This Is Your Life: John Hanson

John HANSON (1922-1998)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - John Hanson, singer and actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at Thames Television's Euston Road Studios, having been led to believe he was there to be interviewed for the Tonight programme.

John was born in Ontario, Canada, but grew up in Dumfries, Scotland. Having recognised his talent as a boy soprano at Dumfries Academy, his headmaster recommended him to the Scottish Broadcasting Corporation, where John made his professional singing debut at the age of 12.

John is best known for his performance as the Red Shadow in The Desert Song, which he first staged at the Opera House in Manchester in 1957 and toured many times across the country before a successful run in London's West End in 1968. On television, his appearances on shows such as Morecambe and Wise and The Good Old Days made him a household name.

programme details...

Edition No: 402
Subject No: 401
Broadcast date: Wed 12 Feb 1975
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 5 Feb 1975
Venue: Euston Road Studios
Series: 15
Edition: 15
Code name: Shadow

on the guest list...

Brenda - wife
Stella - daughter
mother-in-law
father-in-law
Miss Eddie
Larry Grayson
Leslie Crowther
David Hamilton
Clifford Mollison
June Bronhill
John - son
Vicki - daughter-in-law

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: unknown
Director: Royston Mayoh
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

A Song For Life

it's the singer not the song

Life is a Cabaret

a musical theatre chorus line

Leslie Crowther

Larry Grayson

Eamonn Andrews surprises John Hanson on This Is Your Life

John Hanson recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography, Me and My Red Shadow...

During autumn 1974 Alexander Bridge had been in touch, once again, to offer me the Novello part in a spring tour of The Dancing Years. I was very interested in this proposition but, before I agreed to sign anything, I had to have detailed discussions with Mr Bridge to decide how he could alter the show to suit me. Ivor Novello wrote the male leading role of The Dancing Years for himself and, as he didn't sing, our problem was to ensure that I had a fair share of the songs! The addition of seven songs to Novello's original acting role made it a heavy show for me, but I enjoyed it very much. All in all, I found our adaptation of The Dancing Years to be very rewarding. It was a change to have the opportunity of acting well-written dialogue!

Rehearsals for The Dancing Years began in January 1975 after a quiet but happy Christmas break. During the second week of rehearsals Mr Bridge told me that he had arranged for me to appear in a television interview on Tonight for Thames Television. As I was completely wrapped up in the rehearsals of The Dancing Years at the time, I simply accepted the arrangement and promptly put it at the back of my mind.

However, although the day of the television interview drew nearer, no one mentioned it again. The only message I received, confirming that I was expected to do the interview, came from the wardrobe mistress at Thames. She phoned to tell me that I would be wearing a Hussar's uniform and to ask my measurements. I was given so little information about the programme that I didn't even know whether or not I should take a good suit with me in case I needed a change from the Hussar's uniform.

Brenda strongly advised me to take one, just in case. (I seem to remember at the time wondering why she was so insistent over this!)

In the late afternoon, like a lamb to the slaughter, I duly caught a taxi to the Thames Television's studios in Euston Road. My uniform was hanging in my dressing room and it turned out to be a reasonable fit. However, when I arrived at the studio itself I was amazed to find that Joyce Mandre my leading lady from The Dancing Years was waiting for me. She hadn't said a word about being in the programme! I was even more amazed when I saw the costume she was wearing - a ball gown with powdered wig! Completely the wrong period to go with my uniform.

By this time I was beginning to get rather irritated by the apparent indifference and incompetence of the television production team and when my musical director, Derek Taverner began to play our duet too quickly, I ran out of patience, stopped short, and made him start again! I didn't know it, but the piano accompaniment had been prerecorded together with a few bars of 'boogie woogie'. When the 'boogie woogie' started I stopped dead - feeling completely lost! Suddenly Eamonn Andrews was standing there smiling at me, and holding his famous Red Book. The penny dropped at last! I was the 'victim' of This Is Your Life.

The introduction to the show had been completed with Eamonn's opening gambit: 'John Hanson! This is your life' and I was led back to my dressing room bewitched, bothered and bewildered. There I changed into the suit which Brenda had insisted that I take with me, to wait for the rest of the programme to begin, in about an hour's time. During this period I wasn't allowed to leave my dressing room in case I should bump into a surprise guest. Even when I went to the loo the corridor was kept clear of people.

Nowadays, I am still asked if I knew beforehand that I was to be the subject of This Is Your Life. Somehow the public find it hard to believe that such a big event can take place without the subject getting wind of it. So far as I am concerned I had no idea what was happening and the producer went to great lengths to make sure that I hadn't.

At the time I did notice that Brenda seemed to be rather restless and that she was sleeping badly, but I put most of this down to the fact that John was due home from Australia with his wife Vicki and, at the last minute, he had cabled to say that they would arrive a week later than previously arranged. Little did I know that John had already arrived in Britain and that he and Vicki were living it up at a London hotel at the expense of Thames Television! On the day before the show Stella travelled down from Bristol university to join them and the rest of the family and friends who were to appear in the programme. The success of This Is Your Life depends a great deal on the advice of the subject's partner - especially when it comes to choosing the guests. After all the producer is mainly concerned with getting as many celebrities as possible to appear on the show. The 'victim's' partner has to make sure that the rest of the guests consist of acquaintances, relatives and friends who really matter and who will be really welcome.

When I had got over the initial shock I enjoyed This Is Your Life. I met old friends and relatives whom I hadn't seen for years, including Miss Eddie, my first school teacher at Dumfries Academy. Larry Grayson, Leslie Crowther, David Hamilton, Clifford Mollison, June Bronhill and several of my ex-leading ladies, made up most of the showbusiness contingent, and Brenda's Mum and Dad were delightfully natural when they chatted to Eamonn about the days when I was courting Brenda. Brenda's mother, who was a lovely person, died of cancer later on in the year and I've always been glad that she was part of This Is Your Life.

The highlight of the programme came just before the end. I was listening to a recording of Ray's A Laugh made in 1952 when I sang 'Mighty Lak a Rose' to Brenda in hospital, just after Johnnie was born. I looked up and there was my son, bronzed and smiling, with his new wife on his arm. I hadn't seen him for a year! It was a very touching moment. As they say in showbusiness 'there wasn't a dry eye in the house'.

My edition of This Is Your Life came top in the TAM ratings, and it was quite amazing the effect it had on the public in general. On the Thursday morning following the transmission I was in Hull and I made the mistake of walking from the theatre to the shops. It seemed to me that practically everyone I met stopped and spoke to me. I was inundated with the same questions: 'Did you know?' 'Did you know that your son had flown back from Australia?' and so on. In the end I literally bolted back to the theatre!

Series 15 subjects