This Is Your Life: Sylvia Young

Sylvia YOUNG (1939-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Sylvia Young, theatre school founder and principal, was surprised by Michael Aspel during a prize-giving ceremony at the school's Marylebone premises in London, having been led to believe the cameras were there to make a documentary.

Sylvia, who was born the eldest of nine children in Whitechapel, London, began her performing career with local amateur dramatic companies while working in a library in Hackney. After organising several fundraisers for her daughter's primary school, she set up her own school for young performers, 'charging 10p a lesson' to potentially talented youngsters in London's East End.

In 1973, she established The Young Uns, a children's drama group that performed music hall-style shows across London. In 1981, she set up a Saturday school in London's Drury Lane, which, within two years, had expanded into a full-time operation with the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London's Marylebone. Many of Sylvia's students have gone on to have careers in musical theatre and pop music and on television in programmes such as Grange Hill and EastEnders.

"What do I say... bit of a shock!"

programme details...

Edition No: 1015
Subject No: 990
Broadcast date: Mon 21 Dec 1998
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 16 Dec 1998
Venue: Teddington Studios
Series: 39
Edition: 16
Code name: Early

on the guest list...

Tony Blackburn
Debbie Blackburn
Emma Bunton
Frances Ruffelle - daughter
Alison Ruffelle - daughter
Norman Ruffell - husband
Dean Gaffney
Nicholas Stapleton
Scott Robinson
Paul Reynolds
Keeley Hawes
Naomi - sister
David - brother
Pamela - sister
Michelle - sister
Alex - brother
Gordon - brother
Bobby - sister
Muriel Morris
Teddy Spooner
Nick Berry
Paul De Freitas
Matthew Ryan
Edna Tapley
Shirley Partridge
Maggie Melville
Carmen Silvera
Samantha Janus
Billie Piper
Eliza - granddaughter
Nathaniel - grandson
Adam Woodyatt
The Sylvia Young School Choir
Denise van Outen
Clare Burt
Paul Nicholls
Sophie Lawrence
Letitia Dean
Stephen Dean
Felix - grandson

production team...

Researcher: Kate Greer
Writer: Ian Brown
Directors: John Gorman, Steve Docherty
Associate Producer: Helen Gordon-Smith
Executive Producer: John Longley
Series Producer: Jack Crawshaw
Producer: Sue Green

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Backstage Life

raising the curtain

The Night of 1000 Lives

a celebration of a thousand editions

Tony Blackburn

Carmen Silvera

Interviews

Sylvia Young recalls her experience of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in June 2013

Screenshots of Sylvia Young This Is Your Life - and Sylvia Young photographed in her office with her big red book in June 2013

You Magazine 1 July 2012

SYLVIA YOUNG

Stage School Supremo

BEING ON THIS IS YOUR LIFE IN 1998 WAS A WONDERFUL SURPRISE.

My family told me they were taking me to dinner, but we actually went to a TV studio where my ex-students, family members and friends were. They gave me this photograph album as a souvenir.

Series 39 subjects