0:00:02 > 0:00:05Heir hunters specialise in tracking down people who are entitled to money
0:00:05 > 0:00:08left by relatives who have passed away without making a will.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Often the family members they find
0:00:10 > 0:00:14have no idea they're in line to inherit.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17I was absolutely gobsmacked!
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Their work involves expert research.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24These don't lie. Computers miss things off, annotate it differently.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26This is the Bible.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30And can bring to life fascinating family histories.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32The word "Vic Robinson" was like
0:00:32 > 0:00:35someone talking about David Beckham in footballing terms.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40But most of all, it's about giving news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:47 > 0:00:48Coming up...
0:00:48 > 0:00:52The remarkable story of how one man's champion pigeons
0:00:52 > 0:00:54played a vital role in Britain's war effort.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Many lives were saved through racing pigeons coming back
0:00:58 > 0:01:02through bullet wounds, snow, fog, to bring vital messages back.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07And one heir gets a much longed-for chance to explore more about his past.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10If your parents die when you're young, you don't really...
0:01:10 > 0:01:15appreciate how important it is just to ask them about their lives.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23It's Thursday morning in the London office of heir-hunting firm Fraser & Fraser,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25and the team are busy working on various cases
0:01:25 > 0:01:29advertised on the Treasury's bona vacantia list of unclaimed estates.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33One case in particular has caught the eye of boss Neil.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35We're going to be looking at the case of Ian Urquhart Fraser.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Died in 2011.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42Um...owns a property in the Barbican, a flat in the Barbican.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46So value-wise, we're talking about an estate of probably £250,000.
0:01:46 > 0:01:47Or more.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52The Barbican estate is in a prime location in the City of London,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54where homes command high prices.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57And with such a potentially valuable case,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01the team will be giving it everything they've got to find heirs and get their commission.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08Ian Urquhart Fraser died in London on the 1st of September 2011.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10He was 85 years old.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14John Whitehead was a friend and neighbour.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I think when Ian moved into the Barbican, it suited him down to the ground.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I think it provided him with a nice little bolt-hole.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22It's surprisingly quiet and private around here.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24He lived in a simple studio flat.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27And he largely kept himself to himself.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29When you got to know him, it was really worthwhile.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33It took a long time to get to know Ian. He was a very private man.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34But he was great fun.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Until the last, Ian was also a modest man.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41The funeral was arranged by Bart's Hospital.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Myself and a small group of friends went along.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45It was a very simple service,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48but the coffin did arrive in a Rolls-Royce hearse,
0:02:48 > 0:02:49which would have amused him.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52I don't know if he often travelled in Rolls Royces!
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Ian was a man of simple tastes.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Back in the office, it's early days in the search for Ian's heirs.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03The middle name is quite unusual.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05It is a Scottish name.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Fraser is a Scottish name as well,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10and Ian is also Scottish.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13So my feeling on this... We're going back to Scotland.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17As this case has been published on the Treasury solicitors' list,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21there's a strong chance that a rival firm will also be trying to crack it.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26So the team need to work fast to reach heirs before the competition.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30They begin by looking for any records that could relate to Ian.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Basically, between 1901 and 1911,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37I've done marriages and deaths and found nothing.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40And already, the pressure is mounting.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43It's normally a bad day when we're using the microfiches this much,
0:03:43 > 0:03:44to be perfectly honest.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49But it's not long before Neil and the team make a significant breakthrough.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54They've found an online obituary for Ian, and it's got them off to a flying start.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58This gives us quite a lot of information. It's written by...
0:03:58 > 0:04:02the RCS, which is the Royal College of Surgeons.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06It says here that Ian was a lecturer from London,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08and he was born in Bangkok in 1926.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13This is really vital for us. It tells us that Ian's been born in Bangkok.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18No matter where we look in our records here, we shouldn't really find a birth for him.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19And that's not all.
0:04:19 > 0:04:26And at the bottom it says, "Ian was an intensely private person who sadly did not have any immediate family."
0:04:26 > 0:04:30But the heir hunters can't just take the obituary's word for it.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34We've also had a little look round, and we can't find a marriage for him,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36we can't find anything else for him.
0:04:36 > 0:04:37As Ian died a bachelor,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40the team have also looked for any brothers or sisters of his.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42They've traced his parents,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Elizabeth Maria Reilly and John Urquhart Fraser.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51Using their names, a search of birth records has revealed that Ian was an only child.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56So they're now set on finding aunts, uncles and cousins
0:04:56 > 0:04:59who, if they're still alive, would be heirs to Ian's estate.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03We've got a Thomas Reilly. Elizabeth...
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And already they've made some great headway.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10We've been able to establish that, er...
