<\/p>
Vic Reeves, real name Jim Moir, is a comedian, known for his double act with Bob Mortimer. He was born on 24 January 1959 in Leeds and is 64 years old.<\/p>
At the start of his episode of Who Do You Think You Are?<\/a><\/em>, first broadcast in 2004, Vic says he’s interested in the family stories around his maternal grandfather, Simeon Leigh. \u201cI suppose what everyone wants is a bit of scandal,\u201d he says. \u201cIt would be nice if there was a murderer somewhere down the line or someone very grand.\u201d<\/p> Vic certainly finds scandal as he researches his forebears. He also finds a branch of his family that he didn\u2019t even know existed.<\/p> The key to these revelations lies in Simeon\u2019s chequered life. Old photographs<\/a> show a dapper, tanned man in spats. Stories suggest he was married twice. But what was Simeon, who died in 1949, like? Vic\u2019s mother Audrey, who lives in Darlington, has little to relate about her father. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t an affectionate person,\u201d she says.<\/p> To find out more about Simeon, Vic heads to Bempton on the Yorkshire coast. It\u2019s a remote spot where Simeon worked as a verger in the local church, a job that would have paid a pittance. Did he, as family legend has it, live partly on a pay-off? Was he on the run? \u201cHe could have been a genius writer or a spy,\u201d speculates Vic.<\/p> The story that gradually emerges is far less romantic, and even tragic in its way. Genealogist Nick Barratt meets Vic in Hull to discuss what he\u2019s found. Simeon was definitely married twice, the first time to Mary Jayne Payne, and then to Lillian, Vic\u2019s grandmother, in 1926. There are no records of a divorce<\/a> or of Mary dying before Simeon\u2019s second wedding.<\/p> Bigamy wasn\u2019t uncommon during this era, a time when it was nearly impossible for ordinary people to get divorced. In 1926, more than 100 bigamists were prosecuted. It follows that many must have had two families. That\u2019s true of Simeon, who had three sons during his first marriage: Eric, Stanley and Clarence, born in 1901, 1903 and 1905 respectively.<\/p> Vic goes to see the Hull house where Simeon once lived. The idea of Simeon as a potentially romantic figure has given way to the reality of a man who never saw his own children. There are happier family memories during a detour to Scarborough, where Vic recalls the influence of his paternal grandfather\u2019s surreal humour. \u201cYou earn money for doing the silly things that my dad used to do,\u201d says Vic\u2019s aunt.<\/p>