Hard times

Joe Lycett finds out about an ancestor’s Dickensian childhood as a chimney sweep

- CAREN CLARK, JUDY EWENS

Looking into his family roots for Who Do You Think You Are? was a sobering experience for comedian Joe Lycett as he unearthed a tale of child labour, mental illness and attempted murder.

The host of The Great British Sewing Bee explored the life of his maternal great-great-grandfather Robert Wilkinson and learnt that in 1851, 10-year-old Robert was a chimney sweep in Cambridgeshire, even though using children to sweep chimneys was illegal.

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