Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Wendy Toye, dancer, stage and film director and actress, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a presentation celebrating her 70 years in theatre - following a matinee performance of her production of The Sound Of Music - at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.

Wendy first danced on stage at the age of three at London's Royal Albert Hall, and by the age of 10 she had choreographed her first ballet at the London Palladium. She made her professional stage debut aged 13 in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at London's Old Vic Theatre, and then toured with professional theatre and dance companies, including Anton Dolin's ballet company, during her teenage years.

She began choreographing professional dance productions in the 1930s, notably for impresario C B Cochran, and advanced to directing during the following decade. She gained experience in films as an actress, dancer, and director of dance sequences, and in 1952 she directed her first film, The Stranger Left No Card, which won an award for best short at the Cannes film festival. Her career covered all aspects of the arts including dance, theatre, film and television, producing and directing a wide range of plays, ballets, musicals and operas.

"Oh Michael, thank you very much but I can't believe it!"

programme details...

• Edition No: 826
• Subject No: 816
• Broadcast date: Wed 29 Jan 1992
• Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
• Recorded: Thu 5 Dec 1991
• Venue: Teddington Studios
• Series: 32
• Edition: 16
• Code name: Dream

on the guest list...

• Peter - nephew
• Sarah - Peter's partner
• Beryl Kaye
• Rona Anderson
• John Moffatt
• Benny Green
• Toni Kanal
• Dolores Gray
• Frederic Franklin
• Nicky Henson
• Irving Davies
• Denis Quilley
• Stella Chapman
• Cleo Laine
• Kenneth Nelson
• Ninette de Valois - via telephone
• Alicia Markova
Filmed tributes:
• Christopher Cazenove
• Liz Robertson
• Penelope Keith
• Patricia Routledge
• Georges Guétary
• Keith Michell
• Yehudi Menuhin
• Diana Menuhin

related appearances...

• Keith Michell - Jan 1972
• Evelyn Laye - Dec 1990
• Pat Kirkwood - Jul 1994
• Alicia Markova - Oct 1995
• Benny Green - Feb 1996
• Ian Bannen - Mar 1999
• The Night of 1000 Lives - Jan 2000

production team...

• Researcher: Sue Green
• Writer: Roy Bottomley
• Directors: Brian Klein, Paul Kirrage
• Associate Producer: John Graham
• Producer: Malcolm Morris

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

A Dancer's Life

from ballet to ballroom

Backstage Life

raising the curtain

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

The Big Red Book

the programme's icon

Ninette de Valois

Cleo Laine

Alicia Markova

Keith Michell

Interviews

Peter Toye, nephew of Wendy Toye, recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in July 2010

Screenshots of Wendy Toye This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Wendy Toye's big red book