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Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - James Galway, flute player, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside Morley College in London, where he had been rehearsing.

James, who was born into a musical family in Belfast and taught the flute by his uncle, won the Belfast flute Championships at the age of eleven before studying with the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and the Paris Conservatoire.

After 15 years as an orchestral player with, among others, Sadler's Wells, the London Symphony Orchestra, and as principal flute with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra between 1969 and 1975, he established an international career as a solo flute player. Nicknamed 'The Man with the Golden Flute', he scored a major hit with his acoustic version of Annie's Song in 1978.

"I don't believe it! Is this a joke! I was thinking of going to bed tonight!"

programme details...

• Edition No: 508
• Subject No: 505
• Broadcast date: Wed 24 Jan 1979
• Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
• Recorded: Tue 12 Dec 1978
• Venue: New London Theatre
• Series: 19
• Edition: 14
• Code name: Bay

on the guest list...

• Michael Emmerson
• Annie - wife
• George - brother
• Muriel - sister-in-law
• Doris - cousin
• Joe - uncle
• Bill Dunwoody
• Edmund Duke
• Etta Little
• Muriel Dawn
• John Francis
• Millicent Silver
• Sarah Francis
• Tony Mayer
• Albert Cooper
• Prof Bruno Vogt
• Stephen - son
• Paddy - son
• Lotte - daughter
• Jenny - daughter
• Pamela North
Filmed tributes:
• Herbert von Karajan
• Colin Davis

related appearance...

• Evelyn Glennie - Mar 1991

production team...

• Researchers: Cathy Parnall, Vivien Lind
• Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
• Directors: Royston Mayoh, Terry Yarwood
• Producer: Jack Crawshaw

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

A Musical Life

blowing a trumpet for the musicians

Screenshots of James Galway This Is Your Life