Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

  

• HOME
• |
• SERIES
• |
• SUBJECTS
• |
• FEATURES
• |
• ARTICLES
• |
• INTERVIEWS
• |
• ABOUT

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Lionel Jeffries, actor and film director, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at a screening of his recently released film, The Railway Children, at the Classic cinema on Baker Street, London.

Lionel, who was born in south London, was educated at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Dorset. During the Second World War, while serving with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Burma, he began performing regularly in army concert parties.

After the war, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and after some time in repertory theatre, he appeared in several plays on television and in a series of comedy roles in films such as Two-Way Stretch and You Must Be Joking. His first film as a writer and director was The Railway Children, released in 1970.

"I'll smash your head in! What a con! God almighty! You devil! I'll have you! I said what's he doing up there? This is the first time on This Is Your Life that anyone has had a heart attack!"

programme details...

• Edition No: 305
• Subject No: 307
• Broadcast date: Wed 21 Apr 1971
• Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
• Recorded: Wed 7 Apr 1971
• Venue: Euston Road Studios
• Series: 11
• Edition: 23

on the guest list...

• John Mills
• Eileen - wife
• Elizabeth - daughter
• Martha - daughter
• Timothy - son
• Louie Ramsay
• Ingrid Bergman
• Charles Lyons
• Ken Johnson
• Diana Dors - live link
• Bernard Cribbins
• Wooley Orton
• Jic Barrow
• Dick Emery
• Dinah Sheridan
• Jenny Agutter
• Gary Warren
• Sally Thomsett
• Elsie - mother
• Margaret - sister
• Robert Wallace - brother-in-law
• Miriam - sister
• Terry-Thomas
Filmed tribute:
• Bryan Forbes

related appearances...

• Hayley Mills - Dec 1973
• Patrick Cargill - Dec 1976
• Bernard Cribbins - Feb 1981
• Diana Dors - Oct 1982
• John Mills - Oct 1983
• Danny La Rue - Apr 1984
• David Tomlinson - Mar 1991
• The Night of 1000 Lives - Jan 2000

production team...

• Researcher: Alan Haire
• Writers: Lawrie Wyman, George Evans
• Director: Margery Baker
• Producer: Robert Tyrrell

• names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Secret names that have special meaning

TV Times reveals more secrets from television's most secretive show

Diana Dors

John Mills

Louie Ramsay

Dinah Sheridan

Interviews

Ty Jeffries, son of Lionel Jeffries, recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in November 2023

Screenshots of Lionel Jeffries This Is Your Life