Independent Television reaches a milestone this week: 21 years of successful operation, entertaining countless millions.

And the 21st anniversary celebrations brilliantly combine a sense of occasion with the skillful, star-studded entertainment that has made ITV Britain's most-watched media over 21 memorable years.

On Wednesday, September 22 – 21 years to the day – ITV parades its show-business image with a glittering two-hour celebration party aptly entitled ITV This Is Your Life.

Eamonn Andrews, appropriately, is host to a celebrity guest list numbering more than 600, live from the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, on a nostalgic night when, true to the tradition of This Is Your Life, anything could happen.

Twenty-four hours later (for September 22, 1955, ITV's opening night was a Thursday), the more stately but equally impressive IBA Anniversary Banquet is held at the Guildhall, with 750 invited guests, all of whom have been instrumental in the formation and development of ITV.

Among senior executives from the entire IBA 'family' will be such familiar on-screen faces as Violet Carson, Hughie Green, Robert Kee and Leslie Mitchell.

The Prime Minister, Mr James Callaghan, heads a speaker's list that includes Lady Plowden, Chairman of the IBA.

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Look back over more than two decades of stars, shows and golden memories – as Independent Television comes of age with a party to remember.

Roll up, roll up, for a very special birthday party. The invitation comes from Eamonn Andrews. So join him and a host of stars, past and present, for this live, two-hour celebration at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane.

Surprises, nostalgia and great entertainment are guaranteed as Eamonn unfolds the ITV story.

Programme consultant is Peter Black.

Incidentally, how's your memory of television? Try these:

"Oi'll give it foive" was the catchphrase of...?

You're never alone with a...?

Eamonn Andrews knows the answers, of course – they're in his big red book.

The answers: Janice (Thank Your Lucky Stars) Nicholls, Strand – a brand of cigarette.

This Is Your Life - Article: Your Invitation to ITV 21