0:05:10 > 0:05:14the deceased's father's family, which originates from Scotland,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17is dead.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20The deceased's father had one sibling who died in infancy.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22There's no paternal heirs.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25It seems the team's only hope of finding any heirs now
0:05:25 > 0:05:28lies on Ian's mother's side of the family.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30On the Reilly family, the maternal family,
0:05:30 > 0:05:31we've got the top line birth,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34so we now know that we are definitely looking at the right family.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38The team discover that Ian's mother, Elizabeth Maria Reilly
0:05:38 > 0:05:40was one of six children.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Research has shown that her brothers, Richard and Thomas,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45died before they had any children.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49So there are three potential lines that the team are chasing.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51One is immediately proving tricky.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Florence is the oldest child.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55She's the only one without a middle name
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and her surname of Reilly is particularly hard to find.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03So experienced manager Dom settles down at the microfilm
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and begins to look into what happened to Florence
0:06:06 > 0:06:08and find out if she had any descendants.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12We found the family on the 1891 census,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15when Florence, the missing aunt of the deceased,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17would have been five or six years old.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19And she's not on it.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23And what that indicates is that she very likely could have passed away
0:06:23 > 0:06:24as a child.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27But they've found nothing to prove this theory so far.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Unfortunately, on the computers, there's no deaths that match up,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34which is the way these things always go.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36So we're now just looking manually on the tapes
0:06:36 > 0:06:38to see if we can find the death record for her.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40I'd be very surprised if she isn't dead,
0:06:40 > 0:06:41but...
0:06:41 > 0:06:43we shall see.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46For Dom, who's used to the instant results of online record-searching,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49it's proving a laborious process.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54You suddenly remember how much you don't miss these machines.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56It's just so slow.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58As Dom searches through the records,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00things aren't looking good.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03We can't find anything on her at all. I have a horrible feeling
0:07:03 > 0:07:07that she's going to be one of those people that just completely falls off the records.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It looks like it's back to the drawing board.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13We've now done a search manually of the tapes
0:07:13 > 0:07:17to see if we can find her death in that five- or six-year period
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and there doesn't appear to be one. Um...
0:07:20 > 0:07:22So that could be that theory out of the window.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Perhaps she was staying with her grandparents, or something like that, when the census was taken.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30As it seems she survived into adult life,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Dom and the team will now have to search for her marriage
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and any children she might have.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Meanwhile, it looks like Dave has made a breakthrough on a different stem.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44He's discovered that another of Ian's aunts,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Mary Platt Reilly, married and had two children.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49If they're still alive,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52these cousins of Ian's would be heirs to his estate.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Dave thinks he knows what's happened to one of them.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00We have a potential beneficiary, whose birth, when registered,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02was just as "male".
0:08:02 > 0:08:07Normally, that's an indication of a child that unfortunately, is going to die in infancy.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10You don't name the child, because it dies at birth.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13But the team have already looked for a death record online,
0:08:13 > 0:08:14and found none.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Dave, however, isn't giving up that easily.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19It's really rare
0:08:19 > 0:08:23to register a birth of your child as "male" or "female"
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and that child survives infancy
0:08:26 > 0:08:28and then goes on to be given a name later on.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30It happens, but it's very rare.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33I'm going to check the deaths, because I've got a sneaking feeling
0:08:33 > 0:08:35that it's there.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Finally, he finds the answer.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40He dies in infancy. It's there.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44And THAT is the argument against computers.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48It's there!
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Spot-on, but the computer never found it.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54It's a clear victory for Dave and the old school.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59All the youngsters like to moan about us old ones talking about going back to using these,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01but these are the records.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03These don't lie.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Computers miss things off,
0:09:06 > 0:09:07annotate it differently.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10This is the Bible.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12This is the way. Proper research.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Having established that this child died in infancy,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Dave now turns his attention to Ian's other cousin,
0:09:19 > 0:09:20John Carr Forsyth.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Once his death record reveals that John died in 1981,
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Dave manages to trace his two sons, who are next in line to inherit.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33These are the first heirs they've found on this very valuable case.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36And with the threat of competition from rival firms,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38they need to move fast.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43But try as he might, Dave can't get hold of one of the heirs, Simon Forsyth, on the phone.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48So Dave desperately tries to get hold of senior travelling researcher Ewart Lindsay
0:09:48 > 0:09:51in the hope that he can pay a visit to him in person.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Ewart, Dave Slee. Urgent, urgent, urgent.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Need you to go down and see a beneficiary on the Fraser estate, near Bath.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Can you give me a call as soon as you get this message? Thank you very much.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05Bye-bye.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Whilst Dave waits anxiously for his calls to be returned,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Alan gives him an update on the rest of the family.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14We have had a bit of luck with Florence.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17In 1911, she was a servant in Gosforth.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Gosforth is just a bit further north than Newcastle.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25We've got a marriage in 1917.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29She dies in 1920. No issue.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31All in the right area. She's the right age.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Finally, it seems they've got to the bottom of what happened to Ian's paternal aunt, Florence.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Florence, it appears, marries a William Ford
0:10:39 > 0:10:44and dies young. Some of this family seem to die fairly young.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48She dies childless, so there's no descendants on that line.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51It's a big step forward for the company
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and they have only one more stem left to trace.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57But as the team get ever closer to signing up the heirs...
