1.
Sitcom
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A situation comedy, or sitcom, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. This form can also include mockumentaries, a situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the programs production format. The effect of a studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. The terms situational comedy or sitcom werent commonly used until the 1950s, there were prior examples on radio, but the first television sitcom is said to be Pinwrights Progress, ten episodes being broadcast on the BBC in the United Kingdom between 1946 and 1947. There have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, but many U. S. UK sitcoms are a staple of government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in the 1970s and 1980s many UK sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network. By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served, had been repeated by ABC Television several times, and were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network, in prime time. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature a gay character. In 1987, Mother and Son was winner of the Television Drama Award presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission, in 2013, Please Like Me was praised by the critics, receiving an invitation to screen at the Series Mania Television Festival in Paris. And has garnered three awards and numerous nominations, nominated to the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Conversely, however, Canadian television has had greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington, aired from 1975 to 1980, corner Gas, which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging a million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards, and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards, other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included Call Me Fitz and Schitts Creek, Letterkenny and Kims Convenience. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, since it ceased production in 1992, the show has earned an estimated billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa. Gliding On, a popular sit-com in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won awards over the course of its run, including Best Comedy, Best Drama. The first Russian sitcom series was Strawberry, which was aired in 1996-1997 on the RTR channel, however, the boom of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s - when in 2004 the STS started very successful sitcom My Fair Nanny. Since that time sitcoms in Russia were produced by the two largest entertainment channels of the country - STS and TNT, in 2007 the STS released the first original domestic sitcom - Daddys Daughters, and in 2010 TNT released Interns - the first sitcom, filmed as a comedy. Most American sitcoms generally include episodes of 20 to 30 minutes in length, some popular British shows have been successfully adapted for the U. S
2.
Jeremy Lloyd
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John Jeremy Lloyd was born in Danbury, Essex to a mother who had been a dancer, and a petroleum engineer father who served as an officer in the Royal Engineers at the beginning of World War II. As a child he was sent to live with his grandmother in Manchester and rarely saw his parents and his father withdrew him from a private preparatory school in 1943. He was also a paint salesman and he believed that his early jobs gave him a better education than a university could have provided. Notably, he was a performer on Rowan & Martins Laugh-In during the 1969–70 television season. He was lauded in America where they loved his patrician depiction of an upper-class Englishman, back in England after the season had been completed he met Joanna Lumley. A decision had to be made as to whether he would return to America for the start of the new season or remain in the UK, in A Hard Days Night Lloyd is uncredited as a tall man dancing at the disco with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. He is a restaurant patron, also uncredited, in 1969, he filmed a scene with Peter Sellers for The Magic Christian, which co-starred Ringo Starr. Lloyd can be seen in a boardroom meeting offering marketing slogans for a big car. In 1967 he played the eccentric chimney sweep, Berthram Fortesque Wynthrope-Smythe, aka Bert Smith, in The Avengers episode, lloyds first major success as a comedy writer was with Are You Being Served. in 1972, on which he worked with David Croft. He and Croft subsequently produced Allo Allo. which was popular in the UK. Grace & Favour, which aired in 1992, Lloyd wrote the poem/lyrics for the popular Captain Beaky album and books in 1980. In 1993 Lloyd published his autobiography, entitled with a phrase from Allo Allo. called Listen Very Carefully – I Shall Say This Only Once. Lloyd was the subject of what was considered an urban legend, however the story was verified as true when the octogenarian was interviewed by Emma Freud on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Loose Ends, on 10 December 2011. Lloyd was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to British comedy, lloyds first marriage in 1955 to model Dawn Bailey lasted seven years. After their marriage ended, Lloyd was briefly married to actress Joanna Lumley, in 1992 he married actress Collette Northrop. In August 2014, Lloyd married Elizabeth Lizzy Moberly a former manager at Barclays Capital. Lloyd died on 23 December 2014, aged 84, after being admitted to a London hospital with pneumonia, Jeremy Lloyd at the Internet Movie Database
3.
David Croft (TV producer)
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Major David John Croft OBE was an English writer, producer and director. David Croft is particularly noted for producing and co-writing a string of popular BBC sitcoms with Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd including Dads Army and it Aint Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi. and Allo Allo. Croft was born into a family, his father, Reginald Sharland, had a successful career as a radio actor in Hollywood. His first public appearance was at the age of seven, when he was seen in a commercial aired in cinemas. After that, his career in films began and ended with his uncredited appearance as Perkins in the film Goodbye. Croft was educated at two independent schools, at Durlston Court Preparatory School in Swanage, followed by Rugby School in Warwickshire, at Durlston Court, he overlapped with the schools only other distinguished old boy, Tony Hancock. The boys attended Sunday services at St. Aldhelms Church, and he enlisted in the Royal Artillery in 1942. He served during the Second World War in North Africa, India, after contracting rheumatic fever in North Africa, was sent home to convalesce and then underwent officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Croft was posted to India, arriving as the war in Europe ended, when his military service ended he began working in the entertainment industry, as an actor, singer and writer. Croft met Freddie Carpenter, who produced many pantomimes for Howard & Wyndham across the UK, resulting in Croft writing scripts such as Aladdin, Cinderella and Babes in the Wood. Through his lifelong friend, composer/conductor Cyril Ornadel, Croft met the producer Fiona Bentley, David Croft himself played a number of roles, including Timmy Willie in Johnny Town-Mouse, Kep in Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Old Brown in Squirrel Nutkin. Croft relocated to the Northeast of England to work at Tyne Tees Television, after leaving Tyne Tees Television to work at the BBC in the mid-1960s, he produced a number of the Corporations popular sitcoms such as Beggar My Neighbour, Further Up Pompeii. and Hugh and I. The two men co-wrote nine series of the show, which was retitled Dads Army, as well as a feature film, while Dads Army was still running, Croft began to co-write Are You Being Served. with Jeremy Lloyd. He was to both writing partnerships for the rest of his career in several hit series including It Aint Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi. He then started up You Rang, MLord, a show that spoke of policies and unfairness in 1927. His last full series Oh, Doctor Beeching, broadcast from 1995 to 1997, was co-written with Richard Spendlove. He created a pilot in 2007, entitled Here Comes The Queen. This pilot starred Wendy Richard and Les Dennis, but because of Wendy Richards death the show never went to a full series, as a producer, Crofts regular practice was to signal the end of an episode with the caption You Have Been Watching
4.
