Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Robert Fawcus, retired doctor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews as he arrived at Dillington House, near Ilminster in Somerset, having been led to believe he was there to present a talk on Somerset life and culture.

Robert, who was born in Germany and moved to Northumberland at a young age, was educated at Oxford and Guy's Hospital in London. During the First World War, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps before joining the Fore Street Practice in Chard, Somerset, in 1919, where, as a general practitioner, he devoted the rest of his working life to serving the town.

He became a familiar figure in the town, often seen riding his motorcycle, which allowed him to get to every emergency, whatever the time or weather. He rarely took payment for his services and would provide his patients with firewood and food parcels. In the period of mass unemployment during the 1930s, he established a poultry farm to help relieve poverty by providing work for the town's unemployed.

programme details...

• Edition No: 150
• Subject No: 150
• Broadcast date: Mon 6 Feb 1961
• Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
• Recorded: Fri 13 Jan 1961
• Venue: Dillington House, Ilminster
• Series: 6
• Edition: 21

on the guest list...

• Cecil Hodges
• Florence Bowditch
• Annie Gage
• Helen - wife
• Edith Wilkins
• Elizabeth Wilkins
• Fred Berry
• Alan Gawler
• Maud Powne
• Julian Hill
• Sidney Hawker
• John McKee
• Leonard Chick
• Chard Ladies' Choir
• Doris Dore

production team...

• Researcher: Ronald Vivian
• Writer: Ronald Vivian
• Director: Michael Goodwin
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

A Medical Life

examining the medical profession

Timeline

the show's fifty year history

A Life Refused

those who said 'No'

Danny Blanchflower

Press coverage of the footballer's refusal to participate

It's the show that balances on a tightrope

TV Times interviews footballer Danny Blanchflower

Photographs of Robert Fawcus This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Robert Fawcus's big red book

Chard and Ilminster News 25 November 2022

Eamonn Andrews' This is Your Life in Taunton and Chard

By Phil Hill

THE day a much-loved TV broadcaster was smuggled into Taunton under great secrecy has been recounted by a former County Gazette reporter.

Irishman Eamonn Andrews, who would have turned 100 on December 19, hosted 730 editions of television's This is Your Life.

And he brought the show of surprises to Somerset twice some 60 years ago.

In February 1958, 10 million people watched the edition featuring H. J. (Dapper) Channon, the 'Mr Chips' of Queen's College, Taunton.

He first entered Queen's as a schoolboy in 1901, and later returned to teach English, history, geography, and scripture.

He was also a sports master who loved cricket and wrote a book, A Sportsman's Parables, as well as the college history.

Old boys from all over the world kept in touch with him.

One of them, the speaker of the Ghana Parliament, paid tribute on film.

Producers flew over Mr Channon's daughter, Marcia, from Los Angeles, to meet him for the first time in 12 years.

One-time Gazette reporter Mike Ford said: "Such was the secrecy of the programme that Eamonn travelled to Bristol by train, was driven to a roadside haystack near Bridgwater where he waited in hiding for another car to smuggle him into Taunton's Castle Hotel, before heading to Queen's."

Three years later, Eamonn returned to the county to present the book to Dr Robert Fawcus, a GP at Chard's Fore Street practice.

Riding his famous round tank motorcycle, Dr Fawcus was noted for reaching every emergency whatever the time or weather.

He supported people through the unemployment of the 1930s and was a founding member of Toc H, the international Christian movement.

The show was recorded at Dillington House, Ilminster, and transmitted in February 1961.

Mike Ford has been liaising with Eamonn's family and friends, including Sir Michael Parkinson, to honour the TV presenter in a series of centenary features.

"Eamonn was the reason I went into broadcasting," said Mike.

"I first wrote to him when I was 15, later worked with him, and stayed in touch until he died in 1987."

"A devout Catholic, Eamonn was a man of immense kindness, compassion and integrity."

"Away from the screen, you'd find him generously and quietly helping other people, even writing to prisoners to offer hope and friendship."