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Father and mother returned to England and both passed away in Scarborough, is that correct?
0:11:02 > 0:11:06..Ewart begins to wonder if he's heading down the wrong path.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09It's just... It's just a very, very...
0:11:09 > 0:11:12tiny track.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13HE TOOTS HORN
0:11:19 > 0:11:25In the course of their research, heir hunters can often come across fascinating family histories.
0:11:26 > 0:11:32But when Kevin Edmondson, senior case manager at heir-hunting firm Hoopers, and his team
0:11:32 > 0:11:34took on the case of Jean Chainey,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38they had no idea they were about to delve into her father's legendary career.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Several of the paternal heirs
0:11:43 > 0:11:47mentioned to us that he was well-known to them
0:11:47 > 0:11:51as Vic Robinson, the champion pigeon-fancier.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Jean Irene Chainey
0:11:55 > 0:12:00died in Shropshire on the 23rd of December 2011, aged 83.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Neighbours Bernard and Yvonne Mitchell knew her for over 20 years.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08She was an outdoor type in her younger years.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10She probably was a tomboy.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15And she carried on into her later life. She liked her sport.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18She was...
0:12:18 > 0:12:22always on about Southampton Football Club. She followed the football
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and cricket.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25Sport in general.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Jean lived with her husband, Peter, and it seemed they had a very close relationship.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Unless they were at work,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36they always used to go off together, shopping, the lot.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Not one stop at home and the other one went.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42They always went off together, didn't they?
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Take the dogs in the back and all, like.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47I think they always had dogs.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50They were like their children, really. They never had a family.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Peter's death in 2009 had a significant impact on Jean.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57When Peter died,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59I think she'd lost her companion,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and she sort of just shut herself away.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03She wouldn't answer the door.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07She would talk, but she wouldn't let you in, if you know what I mean.
0:13:07 > 0:13:08Um...
0:13:08 > 0:13:11She just wanted to be on her own.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16But Yvonne and Bernard will always remember Jean as a very intelligent lady.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21From the way she came across, she must have had a good grounding as regards education.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Because she was a very knowledgeable lady.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Up until, I would say, later in life,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30she still had all her faculties. She was very sharp.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Though they knew little about Jean's background,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35one thing did stand out.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36She was her daddy's girl.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39She didn't really say a lot about her mum, I must admit.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41She was always Daddy's girl.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Her father, I would think, was quite a prominent person
0:13:45 > 0:13:46where she was brought up.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51She did say to us that her father was one of the first people to have a motor car.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54As Jean died without making a will,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57her estate appeared on the Treasury solicitors' list,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01where Kevin and the team spotted it and started their investigation.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04One of the first things we look for is to see whether
0:14:04 > 0:14:08the person who has died did own a property.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Using her last known address, Kevin quickly ran some searches.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15We saw on land registry records
0:14:15 > 0:14:20that Jean Chainey was the owner of the property that she'd been living in.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23We did check property values in the area
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and we thought that the value of the property on its own
0:14:26 > 0:14:28might be about £120,000.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Now he'd got a better idea of the value of the estate,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33the search for heirs could begin.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Jean was described on the Treasury solicitors' website
0:14:37 > 0:14:40as a widow, but we had to make sure that was indeed the case.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43So our first step was to find the death record
0:14:43 > 0:14:46of her husband, Peter Chainey.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51And we found out that he died just a couple of years before her.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The team's next step was to look to see if she had any children
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and as it transpired, Jean had been married once before,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02so they had to look for children born with either surname.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This involves us searching the national birth records,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09where the births are indexed under surname
0:15:09 > 0:15:12and the mother's maiden surname.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16So we were quite quickly able to establish that there were no children
0:15:16 > 0:15:18from either marriage.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23He now needed to find out if Jean had any brothers or sisters who could be in line to inherit.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27To find them, he first had to trace the names of her parents.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31We obtained a copy of Jean's birth certificate,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and found out that her parents were Victor Hugh Robinson
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and Lillian Jane Robinson, formerly Roxburgh.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43Jean's father, Victor, was born in Southampton to a shipping family.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46His father was employed in the shipbuilding industry,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50and from his early teens, Victor, too, worked in the docks.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55But Victor and the family were not known as shipbuilders.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00It seems that Victor was something of a superstar in a very different world.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Vic was a pigeon fancier par excellence.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06He was a champion.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09The greatest fancier in the south of England...
