In 1975 it was my paternal grandfather Sir John Winnifrith who went into battle against the EU, or the Common Market as it then was. His view of those who wanted a European superstate had not really changed from his time spent thirty years earlier in Churchill's war rooms although his main objection, as a Bennite, was that the EEC would screw the working classes. It did.
Grandpa remained a Eurosceptic until his final days. In the next generation the baton passed to my mother's side with her brother Christopher Booker. In 1975 he voted the wrong way but he saw the light and for years has now been writing about the evils of what is an evil empire.
Although my father lost the plot on this one, moving the other way to Uncle Chris between 1975 and the glorious 23rd June 2016, those who have read my writings over many years, will know that I am a true blooded Eurosceptic. And thus, as I prepare to do my first ever stage act with Uncle Chris tonight, we might perhaps celebrate the fact that today 40 years of family woe is finally put to bed with Article 50 being triggered. Brexit is, at last, under way.
I have not doubted the wisdom of leaving the EU for a second. Watching the rambling and demented Tory remoaner Anna Soubry MP on Newsnight last night, I am reaffirmed in my beliefs once again. Is there a sillier woman in Westminster? Her pain today is my joy. After a 40 year fight, we consider the words of the sharpest ever woman at Westminster: "Rejoice, Rejoice"