I am tall, pale and freckly with blonde hair, blue eyes and imbued with the legendary family stubborn streak. This is how I became so:

My great great grandfather was John Lennon - seriously! He preferred to be called "Jack" though.

I am a fourth generation Australian and we can trace our noble (albeit the illegitimate side of the family) back to the convict ships that arrived in Botany Bay from England and Ireland. There was an Englishman, Sir Jowett (my GGGG grandfather), who owned a great deal of property in Australia and came out here to look after his business interests (ie, get away from his family) and he shacked up with my GGGG grandmother and had kiddies with her.

There was also an Irish lass, Ellen Murphy (not sure how many Gs grandmother), who was a bit naughty and had to be shipped to Australia. Surnames associated with my family are Graves, Sessle, Lennon and Jowett. Apparently we had a few successive generations of piano tuners in the Lennon family.

My GG grandfather (Mr Samuelsson) was a Swedish sailor from Gothenburg who met and married an English lass in Perth, Western Australia.

Everyone in my family sings and dances - it's a bit like one of those frightening MGM musicals ...