By discovering my roots I have built a connection to Ireland

Comedian and presenter Paddy McGuinness said discovering new information about his Irish ancestors and their connections to Joe Biden’s ancestors had given him a “real spiritual connection” to the country.

The Bolton-born star, whose surname is common in the Irish diaspora, said that before he was invited to take part in the BBC’s genealogy programme ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ he always felt “ignorant” when visiting due to a lack of knowledge about his roots.

He said one of the highlights for him was discovering that his great-great-grandparents lived “on the same street” in Mayo as the US President’s ancestor.

He also said he learned about his grandfather’s service in World War II, which involved a “Spitfire connection.”

The former presenter of Top Gear and A Question of Sport traces his roots on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland in the show, which airs on August 22.

There he learned that his great-grandmother, Bridget McGuinness, had been born in the county to Mark McGuinness and Winifred Molloy, who were neighbors of Biden’s ancestor Edward Blewitt in Ballina.

When visiting in 2023 Mr Biden visited Mayo and was presented with a 200-year-old brick that was recovered from the site of his family’s ancestral home in the city.

The then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar told those gathered in Ballina at the time that Mr Biden was “the most Irish of all American presidents” before the president addressed the crowd outside St Muredach’s Cathedral, a building for which Mr Blewitt had supplied bricks.

McGuinness said the show allowed him to “feel a real spiritual connection to his Irish ancestors.”

Standing on a beach in Mayo, he said it was “just beautiful here on the west coast of Ireland” and a “quite romantic thought” that his great-great-grandparents “might have played and run up and down here as children”.

“It was just one of those games where there were so many nice little surprises,” he said.

“My maternal grandfather with the Spitfire connection, my ancestors here in Ballina who lived on the same street as Joe Biden’s ancestors.”

The “biggest highlight,” however, was “seeing my grandfather’s war medal,” he said.

“It was a real moment for me where I felt like I was holding a piece of history in my hands,” he said.

“Who Do You Think You Are?” starring Paddy McGuinness will premiere on August 22nd at 21:00 BST on BBC One.