Zoe Ball, one of Britain’s most prominent broadcasters and until recently the BBC’s highest-paid female presenter, uncovered a shocking family secret about her grandmother in an upcoming episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
The 55-year-old discovered that Margaret “Peggy” Minto, her late mother Julia’s mother, lived a turbulent life marked by extreme hardship and repeated hospitalisations for acute mania. Peggy, a coal miner’s daughter who started working as a domestic servant at just 15, was deemed a serial fantasist and eventually committed after a 1963 shoplifting trial revealed she harbored grandiose delusions.
Zoe, visibly moved during filming, reflected on the stark contrast between her own life of fame and fortune and Peggy’s struggles. “It is kind of fascinating, isn’t it, that here is a lass who came from a very impoverished working-class family… suddenly surrounded by wealth, and she wants a bit of that herself,” Zoe remarked.
Her grandmother’s life was a mix of imaginative letters, extravagant promises, and repeated hospital stays, including electroconvulsive therapy. One such letter claimed she had won a legal battle against Woolworths and planned an all-expenses-paid trip to Norway—a glimpse into Peggy’s complex and often heartbreaking mind.
Zoe never met Peggy; her parents’ divorce and the early separation meant she was raised by her father, Johnny Ball, only reconnecting with her mother at 18. Peggy passed away in 1979 at age 66, with her death certificate noting pneumonia, liver failure, and manic-depressive psychosis.
During the programme, Zoe read a second letter from Peggy, showing tenderness in her desire to knit jumpers for Julia, who had passed away in April 2024. “I am really happy just to see she is doing well,” Zoe said emotionally. “Bless her heart. I am so relieved that she was OK again… I am so glad she managed to get the right treatment. She was able to be a mother and a grandma.”
The episode promises a deep exploration of family, mental health, and the extraordinary life of a woman whose story had been hidden for decades.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
