This Is Your Life: Barbara Cartland 2

Barbara CARTLAND D St J (1901-2000)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Barbara Cartland, novelist, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a photo shoot for the launch of a film adaptation of one of her novels at Elstree Studios.

Barbara's experiences as a 1920s flapper girl on the London social scene formed the basis of her first novel Jigsaw, published in 1923, and described as 'Mayfair with the lid off'. She continued to publish novels throughout the 1930s, taking a break to volunteer with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and the St John Ambulance Brigade during the Second World War.

She specialised in historical romance novels and became one of the best-selling and most prolific and commercially successful authors of the 20th century – with worldwide sales of 500 million books by the end of the 1980s. She was a prominent philanthropist and member of London society, and her interests in politics, civic welfare and alternative medicine made her a popular, and often outspoken, media personality.

Barbara Cartland was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions – previously surprised by Eamonn Andrews in March 1958 at the BBC Television Theatre.

"Oh no! I don't believe it! Oh darling, really? I thought you'd come to be the hero! I didn't know it was still on!"

programme details...

Edition No: 765
Subject No: second timer
Broadcast date: Wed 13 Dec 1989
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 8 Nov 1989
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 30
Edition: 8
Code name: Pink

on the guest list...

Princess Helena Moutafian
Clare, Duchess of Sutherland
Christina Foyle
Ian McCorquodale - son
Anna McCorquodale - daughter-in-law
Tara McCorquodale - granddaughter
Glen McCorquodale - son
Lysette Anthony
Jolyon Baker
Neil Dickson
Liz Fraser
Fiona Fullerton
Marcus Gilbert
Francesca Gonshaw
Gareth Hunt
Ron Moody
Lewis Collins
Bishop Mervyn Stockwood
Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll
Group Captain Edward Mole
Vera Kelly
George Kelly
Joyce Camden
Norman Newell
Jean Rook
Alexis Ovtchinnikoff
Lady Pamela Hicks
Victoria Legge
Edward Legge - great grandson
Claudia Legge - great granddaughter
Earl Spencer - son-in-law
Raine, Countess Spencer - daughter
John Mills
Michael York

production team...

Researcher: Claire Jenkinson
Writer: Roy Bottomley
Directors: Brian Klein, Paul Kirrage
Associate Producer: John Graham
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

with thanks to Ian McCorquodale for his contribution to this page

related pages...

Barbara Cartland

first tribute

A Novel Life

a page-turning good read

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

Behind the Scenes

the programme's best kept secrets

John Mills

Barbara Cartland This Is Your Life Big Red Book

Photographs and screenshots of Barbara Cartland This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Barbara Cartland's big red book

Barbara Cartland recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in her autobiography, I Reach for the Stars...

It was when This Is Your Life was given for me for the second time that I met many more of my friends. On November 8th 1989 I was asked to go to one of the studios in Elstree to talk about a film of mine which was being rehearsed there.

When I arrived, to my surprise, Michael Aspel turned up in a horse-drawn carriage and jumping out said: 'Barbara Cartland This Is Your Life'.

It was the last thing I was expecting but of course I was delighted when I realised I was to be the first person who had ever been the subject of This Is Your Life twice. [Bigredbook.info editor: this is not the case, as the feature Life Second Time Around will confirm!]

The first one had been in March 1958 with Eamonn Andrews.

The second programme eventually took place at the Studios in Teddington.

We were delayed because Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, who was to take part, arrived twenty minutes late and demanded that her poodle be fed immediately with the best chicken.

This took some time but at last we took our places on the set.

I came on with Michael Aspel, wearing a pink sequined gown designed by Norman Hartnell.

Everything went quite smoothly until they asked the Duchess of Argyll a question and she completely dried up.

I realised what had happened and burst into an eulogy of how beautiful she had been when I had first seen her as a debutante in the early thirties dancing with my brother.

Thames Television had taken a great deal of trouble to bring in people I had not expected, including a couple who had been married for forty years.

Their marriage was happy, the wife said, due to the fact that when she was in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S.) during the war I had provided her with a white wedding-dress, which her husband had admired very much.

...a wonderful tribute was paid to me by Lady Pamela Hicks, who was looking very pretty. She was Lord Mountbatten's second daughter, and she said that my vitamins had helped her Father enormously. My daughter Raine, and her husband, as they were unable to reach the Studio, did a very good 'turn' from Althorp.

They were sitting side by side and were an extremely handsome couple.

Prince Alexis, who is one of my French publishers, came over specially from Paris for This Is Your Life. Dear John Mills, whom I have known and loved for over forty years, spoke about me and my films.

This Is Your Life also had a little of me singing 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square', which I had sung with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1978.

At the end of This Is Your Life everyone walked to the front of the stage, with my Grandson's wife Victoria carrying my Great-Granddaughter Claudia in her arms, while my Great-Grandson Edward, aged three, ran to me, and seizing the pink sequins of my gown, kept saying:

'Pretty dress! Pretty dress!'

