This Is Your Life: Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicholas WINTON MBE (1909-2015)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Nicholas Winton, humanitarian, was surprised by Michael Aspel at a celebration for the 20th anniversary of Winton House, an Abbeyfield Society care home in Windsor, named in his honour.

Nicholas worked in London as a stockbroker just before the outbreak of the Second World War and was set for a career in banking. However, a chance visit to Prague brought him face-to-face with the plight of thousands of young children caught up in the threat of war. Working around the clock until the day war broke out, he established an organisation which ultimately rescued 669 children from Czechoslovakia at risk from Nazi Germany.

In an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport, Nicholas found homes for all the children and arranged their safe passage to Britain. His work went unnoticed for nearly 50 years until 1988 when he was invited to a recording of the BBC television programme, That's Life!, where he was reunited with several of the children he had saved.

"Is it true? I'm amazed!"

programme details...

Edition No: 1119
Subject No: 1093
Broadcast date: Thu 1 May 2003
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Fri 21 Feb 2003 4.30pm
Repeated: Tue 9 Jan 2024 9.00pm
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 43
Edition: 14
Code name: Santa

on the guest list...

Nick - son
Monica - Nick's partner
Barbara - daughter
Steve - son-in-law
Laurence - grandson
Holly - granddaughter
Vera Gissing
Alf Dubs
Ruth Drahota
Ute Klein
Josephine Knight
Hanus Schnabl
Tom Schrecker
Bobby - brother
Keith Smith
holders of the current Winton Cup
Airlie Holden-Hindley
Ken Timms
Heather - sister-in-law
Wendy Wheatley
Beth Powell
Ric Fontaine
Dr Betty Maxwell
Matej Minac
Joe Schlesinger
family members of Nicholas Winton's 'Children'
Alice Klimova
Craig Stapleton
Judy Leden
Theresa May
Esther Rantzen

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: unknown
Director: unknown
Associate Producer: Helen Gordon-Smith
Series Producer: Jack Crawshaw
Producer: Sue Green

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

A Charitable Life

the unsung heroes

Esther Rantzen

Screenshots of Nicholas Winton This Is Your Life

Barbara Winton recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in her book, If It's Not Impossible... The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, reproduced here with kind permission of the author...

Media interest in the story of the Czech Kindertransport multiplied as a result of Nicky's knighthood. Early January 2003 had brought a flurry of journalists to his door looking for an interesting article or angle. An enquiry of a slightly different nature came to me at the same time. The BBC TV programme This Is Your Life wanted to do an episode on Nicky, and as it is always a surprise to the subject themselves, the producers had to make their approach to a family member.

This Is Your Life was a British TV institution for nearly fifty years. In the show the host surprised a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the big red book and with people from different aspects of their life coming on to talk about them. They asked if Nick and I thought he would enjoy it. We were concerned about the effect of the surprise, but overall in favour, as there is nothing Nicky loves more than a party and spending time with old friends. This seemed to tick both those boxes. We agreed that we should have a go and it was a role reversal for us; now it was Nick and I keeping a secret from Nicky, whereas just a month before he had kept his knighthood from us.

I met with the producer and made a list of people who were significant in his life. So many of his friends were no longer with us, but there were still plenty to consider. We had a hectic few weeks while it was planned and the date was set for 21 February. A coach was to collect his Maidenhead friends and our family, with others brought in from further afield. Budget constraints restricted the involvement of more far-flung friends, the producers selecting just a couple to fit their agenda.

It was arranged that Nicky would be ambushed at the Winton House extra-care home anniversary tea party where, being President of the local Abbeyfield Society, he was invited to attend and cut the cake. Being concerned about the shock the surprise might give to my ninety-three-year-old father, I arranged to turn up, supposedly on my way past from a meeting, and go with Nicky to the Abbeyfield party, so to be on hand to support him. I was so excited I couldn't believe he didn't notice something was up, but it went like clockwork. He didn't even react to the cameras already set up in the room when he arrived, just accepting that it was the local paper recording the event! Do they do that for a care home party? I don't think so!

As he was cutting the cake, Michael Aspel, the host of This Is Your Life, walked in and announced himself. Nicky dealt with the surprise like water off a duck's back. So much for our anxieties, and the programme itself was enormous fun. So many of his 'children' and their children, and additionally Elizabeth Maxwell, the person responsible for the story of the rescue becoming known. A group of fencers came to represent that aspect of his life; two pilots he had served with during the war, one being Airlie Holden-Hindley, his old friend and my godfather; also the daughter and granddaughter of his best friend Stanley Murdoch, both being Nicky's goddaughters.

There were some film clips of those sending good wishes, including his local MP Theresa May, Esther Rantzen and Judy Leden, world champion hang glider and a microlight pilot who was the daughter of one of his rescued children, now deceased. In it she promised to take him up for a microlight flight for his ninety-fourth birthday three months later. The programme ended with a group of children appearing on the stage, all descendants of those he had rescued sixty-four years earlier. There was a lovely party afterwards and there's no doubt that Nicky thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Series 43 subjects