Who Do You Think You Are?: Andrew Lloyd Webber (BBC One Thursday 1 June 2023)

Who Do You Think You Are?: Andrew Lloyd Webber airs Thursday 1 June 2023 on BBC One

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a legendary figure in the world of musical theatre, where he continues to write and produce critically acclaimed productions. He restored the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to its original glory by combining his business acumen and passion for architecture. Andrew is aware that his family is musical, what with his virtuoso cellist brother Julian in the mix, but he is curious as to where he gets his flair for the dramatic and his love of musical theatre.

A cursory look through his own records reveals a much more affluent ancestry than he had previously believed. In researching his mother’s family tree, Andrew quickly learns of his great-great-great-uncle Peregrine’s pivotal role in Wellington’s victory at Waterloo. In turn, Andrew is led by Peregrine to his twelfth great-grandmother Katherine Willoughby, a powerful player in the court of the Tudor king Henry VIII who was persecuted for her faith and faced death threats. In addition to being amazed by her tenacity and fortitude as her dramatic life unfolds, Andrew is overjoyed to learn that she has connections to some of Britain’s most historically and architecturally significant stately homes.

Andrew then looks into his paternal lineage, which is much more working class than his maternal one. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were plumbers. Henry Simmonds, his twice-great-grandfather, was a missionary who spent his life caring for the underprivileged, as he learns from his cousin Anne. Andrew is ecstatic to learn that Henry, whom he describes as a “real working-class hero,” wrote the first architectural guide to Battersea.

Andrew is still interested in finding musical connections, so he consults genealogist Laura Berry and discovers that he has five times great-grandfather Henry, whose unusual last name is Magito but is actually Dutch. What happens next is replete with extraordinary parallels to Andrew’s own life: he learns more about the Magitos, a clan of musicians who also doubled as showmen and producers in the 18th century, earning their living by putting on “musical theatre.”

But that’s not the end of the strange coincidences. Henry Magito, his great-great-grandfather five times over, had a brother named Alexis Magito who was also a cellist, according to new research. A trip to Leiden yields evidence that Alexis was a skilled cello composer and player in the form of a long-lost sonata. Andrew can’t wait to see his younger brother Julian in London and tell him about the incredible family connections they share.

Season 20 Episode 1

Series in which celebrities trace their ancestry, discovering secrets and surprises from their past.

What time is Who Do You Think You Are?: Andrew Lloyd Webber on tonight

Who Do You Think You Are?: Andrew Lloyd Webber airs Thursday 1 June 2023 at 21:00 on BBC One

Featured image credit: BBC One