No one could have had a higher compliment from a young man.

After it had ended I realised that it was quite easy for me to reach up to the first row of the audience where there were the old people who had been watching all the time.

I stretched up and shook them by the hand.

Afterwards the 'warm-up comedian' came up to me and said I was the first person of all the This Is Your Life programmes they had ever done, to take any notice or shake hands with the members of the public.

I thought this was extraordinary as the audience on those occasions are nearly all elderly people who come a long distance because they consider it an outing for them.

Thames Television then supplied us with a delicious supper and plenty to drink. It was a very exciting evening for me.

One thing which did occur that evening and which could have been a disaster was when I walked towards the audience. There was a gap in the stage which housed the cameras and as I walked forward I almost fell into this opening. Even now I do not know how I managed to avoid it.

Laurie Johnson recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Noises in the Head...

About this time, lan McCorquodale, Barbara's elder son, rang me to say that he had been approached by Thames Television, who wanted to feature Barbara on This Is Your Life. She had already been featured, in 1958, so a second appearance was a rare accolade indeed. lan asked me if I could think up a plan with which to ensnare the victim, "because she trusts you," which made me feel like a Judas goat luring an innocent to slaughter. Having 'set up' dear Bernard Miles I understood the required procedures and came up with a plot which involved telling Barbara that we needed her for a photocall at Elstree Studios. This would include as many of the stars from her films as could be assembled for a group photograph. I knew that a strict timetable had to be adhered to, but not one that would arouse suspicions of the subject. The plan was that Barbara would journey to the studios in her chauffeur-driven car, and arrive at Elstree at a pre-arranged time. I was to meet her outside one of the sound stages, inside which we had constructed a set for 'the photo shoot'. This consisted of a central platform on which a chair was placed for Barbara. Arrayed on a raised crescent behind her were dress stands displaying various period costumes that had been designed for the Cartland films. My role was to meet her, bring her into the stage and get her seated comfortably on the chair, at which time the actors would be grouped around her. When the supposed photographs were about to be taken, at a prearranged signal, the massive door of the sound stage would be raised and in would gallop a team of horses pulling a carriage. Inside the carriage would be our heroine, Lysette Anthony in period costume and, dressed in a flowing cape, the show's longtime presenter Michael Aspel.

As chance would have it, a gale sprang up on the day of the filming. The wind howling between the hangar-sized stages was fierce. I had a vision of Barbara getting out of the car and the wind robbing her of her hairpiece - all filmed by the TV crew. During rehearsal it became obvious that as soon as the giant door was raised the wind would sweep in, sending the drapes on the set and the display of dresses flying in the blast. So I asked Lewis Collins, Ron Moody, Gareth Hunt and Jolyon Baker to stand by to each grab a dress stand when the door was raised. The minutes were ticking away and reports of the progress of Barbara's car were coming through from various observation points along the route. Panic seemed to set in just before Barbara's arrival, I don't remember why. Her car arrived, I met her and managed to get her into the stage safely. She sat on her chair and the actors grouped around her. As usual she was eager to begin, but there was a short delay during which time the TV cameras had to come out of hiding without alarming her. We needn't have worried; Barbara's eyesight was very poor and the lights on the set helped to distance everything in their blaze and dazzle. "Well, I'm ready. What's the hold up?" said Barbara, impatient to get on with it. "Some photographers take forever, don't they, darling" Then, after a momentary pause. "Oh do come on, what's the matter with them? They're all the same!" l tried to keep her placated, then the door of the stage was raised and in galloped the horses pulling the coach containing our heroine and Michael Aspel. The metal wheels of the coach and hooves of the horses riding over the wooden floor of the sound stage certainly made a racket. The drapes flew in all directions and the actors and stagehands grabbed and steadied the stands from which the period gowns were suspended. Out of the coach stepped Michael Aspel, still wearing his cloak, with Lysette Anthony on his arm. His big red book duly concealed under his cloak, Michael approached Barbara. "Dame Barbara Cartland, we interrupt this…" Barbara looked at him, unfazed. "Ah, hello! What are you doing here?" she asked, unflappable as ever. Michael explained. "Oh, really? I didn't know the programme was still running, I never watch it!" she admitted. With that encouraging start we were off.

The usual procedure for This Is Your Life was that, as soon as the trap had been sprung and the victim ensnared, he/she became the property of the programme makers and was transported by car to the studios at Teddington. The usual didn't apply today. As her son lan had advised, Barbara would most certainly refuse to travel in a studio car. She would probably agree to travel with me as she knew, liked and trusted my driver, lan Hooper, by whom she had been driven many times. Barbara agreed to this, but the programme makers insisted that one of their cars would lead us, and another would follow immediately behind us on the journey to Teddington Studios. (Did they think we'd attempt an escape?) And so our little convoy departed from Elstree Studios.

