Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Thomas Bodkin, lawyer, art historian and curator, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC's Gosta Green Studios in Birmingham.

Thomas, who was born in Dublin, graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in 1908 and practised law from 1911 while building up a private art collection. Having left the legal profession in 1916, he became a Governor of the National Gallery of Ireland before being appointed the gallery's Director in 1927.

In 1935, Thomas left Ireland to become the Director of the newly established Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Barber Professor of Fine Art at the University of Birmingham, where he acquired the nucleus of the collection described by The Observer as "the last great art collection of the twentieth century".

programme details...

• Edition No: 127
• Subject No: 127
• Broadcast date: Mon 14 Mar 1960
• Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
• Venue: Costa Green Studios, Birmingham
• Series: 5
• Edition: 29

on the guest list...

• Brinsley MacNamara
• Jack Miley
• Dr Monk Gibbon
• Lady Dina Hanson
• C D Medley
• Gilbert Harding - live link
• Paddy Murphey
Filmed tributes:
• Compton Mackenzie
• John A Costello

production team...

• Researchers: Peter Moore, Shirley Macnab
• Writers: Peter Moore, Shirley Macnab
• Director: unknown
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

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

A Fashionable Life

from catwalk to all things artistic

Compton Mackenzie

unknown source 15 March 1960

an appreciation by Sir Patrick Hannon

"My affection and admiration for Professor Bodkin went up several degrees - if indeed any further exaltation were possible - yesterday evening. The flashes of wit, wisdom, cordial goodwill, and the stimulating sparkle of that Irish eye all told, made an unforgettable impression. I sat face to face with my beloved old friend for the full TV half-hour, and I felt more indebted than ever to the BBC programme, that it provided the soft and genial comradeship of a great Irishman - a great connoisseur - and a great gentleman..."