0:16:09 > 0:16:10and possibly of England,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14because he knew how to breed, how to condition,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16and how to race a pigeon.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20After years breeding and training his stock of pigeons,
0:16:20 > 0:16:27Vic hit the big time in 1934, when he won the King's Cup race from San Sebastian in Spain.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30It was one of Britain's most prestigious pigeon races,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and Vic became an iconic figure.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35The word "Vic Robinson"
0:16:35 > 0:16:39was like someone talking about David Beckham in footballing terms.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42If Vic did it... If Vic did this, or Vic did that,
0:16:42 > 0:16:47that was the template, if you wish, how to successfully race pigeons.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49He was a god in his right.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Ted, who was Jean's classmate at the time,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54became one of Vic's many devotees.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59I needed, or I wanted, to get to know what he knew.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03And therefore, obviously, we became quite good friends.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09I think I was one of the few he'd allow to go into his pigeon loft.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Granted such special status, Ted was able to watch and learn.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16I was able to see how he cleaned them out,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19how he fed them, and I took it all in.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24How he would prepare them for the long races,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28how he would look after them during the winter months,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31which is important when they're moulting.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34What changes in the food he'd give them.
0:17:34 > 0:17:40It was something that I treasured. He was slow in his methods and his ways,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43but a really good pigeon fancier is quite often that,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48because he wants the pigeons to know him and not be frightened of him.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Vic's methodical dedication to his pigeons
0:17:50 > 0:17:53was one shared by all the family.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Every winter, in the evenings,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00he, Jean and her mother, Lillian,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03would sit at the kitchen table
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and he would go through every bag of corn that he bought,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10and he would go through that with them - what was good -
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and they would discard what was bad.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Such fanaticism paid off.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Between 1929 and 1954,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Vic's pigeons won more national prizes than any others,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and one bird in particular, named after his daughter, Jean,
0:18:24 > 0:18:26was a consistent champion.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Vic's approach and technique is still something much admired.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33People say in the pigeon world, especially the old school,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36"Go back to basics." We're forgetting that pigeons are birds.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41I've got friends spent £80,000, £100,000, even £200,000 on pigeon lofts,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44wooden floors, central heating, hot and cold showers.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Where the day of Vic's was a normal pigeon loft.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Dry, healthy pigeons, fed well on a varied diet,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56plenty of clean water, and that was his secret, if you like. Basic.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Vic Robinson's pigeon-fancying brought him fame,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01as well as a fair amount of fortune too.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06He was able to buy his house from the winnings of his pigeons.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Because his winnings, I would suggest...
0:19:10 > 0:19:16There were pigeons every year from 1934 up to the war years.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21..would have been in the region of... averaging about £200, £250 a year.
0:19:21 > 0:19:27Which was really a year's salary for quite a lot of people in those days.
0:19:27 > 0:19:28And thanks to his pigeons,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32his daughter Jean was given the best possible start in life.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38They enabled him and his wife to send Jeannie to Barton Peveril Grammar School,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43where she received an education second to none.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And she was a very well-educated young lady.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49I'm proof of that!
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Cos I went to the same school.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58In their search for heirs to Jean's estate, Kevin and the team
0:19:58 > 0:20:02had established that Jean was Victor and Lillian's only child,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04so they now needed to widen their search.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08We knew that this was going to be a matter of aunts and uncles,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10or more likely, their descendants,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12inheriting from this estate.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16The shift in the focus of the hunt marked a critical juncture.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22When we know it's going to be a matter of going to cousins, ie, tracing cousins,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26we really...are branching out into the unknown.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Sometimes it might turn out that both paternal and maternal families are quite small
0:20:31 > 0:20:32and it can be solved quite quickly.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36At other times, you find there are huge families
0:20:36 > 0:20:40and they're spreading all over the place, including overseas.
0:20:40 > 0:20:41It's just....
0:20:41 > 0:20:46At that point, it's just difficult to know how far you're going to have to go to solve the whole case.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Beginning with Jean's father's family,
0:20:49 > 0:20:50Kevin used the 1911 census
0:20:50 > 0:20:54to discover that Victor Robinson was one of 11 children.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Immediately, things were not looking good.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03Victor Hugh Robinson was one of the younger members of the family
0:21:03 > 0:21:07and some of his older siblings were born back in the 1870s.
0:21:07 > 0:21:08Um...this meant
0:21:08 > 0:21:12that we might have to be tracing down two or three generations
0:21:12 > 0:21:16on some branches of the family to find the living heirs.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22We knew straightaway that it was very likely that there was going to be a lot of work involved in this,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25and that there might well be a huge number of beneficiaries.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29And as their work continued, Kevin and the team's worst fears were realised...
