Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
David Pelham JAMES DSC, MBE, MP (1919-1986)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - David Pelham James, politician, author and adventurer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London’s Victoria Railway Station.
David served in the Royal Navy during World War II and spent time as a prisoner of war in Germany. He successfully escaped from his camp in Marlag on the second attempt and fled to safety in Sweden. He later published an account of his 11 months in and out of camp as Prisoner’s Progress.
After the war David was chosen to act as Polar Advisor to director Charles Frend for the 1948 film production of Scott of the Antarctic, during which he appeared as John Mills' "body double" in a number of long shots filmed in the snow.
He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemptown from 1959.
programme details...
on the guest list...
production team...
David’s career was progressing well; so much so that he was noticed by the BBC and selected to be a victim of This Is Your Life.
One February morning, arriving at Victoria Station on the 8.54 from Haywards Heath, he was accosted at the barrier by Eamonn Andrews and reacted with a deleted expletive.
On the show that evening Eamonn introduced him as a ‘walking adventure story’ and confronted him with a gathering of characters from his earlier life.
Outside his family, they included, Archie McColl, the retired Torosay stalker; Captain Uno Mørn of the Viking; John Barker, an able seaman who was one of the crew of the MGB when it was sunk; John Wells, a civilian master tailor who became Lord Mayor of Westminster, who sewed on his Bulgarian Navy shoulder flashes in prison camp; and Paul Shadrich the German policeman who recaptured him at Lübeck.
The programme was signed off by Eamonn Andrews in the language of the time:
David James, this book salutes a vivid figure of the present era whose zestful spirit recalls the gay adventures of the past and sets a bright example to those whose future lies in the New Elizabethan Age.
Series 7 subjects
Max Bygraves | Mario Borrelli | Alastair Pearson | Brian Rix | Derek Dooley | Elizabeth Twistington Higgins | Sandy MacPherson