Since then he has lectured on all aspects of genealogy, personal heritage and local history, as well as written numerous books on the subject – ‘Tracing the History of Your House’ (TNA), ‘The Who Do You Think You Are Encyclopedia of Genealogy’ (Harper Collins), ‘Researching Your Family History Online for Dummies’ (Wileys) and the recently published and critically acclaimed ‘Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors’ Lives’ (Pen & Sword). Other television presenting roles have included ‘So You Think You’re Royal’ (Sky), ‘History Mysteries’ (BBC2), ‘Hidden House History’ (History Channel), ‘Secrets from the Attic’ (ITV) and ‘Live the Dream: As Seen on Screen’ (ITV), whilst he is the studio genealogist for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Tracing Your Roots’.

Nick has assembled a team of specialist researchers and historians to work with him at SRA, many of whom will be writing for this magazine and answering your questions. His own area of specialist knowledge covers the twelfth century to contemporary history, incorporating local, social and property history as well as genealogy. SRA has conducted all the genealogy for the first 4 series of Who Do You Think You Are and contributed material for series 5 and 6, whilst running the genealogy for the two Irish series as well as other overseas versions of the show, such as Australia and South Africa.

Since then she’s worked as an archive researcher for various television series, starting out tracing the service records and descendents of WWI soldiers for the Channel 4 series ‘Not Forgotten’, and providing archive research for ‘History Mysteries’ (BBC2), ‘Family Ties’ (BBC4), ‘So You Think You're Royal?’ (Sky), ‘Tracing Your Roots’ (Radio 4), and numerous national newspaper and magazine articles. In 2006 she was asked to co-ordinate the genealogical team for the fourth ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ series (BBC1), and went on to do the same for the second Irish series broadcast on RTE 1.

Laura has contributed to several publications, including ‘The Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy’ (2008), Reader's Digest’s ‘How To Trace Your Family History on the Internet’ (2008), and Nick Barratt’s ‘Lost Voices From the Titanic’ (2009). She works with the Archival Research Techniques & Skills Scheme introducing History MA and PhD students to the sources available at The National Archives. More recently she’s focused on local history and specialised in property research for the private market, as well as working on The History Channel’s ‘Hidden House History’ series and ‘Nick Knowles’ Original Features’ by BBC UKTV.

Laura is now the Editor of Your Family History magazine and looks forward to hearing your questions and suggestions!

‘Family history has always fascinated me, partly because my own is full of unexpected skeletons in the proverbial cupboard. Mostly, though, it’s a way of getting up close and personal with the past: it’s much more real and much closer to home than general historical research. It is amazing how well you can come to know people even from civil records – people whose lives would ordinarily have fallen below the historical radar, but who battled through hardship and heartache, and are still there on the page. Irish records are less plentiful than those of other countries – the 19th-century census returns, for example, were pulped by the government during the First World War, and a lot of documents were destroyed during the Civil War – but those that survive give an incredible sense of what life was like in Ireland a century and more ago.’

‘A major part of my research has been biographical – who people were, what they did and why they did it.’ Over the past few years I’ve been cataloguing a series of documents (WARD 2) at The National Archives, which are deeds and evidences relating to specific families and places in England and Wales, ranging from the 13th to 17th centuries. As well as a number of other research projects, I am also an associate lecturer in the history department at the University of Winchester.’

‘I first developed an interest in family history when Uncle Tom came to stay with my family in the late 1970s. I was aware that he was related to my Granny but I had no idea how. When I asked him he kindly helped me to draw up a tree illustrating the precise relationship (he was my Granny’s first cousin), and although I didn’t know it at the time, that seemingly insignificant incident was to set the ball rolling on what has become for me a hobby, a career, and most of all an obsession. In 1990 I started Lifelines Research and over the next eight years I worked as a professional family historian and record agent. In 1998 I put Lifelines on hold when I took up a post working for the Public Record Office at the Family Records Centre.

‘In 2003 I wrote my first book, The Family Records Centre Guide to Family History: The Basics and Beyond, and was subsequently asked to write the second editions of several of the Public Record Office’s Pocket Guides. In 2005 The National Archives published my best-selling introductory guide to family history, Easy Family History. My latest book, co-authored by Peter Christian, is Census: The Expert Guide (2008). I give regular talks on all the basic aspects of family history research as well as more advanced subjects such as death duty records, nonconformist registers and problem solving for family historians.’