This Is Your Life: Stephen Hendry

Stephen HENDRY (1969-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Stephen Hendry, snooker player, was surprised by Michael Aspel in the foyer of Thames Television's Euston Road Studios, having been led to believe he was there for a business meeting.

Stephen, who was born in Edinburgh and started playing snooker at the age of 12, won the Scottish U-16 Championship in 1983, and the Scottish Amateur Championship twice in 1984 and 1985. He appeared on the BBC's junior version of Pot Black before turning professional in 1985 at the age of 16 - the youngest player ever to do so.

In his first season he was the youngest ever Scottish Professional champion and the youngest player to qualify for the World Championship. He won the UK Championship in 1989 and after retaining the title the following year he went on to win the 1990 World Snooker Championship, defeating Jimmy White to become the youngest ever World Champion.

"But I'm only twenty-one!"

programme details...

Edition No: 790
Subject No: 779
Broadcast date: Wed 28 Nov 1990
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 24 Oct 1990
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 31
Edition: 6
Code name: Chalk

on the guest list...

Mandy - girlfriend
Gordon - father
Irene - mother
Keith - brother
Joe Johnson
Alex Higgins
Laura - cousin
Ted Lowe
Conrad Whitelaw
Jean - grandmother
Christine - aunt
Peter Scott
Allison Fisher
Jimmy White
Willie Thorne
Cliff Thorburn
Wallace Mercer
John Robertson

production team...

Researchers: Sue Green, Elizabeth Ross
Writer: Roy Bottomley
Directors: Brian Klein, Terry Yarwood
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

Titles and Music

the iconic titles and theme tunes

Klein's having the time of his life

The Stage interview with Associate Producer Brian Klein

Alex Higgins

Joe Johnson

Jimmy White

Screenshots of Stephen Hendry This Is Your Life

Stephen Hendry recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography, Me And The Table...

On arriving home, Ian is very keen to get me to take part in a sports-related TV show being made at Thames Television in London. Forceful at the best of times, he's unusually insistent that I do this and so we turn up at the appointed hour to the studios in London's Euston Road. There seems to be something going on that I can't quite put my finger on, especially the way the blonde receptionist is trying to hide her face - then all is revealed when Michael Aspel steps out of nowhere and tells me that, 'Stephen Hendry, tonight, This Is Your Life!' Mandy reveals herself as the 'receptionist' and from behind some screens emerges a gang of snooker players, Joe Johnson and Terry Griffiths among them. [Bigredbook.info editor: Terry Griffiths wasn't part of Stephen's tribute]

I'm stunned. 'But I'm only twenty-one,' I replied, genuinely surprised that anyone might be interested in such a short life as mine.

After I get over my blushes I'm led into a studio full of familiar faces. I take a seat next to Mandy, who has known about this for months, as have my parents and Ian. A parade of players is brought on, the first being Alex Higgins, who describes the time he and I practised for money ('just to make it interesting, you understand') and I had to borrow £100 from Ian. A couple of hours later, I took the stake back to Ian intact, plus an extra £20. After he tells this story, Alex kisses me on the cheek and waltzes off. Cliff Thorburn, Willie Thorne, Ted Lowe and Jimmy White all make appearances, as does my gran and Conrad Whitelaw, my teenage snooker pal. Conrad has made the effort to come to London and has never in his life stayed in a hotel. Later he tells me he even got lost walking up to his room from the lobby. It's great to see him, but the times we pretended we were Jimmy White and Alex Higgins seem like a lifetime ago. It's not just family and snooker-related guests: I'm delighted to see star striker John Robertson and chairman Wallace Mercer sending a few words from the pitch at Hearts.

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

...twenty-one-year-old world snooker champion Stephen Hendry, who walked into the foyer of Thames Television at Euston on 24 October 1990... got the surprise of his life when the receptionist with the long blonde hair threw back her locks and smiled at the visitor. The 'receptionist' was his girlfriend, Mandy. He thought she was back in Scotland.

From behind a screen came fellow pros from the snooker circuit Joe Johnson, Mike Hallett, Doug Mountjoy, Terry Griffiths, Tony Meo and John Spencer. Alex Higgins, Willie Thorne and Cliff Thorburn added their greetings. [Bigredbook.info editor: Terry Griffiths wasn't part of Stephen's tribute]

Stephen had just become snooker's youngest ever champion, taking that record from Alex Higgins. In the final he had beaten his boyhood idol, Jimmy White. Jimmy was there to tell us that after playing against young Stephen once in Ireland he had given him an Irish pound note on which he had written: 'To the next Jimmy White. From Jimmy White.'

And Stephen was delighted to return the compliment when it was the turn of his hero to be surprised in February 1993, after he had just won the UK Championship.

Some letters asked how could we do a Life on someone so young? Our answer: he had just become the best in the world at what he does.

Incidentally, the programme was the highest rated of the season in terms of viewing figures.

Nige Tassell recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Butch Wilkins and the Sundance Kid: A Teenage Obsession with TV Sport...

Elsewhere on the schedules, there was always the chance of a sporting figure, either a player or a commentator, being surprised by Eamonn Andrews and his big red book on This Is Your Life, especially if they'd enjoyed significant success of late. Both Ian Botham and the Grand National-winning jockey Bob Champion, for whom 1981 was arguably their respective totem year, had been guests in the previous few months. The programme's producers didn't feel the need to hold back and honour the subject towards the end of their career. Get them while they were hot.

It was a policy that continued right into the show's later years. In 1990, when the just-crowned snooker world champion Stephen Hendry, a spotty sapling of just 21, was anointed by the programme, he pointedly reminded them that he'd hardly had a life...

Series 31 subjects