This week the BBC series ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ will look into the ancestry of Larry (Lawrence) Lamb. Larry, born 10th October 1947 in Edmonton, East London, has spoken openly about his unhappy childhood with his parents Ronald and Jessie Lamb. Larry was dominated and bullied by his father from an early age and frequently had to stop his parents fighting. When Larry was nine his mother, taking their younger sister with her, left Larry and his brother with their father and so the two boys were taken in by their paternal grandmother. The mother/son relationship broke down after this point and it was many years later that Larry felt he was able to re-build it.
Larry openly admits to trying to dominate his son George as a toddler in the same way his father did to him as a child, fortunately for Larry his then wife Linda made him see sense. Father and son now have a very strong relationship.
Larry is well known for his role as Michael Shipman in the BBC programme ‘Gavin and Stacey’ and as evil Archie Mitchell in BBC soap ‘EastEnders’. He developed an interest in acting after joining an amateur-dramatics group whilst working in the oil industry in Nova Scotia, Canada. He lived in four different countries from the age of 21 until ending up in Canada. He returned to England in the late 1970s to pursue his acting career.
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The programme will look into Larry’s colourful ancestors and his mother’s biological line after she was adopted.
The Adoption Search Service is available on TheGenealogist in the Personal Plus and Premium subscriptions as a separate service performed by a member of staff. A fee of £5 per search will be charged. The recording and registering of adoptions officially began in 1927. The Adopted Children Register provides a record of all adoptions granted by the courts in England and Wales. Although adoption certificates were first issued in 1920, no records of these certificates exist until 1927.
The marriage entry of Larry’s parents can be found in our Marriage Transcripts which are available in the Premium subscriptions on TheGenealogist.