Balancing ACT

OLLY MURS on exploring the difficulties faced by his trapeze-artist great-grandmother

- CAREN CLARK

Olly Murs knew that there were circus performers in his ancestry. But when the chart-topping singer and songwriter visited Latvia to find out more for BBC1’s genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?, he unravelled a tale of heartbreak…

After speaking to his dad Pete, Olly was keen to learn about the early years of his late paternal grandfather Eduard ‘Eddie’ Murs, who was born in Latvia, and discover the truth about why Eddie’s mother, Veronika, decided to walk away from her family during World War Two.

‘My dad’s passion to uncover the mysteries behind my greatgrandmother Veronika made me want to take this journey, because there were answers my grandad Eddie had wanted before he passed, and Dad had tried so many times to get information,’ shares the Essex-born star, 40, who came to fame as runner-up on ITV’s The X Factor in 2009. ‘It’s like Veronika was the black sheep of the family.’

THE HIGH LIFE

In the Latvian capital of Riga, Olly learnt that Veronika worked as a trapeze artist in a touring circus and is thought to have had an affair with Eddie’s father, Eduard Murs Sr, when he performed with the same circus alongside his wife Katrine during the 1920s and 1930s.