'This Is Your Life' began in 1952, but the second incarnation in 1955 featuring Eamon Andrews as host is the earliest I remember.
Andrews had a curious Aglicised Irish accent. His pronunciation sometimes sounded slightly drunken. The phrase 'this is' sounded normal enough, but it then slurred into 'yur-lyfe. I'm surprised he wasn't voice-coached in those days. The BBC were so 'proper' in every other way.
During the late 50's and early 60's, strangely, he became the ubiquitous face of BBC presentation. 'This Is Your Life' was one of their flagship programmes, appearing on prime-time Sunday evenings, when TV audiences were supposed to be at their most numerous. He also chaired 'What's My Line', a celebrity quiz show about employment. It was much less popular and faded in the 1960's. He was also frontman on BBC's flagship kids' show 'Crackerjack!', where he was as square as a shoebox. There were other outings too.
'Life' struck me both as child and adult, as a piece of the most outrageous impertinence. Here were these people, fishing and snooping about behind someone's back, unearthing all manner of personal and private material, contacting relatives, friends and workmates alike, and then trapping the subject without the least warning by some shallow ruse, and compelling them to endure its public exposure.
Being usually famous, especially in the media, they had little option to put on a brave face. Temper tantrums were simply not the done thing in 50's-60's Britain. Especially on stiff-necked Auntie Beeb. Yet it was patently obvious from their expressions that many found the experience uncomfortable if not downright harrowing. With very good reason.
Humans being inherently nosey and not particularly nice, the programme prospered and ran for many decades. At the time of writing, it is no longer available, but I wouldn't write its epitaph just yet.
Occasionally it featured someone in whom I had an interest, and if I was indoors I might have watched it. But otherwise I found the whole format a stinker.
If I'd been famous and found myself cornered by Andrews and his red book and creaking camaraderie, I'd have embellished that fame by smacking him in the gob and walking off. It's a pity no-one ever did. Though I suspect that as part of their research, they made sure to only ensnare 'tame' celebrities.
Andrews had a curious Aglicised Irish accent. His pronunciation sometimes sounded slightly drunken. The phrase 'this is' sounded normal enough, but it then slurred into 'yur-lyfe. I'm surprised he wasn't voice-coached in those days. The BBC were so 'proper' in every other way.
During the late 50's and early 60's, strangely, he became the ubiquitous face of BBC presentation. 'This Is Your Life' was one of their flagship programmes, appearing on prime-time Sunday evenings, when TV audiences were supposed to be at their most numerous. He also chaired 'What's My Line', a celebrity quiz show about employment. It was much less popular and faded in the 1960's. He was also frontman on BBC's flagship kids' show 'Crackerjack!', where he was as square as a shoebox. There were other outings too.
'Life' struck me both as child and adult, as a piece of the most outrageous impertinence. Here were these people, fishing and snooping about behind someone's back, unearthing all manner of personal and private material, contacting relatives, friends and workmates alike, and then trapping the subject without the least warning by some shallow ruse, and compelling them to endure its public exposure.
Being usually famous, especially in the media, they had little option to put on a brave face. Temper tantrums were simply not the done thing in 50's-60's Britain. Especially on stiff-necked Auntie Beeb. Yet it was patently obvious from their expressions that many found the experience uncomfortable if not downright harrowing. With very good reason.
Humans being inherently nosey and not particularly nice, the programme prospered and ran for many decades. At the time of writing, it is no longer available, but I wouldn't write its epitaph just yet.
Occasionally it featured someone in whom I had an interest, and if I was indoors I might have watched it. But otherwise I found the whole format a stinker.
If I'd been famous and found myself cornered by Andrews and his red book and creaking camaraderie, I'd have embellished that fame by smacking him in the gob and walking off. It's a pity no-one ever did. Though I suspect that as part of their research, they made sure to only ensnare 'tame' celebrities.