Kevin Clifton hopes that learning about his wonderful family history on Who Do You Think You Are? would inspire his young daughter Minnie, after learning about the lives of the inspiring ladies from whom he is descended.
Celebrities ranging from Danny Dyer to Judi Dench have appeared on the BBC show, diving into the past to find interesting stories about their ancestors.
Kevin Clifton, a former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer, was a popular favourite on the programme until taking part in his final season in 2019.
Speaking with the musician about what it was like to solve questions that had plagued his family for years when he took part in the genealogy series.
What the team didn’t know was that Kevin had just found out he was going to be a father, with his girlfriend Stacey Dooley, with whom he won Strictly in 2018, giving birth to their daughter Minnie in January of this year.
In retrospect, now that he is the father of a five-month-old child, Kevin’s story in Who Do You Think You Are? takes on even more significance, as he was touched to read about women in his family who overcame against adversity, notably a famous person known to history as Matooski.
After hearing rumours about a woman named Matooski in his family, which he initially dismissed, the 40-year-old discovered that she was his five-times great-grandmother, one of the few First Nations women in Canada to be documented in historical documents.
Matooski, also known as Nancy, was abandoned by her British husband before she and her daughter Grace – Kevin’s four-times great-grandmother – had a near-fatal boat trip.
Despite her ordeal, she went on to flourish in her life.
When asked if he was looking forward to educating Minnie about the remarkable ladies who she can name her ancestors, Kevin told us: ‘First of all, simply having Stacey as her mom – I believe Stacey is an amazing role model for our little child and I hope that she’s just like Stacey as she grows up.
‘Having these role models for Minnie is an amazing thing to have. I can’t wait for her to grow up a little bit and hear the stories herself. It was generations of men not acting that great and the women having to put up with it, but just showing such toughness and resilience.
‘They were really amazing women and I’m glad that we got to – selfishly – that I got to find out about it all, but also that we got to tell the story of it, so that their stories got told, so it all doesn’t just die with the men that were in control of the situation. Actually we can point to these women and go, “Look what they had to endure. Look how they got through it.”’
Referring specifically to Matooski, Kevin described her tale as an ‘incredible story’, adding: ‘What she went through and then survived it all, and then went on to thrive.’
‘By the end we saw her will, leaving it to her daughter just signed with an “X” because she couldn’t read or write. Everything that she went through – if she hadn’t endured and gone through all of that and had that resilience that she had, I wouldn’t even be here today. It’s such a strange thought. It’s an incredible story and one that I’m really proud of actually.’
When asked if he had a different perspective before filming Who Do You Think You Are? Given that he was about to become a parent, the dancer admitted that he was “certainly quite conscious of it.”
‘I was definitely very aware of “what is my family history and what am I going to learn,” but also “what is our baby going to learn about it?” I was pleased that it panned out the way it did, that we were telling the stories of these tough women,’ he shared.
‘Once we knew it was a girl that we were having, I was like “This is amazing stuff for me to have when she’s older and to look back on and as an example for her.”’
Describing how shocked he felt to learn that the stories he heard about his relatives were from the not-too-distant past, he added that he couldn’t help but ‘feel connected to it in some way’.
Kevin explained: ‘I sort of felt very defensive and protective of some of these women, even though I never met them and my life is on the other side of the world and my life experience is so different. I couldn’t help but feel protective and defensive.’
Kevin Clifton’s Who Do You Think You Are? episode airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
