Paddy McGuinness is set to discover he has a hidden connection to US President Joe Biden in the new series of Who Do You Think You Are?.
The former Top Gear presenter, 50, delved into his family’s history in Ireland for the BBC’s ancestry programme.
But he was shocked to discover that his great-great-grandparents Mark McGuinness and Winifred Malloy lived near the 81-year-old US president’s ancestor Edward Blewitt in Ballina, County Mayo.
During the episode, which will air on August 22, Paddy will also take a look at the medal his grandfather won for his brave actions during World War II.
“My ancestors here in Ballina lived on the same street as Joe Biden’s ancestors,” Paddy said.
Paddy McGuinness discovered he has a hidden connection to US President Joe Biden while filming the new series of Who Do You Think You Are?
Paddy was shocked to discover that his great-great-grandparents Mark McGuinness and Winifred Malloy lived near the 81-year-old US president’s ancestor Edward Blewitt in Ballina, County Mayo.
“I think the most important moment for me was seeing my grandfather’s war medal. It was a moment when I felt like I was holding a piece of history in my hands.
“My father would have loved to know more about our Irish ancestors, and it would have been nice to take him to Ballina and all that, but I’ll have a pint of that black liquor for him.”
The former Take Me Out presenter added that he always felt “ignorant” about his heritage but stressed that he always had a “spiritual connection” to County Mayo.
He said: ‘I feel a real spiritual connection, even on this beach today.
“It’s absolutely beautiful here on the west coast of Ireland. They might have been playing here as children, walking up and down, who knows. It’s quite a romantic idea, but I like it.”
“It’s been one of those cases where there are so many lovely little surprises, my grandfather on my mother’s side with the Spitfire connection.”
Biden, meanwhile, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but traces his roots back to County Louth and County Mayo.
His connections to Ireland come mainly from his mother’s side, as his great-great-grandfather Edward grew up in Ballina, Co. Mayo, before emigrating to Scranton after the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.
During the episode, which will air on August 22, Paddy will also take a look at the medal his grandfather won for his brave actions during World War II.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but his roots go back to County Louth and County Mayo.
During a White House event in March 2023 to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, current Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described Biden as “unmistakably a son of Ireland”.
Another of the American president’s great-great-grandfathers, Owen Finnegan, was a shoemaker from County Louth who emigrated to the United States in 1849.
It’s another in a list of surprise hookups uncovered on the show, after Danny Dyer revealed his real-life relationships in 2016.
Danny was stunned to discover that his line of descent stretched back to the 16th century and Henry VIII’s brutal advisor, Thomas Cromwell.
Cromwell’s son Gregory married Elizabeth Seymour, sister of Jane, Henry’s favourite wife. And these girls were direct descendants of Edward III, who ruled England for half a century from 1327.
It was a pleasure to watch the actor’s macho delight upon learning that he was only 22 generations away from the throne.
“It can’t be,” he marvelled. “A direct descendant of Edward III? It’s nonsense, isn’t it? I think I’ll treat myself to a ruff, a huge ruff, and go bowling in it, and if anyone asks, I’ll explain.”
More than 160 celebrities have appeared on the show, starting with Bill Oddie, Amanda Redman and Sue Johnston in 2004, with Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill and singer Olly Murs among the contestants this time around.
In the TV series, Dame Judi Dench was left eager to learn how her father, Reginald, earned his Military Cross and his honours in World War I. She was shocked to discover that on her mother’s side, she was descended from a lady-in-waiting at the Danish royal court in the 16th century.
Danny Dyer discovered that his line of descent dates back to the 16th century, and to Henry VIII’s brutal advisor, Thomas Cromwell.
Dame Judi Dench was keen to learn how her father, Reginald, earned his Military Cross and Bar in the First World War.
Pictured: Dame Judi Dench on family holiday in France. From left to right, her sister-in-law Daphne, her brother Jeffrey, her father Reginald and Dame Judi Dench
Comedian Paul Merton was in a Cardiff cemetery, standing by an unmarked grave, under an umbrella and in a downpour. His grandmother, the wife of a World War I veteran, had died in childbirth. Paul looked devastated and it was a sad reminder that not every family story ends with a coat of arms.
During a visit to the College of Arms, Andrew Lloyd Webber took the opportunity to suggest that it was about time he was given an official family crest. He imagined something feline, in honour of his musical Cats. “We need to stop people having too many domestic pets,” the college’s heraldry expert replied tartly.
As Lord LW already knew his family tree, the BBC’s experts treated it as a challenge and unearthed a colourful collection of ancestors whose existence he had never suspected. Among them were a Victorian missionary whose life was dedicated to saving East End prostitutes and a soldier who fought at Waterloo.
Sometimes archivists only have to go back a generation. Charles Dance revealed that he knew little about his mother’s past and barely remembered his father, who died in 1949, when little Charlie was not yet four years old.
The episode was a series of captivating surprises, as the actor discovered that his father, Walter, was 25 years older than he thought and had fought in the Boer War, as well as being the father of two daughters whose existence Charles had never suspected.
Kate Winslet also discovered a Scandinavian ancestor, although hers was a Swedish peasant imprisoned for stealing potatoes.
Her three-great-grandfather was a former grenadier who became head warder at Dartmoor Prison, while both Twiggy and Tracey Emin knew ancestors who were sentenced to hard labour.
