This Is Your Life: Hylda Baker

Hylda BAKER (1905-1986)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Hylda Baker, comedienne and actress, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside Thames Television's Euston Road Studios, having been led to believe she was there for a press call.

Hylda, who was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, began her career at the age of ten, touring the music halls with a variety act of singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By age 14, she had started writing, producing and performing her own shows, which included malapropisms and catchphrases that became part of her public persona, the most famous of which was "She knows, y'know!"

Appearances on BBC Television's The Good Old Days in the mid-1950s led to her own television series, Be Soon, in 1957, followed by the sitcom, The Best of Friends, in 1963. She also appeared in films, including Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the film version of the musical Oliver! while her role as Nellie Pledge in the ITV comedy series Nearest and Dearest, which began in 1968, made her a household name.

programme details...

Edition No: 324
Subject No: 325
Broadcast live: Wed 1 Mar 1972
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Venue: Euston Road Studios
Series: 12
Edition: 16

on the guest list...

Joe Gladwin
Madge Hindle
Edward Malin
Sydney - brother
Ethel - sister
Mildred - sister
Brenda - sister
Barney Colehan
Tom Hardy
Ken Platt
Norman Rossington
Charles Hawtrey
Agnes - aunt
Florence - cousin
Emile – Florence's husband
Dorothy Squires
Ken Dodd

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: unknown
Director: Margery Baker
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

with thanks to Ann Turner for her contribution to this page

related pages...

The Good Life

the sitcom stars

Birth of Life

the genesis of the programme

The Big Red Book

the programme's icon

Obituaries: Roy Bottomley

Press obituaries for This Is Your Life scriptwriter

Ken Dodd

Hylda Baker This Is Your Life Big Red Book

Photographs of Hylda Baker This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Hylda Baker's big red book

Jean Ferguson recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in her book, She Knows You Know! reproduced here with kind permission of the author...

One memorable thing that happened to Hylda in March 1972, and which would stay with her for ever and was to give her great pride, was that she was the subject of This Is Your Life. It was Roy Bottomley's idea that she would be a splendid subject and he was now working on the programme.

In fact he had brought the show to ITV in 1968, when Thames TV was created. Hylda was rehearsing in Brixton for the new TV series of Nearest and Dearest and her agent, Bill Roberton, had been liaising with Thames, giving them as much detail as possible.

The day came and it was arranged that Bill would go over in the Thames TV limousine to Brixton and bring her back to town as though they were going to a press call. They got in the car and off they went, Hylda totally unaware and chatting merrily away. All the time Bill could see the driver in his interior mirror. They exchanged glances as it was evident that they were making such good time they were going to be far too early, so instead of turning left towards Euston, he decided to go the long way round via Camden Town. This turned out to be a very big mistake because they got completely stuck in traffic. Quick as a flash the driver whizzed the car around and put his foot down in no uncertain terms. They had gone from a leisurely crawl to a sort of Keystone Cops chase, or in Hylda's terminology, he'd gone 'beresque'. She grabbed hold of Bill, terror-struck, and screamed, "We're being kidnapped! We're being kidnapped!" She really believed this to be the case. He tried to calm her with, "No it's alright dear, don't worry etc," but to no avail, until the car pulled up at the studios, whereupon she saw Eamonn Andrews 'lurking'. She realised what had been happening, and indeed what was about to happen, her composure returned immediately, she turned to Bill and said, "Oh, you sod!" and with that stepped out of the car, a lady once more. But for those few minutes she had been truly hysterical.

They gave her time to get herself tidied up, and when they brought her into the studio, the first thing she said was, "Oh dear, I have no idea what I'm doing here, I stepped out of the car, and there I was lying prostitute on the pavement." The audience roared. Her family were all there, and had been taken to the studios earlier in the day, but sadly her mother and her brother Harold had died by this time. Auntie Agnes was there, though, a real favourite of Hylda's, and one of the high spots of the show was that Hylda and her brother and sisters did the 'six Lancashire steps' with the clog dance.

Charles Hawtrey came on, as did the cast of Nearest and Dearest – not surprisingly minus Jimmy Jewel – and many of Hylda's relatives from abroad. (Hylda got her own back on Jimmy when they did his life, though, for she didn't appear on his tribute. However, to be fair to Jimmy, he spoke very highly of her, saying, "She was one of the funniest comediennes I've ever known.") The final guest was her great friend Dorothy Squires, with whom she had a rather intense 'love hate' relationship over the years. Tom Hardy was very aware of the fact that Hylda appeared to be quite terrified throughout the recording. Perhaps she imagined every skeleton coming out of the dark recesses of the cupboard. The knowledge we now have about her father, and how he ended his days, was no doubt very much on her mind, coupled with the fact that she was determined to keep it a secret from the public. Luckily the researchers had been kind and she ended up enjoying every minute.

Everyone who visited Hylda's flat after that would comment that the This Is Your Life book was proudly displayed either on the piano or on the table, and when Tom Hardy visited it was always open at the page where they had been photographed together, as he too appeared on the programme (dressed as Cynthia!). She would say to him every time, "You had to get your name mentioned though didn't you?" And then she would smile and offer him a glass of wine. She still didn't want the identity of her stooge to be known, and in fact gave him, rather unfairly, a dressing down after This Is Your Life when his photograph appeared in TV Times.

Apparently when the researchers approached Tom, he said that he would appear as Cynthia, but his name must not be mentioned, and he refused to be photographed for TV Times because he knew it would upset Hylda. But he did agree to a telephone interview for a few comments to be quoted. One morning, Tom blearily left his flat to buy some milk, a photographer popped up from behind a hedge, snapped away and promptly jumped in his car and drove off, leaving his subject rather bemused. When the photograph appeared in TV Times, Hylda was apparently furious with him. Also, when Eamonn mentioned Tom's name on the programme, he was very aware of the repercussions when Hylda shot him a look that would have felled two giant oak trees.

Series 12 subjects