Famous Relatives

[MamaPink]

Are any of you related to someone FAMOUS?

[badams]

My cousin was in Honeymoon Suite. Thats sorta sad when you really think about it.

[MamaPink]

haha! Which one is your cousin?

[Birdy]

oscar wilde and sir robert peel...

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Ouch - touchy subject. On my father's side, the skanky landlords in Tipperary of precisely the sort that cause such pain in Angela's Ashes (they were eventually forced to the North, and then split to NA), on my mother's, an officer who fought Louis Riel at Batoche. Not like I feel I really have to own that, but try living that shit down.

[Velvet]

My brother is.

Does infamy count?

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Just how infamous?

[Velvet]

My brother is.

Related to someone famous that is.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Still doesn't answer the question - surely there's a tipping point for "famous" to "infamous" .

[Freak By Night]

I'm related to the guy for whom the poinsettia plant was named.

Joel Roberts Poinsett

He was my great-grandfather's uncle.

[Freeker]

my mom is Tina Turner

[Stoolshed]

My girlfriend's (who is now the mother of my child) cousin is Rowdy Rody Piper. Does that now make him my cousin in law?

[Rob Not Bob]

I don't know if this counts, but my great-uncle had a mountain range in the Antarctic named after him.

[MamaBurnsy]

my uncle Tim Wynveen is an author in T.O. and won the commonwealth award for his book Angel Falls, he also was the lead guitarist for Chris DeBurgh (lady in red)

my cousin Genevieve Appleton played Emmeline Harris(the chick with the glasses at the school)in

Anne of Green Gables the Sequel

they're almost famous i guess

Edited October 4, 2005 by Guest

[zero]

Okay this is not very hip and pop cultural but my grandfather's cousin Lt. Alexis 'Lex' Hannum Helmer was a close friend of Major John McCrae author of the seminal war poem In Flanders Fields.

The poem was written on the occasion of his death after he jumped out of a trench and was literally obliterated. McCrae, a Guelph native and surgeon was accustomed to gore but something snapped in him that day. I am really drawn to this relatively untold story. I don't know if any of you think I look like him but he looks an awful lot like a number of men on my mother's maiden side (the Cathcart's, my middle name). Not so much famous but Canadiana.

It is believed that doctor John McCrae (30 November 1872-28 January 1918) began the draft for his famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' on the evening of 2 May, 1915 in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres. He was serving as a Major and military doctor and was second in command of the 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. The field guns of his brigade's batteries were in position on the west bank of the Ypres-Yser canal, about two kilometres to the north of Ypres. The brigade had arrived there in the early hours of 23 April.

The Death of Lieutenant Alexis Helmer

Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was an officer in the 2nd Battery, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery and had become good friends with John McCrae. On the morning of Sunday 2 May Alexis left his dugout and was killed instantly by a direct hit from an 8 inch German shell. What body parts could be found were later gathered into sandbags and laid in an army blanket for burial that evening. Alexis was 22 years old and a popular young officer. Before the outbreak of war he had graduated from McGill University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was the son of Elizabeth I. Helmer of 122, Gilmour St., Ottawa, and the late Brigadier General R. A. Helmer.

Near to the 1st Canadian Brigade's position on the canal bank there was a small burial ground which had originally been established during the First Battle of Ypres in the autumn of the previous year, 1914. The Second Battle of Ypres began on 22 April 1915 and by early May the burial ground also contained graves of French and Canadian casualties. It became known as Essex Farm British Military Cemetery.

Lieutenant Helmer was buried on 2 May. In the absence of the chaplain Major John McCrae conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting from memory some passages from the Church of England's 'Order of Burial of the Dead'. A wooden cross marked the burial place. The grave has since been lost. Lieutenant Alexis Helmer is now commemorated on Panel 10 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres; he is one of the 54,896 soldiers who have no known grave in the battlefields of the Ypres Salient.

It is believed that the death of Alexis Helmer was the inspiration for McCrae's poem 'In Flanders Fields'. The exact details of when the first draft was written may never be known because there are various accounts by those who were with McCrae at that time.

One account says that he was seen writing the poem sitting on the rearstep of an ambulance the next day while looking at Helmer's grave and the vivid red poppies that were springing up amongst the graves in the burial ground.

Another account says that McCrae was so upset after Helmer's burial that he wrote the poem in twenty minutes in an attempt to compose himself.

A third account by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, states that John told him he drafted the poem partly to pass the time between the arrival of two groups of wounded at the first aid post and partly to experiment with different variations of the metre.

Lieutenant Colonel Morrison wrote about the small burial ground where Alexis Helmer was originally buried:

"A couple of hundred yards away, there was the headquarters of an infantry regiment and on numerous occasions during the sixteen day battle, we saw how they crept out to bury their dead during lulls in the fighting. So the rows of crosses increased day after day, until in no time at all it had become quite a sizeable cemetery. Just as John described it, it was not uncommon early in the morning to hear the larks singing in the brief silences between the bursts of the shells and the returning salvos of our own nearby guns." (1)

During 1915 John McCrae sent the poem to 'The Spectator' magazine. It was not published and was returned to him. It was, however, published in 'Punch' magazine on 8 December 1915.

[Prost]

That was an interesting story...thanks

[Guest Low Roller]

I'm related to Joseph Conrad, the author of Heart of Darkness. His real name is Josef Konrad Korzeniowski, and I believe he is my great-great-great uncle.

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

my uncle on my mom's side is bela fleck.

[Guest Low Roller]

my mom is Tina Turner

Does that mean that Ike Turner is your daddy?

[badams]

haha! Which one is your cousin?

He's the guy on the top left. He was the Bass player, I think he was in the band Toronto too.

[Esau]

Not sure how far I would go to say a relative of mine per se since he's related to a cousin of my grandmother (through marriage).

[Guest Low Roller]

Easy man! Unless you want to deal with Booche humping your leg I'd keep that relation quiet...

(It is pretty cool though)

[Kaidy Mae]

I've got an uncle named Paul Newman...but he's not the gazillionaire Paul Newman.

[Booche]

THAT IS TOO COOL.........

I cant wait to see you Esau!

[FairySari]

My cousin is the father of Xuxa's baby. Apparently she's the most famous woman in south america. Actually, that part of the family is all pretty famous down in Brazil, they get written about in tabloids and stuff all the time. Remember that episode of the Simpsons when they went to Brazil? And Bart is watching the kids' show with strippers? Well, that's Xuxa.

Oh, and Eugene Levy is related to me somehow. Cousin's cousin through marriage or sumpin like that.