This Is Your Life: Vera Lynn 2

Dame Vera LYNN DBE (1917-2020)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Vera Lynn, singer and entertainer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during a fundraising charity lunch at the Cafe Royal in London.

Vera, who began performing professionally with dance bands during the 1930s, became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart" during the Second World War, with her enormously popular recordings of such songs as We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover, and her ENSA tours to Egypt, India, and particularly Burma, where she entertained the troops.

She remained popular after the war with broadcasting and recordings, including number one hits in the UK and the US, and her own BBC television variety series which ran from the 1950s through to the mid 1970s. Through her charity work for ex-servicemen Vera was always held in great affection by the general public, and in particular with veterans of the Second World War, with whom she will always be associated.

Vera Lynn was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions – previously surprised by Eamonn Andrews in October 1957 at the BBC Television Theatre.

programme details...

Edition No: 505
Subject No: second timer
Broadcast date: Mon 1 Jan 1979
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 20 Dec 1978
Venue: New London Theatre
Series: 19
Edition: 11
Code name: Harry

on the guest list...

Alyn Ainsworth
Harry - husband
Virginia - daughter
Roger - brother
The Young Generation
Nigel Lythgoe
Doreen Harris
Joe Loss
Howard Baker
Florence Desmond
Howard Thomas
Henk Van’t Lam
Frank Dell
Holman Gregory
Jimmy Edwards
Countess of Westmorland
David Jacobs
Marcel Stellman
Harold Wilson
Johnny Mathis
Louis Mountbatten

production team...

Researcher: Tony Lee
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Royston Mayoh, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Vera Lynn

first tribute

A Song For Life

it's the singer not the song

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Producing Life

the producers who steered the programme's success

Vera Lynn recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in October 2009

Photographs and screenshots of Vera Lynn This Is Your Life - and Vera Lynn photographed at her home with her big red book in October 2009

Virginia Lewis, daughter of Vera Lynn, recalls This Is Your Life in her book, Keep Smiling Through...

In the second edition of Ma's This Is Your Life, broadcast in December 1978, Lord Louis Mountbatten made an appearance. He soon after sent my Mother a letter in which he wrote:

I was very happy to be able to pay my tribute to all you have done, particularly for the Burma boys.

Yours affectionately

Mountbatten of Burma

Series 19 subjects