Following another thread, I have now pinned down the relationshipbetween Cherie Blair, wife of Tony Blair, and John Wilkes Booth, theassassin of Abraham Lincoln. Curiously enough, this cropped up onlythis morning in the Daily Mail gossip column as part of an item aboutHarrison Ford playing the man who killed Booth in a new film. Therelationship is also mentioned on several websites found with Google.John Wilkes Booth's father was Junius Brutus Booth, born in London in1796. He had a younger brother born in 1798, called Algernon SydneyBooth. They were the sons of Richard Booth and Elizabeth Game, whowere married in London in 1795. It seems Algernon Sydney Booth wasthe great-great-grandfather of the actor Tony (Anthony) Booth,Cherie's father, who was born in Liverpool in 1931.Junius Booth and his second wife Mary Ann Holmes left England in 1821and John Wilkes Booth was born in 1838. The rest, as they say, ishistory. Most of the events are on the IGI, albeit LDS privatesubmissions. However, with such well-known and high-profile people,it seems fairly likely we can accept them for once.It seems to be one of those cases where a certain type of genesdefinitely run in a family! Junius Booth, father of John WilkesBooth, was an actor who had problems with alcohol and madness. Sodoes Tony Booth. In a previous message, I under-estimated the numberof daughters he's fathered. It's actually 8, not 5 or 6 as I said.He's been married 4 times, including to the late Pat Phoenix ofCoronation Street fame, who he married virtually on her death bed,and in 1979 almost died himself from burns when he caused a firetrying to break into his flat when his then girlfriend locked himout.To return to John Wilkes Booth, it's said that he was named after theradical politician and newspaper founder John Wilkes (1725-1797), MPfor Aylesbury, Lord Mayor of London and a member of the notoriousHellfire Club. Apparently Junius Brutus Booth admired him - thoughthere may actually have been a family connection, I've discovered.According to a pedigree in Ancestral File (inasmuch as you canbelieve them) Junius Booth's grandmother was an Elizabeth Wilkes,born in 1720, daughter of a John Wilkes, born circa 1694. I wonder ifElizabeth was a sister or cousin of the radical John Wilkes MP? Cananyone throw any further light?Roy StockdillWeb page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.orgNewbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html"Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotestknowledge of how to live, nor the remotest instinct about when to die."Oscar Wilde