tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post4681398360225516442..comments2023-10-30T15:13:22.680+00:00Comments on Strictly Writing: Guest Blog by Emma Darwin - Entirely IrrelevantDThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-2293313912464500392009-02-14T19:22:00.000+00:002009-02-14T19:22:00.000+00:00Well I can honestly hand on my heart say I bought ...Well I can honestly hand on my heart say I bought and read and enjoyed The Mathematics of Love, not because you were CD's great-great-grandfather, but because I'd been reading your blog and liked the sound of it. I bet CD wasn't all that great at fiction anyway.Kath McGurlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02526923882402757423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-9592128664881030592009-02-14T17:08:00.000+00:002009-02-14T17:08:00.000+00:00Geri, do you really want to know..? Okay everyone ...Geri, do you really want to know..? Okay everyone else, look away now!<BR/><BR/>Imagine a pair of first cousins (i.e. their parents were siblings). Each has a child - those children are second cousins to each other. If those second cousins each have a child, those children are third cousins, and so on. In Ruth's and my case, for instance, the common ancestors are Charles and Emma - we're descended from different children of that marriage. In fact, apparently, there are 72 of us great-grand-children.<BR/><BR/>'Removed' is when there's a difference of generation. Go back to those first cousins: if one has a child, it and it's parent's first cousin are first cousins once removed to each other. If you have a pair of third cousins (see above), and one has a child, and then a grandchild, that grandchild is a third cousin twice removed to the other original third cousin.<BR/><BR/>Throw in my family's habit of marrying its cousins, and it gets very complicated indeed - I have cousins who you can count different ways, depending on which marriages you trace the relationship through!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-6633799617008460132009-02-13T21:37:00.000+00:002009-02-13T21:37:00.000+00:00Er - want to ask - what is a "third cousin" ? And...Er - want to ask - what is a "third cousin" ? And how do you work out all this family stuff. My family is very small but even so I get confused between cousins, second cousins, cousin-once- removed etc.Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-23355305160315121412009-02-12T23:30:00.000+00:002009-02-12T23:30:00.000+00:00Thanks all - glad you find it interesting. I'm per...Thanks all - glad you find it interesting. I'm perfectly willing to talk about it, see above. I just tend to forget that people might be interested, unless they ask!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-66010676127262105512009-02-12T14:57:00.000+00:002009-02-12T14:57:00.000+00:00Thanks Emma - SO interesting to hear your private ...Thanks Emma - SO interesting to hear your private thoughts on this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-47566541767861148012009-02-12T13:55:00.000+00:002009-02-12T13:55:00.000+00:00Thanks for the fascinating insight, Emma - because...Thanks for the fascinating insight, Emma - because normally you don't talk about The Ancestor, and (being sad and nosy like all those journalists) I've always been curious....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-64652390088409329522009-02-12T12:44:00.000+00:002009-02-12T12:44:00.000+00:00Thanks for that, Emma!Thanks for that, Emma!Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-53477485667914509062009-02-12T12:31:00.000+00:002009-02-12T12:31:00.000+00:00Thanks, everyone, and thanks to Strictly for the c...Thanks, everyone, and thanks to Strictly for the chance to describe how it feels from my side of it.<BR/><BR/>Susie/Caroline my real answer to the question of whether I'd have been published if I wasn't, of course, is that if the name was all it took, the six novels under my bed would have been published years ago!<BR/><BR/>Geri, Ruth's my third cousin - the common ancestor/s is actually Charles and Emma - though I've only met her recently (it's a huge family). She's a conservationist as well as a poet, and has been writing poetry around natural history and The Ancestor for a while: now she's got a new collection out: 'Darwin, a life in poems'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-41660842440737374202009-02-12T12:10:00.000+00:002009-02-12T12:10:00.000+00:00A very interesting read Emma - thank you for shari...A very interesting read Emma - thank you for sharing it with us.<BR/><BR/>And may I wish you a 'happy birthday'.Gillian McDadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02758782108258244355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-48347097348046128872009-02-12T11:39:00.000+00:002009-02-12T11:39:00.000+00:00Great post, Emma - thank you for joining us today....Great post, Emma - thank you for joining us today.<BR/><BR/>Re. people asking if you would still have got a book deal if you weren't a Darwin - I expect a lot of them are just interested and don't mean anything by it - and yet it sounds so snide. It must be one of the most difficult aspects to cope with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-57445740460151206382009-02-12T11:36:00.000+00:002009-02-12T11:36:00.000+00:00Emma, what's your familial connection with the poe...Emma, what's your familial connection with the poet Ruth Padel, who I believe is also connected with CD? Doesn't seem to stop her blethering on about him on Radio 4!Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-49042793127761439692009-02-12T10:20:00.000+00:002009-02-12T10:20:00.000+00:00Thanks for a great post, Emma. I've often wondere...Thanks for a great post, Emma. I've often wondered what you feel about your ancestry and its relationship to your writing. And you sum up beautifully the dilemma. I guess it's similar for those children of famous actors. Publishers and Directors love a 'brand' name because it's instantly recognisable and the audience feel they are in safe hands, perhaps? But ultimately, of course, it comes down to the work itself, and if that doesn't stand up to the reading, then all the branding in the world can't save it. Unless you are Eddie The Eagle, of course!<BR/>SusiexSusie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-84017963870692329262009-02-12T09:50:00.000+00:002009-02-12T09:50:00.000+00:00Really from the heart stuff, thank you for an inte...Really from the heart stuff, thank you for an interesting post Emma.<BR/>It must be a right pain sometimes, but as you say, a bit of a double edged sword..Caroline Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04708248040141519582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-2173782586686181252009-02-12T09:48:00.000+00:002009-02-12T09:48:00.000+00:00Thank you Emma, a fascinating insight. I love that...Thank you Emma, a fascinating insight. I love that you know so much about your own genome! History is in your very genes - no wonder you are drawn to histfic.barjokerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03135975068331963673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-622474099340378732009-02-12T09:05:00.000+00:002009-02-12T09:05:00.000+00:00Whilst emailing Emma over this post i started blat...Whilst emailing Emma over this post i started blathering on about a programme i'd just seen about Charles Darwin and creationism versus evolution and... i thought afterwards poor Emma - she must get that a lot and after all these years the novelty must have worn off a tad.<BR/><BR/>Great post.<BR/><BR/>Sam xAdministratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-44611169837589606502009-02-12T08:48:00.000+00:002009-02-12T08:48:00.000+00:00Interesting post. You don't sound too happy about ...Interesting post. You don't sound too happy about it, but let me wish you a Happy Birthday, none the less. When I read <I>On the Origin of Species</I> about twenty years ago, I loved it. You are keeping up the family tradition of writing important books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com