Who Do You Think You Are? - Alistair McGowan - BBC One

[Saliesu]

I would be very interested in trying to add some other hints that Alistair McGowan could follow up in  trying to trace his background in India, as I,lmyself was born there and did quite a bit of research before finally getting to the right person, who luckily,very promptly helped me by following quite a lot of the info I had about my Scottish Ancestors and sent me,by post from America a chart listing my royal links, now of which I am so very proud and very grateful for.I am a Campbell

[AndrewJimScott]

mc is irish too

[glentton]

you say ''i jimmy'' alastir joking

[angels77100]

Where the hell does McGowan think the Scot's came from? Ireland of course. The Scots are just a madder Irish tribe who thought it would be cool moving to somewhere even wetter then Ireland -Billy Connolly. Alistar McGowan, I used to like you, now I think you're just ignorant and as stupid as the rest of them.

[poneil69]

Haha, I am Scottish, you be 'british' if you want, maybe you dont want to be English/Welsh or whatever but that's a wee bit sad really : (

[petescott30]

He is right there are a lot of McGowans in Sligo. I lived there near Easkey, there is a pub there called McGowans for example.

[essexdelbee]

does anyone have the full show. this would help me with my research on anglo indians

[SamKisses08]

I think he's hot!!

[vorkutaman]

Has alistair ever said anything funny? The odd alright impression but a bore of a man.

[Warrenpeace21]

The origin of Anglo-Indians. Alistair McGowan discovers his Anglo-Indian roots.

[poneil69]

All Scottish are Irish,dont worry me none.Anything but British.

[Boatman1707]

Scotland is british you F*cking prat

[fionndan]

scotland is NOT and never will be british, not in a civic or national sense, only in a geographical sense.

[wratched]

It was James I who came up with the idea of Britain in the first place.

[fionndan]

No, it was James VI. Otherwise known as Scotland's greatest traitor.

[wratched]

What can I say? He liked London. And numbers are a bit irrelevant really. I mean Edward I was named after Edward the Confessor, but they still called him Edward I. Go figure.

[iitzeus]

Britain (short for Britannia in Latin) is the collective name of the celtic tribes that lived on the Isles before the Anglo-Saxon invasions.

So, their descendants (Welsh and Scottish) ARE British .. in fact, they have a truer claim to be called British. Anglo-Saxons merely appropriated the ethnonym later.

[fionndan]

yes i agree with you. For clarification, i object to the modern day use of british, not the original one.

[themanbearpig]

people born on the british isles, who share british culture, are british. If i was to take your view strictly the welsh are basque

[iitzeus]

and what is this "British" culture, may I enquire ?

By the way, Basque is a non Indo-European ethno-linguistic group, who have absolutely nothing to do with the Welsh.

Welsh and all its sister Celtic languages are Indo-European. The linguistic group most closely allied to Welsh is that of Latin and its descendant dialects. Old-Celtic and Old-Latin were very similar, almost mutually intelligible languages.

[themanbearpig]

most of wales has mediterranean ancestry, no one was talking about linguistics, please try and keep up.

[poneil69]

Think you mean 'Lion Rampant'. Please try and keep up.Haha,british education huh?

[themanbearpig]

spelling scrutiny, the last defence of someone losing an argument.

[poneil69]

Haha,there is no argument and there's nothing wrong with your spelling,it's the wrong word : )

[iitzeus]

Should I keep up or should you know better than changing goal-posts from 'Basque' to 'Mediterranean' ?

Basque country is in NORTHERN Spain, not on the Mediterranean coast .. so shut it.

[themanbearpig]

The whole of spain is part of the mediterranean region you complete retard, as is southern france, you complete retard. also

your a retard

[iitzeus]

Hehe ... clearly neither geography nor history is your strong suit. You can't even spell properly. So I guess I needn't waste any more of my precious time driving sense into someone of ostensibly below-average IQ. G'bye.

[themanbearpig]

i think you mean poltical sense, also the same british culture is shared throughout the briiths isles, get real what age are you 10?

[themanbearpig]

yes we hang union jacks outside our houses and the next street down hang the lion rampart, we're also terrorists and have a high populace of "scottish travellers". you may not have noticed but i was being sarcastic

[poneil69]

...

[spaddy1959]

alistairs dad was my primary school teacher in the 1960's in a small rural village nobody thought anything of his slightly coloured appearance he was a lovely man.

[silkybubble]

to spaddy1959 - I don't think it was about whether he was lovely or not: the fact is, he denied his children the knowledge of where HE, and THEY, came from!! And now that he's passed away, they can't even ask him why... His uncle is a big liar too......

[coolymic]

Many of Ireland's Smiths were originally called McGowan before Anglicizing their name, the Scots originate from the Irish Scoti Tribe who displaced the Picts.

Protestant Scottish Settlers later arrived in the 1600's during the Plantation of Ulster.

Alistair seemed chuffed about being Indian, he was just surprised not horrified, his Father + Uncle seemed ashamed about being Indian but there is nothing to be ashamed about and Alistair should be proud to be a Son of Ma Bharat.

Jon

[fionndan]

Many of SCotland's Smiths have anglicised their name from Mac a' Ghobhainn too. Although it continues to bethe subject of huge debate, it is thought the Scots did not DISPLACE the Picts but rather that the Scots and Picts became a nation. They often fought together and shared a common Celtic social structure, although the Picts famously matrineal society was perhaps an older system than that of the Scots (Gaels).

[Andy17]

It would be pretty easy for some part of his family to be scottish, its not that far away from Ireland and in some ways were pretty similar :D!

[mathuranjali]

i found mcgowan's horror with his ancestors looking indian and not scottish quite disturbing.

[xIndieAngelx]

i watched this the other night, i guessed he was Irish and not Scottish, but then again they went over to Ireland at some point in history my dad told me.. so he may still be Scottish!

[spiffingolboy]

This guy is talented. Unfortunately he is Indian and has no right to be called British. Deport him immediately.

[whatdafunkuk]

paddy is an irish name u twat

[bennyman1982]

Seamus Singh lol!!!. What about Paddy Abdullah, Seamus Patel, Abdul O Callaghan or Rasheed Sweeney.