This Is Your Life: Jason Leonard

Jason LEONARD (1968-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Jason Leonard, rugby union player, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a function held by the Royal Bank of Scotland to launch his testimonial year.

Jason, who was born in Barking, first began playing rugby at school. He played for his local club Barking as a youth before being spotted by a scout, who signed him to the London club Saracens in 1988. The following year he moved to the rival London club, Harlequins, where he successfully balanced a club career with the constant demands of playing for England and the British and Irish Lions.

At the age of 21, he became the youngest prop forward to ever play for England and first captained the national team in 1996. He played more games for his country than any other prop forward in the world, winning three Grand Slams and six Triple Crowns against the home countries.

programme details...

Edition No: 1050
Subject No: 1025
Broadcast date: Mon 8 May 2000
Broadcast time: 8.30-9.00pm
Recorded: Mon 10 Apr 2000
Venue: BBC Television Centre
Series: 40
Edition: 25
Code name: Oak

on the guest list...

Peter - grandfather
Anne - grandmother
Dave Witney
Sandra Roddham - partner
Clive Woodward
members of the England rugby union team
Jonny Wilkinson
Austin Healey
Ben Cohen
Bill Beaumont
Maria - mother
Frank - father
Scott - brother
Russell - brother
Roy - uncle
Darren - uncle
Colin McMillan
Chris Reid
Mickey Eyres
Dean Cutting
Richie Andrews
Paul Rendall
Jeff Probyn
Wade Dooley
Mike Teague
Peter Winterbottom
Glyn Llewellyn
Will Carling
Lawrence Consiglio
Don Gatherer
Jack Rowell
Lawrence Dallaglio
Jeremy Guscott
Martin Johnson
Rory Underwood
Danny Whelan
Harry - son
Jonathan Johnson
Sean Fitzpatrick
Wesley Calverley
members of Barking Colts

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: Ian Brown
Director: Steve Docherty
Associate Producer: Helen Gordon-Smith
Executive Producer: John Longley
Series Producer: Jack Crawshaw
Producer: Sue Green

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Up and Under

tackling rugby's top names

Jeremy Guscott

Screenshots of Jason Leonard This Is Your Life

Jason Leonard recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography...

Harry made his first television appearance on This Is Your Life - he was brought onto the set at the end after I'd endured what must be the biggest shock of my life. Having to face the haka is nothing compared to having to face Michael Aspel and that red book of his.

I was at a function at the Royal Bank of Scotland to launch my testimonial year with a lunch when they got me. It was totally unexpected.

As I turned round to thank everyone who had helped with the planning and organisation of the function, I could see people smiling, then I saw him standing beside me with that damn book tucked under his arm and a grin on his face. I just looked at him, and all I could think was 'Run, run, and keep on running.' The trouble was that we were deep inside a high security bank, so if I'd done anything of the kind, I'd have been immediately tackled to the ground by dozens of security men.

Looking back, I should have known that something was going on because all week Lawrence and Jerry hadn't been returning my calls - maybe they were worried about accidentally letting it slip that they were involved with This Is Your Life. But these things only seem obvious when you know the facts. The truth is that I had no idea at all. It was a complete surprise - and I hate surprises.

Once you've been 'caught' you're supposed to go straight back to the studio where they are all waiting for you, but I had to have a pint first, so I persuaded them to come with me round the corner for a couple. I ended up having four or five pints before we got there, and the production girls and researchers were getting a bit worried. I think they were panicking in case I arrived at the studio too drunk to stand. But I really needed that time to relax a bit and I'll always be grateful to Jerry for calming me down a bit. He told me that he'd had This Is Your Life done to him a few years earlier, and it was great fun.

He said, 'There'll be a few surprises there and people that you haven't seen for quite a while, and then afterwards there's a great party. That's all. You'll enjoy it.'

When I thought about it, I relaxed a bit and realised that it was going to be OK. As it was, there were surprises all the way through - school teachers, old friends and family friends were there, many of whom I hadn't seen for years and years. My great mate from Canada came over which was great, and afterwards we all mingled together and had a great party. I don't know what the people at the BBC thought, though, because - whether it was the rugby boys or my family, I'm not sure - we drank the bar dry three times!

Series 40 subjects