Renowned Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, pop princess Britney Spears, and ace footballer David Beckham may check out their family trees on the Internet within seconds, for their ancestors have been found in London records.
A register from All Saints church in Mile End New Town, east London, a 19-year-old blacksmith named William Rowling married his sweetheart Frances Andrews on December 8, 1872.
Publicly available records show that William and Frances had seven children, including a son called Frank, born a decade after their marriage.
According to the Telegraph, Frank Rowling's son Ernest, born in 1916, in turn had a son called Peter in 1945, who is J. K. Rowling's father.
As regards Britney’s family tree, a 1923 register from St John's Church in Tottenham, north London, shows the marriage of her great grandfather George Portell, a Royal Naval seaman, to 25-year-old Lillian Lewis.
The newspaper also reports that David Beckham's great-great-great grandparents John Beckham and Sarah Chandler appear on an 1868 marriage register from St Stephen''s church in Southwark.