Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
a brief biography
the studio look and locations
the producers who steered the programme's success
Sunderland Echo 18 September 1958
AT 7.30 pm. on Monday, September 29, the most agonising minutes of the week will begin for a small group of people who, for some days, will have successfully kept television's most explosive secret.
A new series of "This is Your Life" will be under way, and minutes later Eamonn Andrews will uncover the name on a slim book he has carried on to the stage and say to some unsuspecting person, "This is Your Life..."
Speaking about the show's return. Eamonn says "The worst minutes of any programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the Television Theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
"I certainly have a quiet sigh of relief when I see the subject walk through the door into the theatre."
"The programme gets tougher all the time." Eamonn adds "We may have to make elaborate switches to different parts of the country to get a subject who, if he was taken anywhere near the Television Theatre, would immediately guess what was happening."
Evening Telegraph 18 September 1958
AT 7.30 p.m. on Monday, September 29, the most agonising minutes of the week will begin for a small group of people who, for some days, will have successfully kept television's most explosive secret.
A new series of "This is Your Life" programmes will be under way, and minutes later Eamonn Andrews will uncover the name on a slim book he has carried on to the stage and say to some unsuspecting person, "This is Your Life..."
Speaking about the show's return, Eamonn says, "The worst minutes of any programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the Television Theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
"I certainly have a quiet sigh of relief when I see the subject walk through the door into the theatre."
"The programme gets tougher all the time," Eamonn adds, "and we may have to make elaborate switches to different parts of the country, to get a subject who, if he was taken anywhere near the Television Theatre, would immediately guess what was happening."
Birmingham Weekly Post & Midland Pictorial 19 September 1958
At 7.30 p.m on Monday week the most agonising minutes of the week will begin for a small group of people who, for some days, will have successfully kept television's most explosive secret.
A new series of "This is Your Life" programmes will be under way, and minutes later Eamonn Andrews will uncover the name on a slim book he has carried on to the stage and say to some unsuspecting person, "This is Your Life."
Speaking about the show's return, Eamonn says: "The worst minutes of any programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
"I certainly have a quiet sigh of relief when I see the subject walk through the door into the theatre."
Evening Post Supplement 25 September 1958
AT 7.30 p.m. next Monday, the most agonising minutes of the week will begin for a small group of people who, for some days, will have successfully kept television's most explosive secret.
A new series of "This Is Your Life" programmes will be under way, and minutes later Eamonn Andrews will uncover the name on a slim book he has carried on to the stage and say to some unsuspecting person, "This Is Your Life..."
Speaking about the show's return, Eamonn says: "The worst minutes of any programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the television theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
Sigh of relief
"I certainly heave a quiet sigh of relief when I see the subject walk through the door into the theatre."
"The programme gets tougher all the time." Eamonn adds, "and we may have to make elaborate switches to different parts of the country to get a subject in who, if he is taken anywhere near the television theatre, would immediately guess what was happening."
Eamonn is now such a well-established star of the television firmament that it seems strange to imagine that he has not always made his living through this medium. He has been an insurance clerk as well as broadcaster on Radio Éireann and has reported sport for an Irish newspaper at 7s. 6d. a report.
Now, his is one of the best-known faces on British television screens, though his quick-fire style of boxing commentary and his neat turn of the out-of-the-way phrase have won him a big radio following as well.
When he sang
And the Andrews grin goes down well with the children, too. Eamonn has compered such programmes as "Crackerjack" for the younger viewers.
The occasions when viewers do not appreciate his undoubted talents are few and far between. One such time was when he sang.
The B.B.C. presented him in an entertainment show which was fine as far as it went... until they let Eamonn sing.
Even the broth of a bhoy soon realised that he didn't have that something that Perry Como and Co. do have.
Herald Express 27 September 1958
AT 7.30 p.m. on Monday, the most agonising minutes of the week will begin for a small group of people who, for some days, will have successfully kept television's most explosive secret.
A new series of "This is Your Life" programmes will be under way, and minutes later Eamonn Andrews will uncover the name on a slim book he has carried on to the stage and say to some unsuspecting person, "This is your life..."
Speaking about the show's return, Eamonn says: "The worst minutes of any programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the television theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
Sunday Mail 28 September 1958
TELE-TALK by DON RAY
A HANDFUL of men sit uncomfortably today on the B.B.C.'s biggest secret - the identity of the first victim in the new "This Is Your Life" series...
The secret lives series is back on your screens tomorrow. And with it a weekly load of worries for the men in the know.
How long can the B.B.C. go on fooling their "unsuspecting victims"?
Its undercover tricks are now so well known that a cryptic invitation to a celebrity to a Monday night rendezvous is immediately suspect.
