This Is Your Life: Allan Norman

Allan NORMAN (1954-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Allan Norman, paramedic, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a mock accident in Fulham as part of a training documentary for the ambulance service.

Allan, who was born in Croydon, began his working life as a garage mechanic. As a member of the Territorial Army since 1973, he joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1981 as a vehicle mechanic.

Having joined the Ambulance Service in 1983, he qualified as a paramedic and his work was featured in two BBC television series, Blues and Twos and 999, in particular their coverage of major incidents such as the 1993 IRA bomb in Bishopsgate, London.

"Seriously? No! Where's my wife?!"

programme details...

Edition No: 924
Subject No: 902
Broadcast date: Wed 27 Sep 1995
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Tue 25 Jul 1995
Venue: unknown
Series: 36
Edition: 4
Code name: Bike

on the guest list...

Rosie - wife
George - father
Heather Mills
Rebecca - daughter
Alanna - daughter
Joanna - daughter
Debbie - daughter
Janet - sister
Shirley - sister
Judith Hunt
Nick Spencer
Steve Leameth
Terry Knight
Ian Andrews
Barry Cook
Jimmy Conroy
Karen Vaisher
Bill Brown
Patrick Brown
Danny Cole
PC Chas Connor
Col Roger Owen
Mofat Al Jasas
Dr Sean Keogh

production team...

Researcher: Mandy Nixon
Writer: Norman Giller
Director: Brian Klein
Associate Producer: John Graham
Executive Producer: Peter Estall
Producer: Malcolm Morris

related page...

Life Savers

heroes of the emergency services

Screenshots of Allan Norman This Is Your Life

Isle of Wight County Press 13 February 2022

Isle of Wight NHS hero was subject of This Is Your Life in 1995

Exclusive by Lori Little

A PARAMEDIC who was subject of Michael Aspel's This Is Your Life television programme has been busy working on the Island in recent years.

Allan Norman has hit the headlines many times during his career and spoke to the County Press about life on the frontline of such a vital service.

Allan joined the London Ambulance Service in January 1984 because he couldn't carry on his work as a mechanic due to dermatitis.

His voluntary service in the Territorial Army (TA) had given him some first aid experience and it was a subject he had a keen interest in, so decided on it for a career.

He started with patient transport services and moved on to be an ambulance technician.

A big step up in his career came when he joined the air ambulance at Royal London Hospital as a paramedic, working alongside doctors during emergency calls and in the control room. Three years there served as an excellent training ground for trauma care. He was part of the air ambulance crew that performed London's first outdoor open heart surgery, when a trench collapsed on a workman.

Sadly the operation was unsuccessful and the patient died, but Allan was again on duty when the first successful operation took place, following a stabbing on Christmas Eve, 1993.

The crew opened the man's chest and undertook cardiac massage which they continued in the aircraft all the way to hospital, saving the patient's life.

Allan then went on to motorbikes and became a mobile paramedic on the busy London streets.

Among his patients was model Heather Mills, who was knocked down in the street and lost a leg.

The accident hit the headlines and helped catapult Mills to fame - long before she met and married Sir Paul McCartney.

When Michael Aspel pounced on Allan with his famous red book in September 1995, Heather Mills appeared in the programme to thank Allan for his attention that day, as did the open heart patient whose life was saved.

He thought the mock accident he was filming was for a training programme, but it turned out to be an elaborate ruse for This Is Your Life.

He was whisked off to the studio and was even promoted within the TA, from staff sergeant to warrant officer, live on TV.

Allan was no stranger to television as he often starred on the programmes Blues and Twos and 999.

He said: "My nickname was Hollywood because I was always on the TV. I used to joke that one day I would end up getting a Blue Peter badge, but I never got one of those!”

Allan always loved the Isle of Wight, and with wife Rosemarie used to visit the annual steam show.

A job opportunity came up in 1996 which meant the family could move to Winford, where the couple have lived ever since.

Allan went on to spend several years working for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, as well as with the South Central Ambulance Service.

Now 67, he took redundancy a couple of years ago but works part time as a health and safety staff side representative for the trust, and has been part of the Covid vaccinating team at the hospital too.

The Normans had four girls - Rebecca, Debbie, Alanna and Joanna.

Daughter Joanna has herself risen to a senior level at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust.

She said she has been influenced by her father's career in many ways.

Joanna is currently a service manager of mental health and learning disabilities.

She manages a group of services which includes crisis mental health services, dementia outreach, Isle Talk IAPT, community and older persons' mental health.

"When I think about my dad, he's been at the cutting edge of paramedic care and frontline care throughout his career," she said.

"His work is always about improvement and that's what drives me too, that's what it's about.

"I've moved about in my career but always to make more impact. That's what keeps me going and my dad has done that for years.

"My dad was driven and ambitious and I got that. He is a Unison steward and I came into being a Royal College of Nursing steward. People can't do their job if they are not supported.”

Allan enjoys passing on his expertise of being a paramedic and his 33 years in the TA, as a cadet instructor for the Isle of Wight Army Cadets.

Series 36 subjects