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Sharon Osbourne was born Sharon Rachel Levy in London on 9 October 1952 and is 71 years old. Her father was the music promoter and rock and roll entrepreneur Don Arden. She is married to Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne and is famous for appearing on the reality TV show The Osbournes<\/em> and judging talent shows including The X Factor<\/em> and America’s Got Talent<\/em>.<\/p> At the start of her episode of Who Do You Think You Are?<\/a><\/em>, Sharon sets out to find out more about her maternal grandmother, Doris, aka Dolly, a a choreographer\/dancer who worked in vaudeville. “Probably I come from a load of old witches that were burnt at the stake or something, that would be fabulous!\u201d she jokes.<\/p> She begins her research by meeting with her niece, Gina, who has always been interested in the family\u2019s history.<\/p> Gina has an old photograph<\/a> of Dolly with Sharon\u2019s grandfather, Arthur James Shaw, known as James. It\u2019s the first time Sharon has even known his name. Also in the picture is Dolly\u2019s sister, Ira. Together, the three made up The Hewson Trio. She also learns that James and Dolly married in 1915.<\/p> First World War records<\/a> reveal that \u201cmusic hall artist\u201d James joined up in October 1915. He was 27 years old and had been married to Dolly just a few months. A month before Hope was born, James was sent to Egypt. He was away for three years, until 1919. Dolly and Ira kept on working, as part of The Phil Ascot Four.<\/p> At the immaculately preserved Opera House in Tunbridge Wells, now a pub but formerly a variety theatre where Dolly once performed, Sharon hears how their act revolved around a risqu\u00e9 novelty dance, the high-stepping English pony trot.<\/p> Tragedy was just around the corner. In 1918, Ira died of tuberculosis. Dolly was at home with her 18-year-old sister in Brixton, London when she died.<\/p> Further troubles followed. James and Dolly split up.<\/p> Unemployed Dolly (going by the name Mabel) and 12-year-old Hope were arrested in 1929 after stealing two pairs of stockings and \u201cother articles\u201d.<\/p> An old newspaper<\/a> report quotes Hope as saying, \u201cI will take all the blame if you will let Mummy go,\u201d when they were caught. Sharon\u2019s visit to the old site of Lambeth Police Court, now a Buddhist meditation centre, offers a sense of how traumatic this must have been.<\/p> A decade later, records show Dolly was a \u201cwidow\u201d and \u201ca petrol can filler\u201d, yet James has disappeared from the records, perhaps because he changed his name.<\/p> However, Sharon is able to trace his forebears. The 1891 census<\/a> shows that his mother, Annie, was American, from Fall River in Massachusetts.<\/p> It\u2019s time to head to the USA, where Sharon spends much of her time with her husband, Ozzy.<\/p>