Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
For the first time since This Is Your Life began, the programme's place in the weekly BBC schedules was moved, as editions for the eighth series - now almost entirely all pre-recorded - were broadcast on a Tuesday evening at 7.55pm.
A Radio Times preview of this series highlighted how being honoured by the programme can have positive effects on the subject and reported on how exposure to the millions of viewers of television's most popular programme has benefited various charities.
Radio Times celebrated the programme's 200th edition, broadcast during this series, in which several past subjects recall their reactions to being surprised.
The programme was recorded outside of the UK for the first time as the production team travelled to Dublin to surprise an Irish housepainter - and father of writers Brendan, Brian and Dominic Behan - at the television studios of Irish broadcaster, RTE.
related pages...
the show's fifty year history
Radio Times previews the eighth series
Radio Times marks the 200th edition
Radio Times profiles Eamonn Andrews
Press preview for the 204th edition
| Rupert DAVIES | Actor | 2 October 1962 |
| Kenneth REVIS | Former Army Officer | 9 October 1962 |
| Sydney MACEWAN | Priest and singer | 16 October 1962 |
| Cleo LAINE | Singer and actress | 23 October 1962 |
| Arthur BALDWIN | Retired chauffeur | 30 October 1962 |
| Edith SITWELL | Poet and writer | 6 November 1962 |
| Ben FULLER | Stage door keeper | 13 November 1962 |
| Robert MCINTOSH | Aviation pioneer | 20 November 1962 |
| Mabel LETHBRIDGE | Retired businesswoman | 27 November 1962 |
| Stephen BEHAN | Housepainter | 4 December 1962 |
| Ruby MILLER | Actress | 11 December 1962 |
| Richard ATTENBOROUGH | Actor | 18 December 1962 |
| Daniel KIRKPATRICK | Lifeboat coxswain | 1 January 1963 |
| Michael WILSON | Musician and curative educator | 8 January 1963 |
| Dick HOSKIN | Charity fundraiser | 15 January 1963 |
| James CARROLL | Retired policeman | 22 January 1963 |
| Uffa FOX | Sailor, author and boat designer | 29 January 1963 |
| George CUMMINS | Former newsreel cameraman | 5 February 1963 |
| Hattie JACQUES | Actress | 12 February 1963 |
| Sam DERRY | Former Army Officer | 19 February 1963 |
| Finlay CURRIE | Actor | 26 February 1963 |
| Phyllis LUMLEY | Housewife and mother | 5 March 1963 |
| Ben LYON | Actor and film executive | 12 March 1963 |
| Bertie TIBBLE | Pioneering blood donor | 19 March 1963 |
| Zena DARE | Actress and singer | 26 March 1963 |
| Victor WILLCOX | Unemployed engineer | 2 April 1963 |
| Learie CONSTANTINE | Lawyer, politician and former cricketer | 16 April 1963 |
| Phyllis Holman RICHARDS | Charity founder | 23 April 1963 |
| Michael BENTINE | Comedian, actor and writer | 30 April 1963 |
| Joe LOSS | Musician and band leader | 7 May 1963 |
| Gladys AYLWARD | Missionary | 14 May 1963 |
Broadcast details
BBC tv31 editions | 30 x 30 minutes | 1 x 25 minutes
Tuesday | 7.55pm x 30 | 8.00pm x 1
Production team
Devised by: Ralph EdwardsProducer: T Leslie Jackson | Director: Vere Lorrimer
Writers: Nickola Sterne, John Dalzell, Peter Moore, Suzanne Twiston-Davies, Anthony Chivers, Alan Haire, Francis Dillon, Allan Prior
Researchers: Nickola Sterne, Peter Moore, John Dalzell, Suzanne Twiston-Davies, Anthony Chivers, Alan Haire
Script Editor: Robert Stuart | Music: James Turner | Designer: Ralph O'Reilly
Production Assistant: Mark Patterson | Cartoons: Tony Hart