0:21:29 > 0:21:35There were about 60 heirs on the Robinson side of the family.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39..while the remarkable wartime role of Vic's pigeons came to light.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Many lives were saved through racing pigeons flying through
0:21:43 > 0:21:46bullets, coming back with bullet wounds,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51snow, fog, to bring vital messages back.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Heir hunters trace thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02But not all cases can be cracked.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06There are thousands of estates on the Treasury's bona vacantia list
0:22:06 > 0:22:09that have eluded the heir hunters and remained unsolved.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15The Bona Vacantia Division deals with the estates of people who die
0:22:15 > 0:22:16without leaving a will
0:22:16 > 0:22:18or any entitled blood relatives.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Today we're focusing on two cases that have yet to be solved by the heir hunters.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Could you be the beneficiary they're looking for?
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Could you be about to inherit some money from a long-lost relative?
0:22:33 > 0:22:36First is the case of John Frederick Lawrence Ball.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46In the UK, nearly 44,000 people share the surname Ball,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and it's particularly common in the Stoke-on-Trent area.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53But heir hunters have struggled to find any of John's living heirs.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Are you related to John?
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Do you have any information that might help crack this case?
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Next, can you shed any light on the case of Margaret Marsh?
0:23:08 > 0:23:09She died in the run-up to Christmas.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18The name Marsh was originally given as a topographical name
0:23:18 > 0:23:20for anyone who lived near grassland.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Were you a friend or a neighbour of Margaret?
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Do you have information about her family?
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Perhaps you're the relative the heir hunters have been looking for.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Both John and Margaret's estates remain unclaimed,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36and if no-one comes forward, their money will go to the Government.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Money raised by the division
0:23:38 > 0:23:40is ultimately passed to the General Exchequer,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43which benefits the country as a whole.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44Do you have any clues
0:23:44 > 0:23:49that could help solve the cases of John Ball or Margaret Marsh?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53If so, you could have a windfall coming your way.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02For senior case manager Kevin Edmondson and his team
0:24:02 > 0:24:04at London heir-hunting firm Hoopers,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08the case of Jean Chainey was proving an extraordinary one.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13No only had they discovered that her father was a renowned pigeon fancier,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17there were also shaping up to be an enormous number of heirs.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20All Kevin and the team had to do now was find them.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25In the 1911 census record for the Robinson family,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29only five of the children of the paternal grandparents
0:24:29 > 0:24:32were actually living with them at that time.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34So although we knew there were 11 in total,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37we still didn't know who six of them were.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Jean Irene Chainey died in Telford, Shropshire,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44on the 23rd of December 2011.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Fellow classmate Ted Bennett remembers her from his schooldays.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51She had big eyes.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52I'll always remember that.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57She wasn't pretty...and she had bushy hair.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00She was always well-dressed.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02She was always well-spoken.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04And she had really good manners.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06She was very good at her school work
0:25:06 > 0:25:07and very diligent.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09She was a normal schoolgirl.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13She wasn't like me, naughty!
0:25:13 > 0:25:15I'd get up to mischief.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19But it seems there was a limit to how close Jean would get to her classmates.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23She would talk to you about school work,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26but she didn't like to talk about her own private life.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29And Ted has his own theory as to why.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33The people that were in to grammar school at that time were a little bit snooty.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37They... And Jean didn't come from a background...
0:25:37 > 0:25:39that...
0:25:39 > 0:25:42..a privileged background, let me put it that way.
0:25:42 > 0:25:43I think that's what it was.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48After leaving school, Ted didn't see Jean again for many years.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50When he did, he was in for a surprise.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54She was animated, and she'd obviously blossomed.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59She was a lot more at ease with herself, let me put it that way, and with her parents.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03She had a breadth of knowledge.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07She knew things about finance,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11about world politics, etc.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14She could converse and talk
0:26:14 > 0:26:17on most subjects that anybody raised.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20It was an impressive transformation.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23She was, to me, a woman of the world.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27She knew exactly where she was going, and she knew what she was about.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29She was a happy girl.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30Happy girl.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34In the office, Kevin and the team were making good progress
0:26:34 > 0:26:36in their hunt for Jean's cousins.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38By going back to the 1901 and 1891 censuses,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41they had eventually managed to track down
0:26:41 > 0:26:44the names of all Jean's father's siblings.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47But there were more challenges to come.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51The surname Robinson is one of the more common surnames.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56And so that does make research a little more difficult.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59It was time for some tricks of the trade.
0:26:59 > 0:27:06One of the things we first do is to try and discover whether any of the aunts and uncles have married.
0:27:06 > 0:27:12Often in the hope that one of the females has married someone with a less common surname.
0:27:12 > 0:27:20In this case, we struck lucky, because one of Jean's aunts, Mabel Robinson, married a Mr Lodge,
0:27:20 > 0:27:21a much les common name.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23And this made it a lot easier for us.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28This discovery was a fantastic breakthrough that led Kevin to finding his first heir.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33We found that Mabel and her husband had four children.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36And we were quite fortunate to discover
0:27:36 > 0:27:40that one of them, Raymond, was still living, in his late 80s.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45For Raymond Lodge, news of his inheritance came completely out of the blue.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50When Hoopers rang, I was surprised, um...
