This Is Your Life: Tim Brooke-Taylor

Tim BROOKE-TAYLOR (1940-2020)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Tim Brooke-Taylor, comedian and actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Cunard Hotel in central London, having been led to believe he was there for a meeting.

Tim, who was born in Buxton, was educated at Winchester Public School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where, as an active member of the Footlights Club, he took part in a revue called Cambridge Circus, which following a run at the Edinburgh Festival, transferred to London’s West End before being taken to both New Zealand and Broadway in the United States in September 1964.

Having graduated in law, Tim chose a career in show business appearing on BBC radio in the comedy programme I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again and on the ITV comedy series At Last the 1948 Show. During the 1970s, along with Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, Tim scored a huge success with the BBC television comedy series The Goodies.

"Can I swear on television?"

programme details...

Edition No: 566
Subject No: 562
Broadcast date: Wed 18 Feb 1981
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 28 Jan 1981
Venue: Royalty Theatre
Series: 21
Edition: 19
Code name: Stitches

on the guest list...

Denis King
Barry Cryer
Jo Kendall
Aimi MacDonald
Graeme Garden
Graham Chapman
David Hatch
Chris Stuart-Clark
Roy Striken
Hugh Paddick
Christine - wife
Ben - son
Edward - son
Rachel - mother
Carolyn - sister
Patrick Cargill
Martin - brother
Dermot Staybaker
Kevin O'Grady
Nick Monslow
Robert Bolton King
John Charlton
Spike Milligan
Denis Compton
Tim Mackay
Mark Elsmondew
Steve Powell
Roger Jones
Steve Emery
Steve Buckley
Keith Osgood
Alan Ramage
Jon Clark
Kevin Hector
Dave Swindlehurst
Paul Emson
Alan Biley
Kevin Wilson
Wayne Richards
Barry Powell
Mike Dunford
Gordon Duffy
John Newman
Roy McFarland
Vera Lynn

production team...

Researchers: John Graham, Katie Lander
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

It's a Funny Old Life

it's all about the comedy

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Screenshots of Tim Brooke-Taylor This Is Your Life

The Stage: Tim Brooke-Taylor This Is Your Life

The Stage 26 February 1981

TELEVISION TODAY

Thames picks sure winner

Watching This Is Your Life last week, when the surprised subject was Tim Brooke-Taylor, it struck us what a convenient ploy it is for Thames to pick someone who has a favourite football or cricket team.

Inviting the team along swells the numbers, usually delights the subject, tallies with the interests of a lot of viewers, and, not least, is a good bit of PR for the team.

When the team just walks on, though, as it did last week, without any anecdote telling, the ploy serves to highlight a weakness of the programme: it expects its subjects to comply to its now rigid format.

We know there is a lot to cram into a short time, but more than once Tim Brooke-Taylor was poised to launch into an anecdote or riposte and stopped himself, or was stopped by the relentless flow of the programme. Didn't he have a football supporter's anecdote? And what about Barry Cryer, who wasn't even allowed a word in the programme as transmitted?

The Guardian: Tim Brooke-Taylor This Is Your Life

The Guardian 17 September 2001

I was there when... Derby County were quite good

As a Derby fanatic, I can recall plenty of occasions when I can say: "I was there, but I wish I hadn't been." But I think probably the best game I've been to was way back in Easter of 1957. I must have been only about 16 at the time. We hammered Chesterfield 7-1 at home to clinch promotion. We knew we'd gone up after scoring that many goals.

It was very unexpected because we'd stuttered a bit in the few games before that so we couldn't believe it when we went in 3-1 up at half time. We started chanting "We want four," and we got it. So then it was, "Let's have five" and by the time we got that we were hysterical.

It's these sorts of games that really stick in the memory. Okay, we're in the Premiership now – for the time being anyway – but we'll always know where we've come from and I'm rather proud of us in the low times.

I remember in that game a chap called Ray Straw, who had straw-coloured hair appropriately enough, got a hat-trick. It was his third hat-trick of the season. I don't think we had pin-up footballers in those days in the same way Beckham and Owen are thought of today. That was all seen to be a bit sissy. But I can remember thinking, I'd rather like him to be my dad. In fact, I'd rather like to be him.

He was a gangly player. He looked about 7ft 5in to me then. And he was the sort of player who, when he got the ball, you half laughed and you half cheered. But if anyone dared criticise him, we'd defend him to the hilt.

I was once a director at Derby to help them out when they were in serious debt. But I prefer just being a fan. The one thing that I've passed on to my sons, Ben and Ed, is my passion for Derby and we email each other daily about what's going on at Pride Park.

One of my proudest moments was when they did me on This Is Your Life in 1980. Incidentally I think that programme is about number 125 in the most watched programmes of all time, because it happened to go on straight after a very important episode of Coronation Street.

Anyway, I was adamant that I didn't want anything too moving because I didn't want to break down and cry. But my wife knew what a great fan of Roy McFarland I was. He was our centre-half at the time. And at the end of the show he came on with the whole Derby squad. I was quite choked.

Interview by Dan Rookwood.

Series 21 subjects