Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Claire Rayner, nurse, journalist, broadcaster and novelist, was surprised by Michael Aspel on board an Intercity train traveling to London King's Cross from Huddersfield.

Claire trained as a nurse at both the Royal Northern Hospital and Guy's Hospital in London. She regularly wrote to Nursing Times and The Daily Telegraph on issues such as nurses' pay and conditions or patient care. She began writing novels soon after her marriage, and focused on a full-time writing career after the birth of her first child, and by 1968 had published more than 25 books.

Her frank, no nonsense manner led her to become one of Britain's first 'agony aunts' – writing columns in such publications as Woman's Own, The Sun and the Sunday Mirror. Her television appearances on Pebble Mill at One led to her own series - Claire Rayner's Casebook. She became the resident agony aunt on ITV's breakfast TV-AM in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"Oh crikey, you're not? Mike – what the hell do you think you're doing? Oh my love, I'm gobsmacked!"

programme details...

• Edition No: 750
• Subject No: 743
• Broadcast date: Wed 11 Jan 1989
• Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
• Recorded: Wed 26 Oct 1988
• Venue: Teddington Studios
• Series: 29
• Edition: 13
• Code name: Sun

on the guest list...

• Jane Reed
• Angela Willians
• Iris Burton
• Robert Wilson
• David German
• Michael Leggett
• Jayne Irving
• Des - husband
• Amanda - daughter
• Adam - son
• Jay - son
• Oliver Tremor
• Max - uncle
• Muriel - aunt
• Rosemarie Nelson
• Keith Fordyce
• Jack Tinker
• Matthew Kelly
• Una Stubbs
• Sheila - sister
Filmed tributes:
• Danny La Rue
• Maxine - sister
• Lionel - brother
• Michael Aspel

related appearances...

• Lord Brabourne - Oct 1990
• The Night of 1000 Lives - Jan 2000

production team...

• Researcher: Claire Jenkinson
• Writer: Roy Bottomley
• Directors: Brian Klein, David Clark
• Producer: Malcolm Morris

• names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

Stop Press

headlining Fleet Street's finest

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Michael Aspel

a career review

Timeline

the show's fifty year history

Secrets Of 'Life': The ones who got away

Producer Malcolm Morris exposes some production secrets to TV Times

My Life in Their Hands

The Mirror interviews Michael Aspel

Michael Aspel

Matthew Kelly

Danny La Rue

Screenshots of Claire Rayner This Is Your Life

Claire Rayner recalls This Is Your Life in her autobiography, How Did I Get Here From There?...

And then there was the time when I was caught for This Is Your Life, which is an extraordinary experience for anyone.

By the time they got to me – after, I was told, several failed attempts – the original presenter, Eamonn Andrews, had died, but they never wasted a script.

When Mike Aspel took over the programme they tried to get me again and this time succeeded.

That meant he had to be a guest on his own show, because he had been written into the original Andrews version. So he interviewed himself about me. I liked it a lot. I don't know if he did.

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...

An early mishap nearly finished off one of our other programmes. We were going to surprise Claire Rayner on board the 15.25 train from Huddersfield, with Michael dressed as a ticket collector. We couldn't get on the train as Claire left Huddersfield because she would have spotted us, so we arranged that the camera crew, Michael and I would jump on at Stevenage. Michael and I arrived at Stevenage but we got the message that our camera team had got on the wrong train.

There isn't a lot you can do about that situation except say a few prayers.

The crew arrived with seconds to spare and we all made it on the right train just a few carriages behind a blissfully unaware Claire Rayner. Our lighting man was told that he could plug into the electric circuit of the train, which he did – and all the lights went out. A couple of minutes later the power was restored and we got to about ten yards behind Claire when our main video camera jammed. I pulled Michael back just in time. The train was due in King's Cross within a few minutes, but by the time the camera was fixed we had just two minutes to go. We got her, but it was too close for my liking.