Sep 17, 2008
Whose Grandparents Are These People
Can you guess?

Here is a very cute picture of the late Lillian and George Anthony Portell … can you guess who their very famous great granddaughter is?


I realize it’s kinda difficult to venture a guess right off … but if you look closely at Lillian‘s face, you might be able to recognize her famous great granddaughter. After the jump, find out who it is …

It’s Britney, bitch! Lillian and George Portell are Britney Spears‘s relations on her mama Lynne‘s side:


She is the all-American pop princess with a millionaire lifestyle and a global property portfolio. But Britney’s talent has its roots in wartime Britain, when her English grandmother danced the jitterbug at the Royal Opera House before falling in love with an American GI. And as these exclusive photos show Britney bears more than a passing resemblance to her great-grandmother, Lilian. The troubled singer’s great grandfather George Anthony Portell was the son of a Portsmouth newsagent, who joined the Royal Navy in his teens. Her great grandmother Lilian was born in the East End before moving to Tottenham, north London, where the couple met at a local dance. They married a year later in St John’s Parish Church in a joint ceremony with her sister Ruth and her beau Richard Harvey. They had two daughters – Miss Spears’s grandmother also called Lilian in 1924, and then Joan in 1927. Now aged 80 and called Joan Woolmore, Britney’s great-aunt lives in a small terraced house in Northolt, north-west London. She told the Daily Mail: “We came from very humble beginnings but we were very happy. We didn’t have a great deal and we moved around a lot around London – but what both Lilian and I loved to do was dance and play music. My father saved up to send us both for dance classes and piano lessons. He really was a wonderful man. He was kind, gentle and worked very hard. My mother was much stricter but she suffered badly from asthma so spent a lot of time in hospital when we were growing up.” The girls’ passion for music was also encouraged by their aunt and uncle Mary and Desmond Worthy, who played piano and drums for bands in the 1930s. Miss Woolmore said: “Lilian and I liked dancing. During the war we used to go dancing in Covent Garden where they had turned the Royal Opera House into a dance hall. We could jitterbug with the best of them.”

This is so cute … Lynne Spears‘s new book Through the Storm is full of personal photos like this. Again, it’s not very salacious information but it is very interesting info for Britney Spears fans like myself. I am not surprised at all that Britney comes from such hearty stock … until I started reading Lynne‘s book, I had no idea her mother’s relations were British. Her great grandmother was very pretty … I just love learning this stuff :)

[Source]

Like PITNB on Facebook

44 Comments. Add Yours

1 2 3
  1. moi says:

    Kate Hudson.

  2. PixieBassline says:

    I thought SAMANTHA RONSON – LOL

  3. pooneck says:

    i guessed katie holmes

  4. MCG48 says:

    I thought it was Natalie Portman.

  5. Lulu says:

    I knew it was Brit. I can totally see the resemblance!!

  6. Lulu says:

    Btw, it was totally the ears and eyes that gave it away for me…

  7. Aly says:

    Doesn’t really look like her at all.

  8. TC says:

    I thought it was Ashley Tisdale!

  9. Puja says:

    YAY! I guessed right =)

  10. joyce says:

    i thought it was katie holmes lol

  11. DrNat says:

    Had to be Britney Spears with those Ears! They are an exact match!

  12. Diana says:

    Haha, I thought Debra Messing for a second too.. but look at where the nose starts just between the eyebrows and eyes. They both had that sort of wider set nose, not thin. Don’t know if I am making any sense. Also, similar smile in my opinion.

  13. April says:

    There is only one answer when it comes to this website…

    Didn’t find this even slightly fascinating, don’t understand the obsession with Britney at all??

  14. Lo says:

    I thought it was Katie Holmes Too!

  15. wendy says:

    I thought it looked like sara mcglochlan (sorry for the bad spelling). lol.

  16. mickeyoz says:

    hey lori! thought it was debra messings great-grandma 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

  17. Me says:

    She also has some Maltese blood in her.

  18. Natalie says:

    i thought it was charlotte church..

  19. Posh says:

    I thought of Natalie Portman too. I also might have ventured a Brittany Murphy.

  20. Cute says:

    yeah, it had to be Brit, the face shape gave it away. Cute story too! :)

1 2 3

Leave a Reply

It's easier to leave comments when you register for an account, where you can also select your own profile photo. Already have a PITNB account? Then sign in.

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.