This Is Your Life: Cannon and Ball

Tommy CANNON (1938-) and Bobby BALL (1944-2020)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball, comedy double act, were surprised by Eamonn Andrews while riding a tandem bike outside London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, having been led to believe they were filming an opening sequence for their television show.

Tommy, born Tommy Derbyshire in Oldham, and Bobby, born Bobby Harper in Shaw, met in the early 1960s while working as welders in Oldham. They began their show business careers as The Harper Brothers, singing in the pubs and clubs of Greater Manchester in the evening while weldering by day.

They became full-time entertainers, switched to comedy and changed the name of their act to Cannon and Ball in 1972. Their first television appearance was on the variety show The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club in 1974. A later performance on Bruce Forsyth's Big Night led to ITV offering them their own television series, The Cannon and Ball Show, in July 1979.

Tommy: "All that for This Is Your Life on a bike!"
Bobby: "Get me a cigarette!"

programme details...

Edition No: 578
Subject Nos: 574-575
Broadcast date: Wed 11 Nov 1981
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Thu 15 Oct 1981
Venue: Royalty Theatre
Series: 22
Edition: 5
Code name: Armoury

on the guest list...

June Whitfield
Diana Dors
Faith Brown
Margaret - Tommy's wife
Julie - Tommy's daughter
Jeanette - Tommy's daughter
Ian - Tommy's son-in-law
Yvonne - Bobby's wife
Joanne - Bobby's daughter
Darren - Bobby's son
Robert - Bobby's son
Ken Kent
Hilda - Tommy's cousin
Gladys - Tommy's cousin
Joan - Tommy's cousin
Shirley - Tommy's cousin
Irene - Tommy's cousin
Edith - Tommy's cousin
Joyce - Tommy's cousin
Alice - Tommy's aunt
Fred - Tommy's cousin
Mavis - Bobby's sister
May - Bobby's mother
Bob - Bobby's father
Trevor - Bobby's brother-in-law
Dennis Henthorn
Ronnie Ravey
Nellie Holland
Charlie Drake
Brotherhood of Man
pupils of Greenbank School, Oldham
pupils of Greenbank School, Oldham
Glyn Griffith

production team...

Researcher: Brian Klein
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Paul Stewart Laing, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

It's a Funny Old Life

it's all about the comedy

two's company

Screenshots of Cannon and Ball This Is Your Life

Tommy Cannon recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in their book, Rock on Tommy...

As the months passed, our friendship started to heal and I began to open up too. We avoided talking about the years of silence as it was still far too painful to open up that subject, but we discussed Bobby's new-found faith amicably and I knew it was for real. I found that I was jealous of the peace that seemed to surround him and was eager to discover it for myself.

Oddly, it was during this time in 1985 that we were given the honour of being chosen for This Is Your Life. Had it been a few months earlier, I don't think the strain in our relationship would have allowed us to go through with it. Bobby and I were on a hectic tour at the time with very few days off. We got a phone call from our manager, telling us that we had to go into London on one of our rare free days to do some filming for one of our TV Christmas specials on LWT.

'There's no way we're doing that!' I said firmly to our manager. 'It's our only day off, so they'll just have to wait until we've finished the tour.'

I can just imagine the shock on his face. Little did I know that the summons to London was planned to catch us for This Is Your Life. He couldn't give the game away, of course, and must have been thinking about all the crew and all the work that had been put into the preparation for months - and now here I was, telling him we weren't going to turn up. Apparently my response created mass panic at Thames Television, the makers of This Is Your Life, with everybody rushing around saying, 'What are we going to do? They're not coming!'

The manager phoned me back a few hours later and eventually persuaded me that we had to go. I gave in and Bobby and I went reluctantly down to London on our day off.

Sadly, my mother had died by this time and I just wished she had been there to see it, because it was a wonderful experience. Having been told we were filming in Drury Lane, we were instructed to ride a tandem bicycle round to the front of the famous theatre and stop in front of the cameras waiting there. They had stamped 'LWT' on the cameras and had even used our own crew, people we knew, so that we wouldn't suspect. It was cleverly made to look just like a normal shoot, when in fact it was all set up by Thames Television.

We started to pedal our tandem around the theatre and every time we reached the front, David Bell, the director, would stop us and make us do it all again. Bobby and I wondered why we had to keep repeating the action, not realising that Eamonn Andrews, the man with the big red book, was not yet ready to jump out on us. After the third time of being stopped, Bobby and I decided it was time to lighten things up, so the next time round, instead of stopping in front of the cameras, we agreed we would ride right past.

As we approached, David shouted, 'Stop!' but there was no chance, we just kept going. 'Stop! Stop!' he shouted at us. When he realised we weren't going to stop, he threw himself in front of the bicycle. Of course we stopped then, and burst out laughing.

To my right I noticed a huge cannon and saw that someone was sliding out of the barrel. I recognised Eammon with his famous red book, but I still didn't twig. I was too busy laughing at David, who was still prostrate on the ground. Meanwhile, Eammon was trying to slide gracefully out of the cannon and land on his feet, but he fell out and landed flat on his backside. This only made me laugh more, looking at two people on their backs in the street. It must have looked a real fiasco, but then, as smooth and professional as ever, Eammon came straight over to us and said those famous words: 'Tonight, Cannon and Ball... This Is Your Life!'

Suddenly the penny dropped and I realised it was all for Bobby and myself. A wonderful feeling of exuberance filled me. From the time we walked into the studio to the time we walked out after the show, I never stopped crying. It was a very emotional experience for me. Bobby kept digging me in the ribs and saying, 'Dry your eyes, you tart!' It was one of the most fantastic events of our career.

Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball recall their experience of This Is Your Life in their book, The Cannon and Ball annual 1983...

Tommy and Bobby chalked up another 'first' in their careers when they became the first comedy double act ever to be featured on Thames Television's This Is Your Life.

Surprised by host Eamonn Andrews - who appeared out of a cannon, no less - they thought they were filming an opening sequence for a TV show, in which they would be seen arriving at the theatre on a tandem. They almost fell off that bike when they realised the real reason they were being filmed!

Neither Tommy nor Bobby had any idea whatsoever that the show had been planned, and they had a fantastic time, both during the show, and at a party for family and friends which was held afterwards. And as for that big red book - that's a prized possession now.

Tommy and Bobby were both thrilled and astonished when they realised how much planning had gone into the TV show - and all without them knowing a thing about it.

[Bigredbook.info editor: actually, the first comedy double act to appear on This Is Your Life was Mike and Bernie Winters in 1972]

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...

The Life surprise on comedy duo Cannon and Ball came close to backfiring.

Eamonn loved elaborate pick-ups, and very good he was in them, so the names of Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball were too good not to suggest an idea.

They were about to appear in the West End and a photo-call was being staged. Outside the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, we had a giant 'props' cannon built, and the 'ball' was supposed to be Eamonn. So he was bundled inside the 'barrel', all set to pop out and surprise the couple. But they walked straight past our 'cannon' - not knowing Eamonn was stuck inside.

The camera crew hauled him out in time to chase after Cannon and Ball with the book.

Series 22 subjects