10 obscure facts about my family.....

Reggie and Ronnie Kray were at school with my father-in-law. It's a good job they're no longer among us... you keep spelling their name wrong. They would have done their National Service together, but the Krays spent all their time on the trot or in the glasshouse.

Same father in law built kitchens for Delia Smith that can be seen in her books.

My brother in law helped pull a French photographer out of the wreck of 'The Rainbow Warrior' when they bombed it in Auckland Harbour.

My father drove for 50 years without ever taking a recognised driving test. He got his licence in 1945, courtesy of the Ministry of Defence - their idea of a test was being able to drive a 10ton lorry across a field without getting it stuck.

My sister once played a dead body on New Zealand hospital "drama" 'Shortland Street'.

My daughter was the youngest singer in the world record breaking longest singaround at Leigh on Sea festival 3 years ago.

Another brother in law has just climbed Mount Kilamanjaro.

My cousin is the 8th generation of our family to live in the same village. (Can you hear banjo music?)

My niece was the first of our family (9th generation) not to be born within 10 miles of that village.

Her sisters were the first to be born in a different hemisphere.

LTS