Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
William RUSHTON (1937-1996)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - William Rushton, actor, cartoonist, comedian and satirist, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside the Orange Tree pub in Richmond upon Thames while celebrating the 21st anniversary of the London Standard's Pub of the Year Award, for which he had been a judge since it began.
Willie, who was born in Chelsea, was educated at Shrewsbury School, where he was part of a group that produced the school magazine. After completing his National Service and briefly working in a solicitor's office, he reunited with his school friends, who took advantage of the boom in satire in the early 1960s and created the news magazine Private Eye, with Willie contributing illustrations and comic strips.
In 1961, he appeared in Spike Milligan's play The Bed Sitting Room and, the following year, was part of the team that established the ground-breaking BBC television satirical comedy programme That Was The Week That Was. He made hundreds of cabaret, radio, and television appearances and wrote and illustrated over a dozen books.
"My god, it's an Irish kiss-o-gram!"
programme details...
- Edition No: 729
- Subject No: 723
- Broadcast date: Wed 1 Apr 1987
- Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
- Recorded: Sun 15 Mar 1987
- Venue: Teddington Studios
- Series: 27
- Edition: 25
- Code name: Beard
on the guest list...
- Barry Norman
- Nicholas Parsons
- Chris Tarrant
- Fred Trueman
- Fenella Fielding
- Dorgan - wife
- Toby - son
- Richard Ingrams
- Christopher Booker
- Bev Chivers
- John Wells
- Spike Milligan
- Ned Sherrin
- Kenneth Cope
- David Kernan
- Lance Percival
- Roy Kinnear
- Graeme Garden
- Barry Cryer
- John Junkin
- Sam - stepson
- Matthew - stepson
- Pembran - daughter-in-law
- Stella - granddaughter
- Julius - grandson
- Lord Stafford
- Gareth Davies
- JPR Williams
- Henry Kelly
- Richard Farquar
- Bill Tidy
- Russell Osman
- Denis Upton
- John Conteh Filmed tributes:
- Auberon Waugh
- David Frost
related appearances...
- Roy Kinnear - Feb 1980
- Judith Chalmers - Apr 1981
- Millicent Martin - Dec 1984
- Carl Davis - Oct 1986
- Barry Cryer - Jan 1995
- Ned Sherrin - Feb 1995
production team...
- Researcher: Claire Jenkinson
- Writer: Roy Bottomley
- Directors: Terry Yarwood, Michael D Kent
- Associate Producer: Brian Klein
- Producer: Malcolm Morris
- names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life
it's all about the comedy
Screenshots of William Rushton This Is Your Life
Series 27 subjects
Bill Waddington | Robert Foote | Carl Davis | Gorden Kaye | Teddy Johnson and Pearl Carr | Monty Fresco | Joe JohnsonSusan George | Bill Ward | Rachel Kempson | Gary Wilmot | Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe | Liz Hobbs | Jack Berg
Derek Scott | Patricia Hodge | Harry Friend | Norman Wisdom | Denis Compton | Christopher Cazenove | Dudley Moore
Terry Marsh | David Jacobs | William Rushton | Gabrielle Drake