Jayne Torvill has discovered she is not the only sporting great in her family — one of her ancestors was captain of West Ham United.
The 64-year-old ice skating legend and rink partner Christopher Dean, 63, look into their family pasts for a TV show.
And Jayne found on her maternal side a relative called Charlie Bicknell, who as skipper led the Hammers to their first ever major trophy, the War Cup – the equivalent of the FA Cup – in 1940.
She said: “I was completely shocked but I love that my cousin was the captain of
West Ham.
“So many people have said over the years, ‘Does anyone in your family play sport’ and I have said no, but clearly they did. My dad would have been so chuffed and proud to know we had a football legend in the family.”
Jayne also found Charlie’s cousin Ernie Bicknell was a successful boxer in 1928.
She is related to him via her great, great, great grandparents.
Jayne and Christopher share an emotional journey to uncover their family history through DNA.
Christopher, who grew up in a small family with his dad and stepmum, discovers he has a bunch of relatives on the other side of the world.
His great, great, great uncle Jerimiah Stokes moved abroad in 1859.
Christopher, who even meets his cousin David from Utah, said: “I’m blown away by this story, I will be dreaming about it. I didn’t have any relatives and now I have relatives. Wow. It’s only just been me.”
Jayne adds: “You kind of think this is life-changing because you had relatives you didn’t know you had.”
*Torvill and Dean’s DNA Journey is on ITV on Tuesday at 9pm.
