Paddy McGuinness will discover he has a hidden connection to US President Joe Biden in the new series of Who Do You Think You Are?
The 50-year-old former Top Gear presenter delved into his Irish family history for the BBC ancestry programme.
But he was shocked to discover that his great-grandparents Mark McGuinness and Winifred Malloy lived near the 81-year-old US President’s ancestor Edward Blewitt in Ballina, County Mayo.
In the episode, which airs on August 22, Paddy also looks back on 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-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 biggest highlight for me was seeing my grandfather’s war medal. That was really a moment for me where I felt like I was holding a piece of history in my hand.
‘My father would have liked to know more about our Irish ancestors, and it would have been nice to take him to Ballina and such, but I’d like to give him a pint of that black stuff.’
The former Take Me Out presenter added that he always felt ‘ignorant’ about his heritage, but insisted he has always had a ‘spiritual connection’ to County Mayo.
He said, ‘I really feel a spiritual connection, even today on this beach.
‘It’s really beautiful here on the west coast of Ireland, they could have played here as children and walked up and down here, who knows. It’s quite a romantic thought, but I think it’s beautiful.
‘It’s just one of those times when I was in for so many nice surprises: my maternal grandfather with the Spitfire connection.’
Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but his roots lie in County Louth and County Mayo.
His ties to Ireland are mainly through his mother’s side. His great-grandfather Edward grew up in Ballina, Co. Mayo and emigrated to Scranton after the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.
During the episode, which airs on August 22, Paddy will also look at the medal his grandfather won for his brave actions during World War II.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but his roots lie in County Louth and County Mayo
At a March 2023 White House event celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, Biden was described by current Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as “unmistakably a son of Ireland”
Another great-grandfather of the American President, Owen Finnegan, was a shoemaker from Co. Louth who emigrated to America in 1849.
It’s one of many surprising connections that come to light in the series, after Danny Dyer discovered he was related to him in 2016.
Danny was stunned to discover that his lineage stretched back to the 16th century and Henry VIII’s brutal advisor, Thomas Cromwell.
Cromwell’s son Gregory married Elizabeth Seymour, the sister of Henry’s favourite wife Jane. And those girls were direct descendants of Edward III, who ruled England for half a century from 1327.
It was a delight to see how macho the actor was when he learned that he was separated from the throne by only 22 generations.
‘That’s impossible,’ he wondered. ‘A direct descendant of Edward III? That’s just stupid, isn’t it? I think I’ll treat myself to a buck, get a huge buck and just go bowling in it and if anyone asks I’ll just explain it to them.’
More than 160 celebrities have appeared on the show, starting with Bill Oddie, Amanda Redman and Sue Johnston in 2004. This time around, Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill and singer Olly Murs have all joined the cast.
In the TV series, Dame Judi Dench was ecstatic to learn how her father, Reginald, had earned his Military Cross and bar 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 lineage dates back to the 16th century, and Henry VIII’s brutal advisor, Thomas Cromwell
Dame Judi Dench was ecstatic when she heard how her father, Reginald, earned his Military Cross and bar in the First World War
Pictured: Dame Judi Dench’s family vacation in France. From left to right: sister-in-law Daphne, brother Jeffrey, father Reginald and Dame Judi Dench
Comedian Paul Merton stood under an umbrella in a Cardiff cemetery, over an unmarked grave, in a downpour. His grandmother, the wife of a First World War veteran, had died in childbirth. Paul looked destitute, and it was a stark reminder that not all family history ends with a coat of arms.
During a visit to the College of Arms, Andrew Lloyd Webber seized the opportunity to suggest that it was high time he got an official family crest. He fancied something feline, in honour of his musical Cats. ‘We need to stop people having too many pets,’ snapped the college’s heraldic expert.
Because Lord LW already knew a lot about his family tree, the experts at the Beeb challenged him – and uncovered a colourful collection of ancestors he had never suspected existed. They included a Victorian missionary whose life’s work was saving the prostitutes of the East End, and a soldier who fought at Waterloo.
Sometimes archivists need only go back a generation. Charles Dance revealed that he knew little about his mother’s past and had little memory of his father, who died in 1949, when young Charlie was not yet four.
The episode was full of intriguing surprises: the actor discovered that his father, Walter, was 25 years older than he thought, had fought in the Boer War, and was the father of two daughters whose existence Charles had never suspected.
Kate Winslet also discovered a Scandinavian ancestor, but hers was a Swedish farmer who was imprisoned for stealing potatoes.
Her great-great-grandfather was a former Grenadier Guardsman who became head guard at Dartmoor Prison, while both Twiggy and Tracey Emin heard of ancestors who had been sentenced to hard labour.