This Is Your Life: Jimmy White

Jimmy WHITE (1962-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Jimmy White, snooker player, was surprised by Michael Aspel while playing an exhibition match with John Virgo at the Ritz snooker hall in Twickenham.

Jimmy, who was born in Balham, London, started playing snooker at the age of 10, and became the youngest ever player to win the English Amateur Championship at 16, and the youngest to win the World Amateur Championship at 18.

He turned professional in 1980, made his World Championship debut in 1981 and won his first professional titles in 1984 with the Scottish Masters and the Northern Ireland Classic. Jimmy was the first left-handed player, and only the second player overall, to record a maximum break of 147 at the World Championship - which he did in 1992.

"I haven't potted a ball yet!"

programme details...

Edition No: 860
Subject No: 848
Broadcast date: Wed 10 Mar 1993
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Tue 2 Feb 1993
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 33
Edition: 24
Code name: Snow

on the guest list...

Maureen - wife
Lillian - mother
Tommy - father
Jackie - sister
Martin - brother
Tommy - brother
Tony - brother
Shane Halls
John Virgo
Tony Knowles
Steve James
Tony Drago
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Danny Bratt
Alan Bell
Barry Hearn
Henry West
Ronnie Gross
Rocky Taylor
Alex Higgins
John Pulman
Joe Johnson
Steve Davis
Alan Stockton
Lauren - daughter
Arthur Beatty
Tony Meo
Denise Meo
Terry Griffiths
Willie Thorne
Bobby Davro
Stephen Hendry
Ronnie Wood
Ashleigh - daughter
Georgia - daughter
Breeze - daughter
Nigel Benn

production team...

Researcher: Elizabeth Ross
Writer: Norman Giller
Directors: Brian Klein, Malcolm Morris
Associate Producer: John Graham
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Pot Black

cueing the stars of snooker

Screenshots of Jimmy White This Is Your Life

John Virgo recalls this edition This Is Your Life in his book, Let Me Tell You About Alex - Crazy Days and Nights on the Road with the Hurricane...

I remember that I had done a few appearances as a guest on This is Your Life. For instance, I was the person who 'caught' Jimmy when he was the subject. As far as I was concerned, Jimmy thought he and I were about to play an exhibition in Richmond. So I went along to meet him, knowing that the show's host, Michael Aspel, would appear with the famous red book. It was all set to be a big surprise.

What I found out only afterwards was that Alex had rung Jimmy the evening before and told him what had been set up. It's amazing the secrecy they surround the whole thing with. They swear everyone to secrecy. Alex, though, couldn't resist blabbing it to Jimmy, whom he called 'Wind' (a derivative of his nickname Whirlwind). So he had phoned him and said, 'Oh, just to let you know, Wind, you're on This Is Your Life tomorrow. I'm only telling you because I don't want you to be too shocked.' Unbelievable.

Series 33 subjects