My Family and Other Strangers: Adventures in Family History

by Jeremy Hardy

When Jeremy Hardy decided to explore his ancestry it was, in part, to get to the bottom of his grandmother Rebecca's dubious claims that the family descended from a certain 17th-century architect and that, more recently, Jeremy's great-grandfather was a Royal bodyguard. Other legends ranged from the great aunt who ran illegal hooch during Prohibition to the wronged Victorian servant girl who bore an illegitimate Hardy, not forgetting the family's rightful claim to a large country estate. Wild stories aside, Jeremy sets out to such diverse locations as the Croydon one-way system and the hostile waters around Malta in order to find traces of recognisable family traits and a sense of how he came to be. With wry humour and a keen eye for the absurd and the frustrating, Jeremy takes us on a by turns funny and moving journey into the world of family ancestry. My Family and Other Strangers will be enjoyed by anyone who has tried to decipher the 1901 census records, or simply wishes they too had asked their grandparents more about their lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Humor, Audiobook, Memoir, Biography

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slightly strange book. Only for fans of Jeremy Hardy, and possibly genealogy fans. It has the flavour of a book to order where his heart isn't fully into it, there are many visits to historical family locations where he arrives unprepared, and visits to museums that are closed, and a few comments where he says he doesn't know the facts, and could probably have found them on the internet without too much trouble. All that said, it is an easy, enjoyable read, and most of the enjoyment was from other anecdotes that aren't that relevant to the main story; I think it would have been better with more autobiography in it.

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeremy Hardy looks into his family’s history in a short and entertaining book. While his family’s genealogy is not terribly fascinating, he discovers lots about his ancestors and I loved hearing Jeremy’s voice once again. I really miss him on the News Quiz or I’m sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

[Eva Müller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, when I pulled this book out from my TBR-pile I wondered 'Now why exactly did I buy this?'. Not that I don't like Jeremy Hardy, but he's not on the list of people I find so amazing that I think I need to own/read/listen to everything by them and I also was never that interested genealogy. Still, I decided that now that I have it I could as well read it and I did not regret it.
It is true that it is somewhat hard to get terribly exited about somebody else finding a birth-certificate of their great-great-aunt or similar things, and overall Hardy does not present the sections dealing directly with geneology in the best way. Often he throws just a lot of names at the reader and I rarely remembered who exactly these people were (there is a family-tree at the beginning of the book, but a) I hate it when I have to look up names all the time and b) it's just a family tree of his direct ancestors, i.e. his parents, their parents and so on, no aunts, uncles, cousins etc. and quite often in his research he also searches for them).
Then you can't help but feel that towards the end he got a bit tired of searching himself. In the last few chapters there seems to be just a repeat of him going to place X where one of his ancestors might have lived but not bothering with prepearing anything in advance, so he's just standing there pretty helpless and ends up getting no/little information because he couldn't be bothered to check a map of phone people in advance.
Despite this I did enjoy that book very much and that's because of all the parts that don't deal directly with his family-history (or not at all, as he goes off-tamgent quite frequently). He talks about himself occasionally and these parts are (and yes I guess you are alowed to hit me for using a phrase that's terribly overused when it comes to describing memoirs) painfully honest. He doesn't try to sugarcoat his actions. So he talks about his campaining in Northern Ireland and that he stopped after one of his friends was killed because it was easy for him as he wasn't Irish himself or lived in Ireland. There's no 'I go distracted by other things' or anything like that, just 'I couldn't do it anymore'. I have read some memoirs by comedians and I can't remember that amount of honesty anywhere else.
Not everything is personal, some things are just observations, I very much agreed with. (Other people might not) And overall it was a really interessting read, though it probably isn't a book for everyone.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hardy shows that family history research is not like it is on the telly. When the BBC film some celebrity learning about their ancestors, all the research has been done beforehand by various archives and local studies staff repeatedly contacted by harangued researchers. Plus they only ever make programmes about celebs with 'interesting' forebears. Hardy has a lot of labourers and tradesmen on his line and finds that genealogy involves doing actual work. Although it didn't have a lot of interesting people in it and the book reminded me why a person's family history is only worth hearing about if there's a nice juicy murder or some such scandal, I did find myself warming to Hardy and enjoyed his writing style.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't dislike this book -- it's just hard to get really involved in someone else's genealogy. If you like Jeremy Hardy or British genealogy, you'll be fine. I had barely heard of him, except via Craig Ferguson, but he is a funny guy & I follow him on Twitter. He supports some great causes. But when I went to look for the book, I couldn't get it at home. Found it here in England at a larger WHSmith, and read it while on vacation here, a nice match of context. Then, luckily, again from a tweet, caught Mr. Hardy on his regular BBC4 radio show as we were traversing hills and dales -- that topped off the experience.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Jeremy Hardy a lot. I go and see him whenever he comes to Sheffield; even when he stays in his dressing room. (Reference to gig when the audience waited increasingly impatiently for half and hour while he waited patiently for a call to come to the stage. Misunderstanding, and quickly forgotten once he got into his stride). I listen to him on the radio, love him on the news quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. He doesn't cover himself with glory with this though.

[Sorrento · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeremy Hardy is one of my favourite comedians, sadly though I found this book long and dreary. Yes it did have flashes of his comic genius, but there were long passages of uninteresting turgid writing. I am afraid I gave up half way through chapter 6. I think the problem with the book is that Jeremy tries to be his funny self and to write interestingly about his family history. Unfortunately the two aims appear to get in the way of each other & it finishes up being neither.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is something of a stream of consciousness, with a whiff of "I've been told to write this book so I'd better get something down" However, I enjoy Jeremy Hardy and the book was very much 'him', very wry.

[Paul Doody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comedian Jeremy Hardy traces his family tree and clears up some family myths. Touching and funny.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me quite a long time to get through this book. As a long-time amateur genealogist myself, I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. Hardy, apparently a well-known comedian in Great Britain, was not at all familiar to me, so some of his allusions to his personal and professional life went right over my head. His decision to look into his family history and visit places his family had lived, checking out family legends and doing some actual research, were concepts that resonated with me, but his haphazard way of going about it was a bit annoying. Still, Hardy's good humor, liberal (Labour) political viewpoint, and the matter-of-fact way he reacts to a few surprises in his family history kept me reading to the end. There were very few of the shocking moments we've come to expect in shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots (Hardy even alludes at one point to what it would be like to have to show intense emotion on one of those programs). I would probably not recommend this except to British readers who are familiar with Mr. Hardy, but I'm glad I kept on with it.

[Clive Gerrard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having seen [the late] Jeremy Hardy in concert at my local theatre some years ago, I picked up the book as I found his raconteur style to story telling engaging and humorous. I was not disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and his eloquent and articulate prose was a joy!

Highly recommended !

[Rob Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit journal, a little bit travelogue as Jeremy carries out a "who do you think you are?" on himself, as auntie was unlikely to invite him on. Mainly a chance to hang out with Jeremy Hardy, which was always a joy.

[William Bibliomane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeremy Hardy casts about for the roots of his family, allowing readers to enjoy his ordeals. An entertaining read.

Full revised review here: https://bibliomaneblog.wordpress.com/...