BBC: Who do you think you are?

What do you see when you look at me?

Wll, male, Caucasian, early 40's, short auburn hair, bushy eyebrows, thin lips...

OK. So that's how you see me? If sounds like a police report, and I'm not sure I like your obervation about thin lips. Caucasian means white skinned and European, by the way. 

And today the show is about identity- who or what a person is. And the way people see us forms part of our sense of identity, while another part comes from our ethnic- or racial- identity. So my question for you today, Neil, is: What percentage of the UK population describe themselves as ethnically mixed? Is it...

a) 0.9%     b) 5.9%     or    c) 9%

OK... I think that it's a)0.9%.

Well, we'll find out if you got the answer right or wrong later on in the show. Now, Neil, you are, of course, many more things than my physical description of you!

I'm glad to hear that. And it's true, that until you actually hear somebody speak, there are lots of things you can't know about them. For example, which country they're from, what language they speak...

Yes. So looking at me, what would you say, Neil?

I would say Alice that you're a typical English rose. 

Thanks, Neil- and English rose describes an attractive girl with a pale delicate complextion- or skin color- but you can't actually tell where a person is from by the way they look. 

Yes. I suppose you're right. I have a friend who also looks very English like you, but she's a real ethnic mix. Her dad is German and her mom is Brazillian!

Well, let's hear from New York City actress and playwright, Sarah Jones, talking about her complicated ethnicity. 

My family on my dad's side, my grandparents, are from the South. There's some Caribbean in there, black Americans from the South and the Caribbean, and then from the South and the Caribbean, and then on my mother's side there are people from the Caribbean, from Ireland but you know Irish American, German American. People would ask me if I was adopted when they saw my mother's white skin- she's actually mixed but she's white from a distance, and I'm black from a distance. 

Sarah Jones there. Well, Sarah has family from all over the worl! I suppose the United Sates- and New York City, especially- is a real melting pot. 

That's right. And melting pot describes a society made from people of different countries who live together and create a new shared culture. 

And people think Sarah is adopted- or raised by parents who aren't biologically hers- because she looks so different to her mom. 

But I expect Sarah sees herself as American. New York is where she was born and raised. 

That's right. But her grandparents weren't. Do you think you change when you go and live in another country with people different to you?

Yes, I do. My neighbours are Turkish but they've lived in England for 45 years so they've integrated into our culture. They enjoy English things like...our TV soap operas, cooking turkey at Christmas, and drinking tea with milk. 

And to intergrate means to join a group of people, and often involves changing your habits and customs. 

Yes. OK. So, Neil, to what extent does the way other people see us, actually change us? Let's listen to Julian Baggini, a writer and philosopher here in the UK and find out what he thinks.