Big Red Book

Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - David Pelham James, politician, author and adventurer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the ticket barrier of platform 15 of London's Victoria Station after arriving on the 8.42 am train from Haywards Heath on his way to work.

David, who was born on the Isle of Mull, sailed around the world aged 17 in the windjammer Viking, having left Eton College before the end of his studies. In February 1942, while serving with the Royal Navy during the Second World War, David was captured by the Germans off the Hook of Holland and sent to Marlag prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.

David escaped the camp on his second attempt and fled to safety in Sweden. Following adventures in Antarctica and Afghanistan, he returned to the UK, where in 1959, he became the Conservative Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemp Town.

programme details...

• Edition No: 183
• Subject No: 184
• Broadcast live: Mon 12 Feb 1962
• Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
• Venue: BBC Television Theatre
• Series: 7
• Edition: 20

on the guest list...

• Archie MacColl
• Capt Thomas Kerr
• John Barker
• John Wells
• Paul Schadrich
• Kenneth White
• Col Philip Edwards
• Miss Dinnage
• Jim Dinnage
• Capt Uno Mörn
• Jaquetta - wife
• Peter - son
• Patsy - daughter
• Diana - daughter
• Michael - son
• Christopher - son
• Mr Clarke - in audience
• Mrs Clarke - in audience
Filmed tribute:
• Archibald - father

production team...

• Researcher: John Ralph
• Writer: John Ralph
• Director: David Croft
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

Life on the Hustings

a cross-party celebration

Photographs of David James This Is Your Life

John Robson recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, One Man In His Time...

David's career was progressing well; so much so that he was noticed by the BBC and selected to be a victim of This Is Your Life.

One February morning, arriving at Victoria Station on the 8.54 from Haywards Heath, he was accosted at the barrier by Eamonn Andrews and reacted with a deleted expletive.

On the show that evening Eamonn introduced him as a 'walking adventure story' and confronted him with a gathering of characters from his earlier life.

Outside his family, they included, Archie McColl, the retired Torosay stalker; Captain Uno Mørn of the Viking; John Barker, an able seaman who was one of the crew of the MGB when it was sunk; John Wells, a civilian master tailor who became Lord Mayor of Westminster, who sewed on his Bulgarian Navy shoulder flashes in prison camp; and Paul Shadrich the German policeman who recaptured him at Lübeck.

The programme was signed off by Eamonn Andrews in the language of the time:

"David James, this book salutes a vivid figure of the present era whose zestful spirit recalls the gay adventures of the past and sets a bright example to those whose future lies in the New Elizabethan Age."

David Croft recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his autobiography, You Have Been Watching... reproduced here with kind permission of the author...

I directed alternate weeks with Yvonne Littlewood under T. Leslie Jackson, who was the legendary producer of the series. I directed 'Lifes' for Kenneth Horne, Coco the Clown, Madame Rambert and several brave Englishmen and nursing sisters who had massaged polio victims from sickness to health.

I found the 'casting' of real-life characters fascinating. There was one very brave naval officer who became an MP. At an early age his father sent him to Spain to view the civil war and get shot at because it would be good experience for him. He then sent him on a wind-jammer to get some experience 'before the mast'. At the rehearsal of the subsidiary characters that we held the day before transmission I was fascinated to see what the captain of the wind-jammer would look like. I was expecting someone like James Robertson Justice. He looked like a grocer.

The MP had later failed to torpedo a destroyer and, having run out of ammunition, he rammed the enemy vessel with his motor torpedo boat, sank and promptly got himself captured. He then escaped from POW camp disguised as 'Captain Burgaroff' and we succeeded in finding the SS officer who recaptured him. The SS officer was even kind enough to look roughly like an SS officer. I had no idea what attitude the brave MP would take. It could be quite dramatic. The great moment arrived. 'Here is the very SS officer who arrested you back into captivity all those years ago,' said Eamonn Andrews. Enter the German officer. He approached the MP, who stretched out his hand. 'How frightfully nice to meet you again, old chap,' he said.