*It's a long way from the Alps. But it turns out the no-nonsense Lancashire town that gave us Fred Dibnah, Peter Kay![ext]()
and Amir Khan![ext]()
can also lay claim to The Sound Of Music.
*
Maria: Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music (Picture: 20th Century Fox)
The real-life von Trapp children who inspired the film classic can trace their ancestry all the way back to Bolton, it has emerged.
Lancashire engineer Robert Whitehead left home for a new life overseas back in the middle of the 19th century.
But Julie Andrews![ext]()
whirling through Alpine meadows was probably the last thing on his mind as he headed to the then Austrian empire as a young man.
He had turned his back on a possible future down the cotton mills – and even the legendary Bolton delicacy ‘pastie barm’ – in order to seek his fortune.
Robert Whitehead was born in Bolton (Picture: Cascade)
Robert's son John with his Austrian wife (Picture: Cascade)
And he eventually became known as the inventor of the self-propelled torpedo. Now he has been traced as the great-grandfather of the fair-haired troupe of children whose nanny teaches them how to sing.
The happy ending, with Andrews’ nanny character marrying their strict, disciplinarian father, Captain Georg von Trapp, would never have come about if it wasn’t for Robert.
His son John married the daughter of an aristocratic Viennese family and had six children – including a daughter Agathe, who became von Trapp’s first wife. Von Trapp and Maria married in 1927 and had three more children of their own.
And the story of the stepmother and mother of the Trapp Family Singers inspired a 1956 German film that led to the Broadway musical and 1965 Hollywood classic. Reported by Metro.co.uk 5 hours ago.
and Amir Khan can also lay claim to The Sound Of Music. *
Maria: Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music (Picture: 20th Century Fox)
The real-life von Trapp children who inspired the film classic can trace their ancestry all the way back to Bolton, it has emerged.
Lancashire engineer Robert Whitehead left home for a new life overseas back in the middle of the 19th century.
But Julie Andrews
whirling through Alpine meadows was probably the last thing on his mind as he headed to the then Austrian empire as a young man.He had turned his back on a possible future down the cotton mills – and even the legendary Bolton delicacy ‘pastie barm’ – in order to seek his fortune.
Robert Whitehead was born in Bolton (Picture: Cascade)
Robert's son John with his Austrian wife (Picture: Cascade)
And he eventually became known as the inventor of the self-propelled torpedo. Now he has been traced as the great-grandfather of the fair-haired troupe of children whose nanny teaches them how to sing.
The happy ending, with Andrews’ nanny character marrying their strict, disciplinarian father, Captain Georg von Trapp, would never have come about if it wasn’t for Robert.
His son John married the daughter of an aristocratic Viennese family and had six children – including a daughter Agathe, who became von Trapp’s first wife. Von Trapp and Maria married in 1927 and had three more children of their own.
And the story of the stepmother and mother of the Trapp Family Singers inspired a 1956 German film that led to the Broadway musical and 1965 Hollywood classic. Reported by Metro.co.uk 5 hours ago.