This Is Your Life: Harry Carpenter

Harry CARPENTER OBE (1925-2010)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Harry Carpenter, sports commentator, was surprised by Michael Aspel at Terry Lawless's Royal Oak gym in London's Canning Town, having been led to believe he was due to interview the boxer Frank Bruno.

Harry began sports reporting as a sub-editor for several national newspapers, before joining the BBC in 1949. His speciality was boxing, and he was made the BBC's full-time boxing correspondent in 1962, covering thousands of professional and amateur fights including all the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

He established himself as one of the country's most versatile broadcasters, covering many of the major sporting events. He presented Sportsnight for ten years from 1975, and was a regular member of the Grandstand team, as well as commentating on the Boat Race and anchoring Wimbledon from 1967.

"You're joking! They've all done me up!"

programme details...

Edition No: 807
Subject No: 797
Broadcast date: Wed 27 Mar 1991
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Mon 18 Mar 1991
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 31
Edition: 23
Code name: Wood

on the guest list...

Adelaide - mother
Phyllis - wife
Bernadette - daughter-in-law
Aurelie-Anne - granddaughter
Tim - grandson
Frank Bruno
Terry Spinks
Dick McTaggart
Chris Finnegan
Terry Downes
Walter McGowan
Howard Winstone
John H Stracey
Charlie Magri
Lloyd Honeyghan
John Conteh
Alan Minter
Reg Gutteridge
Dan Topolski
Ian Wooldridge
Bob Duncan
Dan Maskell
Steve Rider
Peter Alliss
Terry Lawless
Mike Tyson - via telephone
message from Muhammad Ali
Henry Cooper
Clive - son
Sir Paul Fox
Des Lynam
Virginia Wade
Arnold Palmer

production team...

Researcher: Mandy Nixon
Writer: Norman Giller
Directors: Brian Klein, Paul Kirrage
Associate Producer: John Graham
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Life In The Ring

from flyweight to heavyweight

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Screenshots of Harry Carpenter This Is Your Life

Harry Carpenter recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography, Where's Harry?...

In the spring of 1991, Brian Barwick, editor of Sportsnight, asked me to do an interview with Frank Bruno at Terry Lawless's Royal Oak gym in Canning Town, where Frank was training. He was known to be contemplating a return to the ring and I thought he might just confirm it in the interview.

I rang him up and asked him what he was going to say. He laughed: 'Harry, be patient. I've got an exclusive for you.' When he said that, I was sure I was right.

I turned up at the gym for the three o'clock appointment one Monday afternoon. Bruno was shadowboxing in the ring. A camera crew stood by. I was saying hello to Frank when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I thought it was a bit rude, to be honest. I looked round and this fellow in a grey tracksuit beamed at me. He had a big red book under his arm. It was Michael Aspel. I had been conned into appearing on This is Your Life. Conned, I may say, not only by Bruno and Barwick, but by my own wife, who knew all about it.

The initial shock takes some getting over, but the rest of the day is unforgettable. My mother, now in her nineties, was in the audience. My daughter-in-law, Bernadette, and her children, Aurelie-Anne and Tim, came over from France. My son, away on business in the Far East, recorded a message. So did Mike Tyson, Arnold Palmer, Virginia Wade and Muhammad Ali. There were personal appearances by Peter Alliss, Henry Cooper, Dan Topolski, Dan Maskell and, of course, Frank.

To cap it all, the men I'd talked and written about down the years came crowding on to the stage. All had won Olympic or world titles: Dick McTaggart, Terry Spinks, Terry Downes, Walter McGowan, Howard Winstone, John H Stracey, Alan Minter, John Conteh, Chris Finnegan, Charlie Magri, and Lloyd Honeyghan.

I was privileged to be there when they had their great moment. Now I was honoured that they had taken the trouble to be there for mine.

Series 31 subjects