This Is Your Life: Colin Hodgkinson

Colin HODGKINSON (1920-1996)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Colin Hodgkinson, former Royal Air Force pilot, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews after being brought to the BBC Television Theatre from a nearby pub, having been led to believe he was there to take part in a different programme.

Colin, who was born in Somerset, trained at Pangbourne College before joining the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy in January 1939. In May of that year, while training as a pilot in a Tiger Moth at RAF Gravesend, Colin collided with another aircraft and crashed. Despite losing both legs in the accident, Colin was determined to fly again, and still only aged 20, with two false legs, he was accepted into the RAF in 1941. He flew Spitfires with No. 131 Squadron before being promoted to Flying Officer with No. 611 Squadron in 1943.

Having later been posted to No. 501 Squadron as Flight Commander, he was forced to crash land on a mission over northern France in November 1943. He spent the next ten months in Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp before repatriating in 1944. However, he continued to fly until he was demobilised in 1946, after which he formed a public relations company.

programme details...

Edition No: 36
Subject No: 36
Broadcast live: Mon 7 Oct 1957
Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
Venue: BBC Television Theatre
Series: 3
Edition: 2

on the guest list...

Sqn Ldr J S Fifield
Marcus Marsh
June - wife
Bill Stamper
Bill Andrews
Joseph Addo
Tony Phelps
Fred Massey
Gp Capt Johnnie Johnson
Jack Armstrong
Alecia Armstrong
Tony Fowler
Sonia Fowler
Betty Gordon

production team...

Researchers: Nigel Ward, George Bruce, Michael Friend
Writer: Ken Smith
Director: unknown
Producer: T Leslie Jackson

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Military Life

saluting the armed forces

This Is Your Life by Eamonn Andrews

Weekend Magazine reports from behind-the-scenes

This Is Your Life

Radio Times editorial

Johnnie Johnson

Colin Hodgkinson and guest Fred Massey with presenter Eamonn Andrews on This Is Your Life

Mark Hillier recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Best Foot Forward, reproduced here with kind permission of the author...

In November 1943 Colin was posted to 501 Squadron as a flight commander. It was with this unit that he undertook a high-altitude weather reconnaissance in a Spitfire IX - that with the serial number MJ117. Unfortunately, his oxygen supply failed at 30,000 feet and he crash-landed east of Hardelot, being knocked unconscious in the impact. The TV presenter Eamonn Andrews once said to Colin that 'the Germans have to cut you out of the wreckage with an oxy-acetylene blow torch', whilst other accounts state that he was pulled from the wreckage by two French farmers. However he was extracted from the wreckage of his Spitfire, Colin was then transported to a hospital at St Omer where he recovered consciousness.

Such were the terrible injuries to his face and head that, whilst a prisoner of war, Colin underwent a series of operations. During his internment, he lost a lot of weight, to the point that his artificial legs did not fit and he was in constant pain. Despite this, as fellow prisoner Marcus Marsh once said of him, 'he was always cheerful. A fine example to those who took captivity badly.'

Due to his disabilities and injuries, Colin was subsequently repatriated to the UK ten months after his crash. For many surely this would have been enough? Yet flying had cost Colin his legs and flying, he believed, owed him a living, so he returned to the skies once again, this time with a ferry unit at Bristol's Filton airfield. After the war, Colin continued to fly with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, serving in 501 and 604 squadrons.

Colin often referred to himself as the 'poor man's Bader', but this is to diminish his achievements. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that Colin was one of the earliest people to feature in the BBC's This Is Your Life - it was on the evening of Monday, 7 October 1957 that Colin was surprised, whilst drinking in a pub near television centre, by Eamonn Andrews carrying the big red book. Aired live, Colin's episode was the second in series three. It would be another nineteen series before Douglas Bader received the same treatment.

Colin's story is truly a remarkable description of one man's battle against adversity. For me this man is a genuine unsung national hero, as Johnnie Johnson said when questioned by Eamonn Andrews: 'He was determined to be as good as his colleagues who were not disabled. He was a very brave man.'

Series 3 subjects