Weekly Kibbitz
‘Great British Bake Off ’ host Matt Lucas discovers his family member
lived with Anne Frank’s family
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images via JTA
T he Jewish comic actor and
“Great British Bake Off ” host Matt
Lucas came across a very familiar
name while researching his family’s
history on BBC’s “Who Do
You Think You Are?” — that of
Otto Frank.

In an episode of the celebrity gene-
alogy show that aired June 16, Lucas
learned that Werner Goldschmidt,
his grandmother’s fi rst cousin, had
rented a room from the Franks
while they were still living in their
Amsterdam apartment. Goldschmidt
was still living with them when they
went into hiding in 1942 and was
mentioned in Anne Frank’s famous
diary. In a clip from the episode on
YouTube, Lucas reads a diary entry
Frank had written on July 8, 1942,
which describes Goldschmidt as a
Matt Lucas at a “Doctor Who” BBC America offi cial panel during Comic-Con in
San Diego, July 23, 2017.

recent divorcé who was hanging
around in the house too long that
night, despite the family’s polite hints
for him to get on with his evening.

“I would have read this diary when
I was younger and never realized
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C all Vet
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that she was talking about a relative
of mine,” said Lucas, who was only
vaguely aware that some of his fam-
ily members had died in concentra-
tion camps.

Lucas, who has also appeared
in other shows like “Doctor Who”
and movies like “Paddington,” was
raised in a Reform synagogue in
London, though his parents came
from traditional Orthodox families.

He expands on his Jewish identity
in his memoir, “Little Me: My life
from A-Z,” which has a chapter “J,”
for Jewish.

Contestants on the wildly popu-
lar cooking show “The Great British
Bake Off ” have made occasional
Jewish-inspired plates on the show,
such as a charoset-and-matzah-
topped pavlova in 2021.

— Caleb Guedes-Reed
D ry y 5:00
y b b ills
P a
today Call 1-800-JEFF-NOW or visit Jeff ersonHealth.org/ToDo.

4 JULY 14, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM