Jason leonard autobiography meaning

Jason Leonard recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography...

Harry made his first television appearance on This Is Your Life - he was brought onto the set at the end after I'd endured what must be the biggest shock of my life. Having to face the haka is nothing compared to having to face Michael Aspel and that red book of his.

I was at a function at the Royal Bank of Scotland to launch my testimonial year with a lunch when they got me. It was totally unexpected.

As I turned round to thank everyone who had helped with the planning and organisation of the function, I could see people smiling, then I saw him standing beside me with that damn book tucked under his arm and a grin on his face. I just looked at him, and all I could think was 'Run, run, and keep on running.' The trouble was that we were deep inside a high security bank, so if I'd done anything of the kind, I'd have been immediately tackled to the ground by dozens of security men.

Looking back, I should have known that something was going on because all week Lawrence and Jerry hadn't been returning my calls - maybe they were worried about accidentally letting it slip that they were involved with This Is Your Life. But these things only seem obvious when you know the facts. The truth is that I had no idea at all. It was a complete surprise - and I hate surprises.

Once you've been 'caught' you're supposed to go straight back to the studio where they are all waiting for you, but I had to have a pint first, so I persuaded them to come with me round the corner for a couple. I ended up having four or five pints before we got there, and the production girls and researchers were getting a bit worried. I think they were panicking in case I arrived at the studio too drunk to stand. But I really needed that time to relax a bit and I'll always be grateful to Jerry for calming me down a bit. He told me that he'd had This Is Your Life done to him a few years earlier, and it was great fun.

He said, 'There'll be a few surprises there and people that you haven't seen for quite a while, and then afterwards there's a great party. That's all. You'll enjoy it.'

When I thought about it, I relaxed a bit and realised that it was going to be OK. As it was, there were surprises all the way through - school teachers, old friends and family friends were there, many of whom I hadn't seen for years and years. My great mate from Canada came over which was great, and afterwards we all mingled together and had a great party. I don't know what the people at the BBC thought, though, because - whether it was the rugby boys or my family, I'm not sure - we drank the bar dry three times!