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Didn't really have any knowledge of who Jean was.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57They explained that she was a cousin of mine,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and that was about it, really.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01While he didn't remember Jean,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04his uncle's name did, however, ring a bell.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10I don't remember much about Vic Robinson, other than I met him on the one occasion.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12I was invited around to see the pigeons.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14It must have been...
0:28:14 > 0:28:18two or three years before the war. It was very close to the war.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21So I most probably was 12, 13.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26The sheer number of pigeons owned by Vic wowed the young Raymond.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30I would think he had 50 or 60. It was a very big operation.
0:28:30 > 0:28:31I think he was breeding a lot.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36I think he had a reputation. I think he was selling them on.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40I think he was even selling the eggs to other people.
0:28:40 > 0:28:41It was quite a little business.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43I do remember...
0:28:43 > 0:28:47him showing me a picture of one of the pigeons,
0:28:47 > 0:28:52which as far as I know, was the one that won the San Sebastian race.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54At the time of Raymond's visit,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Jean's father, Vic Robinson, was at the height of his success,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01racing and breeding champion pigeons.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04But just years later, at the outbreak of the Second World War,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06all that was to change.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Wartime was a very hard time for pigeon fanciers,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12because they couldn't race them, yet they had to keep them.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Now, if you supplied pigeons to the National Pigeon Service,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19you were allocated an amount of food for your pigeons.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21To overcome the problem of rationing,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Vic and thousands of other pigeon fanciers in Britain
0:29:24 > 0:29:27signed up to a scheme called the National Pigeon Service.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30An Army man used to come with a basket.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35And Vic would go into his loft and pick out anything from eight to 12 youngsters.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39He didn't like doing it, but he did it for the war effort.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41And he was pleased to do it for the war effort.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46But the second point that he was doing it, I suppose was really and truly the more important...
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Was that it enabled him to get food to be able to feed the pigeons he had.
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Once in the National Pigeon Service,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55birds were selected for missions based on their individual record
0:29:55 > 0:29:58for speed, navigational skills and endurance.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02They often became the bearers of vital, life-saving messages.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05They were used extensively in aircraft,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09for people who downed their planes and didn't know exactly where they were.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14When every Lancaster bomber or aircraft left this country,
0:30:14 > 0:30:15two pigeons were on board.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20Many lives were saved through racing pigeons coming back with bullet wounds,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23snow, fog, to bring vital messages back
0:30:23 > 0:30:27that they'd been ditched in the North Sea,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29that they had problems in France.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33The birds were also used when radio communication was too dangerous.
0:30:33 > 0:30:39They could be sent or dropped to the resistant fighters in the countries that were occupied.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42And they'd send messages back through the pigeons.
0:30:42 > 0:30:48Over 200,000 pigeons were volunteered for the National Pigeon Service during the war,
0:30:48 > 0:30:53and 32 of them were awarded the Dickin Medal for outstanding exploits.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55As well as a means of serving his country,
0:30:55 > 0:31:00for Vic, it was also an important way of keeping his champion dynasty going.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04After the war was finished, he still had his basic blood lines there,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07which was very successful in the '30s,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10and being an exceptional stock man, an exceptional breeder,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12er...
0:31:12 > 0:31:17he was fortunate to have his foundation
0:31:17 > 0:31:24still in the '50s, which enabled him to win a second Grand National race with the National Flying Club.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29This momentous post-war win cemented Vic's reputation for ever.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31To win two blue ribbons,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34the ultimate in pigeon racing in this country,
0:31:34 > 0:31:39twice and 20 years apart, if not more, is unique. Very unique.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Back in the office, after successfully finding Raymond,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50Kevin and the rest of the team were on a roll with the Robinson side of the family.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54We've had quite a few people working on it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59We were fortunate, in that on several branches of the family,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01we were able to track down people quite quickly,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05and by interviewing them, they were able to fill us in quite a bit of the details
0:32:05 > 0:32:08of the rest of the members of their family.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12And the total number of heirs entitled to Jean's estate,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16now valued at approximately £75,000,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18is quite extraordinary.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23We've now traced a total of 82 heirs.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26We think that is probably the final figure,
0:32:26 > 0:32:31although we've still got a little bit of research to do just to verify that.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Another one of these heirs was Peter Robinson,
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Jean's cousin once removed.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Now that he's entitled to a share of her estate,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42he has no idea what to expect.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47My wife and daughter think I'm going to be a millionaire, but I just pooh-pooh it and think,
0:32:47 > 0:32:53well, yeah, if £5 comes out of it, I'm £5 better off than I was last week.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57For Peter, childhood memories of a visit to Vic's pigeon loft
0:32:57 > 0:32:59Have become the stuff of legend.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02He took me into his pigeon loft
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and, one by one, he showed me all his favourite pigeons.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09I've got it in my head that Uncle Vic showed me one of these pigeons,
0:33:09 > 0:33:14and said, "See this pigeon? This pigeon is worth a million pounds."
