Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life returned to its regular Monday 7.30pm place in the BBC schedules for a sixth series, as a mixture of live and recorded editions were broadcast from the BBC Television Theatre and occasionally beyond.
Once again, the production team uncovered inspiring and heartwarming tales of human courage and sacrifice as life stories of courageous war heroes and selfless humanitarians sat alongside tributes to sports personalities and stars of stage, screen and radio.
The programme hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons this series when the Irish and Tottenham Hotspur footballer Danny Blanchflower became the first person to publicly refuse to participate in the programme. His planned edition was hastily replaced by one featuring a retired Somerset doctor, recorded several weeks earlier.
This series featured the programme's first double subjects when an internationally renowned pair of concert pianists were surprised by Eamonn Andrews, who announced: 'Making ready for this moment has been... well, twice as difficult as usual'.
related pages...
the show's fifty year history
My Line, Your Life And Laughter
Radio Times previews the new series
Radio Times feature on the programme's chauffeur
Award Winners 1960: This Is Your Life
Eamonn Andrews receives an award nomination
Radio Times interviews producer Leslie Jackson
Press coverage of the footballer's refusal to participate
It's the show that balances on a tightrope
TV Times interviews footballer Danny Blanchflower
those who said 'No'
| Leonard CHESHIRE | Charity founder and former RAF pilot | 19 September 1960 |
| George BENNETT | Charity worker and former soldier | 26 September 1960 |
| David SHEPPARD | Clergyman and former cricketer | 3 October 1960 |
| Sybil THORNDIKE | Actress | 10 October 1960 |
| Clarence WOLFE | Anglican priest | 17 October 1960 |
| Charles COWARD | Former soldier | 24 October 1960 |
| T E B CLARKE | Screenwriter | 31 October 1960 |
| Helene JEANTY-RAVEN | Former resistance worker | 7 November 1960 |
| Cyril SMITH | Concert pianist and teacher | 14 November 1960 |
| Victor DE SPIGANOVICZ | Writer and humanitarian | 21 November 1960 |
| Bill HARTLEY | Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Officer | 28 November 1960 |
| Ellen Martha FIELD | Humanitarian | 5 December 1960 |
| Anthony DEANE-DRUMMOND | Royal Signals Officer | 12 December 1960 |
| John MILLS | Actor | 19 December 1960 |
| Richard BANCROFT | Postman | 26 December 1960 |
| Freddie MILLS | Boxer | 2 January 1961 |
| William SIMPSON | Journalist and former Royal Air Force bomber pilot | 9 January 1961 |
| Alan HERBERT | Novelist, playwright and law reform activist | 16 January 1961 |
| Madame VACANI | Dancing teacher | 23 January 1961 |
| Elizabeth AMBRIDGE | Adoptive mother | 30 January 1961 |
| Robert FAWCUS | Retired doctor | 6 February 1961 |
| Flora ROBSON | Actress | 13 February 1961 |
| Edward Chad VARAH | Founder of The Samaritans | 20 February 1961 |
| James ZARB | Suspected secret agent jailed in Cairo | 27 February 1961 |
| Maryan RAWICZ and | Pianist | 6 March 1961 |
| Walter LANDAUER | Pianist | 6 March 1961 |
| James CHIPPERFIELD | Circus animal trainer | 13 March 1961 |
| Anthony KIMMINS | Actor and film-maker | 20 March 1961 |
| Thomas COSMO JONES | Ex-Seaman | 27 March 1961 |
| Jessie MATTHEWS | Actress, dancer and singer | 3 April 1961 |
| Helen WILSON | Missionary in China | 10 April 1961 |
| Charlie CHESTER | Comedian | 17 April 1961 |
| Brunel COHEN | Politician and double amputee | 24 April 1961 |
| Godfrey WINN | Journalist, writer and actor | 1 May 1961 |
| Billy WRIGHT | Footballer | 8 May 1961 |
Broadcast details
BBC Television Service (editions 1-3) | BBC tv (editions 4-34)34 editions | 34 x 30 minutes
Monday | 7.30pm x 32 | 6.55pm x 1 | 7.35pm x 1
Production team
Devised by: Ralph EdwardsProducer: T Leslie Jackson | Director: Michael Goodwin
Writers: John Sandilands, Liam Nolan, Nickola Sterne, Peter Moore, Robert Stuart, Ronald Vivian, Shirley Macnab, T Leslie Jackson
Researchers: John Sandilands, Liam Nolan, Nickola Sterne, Ronald Vivian, Shirley Macnab, T Leslie Jackson, Virginia Ropner
Music: James Turner