Jon Pertwee - This Is Your Life

[Gordon Roxburgh]

I've been having a clear out/checking old audio cassettes, and came across a recording of the Jon Pertwee edition of This Is Your Life, and wondered if it is of interest?

For several years I was involved in running the fan club for Jon, and one of my colleagues was able to make a recording off the record LP that Jon had been presented with after the show. The cassette recording has held up pretty well over the years, as this would have been recorded in the late 1970's.

I understand from his various published biographies that subsequently the actual record was stolen, so am I in possession of something rare?

I'd be more than happy to get it cleaned up, restored, remastered or whatever. It could make for a nice Doctor Who DVD extra, but of course it would need the rights to be cleared by Thames/ITV etc.

Be grateful for any information on this recording.

[Joe Haynes]

I would suggest contacting the restoration team. There site is www.restoration-team.co.uk/

There email address is on the front page

[Deleted]

If the record was the only existing version of the show (i.e. the video master was wiped) and the record is now missing, then it's pretty rare, Gordon! Contact Chris Perry at Kaleidoscope as a first contact, who restore / archive missing TV items. Either send him a personal message at this site or via their website:
www.lostshows.com/

[felixdembinski]

the programe is missing!

[felixdembinski]

if its the 1971 edition that is

[Ally Wilson]

Yes, it's rare and of great interest. Pertwee's original recording was stolen.

[felixdembinski]

so then this might be the only surviving copy!

[Ally Wilson]

Aug 13, 2010 10:33:49 GMT felixdembinski said:

so then this might be the only surviving copy!

Alas, Richard Bignell says audio copies of this have been floating around Doctor Who fandom for some time, so not missing. Still might be a quality upgrade on existing copies though.

[Alan Hayes]

I've had a very good audio copy (I assume from the same source) for many years. I don't think it's rare as such.

[Charles Norton]

As far as I know, the only other recording of this is a rather echoey off-air microphone recording.

This sounds like being a much better quality copy.

It's certainly worth looking into.

I could be wrong of course.

[Gordon Roxburgh]

The restoration team have been in touch about getting this cleaned up etc. From what I have learned no audio copies are in any archive, apparently a copy was going to be returned a few years ago but nothing ever came of it.

[John Wall]

I would expect that quite a good version could be recreated from the audio with stills of the various people who appeared and any clips that were used might still survive. It would be a good "extra" on a Dr Who DVD imho.

[Gordon Roxburgh]

There are certainly a few stills taken on the This Is Your Life set, but there were no clips from any programmes used, ie Doctor Who. There were a few specially filmed inserts, ie with Jon's children, but the inserts, like the programme no longer exist.

Sadly it seems very few editions of This Is Your Life exist from the early 70's, but I imagine a number of the subjects, like Jon, would have been presented with a record (LP) of the show afterwards. Has anyone thought of contacting those subjects who are still around to see if they still have their record of the show, and to see if they would be prepared to have copies made?? Just an idea....

[davidstead]

Gordon, your recording probably came direct as did mine, from Leonora Rich's tfr off Jon Pertwee's disc before it vanished. Your copy Alan, presumably came from mine at some stage during the late 80's.
I have a copy on cassette speed corrected as well, but no-one seemed all that interested in it for years, so I certainly assumed it was widely held.
The 'Actor, comedian, star of Dr Who' bit where he is got outside the Tardis during filming, must have been wonderful to have watched.
Anyone know if Delgado was on it?

[davidstead]

Actually, Gordon having re-read your original posting, your tfr is likely to be superior as presumably it was Stuart Money who got the original tfr done off Jon's disc and if that is that tfr, it's probably the only direct tfr off that original disc surviving.