Richard Greene was not the grandson of William Friese-Greene

Enjoying a leisurely breakfast before some Bank Holiday delivering, I put Talking Pictures TV on. They are showing The Card, a adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan.

One of the stars is Richard Greene, in his matinée idol period and before he took to wearing Lincoln green and riding through the glen.

Looking Richard Greene up on IMDb, I find that he was the grandson of the film pioneer William Friese-Greene.

Why didn't I know that? I was even interested in the Friese-Greene family early in this blog's history.

I didn't know it because it isn't true. 

The Wikipedia entruy for Richard Greene says it's not true and sends you to an article by Paul Pert that is pretty conclusive:

It is not known when or how a relationship to Friese-Greene was first mooted, but it could have potentially arisen or been misinterpreted from a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Players Biography, in which it states ‘Greene's great-grandfather was one of the first to introduce motion pictures to British audiences. He hired a hall, erected a screen and invited all comers’.

The MGM entry obviously related to showing motion pictures and not contributing to their invention, and would tie-in with a theatrical/showman family background, but could be where the relationship story had its roots, with others looking round for someone with a 'Greene' surname connected with early cinema.

So the judges have declined to make a Trivial Fact of the Day Award.

But the video above does give me the chance to mention the bride who asked for "The song from Robin Hood" to be played at her wedding, meaning Bryan Adams's (Everything I Do) I Do it for You.

The organist, however, being from an older generation...