Ant and Dec dug into their family trees and uncovered colourful stories of decorated war heroes and drunken, shamed deserters.
The TV presenters delved into their ancestries for ITV show Ant & Dec’s DNA Journey.
Ant, 43, found a military hero in the McPartlin family, his great grandfather Peter, who won the Military Medal for his bravery at the Somme.
In Ant and Dec’s home town Newcastle, they visited the Tyneside Irish Centre, where Bill Corcoran told them of the Tyneside Irish Brigade in the First World War.
Bill said: “They were a group of pals who joined the Army as friends and they marched into the battle together and most of them died together.
“If you two had been there in 1914, you probably would have joined up together.”
He told Ant: “Your great grandfather is an absolute hero.” Shocked Ant replied: “Wow, don’t say that you’ll start me crying. This is really fascinating.”
Bill said: “He fought and he fought as a warrior. When you win the Military Medal, you get that for something heroic.”
Ant said: “To fight at The Battle of the Somme and to be awarded the Military Medal, he was a hero. It’s quite emotional.”
The trail then moved to Dec’s paternal line and the pair headed to the Royal Chelsea Barracks to find out more about his great, great grandfather, James Donnelly, who was in the Crimean War.
But Dec discovered that James was not only court marshalled, but was also labelled a deserter.
Military expert Glenn Fisher told Dec: “It would be quite a shame and a disgrace really. He’s gone for a soldier and he’s deserted after six weeks. It would have brought shame upon his family.”
Dec, 44, read a document which said James was “tried and imprisoned for habitual drunkenness”.
He said: “It was not what I was expecting at all, nowhere near. I didn’t ever expect it was going to be a colourful history.”
Ant & Dec’s DNA Journey will be shown next month on ITV.
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