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Celebrating television's This Is Your Life

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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Joe Filliston, retired cricketer, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during a cricket club dinner and dance at Motspur Park in South West London, where he was guest of honour.

Joe, who was born in Hoxton, London, worked for his father's grocery business before becoming a professional cricketer with Perthshire CCC and, later, Staffordshire CCC. In 1901, at the height of his career, he became a cricket coach at Woodbridge School in Suffolk.

Having served with the Home Front during the First World War and worked in a London factory making pianos during the 1920s, he established a new career for himself as a cricket umpire at the age of 65 and was still in demand in his 90s.

At 100 years old, he, not unsurprisingly, holds the record as the oldest This Is Your Life subject ever!

programme details...

• Edition No: 194
• Subject No: 195
• Broadcast live: Mon 30 Apr 1962
• Broadcast time: 8.00-8.30pm
• Venue: BBC Television Theatre
• Series: 7
• Edition: 31

on the guest list...

• John Boyd-Carpenter
• David Berle
• Ada Reeve
• Alexander Latto
• H C Goldsmith
• Christopher Little
• Leslie Scott
• Stanley Matthews
• Joe Baldry
• Frank Osborne
• Leonard Phillips
• Bill Berry
• Joe - son
• Donald - grandson
• Joanna - great granddaughter
• Mrs Filliston
• Freddie Brown
• Sir Leonard Hutton
• Colin Cowdrey
• Frank Woolley
• Geoffrey Pullar
• Freddie Trueman

production team...

• Researchers: Nickola Sterne, Suzanne Twiston-Davies
• Writer: Nickola Sterne
• Director: Michael Goodwin
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

• names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

Life Before Wicket

bowling up the cricketers

Timeline

the show's fifty year history

Ada Reeve

Fred Trueman

Photographs of Joe Filliston This Is Your Life