Unknown source and date

DR ROBERT FAWCUS MEMORIAL

At a meeting of the Parochial Church Council of St Mary's Church, Chard, it was unanimously agreed that a permanent memorial should be erected in the Church to mark the distinguished and devoted life of public service of the late Dr Robert Fawcus. It is realised that the real memorial to this extraordinary man is to be found in the lives of countless ordinary people in this area. It is also realised that the Borough of Chard recognised his distinction by conferring on him the Freedom of the Borough and naming a section of the town after him. However, it is felt by many that there should be some permanent memorial so that future generations can realise our esteem for Dr Fawcus.

The Rt Revd David Maddock, Bishop of Dunwich, and a close friend of Dr Fawcus has very kindly agreed to come and dedicate the memorial when it has been erected.

In the September issue of our Parish Magazine, I wrote an appreciation of Dr Fawcus and I would like to include that article overleaf [Bigredbook.info editor: the article is reproduced below] because it expresses my thought on this great man.

If you would like to be associated with this Fund we would be grateful if you would kindly place your gift in the attached envelope and return it to your local representative, myself or any Church Official. We will inform you later of the form which this memorial will take and the arrangements for the dedication.

Basil Jenkyns. Vicar

Dr Fawcus's Home

Home of Dr R A Fawcus for 50 years. Beloved physician and friend.

FREEMAN OF CHARD

Robert Anthony Fawcus was born in Germany, he joined the 'Fore Street Practice' in Chard 1919 and devoted the rest of his life to serving the town. With his famous round tank motorcycle, he got to every emergency whatever the time or weather, Kindly, smiling and tolerant, 1930s unemployment troubled him greatly and he spent time and money relieving those without work. Chardians were delighted when in 1961 his story was told in the BBC This is Your Life programme. He was a founding member of Toc H.

He was educated at Oxford (First Class Degree) and Guy's hospital. His first practice was in Northumberland where he grew up. When the first world war broke out, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1919 he settled in Chard and became partners with Dr E N Jupp at Essex House in Fore Street.

After visiting Axminster Toc H branch to hear the guest speaker Baarclay Baron, an old friend of the Doctors he was invited to become a founding member of the Chard branch of Toc H. He did and became the most active member they had ever known.

Toc H is an international Christian movement whose founding principles are Friendship, Service, Fair-mindedness and Reconciliation. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, (Toc signifying the letter T in the signals spelling list used by the British Army in WW1.)

In the years of mass unemployment, he did his utmost to relieve poverty among the poor by starting a poultry farm which employed some of the workless in the district.

It was at his house at Glebelands that he would store tons of logs ready for sawing into firewood for the winter when they would be delivered to needy old people. The furniture for the second-hand sales was stored in his garage while he left his car outside. The annual cake and produce sale was held at their residence, the doctor and his wife organised it every year and made it a great success. The income it provided was the main source of revenue for the Chard branch.

He lived for many years at Glebelands, Forton Road, before moving to Vicarage Close.

On his retirement from the medical sphere, Dr Fawcus received the gift of a new motor car, a Morris de-luxe convertible, 'which had been subscribed for by hundreds of admirers as a token of their esteem, goodwill and real affection'. Reported in the local paper. He was then 74.

In 1960 Dr Fawcus became the 9th person to be made a Freeman of the Borough.

'This honour was conferred on him in recognition of a lifetime of service rendered by him to the town and district and as an expression of the high esteem in which he is held by the inhabitants of the Borough'.

In 1961 his story was told on This Is Your Life, broadcast from Dillington House near Ilminster.

Died at his home in 1974 aged 88.

Nearly £800.00 was donated for the memorial after Dr Fawcus died and it was decided to make a section of the church more suitable for elderly people to worship at St Mary's. The dedication of the Memorial Chapel at St Mary's Church, Fawcus Chapel, dedicated November 1975.

The plaque in memory of Dr Robert Fawcus, the founder of the local Toc H is situated at his former home, Glebelands in Forton Road. Funding the plaque was the final act of Chard Toc H before it was disbanded.