AustLit

THIS IS YOUR LIFE

This is Your Life is a docu-soap cum chat-show program that surprises celebrity guests and brings them into the studio for the presentation of their life story. Since its Australian debut in 1975, This is Your Life has featured more than 400 Australians.

The program was created in 1948 by Ralph Edwards as a US radio show, moving to NBC television in 1952 and BBC television in 1955. The Australian version was first broadcast on the Seven Network. This is Your Life has had five hosts: Mike Willesee (1975), Englishman Digby Wolfe (1976), Roger Climpson (1977–80), Mike Munro (1995–2008) and Eddie McGuire (2011). Having honoured 217 Australians under producer Bill Lovelock, This is Your Life moved to the Nine Network in 1995.

In 2011, Nine gave This is Your Life a revamp, hosting the program from Melbourne’s Crown Casino with a new set, big band and live audience. With the network hoping to attract a younger, more contemporary audience, the new season was met with mixed reviews.

Notable guests on the program have included entertainers such as Peter Allen, Olivia Newton-John and Dame Joan Sutherland; politicians such as Neville Bonner, Don Dunstan and Sir William McMahon; sports stars such as Betty Cuthbert, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Greg Norman; media figures such as Ita Buttrose, Bert Newton and John Laws; and other figures such as army surgeon Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop and entrepreneur Alan Bond.

A compilation based on the Australian series, edited by David Mitchell, was published in 1998.

JOHANNA DORE and ALAN McKEE