A Medical Life
This Is Your Life A Medical Life feature
Johanna Harris This Is Your Life Johanna Harris This Is Your Life Johanna HARRIS

1 January 1956

The Red Cross nurse was surprised by Eamonn at the BBC Television Theatre.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book Elizabeth WILDE

22 April 1956

Elizabeth, who worked as a companion, injured her spine in a serious fall at a friend's house party. She spent many years in various hospitals, and had both her legs in plaster for a total of 18 years.
Eamonn surprised her at the BBC Television Theatre.

     
     
  Edith Muriel Powell This Is Your Life Edith Muriel POWELL

18 November 1957

Muriel - a nurse who founded the Searchlight Trust to care for older disabled boys, and to teach them skills to prepare them for adulthood - was surprised by Eamonn in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.
Among those paying tribute is film director Anthony Kimmins.

     
     
Andrew Macdonald This Is Your Life Andrew Macdonald This Is Your Life Andrew MACDONALD

2 February 1959

The retired doctor and missionary - who founded the Itu Leper Colony in Nigeria in the 1920s, which provided shelter, care and dignity to thousands of patients who were otherwise ostracised by their community - was surprised by Eamonn outside the BBC's Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London.

     
     
Reginald Blanchford This Is Your Life Reginald Blanchford This Is Your Life Reginald BLANCHFORD

23 February 1959

After being involved in a road accident while riding his motorcycle on Guernsey, which had no official rescue service, Reginald made it his mission to revolutionise the emergency services on the island. Eamonn surprised him at the Alexander Gardens Theatre in Weymouth, from where the programme was then broadcast.

     
     
Miriam Jowett This Is Your Life Miriam Jowett This Is Your Life Miriam JOWETT

16 March 1959

Miriam, a welfare officer with the British Red Cross, who was sent to Arromanches and Bayeux in France to help with the casualties in the aftermath of D-Day, and later helped the British nationals in Berlin at the end of the Second World War, was surprised by Eamonn at the BBC Television Theatre.

     
     
  Sister Mary Ward This Is Your Life Mary WARD

13 April 1959

Surprised by Eamonn in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre, Sister Mary - from Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire - had in the 1930s established an unofficial surgery administering medicine and care to the boat people of the many canals in that part of the country.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book James SLATER

28 September 1959

Despite being diagnosed at the age of 16 with muscular atrophy – a disease which causes muscles to waste - James qualified as a Radio Engineer and later utilised his skills to develop an electric wheelchair.
He was surprised by Eamonn at the BBC Television Theatre, having been led to believe he was there as a guest on someone else's This Is Your Life.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book Thomas DRAKE

16 November 1959

Tom - who went blind as a teenager - was surprised by Eamonn in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.
After qualifying as a physiotherapist for blind people, Tom was appointed as warden and principal of two rehabilitation centres in Torquay opened by the Royal National Institute for the Blind to cater for the increasing number of war-blinded civilians.

     
     
Robert Fawcus This Is Your Life Robert Fawcus This Is Your Life Robert FAWCUS

6 February 1961

The production team travelled to Somerset in order for Eamonn to surprise the retired doctor at Dillington House in Ilminster. Dr Fawcus joined the 'Fore Street Practice' in Chard in 1919 and devoted the rest of his working life to serving the town. This recorded edition was broadcast in place of the planned edition featuring footballer Danny Blanchflower.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book Helen WILSON

10 April 1961

The Scottish nurse was surprised by Eamonn at the Edinburgh Academy.
After spending many years as a missionary in China, Helen established a clinic at Rennie's Mill Camp in Hong Kong in the 1950s, offering help and support to the thousands of Chinese refugees escaping the Communist regime.

     
     
This Is Your Life Big Red Book Isabella WOODFORD

25 December 1961

Eamonn surprised the former nurse - who spent time in France during the First World War - in the Buckinghamshire village of Quainton.
For this special Christmas Day edition - recorded at the BBC Television Theatre - each guest brings the subject a gift, and the tribute ends with all the guests sitting down to a Christmas dinner.