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Whether he actually said that or not, I'm not too sure.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Whether it's £100, £1,000...
0:33:19 > 0:33:23From that day to this, I've always got it in my mind that Uncle Vic said,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25"This pigeon's worth a million pounds."
0:33:25 > 0:33:27That must have been a hellish lot of money in those days.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33And it's only just beginning to dawn on him what a star Jean's father really was.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37I'd heard of Uncle Vic within the family, obviously,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41but I didn't realise he was that famous outside the family circle.
0:33:49 > 0:33:54Since the case of Ian Urquhart Fraser appeared on the Treasury solicitors' list,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57the team at heir-hunting firm Fraser & Fraser
0:33:57 > 0:33:59have been making steady progress.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01There's one stem with heirs on,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and, um...we're hopefully going to try to get in contact with them.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09Once they established there are no heirs on the paternal side,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13their search has narrowed to just one line on the maternal side of the tree.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18All they need to do is make contact with the heirs before the competition.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Ian Urquhart Fraser
0:34:23 > 0:34:26died on the 1st of September 2011, aged 85.
0:34:26 > 0:34:32His friend, John Whitehead, remembers him as an intellectually rigorous figure.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35You have to bear in mind that he was an educated man.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37He was a lecturer.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40He wouldn't tolerate sloppy thinking.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45Um...if I came up with an idea that was carelessly constructed,
0:34:45 > 0:34:50or badly articulated, he'd chivvy me along, "No, no, you can put it better than that."
0:34:50 > 0:34:52In the nicest possible way.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56But he always wanted to keep me on my toes.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58As a member of the Royal College of Surgeons
0:34:58 > 0:35:00and a lecturer in anatomy,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Ian continued to teach well into his 70s.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06He loved his work. He continued working long after his retirement.
0:35:06 > 0:35:12And actually, when he was finally obliged to retire,
0:35:12 > 0:35:17Ian memorably declined to go to his own leaving party.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Whether that was out of modesty or because he was irritated at having to finally retire, I'm not sure.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26Whenever I met him, he nearly always had a copy of the New England Medical Journal in his pocket.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Even after he retired, he kept in touch with medicine.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34When Ian grew ill and was taken into hospital at the end of his life,
0:35:34 > 0:35:36John was by his side.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40I did ask him if he'd written a will.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42And he said he didn't have any family,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and it didn't really matter what happened to his stuff when he died.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47I pointed out to him, if nothing else,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51he could perhaps make a difference to some of the charities he supported.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55I left it for him to think about it, but he did nothing about it.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57His condition was up and down a bit.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00I saw him a couple of days before he passed away.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03He asked me if I'd mind if we entered my name
0:36:03 > 0:36:06on his records as next of kin as there was nobody else.
0:36:13 > 0:36:14He was a very private man.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16I can only surmise,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18but my feeling is that, in his mind,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21that the things that he had, they were part of him
0:36:21 > 0:36:25and when he passed away, there was nothing. That was the end of it.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29I don't think he really took an interest beyond that.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Now that Ian has passed away
0:36:32 > 0:36:34and his estate is in the hands of the Treasury,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36John has strong feelings on the issue.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40I think it's very important that everybody writes a will.
0:36:40 > 0:36:41Even if you have no family,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45then perhaps you have a favourite cause or a favourite charity
0:36:45 > 0:36:49and any money you leave them could make a huge difference.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52At the end of the day, if no relatives and no heirs
0:36:52 > 0:36:55have been traced, the money just goes back to the Government,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59after many years. But that money could do some good.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05In the office, the race is on to find and sign up heirs to Ian's estate,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09estimated to be worth at least £250,00.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13As rival companies are likely to be working this valuable case,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15the pressure really is on.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18But the team have already traced some heirs,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and Dave has finally managed to get hold of one of them,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Simon Forsyth, on the phone.
0:37:24 > 0:37:30Father and mother returned to England and passed away in Scarborough, is that correct?
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Am I right in believing that you're one of two children?
0:37:35 > 0:37:36What I'd very much like to do...
0:37:36 > 0:37:42Is it all possible for one of my colleagues to pop along and see you today?
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Lovely. Thanks for your time, sir. Bye-bye now.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Now all Dave needs to do is get hold of senior travelling researcher Ewart
0:37:54 > 0:37:56and arrange for him to visit Simon.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Your sat-nav should pick it up. It's a small lane.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02In order to ensure all their hard work doesn't go to waste,
0:38:02 > 0:38:06it's vital that Ewart reaches Simon before the competition.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- How long is it going to take you? - It's coming up now.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11It's only 14 miles. That's fine.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15- All righty.- Speak to you later.- Yeah, be lucky.- Cheers, mate. Bye.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18- Have a safe journey, OK.- Bye.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21And Ewart's raring to go.
