Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
Hugh Oloff DE WET (1912-1975)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Hugh Oloff de Wet, artist, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.
Hugh studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before joining the Royal Air Force, where, as a fighter pilot, he took part in the Abyssinia Crisis and the Spanish Civil War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, while studying art in Prague, he became a secret agent in the employ of France.
He was arrested in Vienna by 12 members of the Gestapo in 1939 and held in solitary confinement for six years, four years under sentence of death, and two years locked in an iron and leather straight jacket. Finally freed at the end of the war, he returned to making art and became a successful painter and sculptor.
programme details...
- Edition No: 13
- Subject No: 13
- Broadcast live: Sun 8 Apr 1956
- Broadcast time: 7.45-8.15pm
- Venue: BBC Television Theatre
- Series: 1
- Edition: 13
on the guest list...
- Rolfe von Delius
- George Fachiri
- Sir John Squire
- Gen Lev Prchala
- Alla von Delius
- Rob Lyle
- Dr Harald Poelchau
related appearance...
- These Were Your Lives - May 1956
production team...
- Researchers: Peter Moore, Nigel Ward
- Writer: Gale Pedrick
- Director: unknown
- Producer: T Leslie Jackson
The fantastic story of Hugh Oloff de Wet, televised in the BBC's This Is Your Life programme.
Secret service agent, imprisoned by the Gestapo for over six years under sentence of death.
His story, told by Eamonn Andrews in the BBC's This Is Your Life TV programme, won for him the sympathies of millions of viewers.
On Sunday, April 8th, 1956, one of the BBC's most successful programmes was televised - This Is Your Life. That evening the subject was a man with an astonishing life-story - Mr Hugh Oloff de Wet, a Secret Service agent who was imprisoned by the Gestapo for over six years.
Two of these years were spent in a straight-jacket; the other four in solitary confinement. Brutally tortured, Mr de Wet made several attempts to escape. His Russian wife was captured, but committed suicide in order to save him.
This outstanding book tells of Mr de Wet's incredible experiences at the hands of a brutal and utterly ruthless enemy. It should be enthusiastically welcomed by the countless viewers who heard Eamonn Andrews discussing the story in this and a later programme with its gifted author.
Series 1 subjects
Eamonn Andrews | Yvonne Bailey | Ted Ray | James Butterworth | C B Fry | Johanna Harris | Donald Campbell | Joe BrannellyStanley Matthews | Henry Starling | Ida Cook | Lupino Lane | Hugh Oloff de Wet | Elizabeth Wilde | Robert Stanford Tuck