TV presenter Paddy McGuinness has discovered he has Irish ancestors who were neighbours with a forebearer of US President Joe Biden. During an appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? , a BBC programme in which celebrities discover their family history, McGuinness visited Ireland and said he felt “a connection” to the country. (Image: PA) However, the former Top Gear presenter, who has a popular Irish surname, said he always felt “ignorant” when visiting due to lack of knowledge around his ancestry.
On the show the TV star from Bolton learned that his great-grandmother, Bridget McGuinness, had been baptised in a parish in County Mayo to parents (McGuinness’s great-great-grandmother and grandfather) Mark McGuinness and Winifred Molloy, who lived near Mr Biden’s ancestor Edward Blewitt in Ballina. Mr Biden visited Co Mayo last year and was presented with a 200-year-old brick recovered from the site of his family’s ancestral home in the town. The president said during one of his engagements in the county that he saw a record from 1828 that said Mr Blewitt was paid 21 pounds and 12 shillings to help supply 27,000 bricks for St Muredach’s Cathedral.
(Image: Stephen Perry) At the end of the programme, McGuinness, while stood on a beach, said: “I do feel a real spiritual connection, even on this beach today, it’s absolutely beautiful here on the west coast of Ireland they could have been playing on here as kids walking up and down here, who knows. “It’s quite .