Hear Eamonn Andrews on the subject: "It's getting tougher all the time. It's almost impossible now to take a subject near the Television Theatre without them immediately guessing what is happening"
But producer T. Leslie Jackson thinks he has the answer.
He plans to make elaborate switches to different parts of the country.
"This Is Your Life" has turned up once before in Scotland. On that occasion, Eamonn Andrews hid in his Edinburgh hotel all day to avoid recognition.
FOOTNOTE: Professor Jimmy Edwards has threatened to "blow the gaff" about tomorrow's victim unless Eamonn Andrews helps him to take the mickey out of "This Is Your Life" in his own show on Tuesday.
Eamonn has said "Whack-O!"
Manchester Evening News 29 September 1958
SUSPENSE is the operative word also for "This is Your Life," which returns for a new season. But the suspense is for those taking part rather than the audience.
Eamonn Andrews tells me that luring the subjects before the cameras is becoming quite a problem. "The programme gets tougher all the time," he said. "We may have to make elaborate switches to many parts of the country to get a subject who, if he were taken anywhere near the television theatre would immediately guess what was happening."
Evening Sentinel 29 September 1958
PANORAMA having re-established itself, another old friend returns to the B.B.C. tonight - "This is Your Life," with Eamonn Andrews again in charge.
In this, of course, an unsuspecting member of the Television Theatre audience is featured in a biographical episode in which scenes from his or her life are re-created.
Eamonn Andrews is one of the few people who know in advance who is the subject. "The programme gets tougher all the time," he says. "I certainly heave a quiet sigh of relief when I see the chosen person walk unsuspectingly through the door of the theatre."
Daily Mirror 29 September 1958
ON THE AIR says the studio sign... now comes the agonising wait...
TELEPAGE by Richard Sear
EAMONN ANDREWS returns to B.B.C.-TV at 7.30 tonight to introduce the first of the latest "This Is Your Life" series.
And for Eamonn and the behind-the-scenes boys, the programme's return brings more weekly sessions of agonising waiting.
The big worry: Will the show's star - the unsuspecting person whose life is to be told - turn up at the studio?
Eamonn says: "The worst minutes are AFTER we have gone on the air and BEFORE we get the subject on the stage. It's agony."
"So many things can go wrong and cause delay on his journey to the studio, particularly if he is being brought by car."
"If I do see the subject in the studio before we start, I heave a quiet sigh of relief."
Eamonn says the show gets tougher every week.
"We may even have to televise from different parts of the country," he adds. "There may be subjects who, if they were taken anywhere near London's Television Theatre, would immediately guess what was happening."
Coventry Evening Telegraph 29 September 1958
Tonight's Television and Radio
By MONITOR
AT 7.30 some agonising moments will begin for a small group of people who know a television secret - the identity of the "victim" of "This Is Your Life," which opens a new series on the B.B.C. channel.
They will not be happy until the subject has been brought on the stage and Eamonn Andrews opens his slim book.
The programme gets more difficult with each edition. People who find themselves being taken towards the television theatre on Monday nights tend to become suspicious.
Andrews says: "The worst moments are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought by car. So many things can cause a delay. I heave a quiet sigh of relief when I see the subject walk through the door into the theatre."
Evening News 29 September 1958
TELEVISION
FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT
SOME of the most nerve-wrecking moments of "This is Your Life" are never seen by viewers, for it takes place off-screen.
It begins when producers, piecing together the victim's life-story from friends and relatives, have to keep their investigations from reaching his ears. It continues right up to the last minute, as he is somehow inveigled into the broadcasting studio and led like an unsuspecting (or so they say) lamb to the television slaughter.
Eamonn Andrews, in charge of proceedings again in the new series starting tonight (7.30), says this about it: "The worst minutes of the programme are after we have gone on the air and before we get the subject up on the stage, particularly if he is being brought unsuspectingly to the television theatre by car. So many things can go wrong and cause a delay - anything from a puncture to a traffic jam."
"I certainly heave a quiet sigh of relief when I see him walk through the door into the theatre. The programme gets tougher all the time", Eamonn adds, "and we have to make elaborate switches to different parts of the country to get a subject who, if he was taken anywhere near the television theatre, would immediately guess what was happening".
Eamonn Andrews says, This Is Your Life, to...? And once more looks for the unsuspecting person whose life-story forms the subject of the programme at 7.30 on television tonight.
Sunderland Echo 29 September 1958
Whose "life" lies hidden by Eamonn Andrews's hand?
The concealed name will be uncovered shortly after 7.30 this evening when Mr Andrews tells some surprised guest - "This Is Your Life."
The popular series returns to television tonight after a summer break.