He made front-page headlines in 1974 when he refused, on live TV, to appear on the episode of
This Is Your Life (1955) devoted to him. When
Eamonn Andrews surprised him with his big red book, Gordon yelled "Oh balls!" and fled from the studio. Andrews pursued him and persuaded him to change his mind, so the programme was then recorded and transmitted the following week, with a stand-by episode about
Sam Kydd being transmitted in place of the live Richard Gordon one.