,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40his grandparents, Thomas and Violet,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44also met doing their bit for their country during the First World War.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46My grandfather, Tom Sandland,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48he was fighting in Ypres
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and was in the Durham Light Infantry.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54He got injured and he landed up in hospital and, um,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57she nursed him and they fell in love.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Thomas Sandland was in the 11th Battalion Pioneers,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04a division of the Durham Light Infantry,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06who landed in France in July, 1915.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11They spent the duration of the war on the Western Front
0:35:11 > 0:35:15and saw action in some of the major battles of the First World War.
0:35:20 > 0:35:21Marshall is keen to find out more
0:35:21 > 0:35:24about the wartime experiences of his grandfather,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26who was also Robin's uncle.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31So he's going to meet historian and First World War expert, Taff Gillingham.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34- Hello, Marshall, pleased to meet you. - Hello, Taff, pleased to meet you.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36- Want to have a look at the trench? - That's why I'm here.- Follow me.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Taff wants to give Marshall an idea
0:35:39 > 0:35:42of the conditions his grandfather would have fought under.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45So he's invited him to visit a replica
0:35:45 > 0:35:48of the First World War trench system, near Ipswich in Suffolk.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50So your grandfather, Thomas Sandland,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53served with the 11th Service Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56And the service battalions were those which were raised
0:35:56 > 0:35:57only for service during the First World War.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01That's all that they were going to do and at the end they'd be disbanded.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04So they weren't regular soldiers, they weren't territorial soldiers,
0:36:04 > 0:36:06- they were what they called Kitchener volunteers.- Yeah.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Kitchener's Army was an all-volunteer army
0:36:10 > 0:36:14formed in the United Kingdom after the outbreak of hostilities.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19It was created by the Secretary of State for War, Horatio Kitchener.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Contrary to popular belief that the war would be over by Christmas,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28he predicted a long and costly battle
0:36:28 > 0:36:31that would require a huge increase in troop numbers.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36So he began a massive recruitment campaign to expand Britain's army.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38The 11th Service Battalion were nearly all miners.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Yeah, that would fit in, because Pop was a miner.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Because there were so many miners,
0:36:42 > 0:36:44they were made into a Pioneer Battalion.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47And what that meant was that, within their division, they were the troops
0:36:47 > 0:36:52who were fighting soldiers - they could find themselves in action, as well -
0:36:52 > 0:36:57but they could be called upon to do trench digging, road building, repairing structures in the trench.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02- So they had a specific role, as well as doing the fighting. - Multitasking.- Absolutely.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08Before the war, Thomas Sandland worked as a coalminer in Durham.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12His experience down in the pits was perfect preparation
0:37:12 > 0:37:14for the gruelling hours of trench digging
0:37:14 > 0:37:16he would undertake as a Pioneer.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Never was this more true than at the Battle of Passchendaele.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24The big problem with the fighting at Passchendaele was that the weather turned
0:37:24 > 0:37:28and there was torrential rain. When the whistles went, you'd get off over the top.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32You were just floundering almost waist-deep in mud and water.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Obviously, in the midst of battles, trenches get very heavily shelled.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38You know, if it's been battered for several days
0:37:38 > 0:37:41this all gets filled in. The earth's coming in, the sides are smashed down.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45So a big role that they have is keeping the trenches deep enough to defend.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49At the time, Passchendaele was seen as a vital piece of ground
0:37:49 > 0:37:50that needed capturing.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The Germans were sitting up on the Passchendaele Ridge,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56observing the British Army, not just from the front,
0:37:56 > 0:37:57but also from two sides.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59And it was a thorn in the British side
0:37:59 > 0:38:01that needed clearing and sorting out.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Really, 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele is probably,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07out of all of the battles in the First World War,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10the one that sapped British morale more than any others.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Taff has obtained a copy of the 11th Battalion's war diary,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17which paints a vivid picture
0:38:17 > 0:38:19of the back-breaking work the Pioneers undertook.
