overly litigious wrong or right?
Catherine Zeta-Jones, that well-known ex-Welshwoman, reckons that she’s so…Mediteranian-looking because some of her ancestors were shipwrecked sailors from the Spanish Armada.
I always thought the Welsh tended to be darker of hair and eyes than the other native peoples of the British Isles because they are largely of Iberian Celtic origin.
What’s the actual reason? Because it can’t be the sunny Welsh climate.
I’ve heard the same thing about people who are so-called “black Irish” - Irish people with apparently Mediterranean coloration. But from everything I’ve heard, it’s mostly bullshit. Before the Celts showed up in Britain, the place was inhabited by Picts, who were a dark skinned and dark haired people.
Incidentally, what do you mean by “overly litigous”? Is she suing someone about this?
Here’s a nice look at an historical photo and a link about her litigiousness:
http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/archives/001047.html
Shh! Don’t give her and Michael ideas!
The Perfect Master says this about Spanish Armada shipwreckees in Ireland, and this about the “Black Irish”.
Given the much smaller likelihood that survivors of the Armada made landfall in Wales rather than Ireland, I’d say that CZJ is talking out of her (admittedly very lovely) backside.
On the other hand, there’s nothing to stop her in particular from having Mediterranean ancestry. It’s just wrong for her to claim it as part of some greater historical trend.
Furthermore:
Here is Wikipedia’s take on the Spanish Armada, including how a rare hurricane wrecked many of the surviving Spanish ships on Irish shores. This map shows the wrecks. Note how many ended up on Welsh shores: zero.
They haven’t received as many blond genes from Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxons invaders like other peoples from the British Isles.
Actually, I’ve heard that the blond hair/blue eyes coloring comes from the Slavic peoples, and that Scandinavians were traditionally redheaded.
You learn summat new each day:
I will impress (i.e. bore) my Costello-descended relatives with this nugget of annoyingly-Anglocentric trivia 
A Swedish researcher did an analysis of Swedish army records of recruits for the last 100+ years, which, due to compulsory universal military service, provided a very complete database of the male Swedish population. The records included details of personal appearance, and he determined that the blond, blue-eyed “typical Swede” was actually distinctly in the minority.
