The Daily Telegraph has an article by Ben Fenton about Tony Robinson (Baldrick in Blackadder, as well as Time Team) and his family’s history. Those of you who follow him, know that he’s now become well-known for helping to popularise archaeology, but surprisingly, he hasn’t looked into his family history all that much. That’s changed recently.

A very intersting article, and worth reading, but I’m a bit worried that people with only a mild interest in genealogy will read it and come away thinking that genealogy is just as easy as the click of a mouse button.

For those of you into fictional genealogy, Cassandra sent me a note about mapping out the genealogy of the characters in the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling, the series’ author, is a big fan of genealogy, and has included a lot of back history of the various characters.

The site is hosted at RootsWeb, and as an example, you can see Harry Potter’s family tree in Pedigree format.

From 50 connect.co.uk, we have an article about an interesting document that’s now available online. It’s referred to as Mostyn MS 88, and was written sometime between 1488 and 1498 by Gutun Owain from Shropshire.

Janet Fullwood has an interesting article in The Sacremento Bee, Swiss Sutter swings by Sacramento, that is the opposite of what Americans normally experience when it comes to travel and genealogy - somebody from elsewhere stopping by to do a little genealogy research in the US, or in this case, several times.

Oprah’s Liberian heritage could inspire nation’s residents, an interesting article by Jeremy Levitt in the Chicago Sun-Times, delves into just what impact the recent PBS Documentary “African American Lives”, which covered the genealogy of several prominent African-Americans, will have on Liberia and Liberian genealogy research as a whole. Although it covers mostly the Liberian aspect, it’s still kind of an interesting read (and they bring up some of the problems with DNA genealogy research).

The hit genealogy TV series on BBC2 (UK), Who Do You Think You Are?, is moving to BBC1, according to C21Media. UKTV has also acquired the series from Wall to Wall, the show’s independent producer. This will cover the show’s third season/series, and the high profile move should allow it to expand.

If you are in the US, you might want to check out a show that PBS is premiering tonight, African American Lives. It traces the family history of nine prominent African Americans, and is shaping up to be one of the highest-profile shows about genealogy that has shown on American TV in years. It is a two-part, four-hour series (tonight and Feb 8th) and will probably repeat throughout the month (check your local listings at the link above).

Dan Whittle writes about the current-day descendants of Davy Crockett, the frontiersman, and congressman, and how there are many still living in the areas of Tennessee where Davy spent his early years before winding up at the Alamo, where he died a hero’s death. The family has kept in contact over the years, including forming the “Direct Descendants & Kin of David Crockett” group. Aside from the Alamo, and his legend on the frontier, Davy Crockett’s tale is an interesting one, as it intertwines with the tragedy of the Trail of Tears (the forced Indian removal to lands out west, including present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma), which he was opposed to, and which led to his falling out with Andrew Jackson and politics in general.