0:38:21 > 0:38:22Here we are on the 29th.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Read this for me. It just gives you an idea
0:38:25 > 0:38:26of how it wore the fellows out.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28So, read it from here.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32"The men are thoroughly weary on arrival, in bivouacs.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35"After work, they parade daily at 7:15am,
0:38:35 > 0:38:40"carry haversack rations and return at 4:30pm.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43"They take both breakfast and dinner in the dark.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45"Some are too tired to eat dinner.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48"Others too weary to turn out for rum rations."
0:38:48 > 0:38:51It really does give you an idea of how much hard physical work
0:38:51 > 0:38:53these fellas were having to put in.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56- Besides the fighting. - Besides the fighting side of it.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58I mean, in a way, this role of the Pioneers
0:38:58 > 0:39:01- is more important than the fighting. - Oh yeah, yeah.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Cos they're obviously doing this work for everybody else in their brigade.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09- Creating all these tunnels and these...- Yep.- Oh!
0:39:10 > 0:39:14For Marshall, today's experience has been a real eye-opener.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17It was very, very eerie being in those trenches.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19I'm glad it was those guys and not me.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22It's not something I'd fancy doing. That's for sure.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27But it's also served to reinforce the affection he feels
0:39:27 > 0:39:31for his grandfather, and Robin's uncle, Thomas Sandland.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32I've always admired my grandfather
0:39:32 > 0:39:35because of what he made of himself and what he's done,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39but to see what he went through to get there, it's, er...
0:39:39 > 0:39:42You can only love him and admire him even more,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46because he's done things that we can never, ever dream of doing.
0:39:46 > 0:39:47Absolutely fabulous.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Marshall didn't really know his cousin Robin,
0:39:50 > 0:39:54but thanks to him, he has gained a fascinating insight
0:39:54 > 0:39:57into his family's experiences during the two World Wars.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59And those who did know Robin well
0:39:59 > 0:40:02will remember him fondly.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04'After my dad died and then he came to us,'
0:40:04 > 0:40:08I think he most likely looked on me nearly as a brother, really.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13'He come to our house once a week, on a Monday.'
0:40:13 > 0:40:17And it was a real ritual every week. He wouldn't go anywhere else.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21He'd come if he'd got pneumonia. He just loved coming, aye.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29The hunt for heirs led Marshall
0:40:29 > 0:40:33to investigate his grandfather's experiences in the First World War.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36I'm keen to find out more about how military records can help
0:40:36 > 0:40:39when it comes to researching family history.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'I'm off to meet military expert Taff Allingham,
0:40:42 > 0:40:43'who can tell me where to look
0:40:43 > 0:40:46'and hopefully help me search for my relatives.'
0:40:46 > 0:40:51So why are military records such a good way to find out about your family?
0:40:51 > 0:40:52Well, the really good thing
0:40:52 > 0:40:55is that the military, over the years, gathered so much information
0:40:55 > 0:40:58about individual soldiers, sailors and airmen,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and kept all these records almost entirely for pensions purposes,
0:41:01 > 0:41:03that's why they're all still around
0:41:03 > 0:41:05and amongst it, you can find,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08if they were married, it will tell you who they married,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10how many children they had, what their names were,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12where they were living at certain times.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14There is a physical description of them,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16so you can find out exactly how tall they were,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20what colour their eyes were, and even things like the fact that
0:41:20 > 0:41:22when they filled out the attestation form when they joined,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26they'd sign the form, so you can get their signature. It's magic
0:41:26 > 0:41:27and of course, in a lot of cases,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30it might be the only surviving paperwork, you know,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33for somebody who lived 100 years ago or 150 years ago.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Yeah. So what's the first step
0:41:35 > 0:41:37when looking into your family's military past?