     
     
Hester Meakin This Is Your Life Hester MEAKIN

23 April 1962

The retired district nurse was surprised by Eamonn outside the Queens Institute of District Nursing headquarters in central London.
Hester was born in Dundee and trained at the Royal Victoria Hospital. She moved to Kircaldy, before beginning her district nursing career in the Aberdeenshire village of Insch in 1939.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book Franklin DAY

19 December 1963

Franklin - who was left temporarily blind and paralysed after an accident which involved him being thrown from a Big Wheel in Southend - was surprised by Eamonn on the stage of the BBC Television Theatre.

     
     
  This Is Your Life Big Red Book Mary HAWKINS

30 April 1964

In the final edition of This Is Your Life to be produced by the BBC, Eamonn surprised the nurse at the BBC Television Theatre.
Mary had worked with both the Red Cross and Save the Children in various war zones around the world.

     
     
Michael Wood This Is Your Life Michael Wood This Is Your Life Michael WOOD

22 March 1972

Michael - a founder of the Flying Doctors Service of East Africa - was surprised by Eamonn in the Bush country of Southern Kenya - the first time This Is Your Life had travelled beyond Europe.
The production team flew Michael to London to the Euston Road Studios, where his tribute included a message from singer Bing Crosby.

     
     
  Janet Adams Janet ADAMS

14 March 1973

Eamonn surprised the nurse who, in a remarkable career with the British and International Red Cross, had tended the sick and wounded in spheres of natural disaster and man-created conflict worldwide for 25 years.

     
     
Margot Turner This Is Your Life Margot Turner This Is Your Life Margot TURNER

1 February 1978

The military nurse and former prisoner-of-war was surprised by Eamonn at the Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, while volunteering in the hospital shop.
Dame Margot joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service in 1937, and her remarkable wartime experiences became the basis of the BBC television series, Tenko.

     
     
Rob Buckman This Is Your Life Rob Buckman This Is Your Life Rob BUCKMAN

18 November 1981

Eamonn donned a white coat to surprise Rob - a doctor of medicine - at London's University College Hospital.
Rob - known to television viewers for his regular appearances on science and comedy programmes, such as Don't Ask Me and The Pink Medicine Show - was greeted on his tribute by, among others, scientist Magnus Pyke and actor Bernard Miles.

     
     
June McElnea This Is Your Life June McElnea This Is Your Life June MCELNEA

12 February 1986

Eamonn - disguised in a Donald Duck mask - gatecrashed a children's party in ward 5d of London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital to surprise the nursing sister - known to all as 'Sister Mac'. June is a keen cricket fan, and among her guests are cricketer Ian Botham and commentator Brian Johnston - whose daughter Sister Mac had previously cared for.

     
     
Robert Winston This Is Your Life Robert Winston This Is Your Life Robert WINSTON

12 January 1998

The doctor and scientist - an expert in human fertility who became well-known as a television presenter - was surprised by Michael while filming an episode of his new television series, The Human Body, at the London Aquarium. Among those paying tribute to the man known as Professor Lord Winston was Prime Minister Tony Blair.

     
     
Ray and Trevor Powles This Is Your Life Ray and Trevor Powles This Is Your Life Ray and Trevor POWLES

20 February 2002

The twin brothers - both professors of medicine and cancer specialists who qualified as doctors in 1964 - were surprised by Michael at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey.
The programme includes tributes from medical colleagues and former patients, as well as from the pop group Westlife and singer Dame Vera Lynn.

     
     
Stephanie Cook This Is Your Life Stephanie Cook This Is Your Life Stephanie COOK

28 February 2002

Steph - a qualified doctor who had put her medical career on hold to compete in the women's modern pentathlon at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney - was surprised by Michael during a fashion shoot at the Lichfield photographic studios in London.
Among her guests are rower Matthew Pinsent and boxer Audley Harrison.

     

* the pre-1970 subjects were surprised by a different coloured book - see the Big Red Book feature for full details