This Is Your Life: Joe Loss 2

Joe LOSS OBE (1909-1990)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Joe Loss, musician and band leader, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during a star-studded party to celebrate his 50 years in show business at the Portman Hotel in London, from where the programme was then recorded.

Joe started band leading in the early 1930s, playing with a twelve piece band at such venues as the Astoria Ballroom and the Holborn Empire. He later formed the Joe Loss Orchestra, which became one of the most successful acts of the big band era in the 1930s and 1940s, through broadcasting, recording and annual tours.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Joe was resident at the Hammersmith Palais, and his soft-spoken manner and easy to dance to music won him millions of fans, including the British royal family, who frequently engaged his big band to play at royal affairs. His band's signature tune 'In The Mood' would often be requested several times a night.

Joe Loss was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions – previously surprised by Eamonn Andrews in April 1963 at the Hammersmith Palais in London.

"I never dreamed you'd do this to me!"

programme details...

Edition No: 548
Subject No: second timer
Broadcast date: Wed 15 Oct 1980
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Sun 12 Oct 1980
Venue: Portman Hotel, London
Series: 21
Edition: 1
Code name: Found

on the guest list...

Mildred - wife
David - son
Jennifer - daughter
Robert - son-in-law
Paul - grandson
Andrew - grandson
Harry - brother
Harry Kahn
Arthur Birkby
Bert Collier
Joyce Blair
Lionel Blair
Ross McManus
Rose Brennan
Elvis Costello
Spike Milligan
Alan Whicker
Leslie Mitchell
Ludovic Kennedy
Moira Shearer
Bernard Braden
Barbara Kelly
David Lodge
Jon Pertwee
Dora Bryan
Deryck Guyler
Zandra Rhodes
Arthur English
Sara Leighton
Elizabeth Seal
Mark - grandson
Dani - granddaughter
Vera Lynn
Charlie Chester

production team...

Researcher: Katie Lander
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Joe Loss

first tribute

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

A Musical Life

blowing a trumpet for the musicians

Eamonn Andrews

a brief biography

New Lease of Life

the programme's relaunch

The Story of This Is Your Life

a BBC Did You See...? special

The Audience

the applause, laughter and tears

Eamonn Andrews - Answers the Question that Everyone Asks Him!

Eamonn Andrews defends his high-profile

Street Of Fame

TV Times article on Eamonn Andrews

Obituaries: Eamonn Andrews

Press coverage of the death and memorial service of Eamonn Andrews

How Eamonn carved a life from insecure beginnings

The Stage reviews the book For Ever and Ever, Eamonn

Jennifer Jankel, daughter of Joe Loss, recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in November 2016

Screenshots of Joe Loss This Is Your Life

Gus Smith recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Eamonn Andrews His Life...

Joe Loss, the popular dance band leader, was also the recipient of the red book on two occasions from Eamonn. Afterwards, he would say, 'It was an unforgettable experience'. Now, as he sat at his desk on the fourth floor of Morley House in Regent Street, he recalled their friendship spanning nearly forty years. When Eamonn first handed him the red book back in the sixties he said he was 'stunned'. 'I think most people in my position go through the same experience – we can't call it anything else. We never think it can happen to us and when it does happen we never expect it. We are shattered.'

On the second occasion, in the early eighties, he reckoned the experience was even more profound. Mildred, his wife, was in on the secret on both occasions and found it increasingly hard to keep it to herself. 'When you've been open with your husband for so long, it's not easy to carry around secrets from him.'

It was inevitable that Eamonn should put Joe Loss's name forward at the Thames Life conference to receive the famous red book for a second time. They had always remained the best of friends. Once again Joe's wife, Mildred, was the link. She again found it very hard to keep the secret from her husband. 'I found it a bit trying really,' she recalls. 'We always talked openly and I found that I had to be on my guard in case I let anything drop.'

It had never entered Joe Loss's mind that Eamonn and the Life team would try to surprise him for a second time. When it happened, he found the experience even more profound than the first time. 'I was shattered. I deemed it a great honour of course to be chosen as the recipient of a second red book.'

Series 21 subjects