Ex-England footballer Gary Lineker explored his family heritage on Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered deep ties with his home town of Leicester <\/p>
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker explored his heritage during his episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013. He discovered that his 3x great grandfather, James Pratt, was a poacher in Victorian Leicester and his 4x great grandfather, Thomas Billingham, had a lucky break that helped him rise up in the world.<\/p>\n
Gary Lineker was born on 30 November 1960. He share his birthday with Winston Churchill so his parents gave him the middle name \u2018Winston\u2019. His father Barry Lineker was a greengrocer in Leicester, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.<\/p>\n
Gary has just a few photographs of his family and can only trace his forebears back a couple of generations. But a journey through his ancestry on Who Do You Think You Are? reveals more about his family history.<\/p>\n
Two names jump out at the former England striker, both on his grandmother\u2019s side of the family. There\u2019s his 3x great grandfather, James Pratt<\/strong>, if only for the name, although actually Pratt means cunning or clever; and, another generation back, law writer\u00a0Thomas Billingham<\/strong>. Gary\u2019s research into these two lives will reveal two very different Victorian-era stories.<\/p>\n He begins with James Pratt, who was from\u00a0Leicester<\/strong>, both Gary\u2019s hometown and the place where he began his career in football. In 1848, James was imprisoned, but why? Newspaper records reveal that he\u00a0stole six chickens<\/strong>, four of which were found to be \u201cin the pot over the fire\u201d when the authorities called.<\/p>\n Gary heads for Leicester Prison to meet a criminology expert, Professor Barry Godfrey. It soon becomes clear the theft of the chickens\u00a0wasn\u2019t an isolated crime<\/strong>. As Godfrey notes: \u201cHe\u2019s not a goal poacher, he\u2019s a proper one.\u201d Gary also sees an\u00a0artist\u2019s impression\u00a0<\/strong>of James based solely on Victorian records. There\u2019s definitely a family resemblance.<\/p>\n But why did James turn to crime? Visiting James\u2019s former home, Hinckley, Gary sees a record of James\u2019s marriage, on Christmas Eve, 1843. He was a\u00a0stocking maker<\/strong>, uneducated and illiterate at a time when the economy was in dire straits. Seeing the\u00a0death certificates<\/strong>\u00a0for James\u2019s first two daughters as babies, it seems likely he turned to crime for perfectly understandable reasons.<\/p>\n Having begun by laughing at James\u2019s escapades, Gary now empathises with him, \u201cMost of us would do anything for our children, to keep them well, to keep them fed, and I think that\u2019s what James was doing.\u201d More happily, James had\u00a0eight more children<\/strong>\u00a0and lived to be 83.<\/p>\n Next, Gary researches the life of Thomas Billingham. A gardener\u2019s son, he became a\u00a0law writer<\/strong>, someone with fine calligraphy skills who literally wrote legal documents. How did he get this job, which involved serving an apprenticeship? A key figure in Thomas\u2019s life was his father\u2019s employer,\u00a0Edward King<\/strong>, a lawyer and author. King helped Thomas attend\u00a0Christ\u2019s Hospital<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t a medical establishment, but a school. Back then, it was located in the\u00a0City of London<\/strong>\u00a0but today it\u2019s a fee-paying, selective establishment in Horsham. Gary pays a visit, where he sees prize-winning calligraphy written by an exact contemporary of Thomas, George Robinson. He also plays five-a-side with some of the pupils and duly scores a goal \u2013 \u201cYes, you never lose it!\u201d From here, Gary visits the company, Witherby, where his forebear once worked. There, he sees\u00a0a<\/strong>\u00a0document<\/strong>\u00a0copied and signed by Thomas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At the end of his journey into the past, Gary is surprised by how emotionally involved he\u2019s become in the lives of his ancestors and their \u201cDickensian\u201d stories, one of hardship, one of getting a lucky break. \u201cDifferent lives, different issues, big problems, good moments.\u00a0I\u2019m proud of them both<\/strong>,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n