Fred Sirieix in floods of tears as he makes huge family discovery

Daily Mirror

22-05-2025

First Dates star Fred Sirieix has an emotional time on BBC 1 hit series as the Who Do You Think You Are? team explain his family history and make some heartbreaking discoveries
First dates star Fred Sirieix finds a romantic story in his own family during his appearance on the BBC 's Who Do You Think You Are? Series. The 53-year-old admitted he doesn't know much about his family roots as his mum says they never spoke much about the past.
But he discovers that his grandfather Rene Bordas – whom he affectionately called Pepe – fought in World War Two but ended up being captured by the Germans.
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However, it was during his time as a prisoner of war, where he was made to work on a farm, that he fell in love with one of the local girls called Genevieve (whom Fred calls Meme).
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With her help, he managed to escape – risking his life through such a brave act. She later followed him back to his hometown of Limoges, which was not under German occupation, and the pair ended up getting married.
Rene, who was from Limoges in France, became a soldier in 1939 and joined the 32 nd artillery regiment near Ardennes. The following year, the Germans launched an aggressive attack and most of his regiment was destroyed.
However, although he survived, he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. He and thousands of others were marched from Ardennes to Saint -Florentin. And it was there they were put to work on farms to harvest the food.
Rene worked in a medieval town-on-the-river called Coulanges. Fred said: 'I am lost for words. My grandfather was a prisoner of war in his own country.' But while he was there, he met and fell in love with a local woman called Genevieve. It is believed she would have been working on the farm serving lunches and dinners to the POWs.
Fred said: 'I would imagine they met over food. Maybe it would have been a flirtatious look, a smile at lunch, giving a little bit of wine. But something happened. The chemistry is there, the spark.' However, the blossoming romance was to be put to the test when – after several months as a prisoner - Rene was told he was being deported to Germany to work there.
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He did not want this and hatched a plan to get away. Fred is shown records made by the Germans in 1940 which list him as 'Escaped'. It is thought Genevieve would have helped him. Figures show that less than five percent of prisoners who tried to escape succeeded, but Rene was one of them.
Emotional Fred says: 'I am proud of him. He would have needed help and my gran lived there and she could have been one of those people. If they met while working on the farm it would make sense she'd want to help him get out. But he took a big risk. If he had been caught he'd have been shot on sight.
'Only a very small percentage succeeded. It was very dangerous but it makes me so proud of my grandmother and grandfather thinking about the risk they have taken. I am so proud they made such a stand at such a dangerous time in their life. It is extraordinary they have done that.
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'It brings it back to life. He's done it. He is one of the less than five per cent. They couldn't bear to be prisoners of war. Everyone in the family knows how hard my grandfather was but to come here and to know he escaped knowing what the penalty was.. effectively it was death. How brave was that at a time when you risk everything? You actually risk your life.'
Fred even locates the original farm where Rene would have worked as a prisoner. He adds: 'This is the farm where he worked during war-time. This is where the love story started. It is really really special. This is when you'd like the walls to talk. But it is from this town that they make their way to Limoges. It is really really beautiful.'
Elsewhere in the programme the Channel 4 TV presenter and maitre'd, who was born in Limoges in France, discovers he has three generations of family who made his favourite Burgundy wine - but they stopped when their grapes all got destroyed by the famous phylloxera bug that swept through France.
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He finds out from a census in 1872 that his three times great grandfather Etienne Charrie was a winemaker. He and his wife Marie were living in Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche in the Burgundy region of France where they had a small vineyard.
And delighted Fred comments: 'Yes he was making wine! In this region it's normal. It is such a famous wine region in France. All of my family lived in this area and were all winemakers. I cannot tell you how excited I am. You know Burgundy is my favourite wine. I love Burgundy wines whether they are white or red. They are some of the best wines in the world and to know that my family has been making wine here since 1768 and probably before… Wow!'
His ancestors had been making wine for three generations but then they stopped. And Fred discovers that like thousands of others, they were hit by the French Wine Blight. This was caused by a North America insect called the phylloxera which was brought over to France on imported plants. There was no defence against it.
And between the years 1863-1890, the bug destroyed six million acres of vineyards (around three quarters of wine production in the country) and it meant families could no longer produce grapes and live off the land.
Devastated Fred admits: 'I did not think about that. I never imagined my family could have been impacted by phylloxera because of course it was 'the plague of the wine'. It would have been devastating for them. A total shock and a surprise. I had no idea that one side of my grandmother's family were wine makers but to be fair I am not surprised, I love wine.'
* Who Do You Think You Are? Is on BBC1 on Tuesday nights with Fred's episode on May 27. Previous episodes are also on BBC iPlayer.