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Actor, comedian and singer Alexander Armstrong was born on 2 March 1970 in Rothbury, Northumberland. He is 54 years old. He is best known for his comedy sketch show with Ben Miller, The Armstrong and Miller Show<\/em>, and for hosting Pointless<\/em>.<\/p> Alexander once spoofed Who Do You Think You Are?<\/a><\/em> on The Armstrong and Miller Show<\/em>, but now he’s appearing on the programme for real. As he says, his posh persona isn\u2019t an affectation. He grew up \u201con the edge of quite a grand family, but as second cousins, the junior wing\u201d. Accordingly, he\u2019s certainly not expecting his research to uncover a succession of ladies of the night, as his character did in the Who Do You Think You Are?<\/em> sketch. Equally, though, he says he\u2019d be disappointed if he found nothing but \u201ca whole roster of chinless wonders\u201d.<\/p> Alexander\u2019s first stop is at his parents\u2019 home, Rothbury. His father\u2019s family has strong associations with the area. \u201cAbsurdly, in this modern age, my family still has land,\u201d Alexander says. However, it\u2019s not his father\u2019s forebears that Alexander sets out to trace. Instead, he wants to learn more about his mother Virginia\u2019s ancestors, the McCauslands.<\/p> As a child, Alexander remembers visiting the family\u2019s grand country house, Drenagh, in Northern Ireland<\/a>. It\u2019s such an upper class connection that Alexander is actually listed in Burke\u2019s Landed Irish Gentry. What might he find if he traces back the McCausland line through the years? As it turns out, royal<\/a> connections and a grisly murder.<\/p> Alexander\u2019s 6x great grandmother Mary Boughton (1714-86) was a bedchamber woman to Queen Charlotte \u2013 in an era when it was enormously prestigious to hand a chamber pot to royalty. At Shropshire Archives, Alexander sees a picture of Mary, a striking woman. He also sees correspondence that suggests tension between her sons, Edward and Charles. \u201cHe is neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring,\u201d Mary writes to Charles of \u201cindolent\u201d Edward, who at one point was more than \u00a314,400 in debt to his younger brother, a colossal sum.<\/p> Yet Edward would inherit a title and land when his cousin, Sir Theodosius Boughton was apparently poisoned, a death Edward describes as \u201cwonderful news\u201d in a letter. Could Edward himself be the killer? In fact, Captain John Donnellan, brother-in-law to Theodosius, was convicted of the murder.<\/p> But there\u2019s still another twist in this tale of sibling rivalry. A few hours before his death, Edward disinherited Charles in favour of his illegitimate<\/a> daughter. Although dutiful Charles, who married<\/a> well and was awarded his own baronetcy, inherited his brother\u2019s title, he wasn\u2019t left Edward\u2019s estate. It was a snub that probably cost Sir Charles a peerage.<\/p>