0:41:37 > 0:41:41It depends, really, because it's different for different periods.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43For instance, the Second World War,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47most of the records have survived for the soldiers and sailors and airmen
0:41:47 > 0:41:50but anybody who served in the military post-1921,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53only the closest surviving relative
0:41:53 > 0:41:55- can actually search for that information.- Right.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59If the soldiers and sailors and airmen are still alive themselves,
0:41:59 > 0:42:01they can get records for free and so can their spouses,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03and I'd really urge them to do that
0:42:03 > 0:42:07because it makes life a lot easier for family historians years later
0:42:07 > 0:42:09if your grandad's already searched for that and got the record
0:42:09 > 0:42:12and it's in the family. I mean, this is a typical one,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15this soldier who served in the Hussars in the Second World War.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18It tells us when he joined the Army, it tells us where he went,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22it tells us all about his promotion, what medals he was awarded,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25so a great deal of information amongst the service papers
0:42:25 > 0:42:26that tell you all of this.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33If you want to go back to find the papers of a soldier who served before 1921,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36then their service record is available to anyone,
0:42:36 > 0:42:38not just family members.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40They can be found on various websites
0:42:40 > 0:42:43or through the National Archives at Kew.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44The big problem, however,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47is that many of the records were destroyed in the Blitz
0:42:47 > 0:42:50but efforts have been made to salvage what's left.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57Amazingly, the military kept all of the burnt documents
0:42:57 > 0:42:59so when the fire brigade went in during the Second World War
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and put the fire out, there's these big chunks of documents
0:43:02 > 0:43:05which were burnt along the top edge or down one side
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- and those were all kept when the fire was put out.- Gosh.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09And in recent times,
0:43:09 > 0:43:11the National Archives have literally cut all those apart
0:43:11 > 0:43:14and scanned them, so there's now a lot more information
0:43:14 > 0:43:17than there was probably 10, 15 years ago
0:43:17 > 0:43:19but it's still by no means complete.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23There's an awful lot of soldiers' records that are missing,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25but it's always worth a look because you might be lucky.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28So my great-grandfather was in World War I,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31- so can we look at his records? - We can certainly give it a try.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Let's have a look.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36So, what was his name?
0:43:36 > 0:43:37William J Morton.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45And do you know what the J stood for?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47I think it was Jonah.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49Fantastic. Lovely period name.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52Morton. M-O-R-T-O-N.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56OK. Any idea what year he was born?
0:43:56 > 0:43:58- 1892.- 1892.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03There we go. That's a medal index card for him.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06- Oh, my gosh!- There he is. Look. Royal Field Artillery.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09And it tells us the rank is driver,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12so he's actually driving a team of horses,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15almost certainly with an 18-pounder field gun.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18What it also tells us is the medals that he got.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21He got the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23Now, everybody got the War Medal and the Victory Medal,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25or everybody that went overseas,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28but the Star was for the guys not quite at the start,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31they had what was called a 1914 Star
0:44:31 > 0:44:33but the 1914/15 Star, which this is,
0:44:33 > 0:44:40was given to all of those who served in France between 23 November 1914
0:44:40 > 0:44:42and the last day of 1915.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45The good thing with that is that it gives us the qualifying dates,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49so basically, the date that he landed in France.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53- He might have just been a reinforcement in a small group of them.- Yeah.- On the other hand,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57there might have been a whole division that landed at the same time
0:44:57 > 0:45:01and 18 July 1915, when you look that up,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04what we find is that the 19th Division,
0:45:04 > 0:45:06who were called the 19th Western Division,
0:45:06 > 0:45:08they were a Kitchener army unit,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12so basically, these were wartime volunteers, not prewar regular soldiers,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16and they were established by Western command in sort of late August,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20I suppose it was September 1914, as part of Kitchener's New Army
0:45:20 > 0:45:22and it was called Kitchener's Second New Army,
0:45:22 > 0:45:25so they already had 100,000 men join, which joined the First New Army.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Second New Army, which this was part of, and if we look here,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33it actually says advance parties left for France on 11 July and
0:45:33 > 0:45:36the main body crossed the English Channel
0:45:36 > 0:45:38between 16 and 21 July 1915.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41And this here is the 88th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery,
0:45:41 > 0:45:44which is what he was attached to.
0:45:44 > 0:45:45It's amazing, isn't it?
