CHIPPER CLUB: Pirates, magicians and queens! Sniffing out my family history

I’ve spent so much time at the beach recently that I wanted to do something different during my half-term. Mum and dad watched a show on the telly a while ago called Who Do You Think You Are?, where famous people would discover who their distant relatives were.

When the people on the show found out that they were related to somebody famous, it got me wondering if I had a relative somewhere who did something chip-tastic in the past, so I signed up to a local genealogy course. ‘Genealogy’ means the studying of families and the tracing of their histories.

When I walked into the room at the local library, there were loads of computers and shelves filled with big hardback books and old copies of newspapers. All of the books had records of people who were born or got married or even died in Portsmouth, and soon enough I found my first ancestor.

There was my great uncle Captain White Beard. He was the captain of a ship called the Flying Chipman, which often sailed in and out of Portsmouth. White Beard and his swashbuckling crew were both admired and feared on the high seas, and they apparently fought the mighty Kraken!

Next there was my third cousin, the Amazing Chippini. He was a magician who travelled around the world, performing for kings and queens in dozens of countries. Apparently he made an Egyptian king disappear once, and he was never seen again!

Speaking of royalty, I then found out that my great-great-great-great-grandmother was Queen Chiperina III, who ruled hundreds of years ago and was loved by all of her people. Who would’ve thought I had royal blood?

Have you every learned about a distant relative that has done something incredible? If so, let me know.

Chip chip for now, your old friend Chipper.