During the journey Barbara shot questions at me. "Who's going to be there?" "My lips are sealed! I am not at liberty to divulge!" I insisted. She laughed. "I can't think who. All my friends are dead!" This was not entirely true as Margaret, Duchess of Argyle, a lifelong friend would be there, for starters. Suddenly Barbara looked out of the car window and asked "Where's he taking us? He's going the wrong way." This was indeed true. Shortly afterwards, we passed a place I recognised – a spot less than five minutes away from Elstree Studios! We had been travelling for twenty minutes. "They've taken us In a circle," laughed Ian, my driver. "The studio driver doesn't seem to know the way... and he's supposed to be making sure that we don't get lost!" "Oh, well! It's their own fault if we are late!" said Barbara, enjoying the situation. She sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the remainder of the journey chatting about things that had nothing to do with the matter in hand.

When we eventually arrived at Teddington Studios, Barbara's maid and hairdresser were waiting to take care of her after which she was whisked away and held incommunicado to prevent her from seeing any of the surprise guests arriving at the studio. Apart from the Duchess of Argyle, another close friend of Barbara's was there, the Fleet Street journalist Jean Rook.

I had met Ms Rook some years before, when she came to my home to interview me. It was during the making of The New Avengers. Told by our publicity department that Jean wanted to interview me, I was not inclined to oblige. Known as the 'Queen of Fleet Street' Jean Rook had a reputation for ruthlessness and I felt it best not to meet her, but was advised that a 'turn-down' might result in something worse. So I agreed and a date was fixed for Jean to visit my home. I happened to be on the telephone when she arrived and by the time I joined her our dogs - we had six at that time - had surrounded her. As I entered the room Jean was kneeling down, with her back to me, making a fuss of the dogs, and vice versa. Taking the bull by the horns, I proclaimed in a loud voice "Well, anyone who likes dogs as much as that can't be as bad as I've heard." She turned her head, our eyes met and she burst out laughing. From then on Jean Rook and I were friends. After the interview she and Dot got on well together and she stayed well into the afternoon. Her article, which filled a half-page in the Daily Express was fine and well intentioned. Not surprisingly, Barbara Cartland and Jean Rook had struck up a close friendship over the years and Dot and I spent many happy lunches with the both of them at Barbara's home.

Other guests on the TV show included the late Earl Mountbatten's daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks (Barbara and Mountbatten had been close friends), Barbara's daughter Raine, with husband Earl Spencer, the father of Princess Diana, which made Barbara Princess Diana's step-grandmother. I learned later that whilst Diana was growing up at Althorp, the family home, Barbara used to take the teenage Diana out shopping and helped her to choose dresses. (This helped to draw the young girl out as she had had a very sheltered life up until then, I was told.) I didn't know it at the time, but I was soon to be allowed to invade the Spencer family home during the shooting of our next film.

This Is Your Life went off smoothly. At the reception afterwards, rather than chastising me for having trapped her, Barbara thanked me for all my trouble.

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

Barbara Cartland had just completed her five-hundreth book when Michael Aspel arrived in a horse-drawn carriage at the studios of Gainsborough Pictures on 8 November 1989.

He was in the glamorous company of actress Lysette Anthony, one of the stars of the film being shot there based on one of Barbara Cartland's novels, A Ghost in Monte Carlo. Producer Laurie Johnson had arranged a visit to the set for the world's most prolific writer.

After Michael had sprung the Life book, Lysette and the other members of the cast, Fiona Fullerton, Liz Fraser, Francesca Gonshaw, Lewis Collins, Gareth Hunt, Jolyon Baker, Neil Dickson, Marcus Gilbert and Ron Moody, joined us back at the studios.

Waiting on the Life set were many friends, including Clare, Duchess of Sutherland, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Helena Moutafian, Bishop Mervyn Stockwood and legendary bookseller Christina Foyle.

From the Spencer family seat at Althorp, Barbara's daughter, Raine, Countess Spencer, and Earl Spencer sent their greetings from a setting straight out of one of her novels.

Sir John Mills and Michael York, both of whom had appeared in films of her books, spoke to her from location in Zagreb.

Barbara wrote her first novel when she was a Twenties 'flapper' and called it Jigsaw - Mayfair with the Lid Off.

War had brought tragedy to her family, her father being killed in action in the First World War, and her two brothers within forty-eight hours of each other at Dunkirk.

As a captain in the ATS her romantic spirit came to the rescue of services brides. She advertised in The Lady for second-hand wedding dresses, which could be hired at one pound a day, because the girls hated getting married in their uniforms.

One such bride, Vera Kelly, and her husband George, came to say thanks forty-four years on.

Lady Pamela Hicks told a story which emphasised the worldwide popularity of Barbara Cartland's books. Her late father, Lord Louis Mountbatten, had been asked to take with him a collection of her latest books for the wife of Egyptian President Sadat.

'Thank you very much,' said the President. 'But I'm going to read them first.'

Series 30 subjects