0:45:47 > 0:45:49It's fascinating stuff.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The level of detail that's revealed
0:45:51 > 0:45:54about my great-grandfather's time in World War I is impressive.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57It goes right down to the battles his unit fought in.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Then in 1916, this is all Battle of the Somme,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03Battle of Albert is the opening day,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06so they're in action during the Battle of Albert,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09the attacks on High Wood, Pozieres Ridge, Omkar Heights,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13so, you know, bang in the middle of the Battle of the Somme.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17In 1917, they take part in the Battle of Messines, which is a huge success,
0:46:17 > 0:46:20the first really big success of the war
0:46:20 > 0:46:24and in 1918, which is really the forgotten year of the war,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26which is also the most successful,
0:46:26 > 0:46:31they take part in the Battles of St Quentin, Bapom, second battle of Messines,
0:46:31 > 0:46:33right the way through at the end you know,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37the final advance to beating the Germans
0:46:37 > 0:46:41so they're well and truly involved in all of it.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44It's amazing. You suddenly see them as human,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47as not somebody on paper, a great grandad that you've never met.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49Thank you.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Now it's your turn to investigate your family's past.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56With so much information available, you too can appreciate
0:46:56 > 0:46:59what your ancestors went through in the Great War.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Finally today,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09let's return to the case of Robert Meade who died in Thailand.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13Will the Heir Hunters be able to track down any heirs here in the UK.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18Robert died on the island of Koh Samui in 2010.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22Initially, the team had virtually no information to go on.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26I have literally only got his name, Robert Ford Meade.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28I am struggling to identify anything really.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31But then they had a lucky break, when they managed to track down
0:47:31 > 0:47:33an address for Robert in Eastbourne.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38From that address we can work out his date of birth,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41we even had his parents names, so that little bit of information,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44you know, we can fly along.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47This address also meant it was worth the team's time
0:47:47 > 0:47:50and effort to continue pursuing the case.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Although he died overseas, Robert had left behind a property
0:47:53 > 0:47:57in England which could be worth several hundred thousand pounds.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Earlier, Gaareth put in a called to the British Embassy
0:48:03 > 0:48:06in Thailand to see if they could fill in any gaps
0:48:06 > 0:48:08about Robert's life.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11They passed his request on to the Foreign Office who had just
0:48:11 > 0:48:14- called Gareth back.- Thank you for your time and calling me.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18You've been a great help. Take care, bye.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21The Foreign Office had managed to track down a second
0:48:21 > 0:48:22cousin of Roberts.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27Unfortunately, under UK law, second cousins are too distant to
0:48:27 > 0:48:31inherit, so this cousin has no claim on Robert's estate.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35But she was able to help the Foreign Office with their enquiries.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41It appears the deceased spent six months in the UK
0:48:41 > 0:48:43and six months in Thailand.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46He rented an apartment where he died in Thailand,
0:48:46 > 0:48:48he had rented the apartment for three months.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54When Robert retired in 2003, he sold the house he had
0:48:54 > 0:48:58lived in in Hounslow and moved into his parents home in Eastbourne.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03His parents had both died by this point so Robert was alone.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07There was nobody else in his life you know.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13No girlfriends, boyfriends, nothing. He was alone, totally alone.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18With nothing to keep him in England, Robert decided to up sticks
0:49:18 > 0:49:22and spend his retirement in sunnier climes.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24And from that moment forth, he spent half
0:49:24 > 0:49:27the year in Eastbourne and half year in Koh Samui,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29an island in the Gulf of Thailand,
0:49:29 > 0:49:33renowned for its palm fringed beaches and year round sunshine.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Robert moved to Thailand
0:49:38 > 0:49:42because I think he thought he must enjoy his life now.