0:38:23 > 0:38:29- Mr Forsyth?- Hi.- I'm just wondering, can I come to see you any earlier?
0:38:29 > 0:38:35Yes, absolutely fine. I'm just sitting putting PowerPoint training presentations together,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38so you would be an excuse to make a cup of tea.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43OK, well, I could be with you in the next, say, 45 minutes.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- 45, yeah, that's absolutely fine.- Is that all right?
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Yeah, that's fine. Do you know how to find us?
0:38:50 > 0:38:53It confuses people sometimes, but sat-nav normally finds it.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55So I'll see you in about 45 minutes.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00- OK, that's fine.- All right?- See you then.- Bye. Take care. Bye.
0:39:00 > 0:39:01Bye-bye.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Ewart heads straight off for the meeting.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09'Left turn.'
0:39:09 > 0:39:12I'm driving through, at the minute, a track.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Just a single track.
0:39:16 > 0:39:17For the past three miles.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23But as he continues on, Ewart begins to wonder if he's taken a wrong turn.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27This is a very, very tiny track.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29HE TOOTS HORN
0:39:30 > 0:39:32'At the next junction, right turn.'
0:39:33 > 0:39:34Oh, really!
0:39:37 > 0:39:39At last, it looks like he's made it.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42'Your destination is straight ahead.'
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Could he be about to sign his first heir?
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Ewart brings Simon up to speed with the research so far.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54She had a sister called Elizabeth, who married a Mr Fraser.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Ah, right.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58- OK.- We then have the deceased.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01- OK?- I know nothing of that side of the family.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Your father, unfortunately, has passed away...
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- in 1981, is that correct?- That's right, yes.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Um...
0:40:08 > 0:40:11He had a brother but, unfortunately, he died in infancy.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Ah, now I knew he had a brother...
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Um...and the story in the family
0:40:15 > 0:40:19was that he had disappeared off to the States or something,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22but we never knew anything about him.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25It would explain a lot of things, because my dad never mentioned him.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28And we never knew anything about him at all.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33The news about his uncle is as surprising as the news about his potential inheritance.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36And Simon is happy to sign with the company,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39so they can help him make his claim to the estate.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44One thing I would ask, if you find background about the family,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47family tree things, it would be very useful for me
0:40:47 > 0:40:50- to know a bit more about that side of things.- Sure, yeah.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- Yeah.- I'm assuming...- Yeah, yeah.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55If we find a family...
0:40:56 > 0:40:58..we can put you in touch, no problem.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Take care, Mr Forsyth. All the best.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03It's a fantastic result for Ewart and the team
0:41:03 > 0:41:06and he calls Dave to fill him in.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- Hello, Ewart.- Hello, Dave.
0:41:08 > 0:41:09Yeah, good news, Dave.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12I've signed Mr Forsyth, OK?
0:41:12 > 0:41:15- As you said, he was a very nice guy. - Well done, mate.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18- Thanks for everything today.- Cheers, Dave.- Take care.- Bye.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21What a fantastic day!
0:41:21 > 0:41:22Eh?
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Nice big case,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26big money...
0:41:27 > 0:41:30..a couple of heirs entitled. I've signed one.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32Fantastic!
0:41:32 > 0:41:35And Ewart isn't the only one delighted with his work.
0:41:35 > 0:41:41Everyone's really pulled together, and not only the guys in the office, but the guys on the road.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43The heir that Ewart went to see
0:41:43 > 0:41:46has kindly agreed to use our services.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48Perfect end to a perfect day.
0:41:48 > 0:41:49And it gets better,
0:41:49 > 0:41:54because the value of Ian's estate has now come in at £430,000.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00For heir Simon, it has been an emotional 24 hours.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03There was a slight sense of disbelief, and, to be honest,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06just hearing my mum's and my dad's names mentioned
0:42:06 > 0:42:10just brought a whole load of things alive, really,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13reminded me of stuff that just seems to be so far in the past now.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15It was just really nice hearing their names,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18which sounds very strange, I suppose, but like a connection.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21As his parents passed away over 30 years ago,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23when Simon was in his 20s,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26it's a precious opportunity to learn more about his family.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29If your parents die when you're young, you don't really...
0:42:29 > 0:42:33appreciate how important it is just to ask them about their lives.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39Nearly every day, something will remind me of something I could have asked, would have been good to ask.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Of course, once they're gone, you never can.
0:42:42 > 0:42:48So any information that comes out of this would be of great interest and value.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52And Simon has been inspired to get started on his own family research.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54It's like a gentle challenge to me
0:42:54 > 0:42:57to just get on with it. I think the lesson that comes out of this is,
0:42:57 > 0:42:58don't put things off for ever,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01because you never quite know when for ever is.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03So...sometimes sooner than you think.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08If you would like advice about building a family tree
0:43:08 > 0:43:10or making a will, go to...
0:43:19 > 0:43:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd