An actor in Britain auditioned for and won the role of a relative.When actor Tom Goodman-Hill auditioned for Channel 4’s lavish new Civil War drama The Devil’s Whore, he kept one vital fact from the producers: he is a direct descendant of the historical figure he was hoping to portray. Luckily he landed the role of firebrand activist ‘Freeborn’ John Lilburne, and will now be able to tell his ancestor’s story to millions of viewers. ‘I would have felt silly if I hadn’t got the job,’ says the 40-year-old. [Link]

Estelle Reiner—wife of Carl, mother of Rob, and the real star of When Harry Met Sally—died this week. On what date did her parents marry?

Jason Kottke writes that "comparing my distorted recall of childhood favorites to the oldies of the time jogs my memory in unpleasant ways."For example: Listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller today is equivalent to listening to Elvis Presley's first album (1956) at the time of Thriller's release in 1982.When I was a kid, my mother's record collection (Paul Anka, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee) seemed horribly dated, but it was no less contemporary than, say, Nirvana is today. The effect is exaggerated in my case, because my musical tastes have always been a little out-of-date. I've been ...

A 250-year-old murder case is under review in Scotland.The murdered man was Colin Campbell of Glenure, the Red Fox, a government agent who was on his way to evict local tenants, Stewarts of Appin, and replace them with his own relatives. The murder was central to the plot for one of Scotland's most celebrated novels, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped.Despite a lack of evidence and strong alibi, James of the Glens was convicted of the crime. Now someone has come forward to divulge a long-held family secret, clearing James of the charges.Anda Penman, 89, a descendant of the Stewarts of ...

The funeral of Maggie Ward, grandmother of 172, drew a crowd.Although they have never all been together in one place before, every single one made sure they were at the ceremony to give the 87-year-old a good send-off.In life, staunch Irish Catholic Mrs Ward and her husband Charles created one of Britain's largest families with 15 children of their own. All 12 surviving children - Joan, Patrick, Martin, Margaret, Mary, Catherine, Charlie, Bernard, Bridget, Helen, Anne and Lawrence - were at her funeral yesterday. The vast clan also includes 36 great grandchildren and 18 great-great ...

A descendant has discovered strands of Charles Darwin's beard hair.It is believed the hair was taken from Darwin's desk in 1882 by female relatives, who were unable to collect a lock of his hair before he was buried. His great-great grandson Randal Keynes said he found them in a box marked "remaining hair" whilst going through his Shropshire ancestor's possessions. [Link]

If you want to hide a prior divorce from your children, don't leave a published account of it in your library.Looking through Jeannette Edwards Rattray’s “East Hampton History and Genealogies” years ago at her mother’s house in Connecticut, Carol Rideout learned that her mom, Beryl Huntting Stanley, who was born and raised in East Hampton, had been divorced before she married Ms. Rideout’s father. Soon after she confronted her mother with the discovery, the genealogy book disappeared from the shelf. [Link]

Uh-oh.To honour the memory of the Canadian soldiers who died in the First World War, Ancestry.ca was offering, until the end of the month, a free Web search of military databases that contained the records of this country's soldiers. A half-page ad that ran in a Toronto newspaper on Sunday, adorned with a large red poppy, was titled "My Grandfather. My Hero," with details of how to do the search. But the colour ad featured a photograph of a German, not an Allied soldier, a blunder that angered some veterans and historians. [Link]

A Bedouin sheikh in Israel thinks he and other members of his tribe are related to Barack Obama.It was his 95-year-old mother who first spotted the connection, he says. Seeing the charismatic senator on television, she noted a striking resemblance to one of the African migrant workers who used to be employed by rich sheikhs in the fertile north of British Mandate Palestine in the 1930s. The Africans would sometimes marry local Beduin girls and start families, though, like many migrant workers, would just as frequently return home after several years. One of those men was a relative of ...

Another article about people naming their babies "Barack":There have been other presidential naming trends in the past century, according to Social Security Administration data. Franklin jumped to No. 33 in 1933, up from No. 147 in 1931. Dwight surged in the 1950s and Lyndon in the 1960s. Theodore hit its peak in the first decade of the 20th century. “Honoring new presidents with baby namesakes used to be an American tradition,” said Laura Wattenberg, author of “The Baby Name Wizard.” But she pointed out that the custom faded around the time of Watergate, in part ...

From Futility Closet:Married: Moses Alexander, aged 93, to Mrs. Frances Tompkins, aged 105. They were married in Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., June 11, 1831. They were both taken out of bed dead the following morning. —The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, 1938

10. Open jar of mayonnaise. 9. Great-grandparents' bondage gear. 8. Toenail clippings. 7. Predisposition to public flatulence. 6. Grandpa's place on the couch. 5. Credit card debt. 4. Live hand grenade with missing pin. 3. Vintage roadkill collection. 2. Grandma's secret crystal meth recipe. 1. Autopsy photo album.

A 90-year-old woman was found living in Evanston, Illinois, with her three dead siblings. What were the full names (first, middle and last) of their parents?

George Garratt picked a new name "for a bit of a laugh."A British student has changed his name and claims it is the world's longest — Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined — at 81 letters.His name beats the Guinness Book of Records' longest personal name registered on a birth certificate by 24 letters. The current record holder is named Rhoshandiatellyneshiaunneveshenk Koyaanisquatsiuth Williams, with 57 letters. [Link]

Billy Graham visited his late wife's grave back in April.At the end of a cross-shaped walkway, he gazed on Ruth's gravesite for the first time since her burial. Three times, he asked his staffers to read the message she chose for her headstone: “End of Construction – Thank you for your patience.” [Link]