0:49:42 > 0:49:47He once wrote me a card that he's enjoying the sunshine
0:49:47 > 0:49:50and the weather, everything in Thailand.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53As the foreign office were unable to track down any family
0:49:53 > 0:49:57members of the closer than a second cousin, the British state fund
0:49:57 > 0:49:59its way onto the Treasury list
0:49:59 > 0:50:02where it was picked up by Heir Hunters.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05So far, the team have determined that Robert has no surviving
0:50:05 > 0:50:08close kin and no surviving aunts,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12uncles or cousins on his fathers side of the family.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14They've therefore been pinning their hopes on the mothers side
0:50:14 > 0:50:18and have enlisted the help of their agent in Scotland to
0:50:18 > 0:50:21- help track down heirs. - A couple of Joneses.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24Researcher Simon, has also been doing some
0:50:24 > 0:50:26investigations of his own in the office.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28I think it's the mother of the deceased family,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Isabella Ford Finlayson.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Just found the marriage of her parents so the
0:50:33 > 0:50:40grandparents of the deceased I think. It's in Edinburgh, 1923.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Now they've found Roberts maternal grandparents,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47James and Isabella, they can look to see whether they had any
0:50:47 > 0:50:52children other than Robert's mother, who was also called Isabella.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Let's try and see if we can pick up deaths for James Finlayson.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58But searching for records in the Scottish databases
0:50:58 > 0:51:01can be problematic.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04You cant look at the actual maiden names on the births in Scotland
0:51:04 > 0:51:08in the period we're looking, so there's plenty of births
0:51:08 > 0:51:13that are potential aunts and uncles of the deceased, but at the moment,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15it's hard to identify them.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19The team have been assuming the heirs in this case would be
0:51:19 > 0:51:22cousins on the maternal side of the family, so now,
0:51:22 > 0:51:24it looks like there's not much more they can do
0:51:24 > 0:51:27but wait for their Scottish agent to get back to them.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33But suddenly, all their assumptions are blown skyhigh
0:51:33 > 0:51:36when Alan makes a startling discovery.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40- That- could well be the deceased sister-in-law.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43He thinks he's found the widow of the deceased brother John
0:51:43 > 0:51:47and he's also discovered something else rather intriguing.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Living with John Andrew Mead at one point was his widow who
0:51:51 > 0:51:54we already knew about and also Sean.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Sean was born Sean Graham however on the electoral roll
0:51:58 > 0:51:59he is calling himself Meade.
0:51:59 > 0:52:05My question is, was he adopted by John Mead? If he was adopted by John Mead, then he's an heir.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09This is potentially a very exciting development.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12It appears that John's wife was previously married to a Mr Graham
0:52:12 > 0:52:14and they had a son, Sean,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17but at some point after John and his wife got married,
0:52:17 > 0:52:21Sean changed his surname from Graham to Mead.
0:52:21 > 0:52:27Under UK law, adopted children have the same rights of inheritance as blood children,
0:52:27 > 0:52:32so if Sean was adopted by the deceased brother John, he would be a nephew of Robert's
0:52:32 > 0:52:39and hence, closer kin than any aunts, uncles and cousins the team might find in Scotland.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Gareth's on the verge of a major breakthrough.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48At the moment, I'm not 100% sure. We don't know for definite whether Sean was adopted by John.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53If he was adopted by John, then he is an heir. If he wasn't adopted by John, then he's not an heir.
0:52:53 > 0:52:58The team really need to speak to Sean or his mother
0:52:58 > 0:53:01to find out whether their assumptions are correct.
0:53:01 > 0:53:07They track down an address for Sean and Gareth wonders whether to send Bob Smith to go and visit him.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12He's clearly at this address. More importantly, he's clearly not going to be at home, is he?
0:53:12 > 0:53:17It's still fairly early in the day and Sean is likely to be at work,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21so Gareth decides instead to call Sean's mother.
0:53:21 > 0:53:27I'm hoping that if our research is correct then your son, Sean, was adopted by yourself and John -
0:53:27 > 0:53:28would that be correct?
0:53:28 > 0:53:31He was officially adopted.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33This is great news.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37Sean's mother has confirmed that he WAS adopted by John Mead
0:53:37 > 0:53:41and the couple did not have any further children.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45This means Sean is closer kin than any cousins the team might find in Scotland
0:53:45 > 0:53:49and he is therefore the only heir to the estate of Robert Mead.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Gareth gets straight on the phone to Bob Smith.
0:53:55 > 0:53:56Hi, Bob, how are you?
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Can I give you a slightly different destination? The sole heir of the estate.
0:54:00 > 0:54:01OK, all right.
