Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
Stories behind This Is Your Life
a review of the second series
a brief biography
the studio look and locations
the genesis of the programme
the show's fifty year history
Lincolnshire Echo 13 June 1957
To mark the close of the present series of This Is Your Life, some of those who were suddenly confronted with people and events from their past are meeting Eamonn Andrews again to talk over the programmes in which they were the central figure on BBC Television.
They include Sir John Barbirolli; Ada Reeve, the veteran actress; Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps; the Rev. Brian Hession founder of Cancer Anonymous; and Maud Fairman, the London charwoman, who found herself in the midst of a family party at Christmas.
Harry S Pepper will be accompanied by his wife, Doris Arnold, and Esmond Knight by his wife, Nora Swinburne, and daughter, Rosalind. Lady Mackenzie, whose reading from a poem was a feature of the programme about her husband, Sir Compton Mackenzie, will also be there.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner 14 June 1957
TELEVISION NOTES
by Jaybee
To mark the end of the This Is Your Life series until the autumn a symposium of the present series is to be presented by the BBC on June 24. Some of those who were suddenly confronted with people and events from their past are meeting Eamonn Andrews again to talk over the programmes in which they were the central figures.
They include Sir John Barbirolli; Ada Reeve, the veteran actress; Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps; the Rev. Brian Hession, founder of Cancer Anonymous; and Maud Fairman, the London charwoman who found herself in the midst of a family party at Christmas.
Harry S Pepper will be accompanied by his wife, Doris Arnold, and Esmond Knight by his wife, Nora Swinburne, and daughter Rosalind. Lady Mackenzie, whose reading from a poem was a feature of the programme about her husband, Sir Compton Mackenzie, will also be there.
As Eamonn Andrews will have left for the United States before the transmission date, the programme is being telerecorded in advance.
Sunderland Echo 17 June 1957
TO mark the close of the present series of This Is Your Life, some of those who were suddenly confronted with people and events from their past are meeting Eamonn Andrews again to talk over the programmes in which they were the central figure.
They include Sir John Barbirolli; Ada Reeve, the veteran actress; Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps; the Rev. Brian Hession, founder of Cancer Anonymous; and Maud Fairman, the London charwoman who found herself in the midst of a family party at Christmas.
Harry S Pepper will be accompanied by his wife, Doris Arnold, and Esmond Knight by his wife, Nora Swinburne and daughter Rosalind. Lady Mackenzie, whose reading from a poem was a feature of the programme about her husband, Sir Compton Mackenzie, will also be there.
As Eamonn Andrews will have left for the United States by June 24, the programme is being telerecorded in advance. This Is Your Life returns to BBC screens in the autumn.
Belfast Telegraph 17 June 1957
To mark the close of the present series of This Is Your Life on June 24, some of those who were suddenly confronted with people and events from their past are meeting Eamonn Andrews again to talk over the programmes in which they were the central figure.
They include Sir John Barbirolli, Ada Reeve, the veteran actress; Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps; Rev. Brian Hession, founder of Cancer Anonymous; and Maud Fairman, the London charwoman who found herself in the midst of a family party at Christmas.
Harry S Pepper will be accompanied by his wife, Doris Arnold, and Esmond Knight by his wife, Nora Swinburne and daughter Rosalind. Lady Mackenzie, whose reading from a poem was a feature of the programme about her husband, Sir Compton Mackenzie, will also be there.
This is Your Life returns to B.B.C. screens in the autumn.
The Liverpool Echo 18 June 1957
Norman Cook's TV News
THE BBC's present This Is Your Life series will end its run on June 24, when some of the more interesting people who have featured in past programmes will be seen reminiscing with Eamonn Andrews.
Among those invited to join in the programme are Sir John Barbirolli, veteran actress Ada Reeve, Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps, the Rev. Brian Hession, who was the founder of Cancer Anonymous, and Maud Fairman, the London charwoman who found herself in the middle of a family party at Christmas.
As Eamonn Andrews will have left for the United States by June 24, the programme is being telerecorded in advance.
This is Your Life will, by the way, be coming back. A new series starts in the autumn.
Birmingham Weekly Post and Midland Pictorial 21 June 1957
TELEVISION TOPICS
by Colin Yorke
Series ends
ON Monday we shall say goodbye to a programme which for many has brought great joy - This Is Your Life. For the last of the present series many of those who have been suddenly confronted with their past will return to the programme. As usual, Eamonn Andrews will be in charge.
The most vital thing about the programme is that the subject must be got into the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, without having any suspicion that he is to be featured in it.
A leak occurred with the first programme of the series, in which Stanley Matthews was to have taken part. A few days before the programme someone in a pub in the Potteries said that he had heard that Stanley Matthews was going to be in it. The programme was cancelled and at 24 hours notice Eamonn Andrews was substituted for Stanley Matthews without Andrews knowing it.
Many ruses have been used to get people into the theatre without their realising that they were to participate in the show. In the early days it was only necessary to invite the subject to attend as a member of the audience. But it soon became evident that any fairly well-known person invited to this show would suspect that he might be the subject.
On one occasion a Red Cross lady took part whose job is to escort sick or injured people across London. She was asked to meet a girl with a broken leg at Victoria Station, arriving from the Continent, and take her to her train to the North.
She duly met the girl - with leg in plaster, and on crutches - at Victoria. The girl, however, was a phony. She told the Red Cross worker that she had been given two tickets to a BBC show which she would like to attend, and suggested that they should go together to while away the time between trains.
Manchester Evening News 24 June 1957
Two of the main personalities in a special edition of This Is Your Life, made to mark the end of the present series, will be thousands of miles away when the show is screened on BBC tonight.
Chairman Eamonn Andrews has a date in the US and Sir John Barbirolli is in Italy with the Halle Orchestra. But they'll be on the screen nevertheless. The programme had been telerecorded.
Coventry Evening Telegraph 24 June 1957
To mark the close of the series This Is Your Life, some of those who in the past have been confronted with people and events from their lives will meet Eamonn Andrews to talk over the programmes in which they figured.
They will include Sir John Barbirolli, Ada Reeve, Susan Ryder, the Rev. Brian Hession and Esmond Knight.
The Birmingham Post and Gazette 24 June 1957
TV AND RADIO
By Our Correspondent
To mark the close of the present series of This Is Your Life, some of those who were suddenly confronted with people and events from their past have met Eamonn Andrews again to talk over the programmes in which they were the central figure. They include Sir John Barbirolli, Ada Reeve, Susan Ryder, who spends her life helping survivors from concentration camps and the Rev. Brian Hession, founder of Cancer Anonymous. Tonight's programme is a telerecording.
The Birmingham Post and Gazette 25 June 1957
LAST NIGHT
No BBC television programme has aroused so many doubts as This Is Your Life. Many people felt it was not a good thing to bring people unexpectedly and publicly face to face with personalities from their past, and sensitive views did not much relish being cast for the part of Paul Pry. However, as the last programme of the series, the producers produced past participants who vouched for the authenticity of the sudden confrontations and all of them admitted to gaining pleasure from the ordeal. Apparently the shrinking violet is not so common as one would suppose.
There were several postscripts to the original programmes: the Rev. Brian Hession said he wished to say to his many correspondents that cancer is not infectious or contagious; that it is not hereditary; and that it can be cured or endured. Esmond Knight, the actor, who took part in the action against the Bismarck during the war, was confronted with one of the German survivors of that famous naval action.