WHEN it comes to researching your family tree, most of us would like to be related to royalty or may be unearth some skeletons in the closet. But as is often the case, the results can be less than exciting.

This week Sir Michael Parkinson admitted he was “gutted” when the producers of family history programme Who Do You Think You Are? told him his ancestors were too boring for him to take part in the show.

Researchers spent six weeks investigating the veteran interviewer’s roots but failed to unearth anything of interest among the miners, labourers and domestic staff that make up Parky’s relatives.

Other celebrities on the BBC TV show have been more fortunate, with Jeremy Clarkson discovering his forebears invented the Kilner jar, Rory Bremner having a war hero in the family and Patsy Kensit finding out she was descended from a long line of villains.

Tracing your family roots has never been more popular at the moment with a variety of websites and television programmes exploring genealogy.

For example, this year overwhelming public demand meant the National Archives released data from the 1911 census three years early. With scanned transcripts for more than 27 million people are now just a mouse click away.

“The main attraction is partly because people want to know where they came from and about their own family,” says Linda Hayball, membership secretary for Dorset Family History Society.

“Once you get started it’s more of a challenge. It’s like a detective case, looking for the next clue. Once you get stuck in, you never get out of it,” adds Linda.

If you’re inspired to begin researching your family tree, conservation storage experts Timecare has prepared a series of top tips to help you on your genealogical journey – Get The Basics Right: Collect the biographical details of each of your relations – write down everything you know about yourself and your family, including full names, dates of birth, marriage and death.

Interview Your Family: Talk to your family to help flesh this basic information out with first-hand accounts of events.

Don’t Take Everything At Face Value: You’re bound to uncover some enthralling stories along the way, but memories of events can get mixed up over the years, especially when tales recounted are second or third hand.

Visit The Archives: There are a number of institutions located throughout the UK perfect for further research.

Search Online: The Internet provides a vast source of information, from information pre-researched by professional genealogists through to digital versions of historical archives. Sites such as Ancestry.co.uk or Findmypast.co.uk allow you to perform searches for free and only pay when you want to view records in full. 1911census.co.uk provides exclusive electronic access to the National Archives’ 1911 census data.

Plot Your Family Tree: When you have gathered as much information as you can, it’s time to arrange it into your family tree. A variety of software packages are available which will help you collect all your research together and produce neat printed results, or you can simply use a pen and large sheet of paper to plot it yourself. As you go further back in time, the amount you know about your ancestors will become less and less. Drawing your tree will help you to decide on further research to undertake, such as consulting parish records and visiting specialist archives.

Think To The Future: Think about how to preserve your research for future generations of your family to enjoy. Careful storage and safe handling are the golden rules for ensuring the preservation of your family history.

Using archival quality acid free paper and storage boxes to wrap, cover and box the items you wish to keep will help prevent damage and deterioration, slowing the ageing process and add-ing years of life and enjoyment.