0:54:01 > 0:54:08- Before you get there, though, could you give the heir a call on his mobile cos he's at work?- OK.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12- He's expecting your call.- All right. Cheers.- Cheers, mate.- Bye.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16Bob was on his way to the register office to pick up some certificates,
0:54:16 > 0:54:22but he's used to getting diverted at a moment's notice, so he arranges to meet Sean in a local pub.
0:54:24 > 0:54:29He will need to confirm some details with Sean to make sure the team's research is correct
0:54:29 > 0:54:32and that he is definitely related to Robert Mead.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35- Right now, you were adopted, weren't you?- I was adopted by John.
0:54:35 > 0:54:41- What was your father's name? This would be your adopted father's name.- John Andrew Mead.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45- Now your father's brothers and sisters, these would be your aunts and uncles...- Mm-hm.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49- Can you name them at all? - There was only Robert.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54At this stage, Bob is unable to tell Sean how much he'll be inheriting,
0:54:54 > 0:55:00but he IS able to suggest that the estate could be worth a substantial sum of money.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04- We THINK that there may be as many as two properties...- OK.
0:55:04 > 0:55:09..one over here and then one possibly maybe in Thailand.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13- OK, so he got about, then?- Possibly.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17Bob leaves Sean to mull over the events of the day.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21Like I say, I think it might be a day that will change your life.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Oh, fingers crossed.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Bob's visit has left Sean slightly overwhelmed.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29He hadn't seen Robert for many years.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31The reason we lost contact
0:55:31 > 0:55:36with my uncle Robert was purely because back in the day, him and my father didn't really get on -
0:55:36 > 0:55:39kind of brotherly non-love, and...
0:55:39 > 0:55:43and I'm sure it happens in quite a few families, to be honest.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48For Bob Smith, it's a successful end to a very eventful day.
0:55:48 > 0:55:54Interviewing the sole heir to an estate, which is, it would seem,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57to be quite a valuable estate as well,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01that's going to... like I said to him,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04"This could be a day that's going to change your life."
0:56:04 > 0:56:08That's good. It's all good.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11Why can't it happen to me? I don't know.
0:56:13 > 0:56:19Several weeks later, Sean agrees to let the company help him make his claim to the Treasury
0:56:19 > 0:56:22and the team receive some staggering news.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26We were hoping for a value of £200,000,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30by the end of the day, fingers crossed, we may have a value of £400,000.
0:56:30 > 0:56:37Well, the excellent news is the estimated value come in is approximately a million pounds.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41This is an heir hunter's dream scenario -
0:56:41 > 0:56:46estates worth this amount of money are very few and far between.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51Sean's inheritance will however be dramatically reduced by inheritance tax,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54but the amount he receives could transform his life.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59A lot of the times we hear how unfair it is when you get adopted out of a family
0:56:59 > 0:57:02you no longer inherit from the original blood family,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05but we've always said that you become a beneficiary to your new family.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10In this case, the heir has been adopted into the family.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14His adopted uncle has now passed away
0:57:14 > 0:57:17and he's going to receive a truly life-changing amount of money.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Sean's happiness at inheriting Robert's estate
0:57:20 > 0:57:23is slightly tinged with sadness.
0:57:23 > 0:57:29On one hand, you do have this bolt out of the blue, this bonus, which is totally unexpected,
0:57:29 > 0:57:36and will always go down nicely, but it's hard to feel overly happy at somebody's misfortune, in this case,
0:57:36 > 0:57:43somebody passing away and not really ever being there to catch up and find out what happened with him,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46so it's swings and roundabouts really.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50This case has taken the heir hunters from London to Edinburgh
0:57:50 > 0:57:53to Thailand and back to the UK.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58Robert Mead, a quiet, private man, who led a fairly ordinary life,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01has in death, left a huge mark in the world.
0:58:03 > 0:58:08For senior researcher Gareth, this is a case he'll remember for a long time to come.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13This is one of my first cases managing, er...
0:58:13 > 0:58:18and it's worth a million pounds, it's a brilliant stroke of luck.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd