Zoe Ball has expressed horror after discovering that her great-great-great-grandfather was imprisoned at just two years old. The revelation came during an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? airing tonight, where the former BBC Radio 2 presenter learned about her ancestor James Temby.
James, a Cornish miner, spent six weeks in Bodmin jail in 1851 after his single mother Julia was locked up for assaulting another woman. With no other means of support, the toddler was incarcerated alongside her in the dark, silent prison where inmates had their heads shaved. Zoe described the conditions as 'devastating' and 'heart-breaking'.
Later in life, James was deported from Guernsey for being destitute, but he eventually found work in County Durham coal mines and ran a greengrocer's shop with his wife Mary Ann. By his death at 73, he was held in 'highest esteem' by the community. Zoe admitted she was 'quite wrong' about expecting to find a family history of 'wrong 'uns'.
The programme also revealed that Zoe's maternal grandmother, Margaret 'Peggy' Minto, was a serial fantasist committed to a mental hospital after a shoplifting trial, where she received electroconvulsive therapy. Zoe reflected on her own life after her mother Julia's death in 2024, saying she wants to focus on being a mother to her daughter Nelly.
