When I started this blog I wanted to show that Radnorshire was part and parcel of mainstream Welsh history, whether that was resistance to the English, patronage of the bardic tradition or involvement in the industrialisation of the South.
Occasionally this would involve drawing attention to rogues like Bill Sheen, Rhynwick Williams - better known as the London Monster or Lord Greenwood of Llanbister of Black and Tan notoriety.
Greenwood aside politicians of Radnorshire background: Nye Bevan, George Lansbury or Arthur Horner for example tend to be decent enough fellows dedicated to improving the lot of the working man. But then.
Someone mentioned he was Jewish, well I knew his wife was Israeli, but no his own family background was Jewish. The source of this rumour wasn't some rabid Neo-Nazi but the man himself in a speech to the Jewish Labour movement - you can find it on youtube.
As someone with an interest in genealogy I thought I would check it out and there seems no obvious evidence to support the claim. I did notice that his Croydon born grandmother was called Jones and that her father was born in Bettws y Crwyn, which is dangerously close to Radnorshire. Unfortunately our subject's great great grandparents were a Jeremiah Jones of Cascob and Frances Davies from Beguildy - yes Keir Starmer is at least one eighth Radnorian.
