THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Jack Petersen, Welsh heavyweight boxer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Memorial Hall, Barry

Petersen was the first Welshman to hold the British heavyweight boxing title. He held it on two separate occasions as well as gaining the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 1934.

His tribute was the show’s third outside broadcast.

Photographs of Jack Petersen This Is Your Life (click images to enlarge)

Members of Jack Petersen’s family recall their memories of This Is Your Life:

Eldest son John recalls “My brothers David and Rob and my sister (Elizabeth) all appeared in the show whilst Michael and I were only involved by telephone because we were both serving in the army at that time, Michael in Berlin where the Berlin wall was very much in evidence, whilst I was in Cyprus fighting the EOKA terrorists. The BBC wanted to fly us home but apparently the War Office would not agree sadly”

Although not at the actual recording John remembers the many well known sportsmen who took part in his father’s tribute – “Cliff Morgan, Bledynn Williams, Rex Willis, (all Welsh rugby internationals), Alf Sherwood (Welsh football international), Dai Dower and Joe Erskine – both "discovered" by Dad when he was in the Army in charge of cadets in South Wales. And of course Len Harvey and Walter Neusel, and a filmed message from Jack Dempsey, who wanted to manage Dad and bring him across to the USA to fight for the world light heavyweight championship and then the heavyweight championship.”

Jack’s daughter Barbara (known by her second name, Elizabeth) explains the covert operation deployed to ensure her father was in the right place at the right time in order for Eamonn to surprise him on live television –

“I was working at Brightlands (a prep school in Newnham, Gloucester) at the time of the show. I had to bring David and Robert to Cardiff without Dad knowing. Mum met us and kept the boys with her all day while I went to Dinas Powis to see Dad as a surprise visit. Dad said Mum would be thrilled to see me and had gone shopping into town but should be back at tea time. Mum phoned to say she had met up with a friend and would be home later in the evening. Dad told me he had been invited to present some trophies to some boxers at Barry Memorial hall so I could go with him and a car was coming to collect him.  There was a ring set up and a fight going on when we arrived. He had no idea of what was about to happen. He was asked into the ring and … Eamonn Andrews appeared. I remember Dad looking very cross but Mum was brought out and he was fine then.      

As Elizabeth has mentioned, the programme was broadcast live from the Memorial Hall in Barry, only the third time This Is Your Life had been transmitted outside London - the programme’s usual base. Jack Petersen was surprised in the boxing ring during a prize giving presentation.

Jack’s youngest son Rob has vivid memories of the day - “I was 9 years old and away at Brightlands, where all my brothers had been before me. My sister Elizabeth was also there as a deputy matron if I recall. Anyway on the day of the event I was put on the train by my sister who would not tell me why I was going home. I thought that I must have done something terrible to be sent home!! We arrived in Cardiff and from memory went by car to the Memorial Hall in Barry.”

Rob continues “Still in the dark I was taken into a room at the back of the hall where I remember meeting a number of ‘giants’, in fact ex-boxers as I found out, including Walter Neusal and Len Harvey. Later I was told to follow a young woman to a screen where I was told to run across to my father who would be there with my mother, sister and elder brother David. The screen opened and I ran across what had been a boxing ring to my father after Eammon Andrews had introduced me!

“We then heard dad speaking to brothers Michael and John who were in Germany and Cyprus. After the event I remember being taken to a small room where I was given some payment for my attendance. I cannot recall much more of the day but it was definitely relief not to be told I had been expelled from school!”

Cardiff City Council recently erected a "blue plaque" on the building in which Jack Petersen did all his training to commemorate his life. The Lord Mayor unveiled it on September 2nd 2011 - the centenary of Jack’s birth (see image below).

A photograph of Michael in uniform speaking to his father, which was used by the Army PR people to get some local coverage

(click to enlarge)

An army signal to John’s CO in Cyprus from the War Office instructing him to get John to the Forces Broadcasting studios in Nicosia at the appropriate time. John was in the Trudos Mountains at the time chasing EOAKA terrorists! As John explains, the broadcast “was therefore a pleasant interlude”.

(click to enlarge)

with thanks to Jack Petersen’s family for their contribution to this page