Gorden Kaye
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His mother, Gracie, was 42 when he was born. His father, Harold, was a driver and in the ARP during the Second World War. When young, Kaye played rugby league for Moldgreen ARLFC before studying at King Jamess Grammar School, Almondbury and he worked in hospital radio in Huddersfield, and was employed in textile mills, a wine factory, and a tractor factory. Kaye had appeared in a play directed by Alan Ayckbourn. He made his TV debut as a guard in the BBCs Yorkshire mill drama Champion House and played small roles in such films as The Partys Over. Having been seen by Pat Phoenix in Little Malcolm by David Halliwell at Bolton, he was cast as Bernard Butler and he later made an impression on producer/writer David Croft following guest roles in It Aint Half Hot Mum and Come Back Mrs. Noah. He appeared in the 1978 comedy short The Waterloo Bridge Handicap, starring Leonard Rossiter and he also appeared in the drama series All Creatures Great and Small and in the private detective series Shoestring. In 1981, Kaye appeared as Frank Broadhurst in the drama serial Codename Icarus. Kaye appeared in three episodes of Crofts British department store sitcom Are You Being Served. and was offered the lead role in a series he had written called Oh Happy Band. But Kaye was unavailable and the part went to Harry Worth, in 1990, Kaye played the fictional local television presenter Maynard Lavery in an edition of Last of the Summer Wine. Kaye had a part in Terry Gilliams film Brazil as desk clerk M. O. I. Lobby Porter and appeared in Gilliams 1977 film Jabberwocky as Sister Jessica and he played Dr Grant in a television adaptation of Mansfield Park and Lymoges, Duke of Austria in the 1984 BBC production of King John by Shakespeare. He also toured in the National Theatre production of As You Like It, in 1982, David Croft sent Kaye the script for the pilot episode of Allo Allo. Inviting him to play the character of René Artois. He accepted and appeared in all 84 episodes and 1,200 performances of the stage version. Kaye was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1986 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the call of the West End stage version of Allo Allo. at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The other characters were portrayed by Australian actors, including Katy Manning, Steven Tandy, Chloe Dallimore, kayes autobiography, René and Me, An Autobiography, was published in 1989. In the book, he described his experiences as a shy, gay, overweight, the unusual spelling of his name was the result of a British Actors Equity Association typing error
5.
Carmen Silvera
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Carmen Dorothy Blanche Silvera was a Canadian-born British comic actress of Spanish descent, who moved to Coventry, England, with her family when she was a child. She appeared on television regularly in the 1960s, and achieved acclaim in the 1980s as her starring role in British television programme. In Canada, she took classes with the Ballets Russes and appeared in three of its productions, on her return to Britain, she felt called to acting and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, before gaining experience in repertory theatre. Silvera first made her name as an actress in the 1960s British police drama Z-Cars in 1962. She played Mrs Van Schuyler in Lillie in 1978, ITVs drama series about the future Edward VIIs mistress, Lillie Langtry. She appeared twice in Doctor Who, in the serials The Celestial Toymaker as Clara the Clown, Mrs. Wiggs, and the Queen of Hearts, and as Ruth in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. In 1970 she appeared in the Dads Army episode Mums Army as Fiona Gray, the love-interest for Captain Mainwaring, silveras longest-running role came as Edith, the antagonistic wife of opportunistic cafe owner Rene Artois, throughout the history of the Allo Allo. She appeared with Ted Rogers at the New Wimbledon Theatre in 1997 in Jimmy Perrys stage musical Thats Showbiz and she also played a grandmother in the 1997 film La Passione and had roles in Clinic Exclusive, On The Game, and Keep It Up Downstairs. In 1990, she was the subject of a This Is Your Life television programme and she did charity work for the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings, the ladies branch of the Grand Order of Water Rats. Silvera was enthusiastic about horse racing after her grandfather took her to a race at Warwick and she won a bet on Light Of Love at the race, which came in at 7,1. Silvera married John Cunliffe, an actor she met at repertory theatre in Tonbridge, Kent and she divorced following a miscarriage and never remarried. A heavy smoker, she died after a battle with cancer on 3 August 2002, aged 80. Her Jamaican-born father, Roland Silvera, was a well-known flat-green bowls player, after emigrating to Canada in 1910 and becoming a ship hand, Roland fought for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I. Roland married Dorothy White in Warwick in 1918 and returned to Canada and they emigrated back to Warwickshire in 1924. Coventry & District Bowls Association runs a competition for the Silvera Shield
6.
Guy Siner
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Guy Domville Siner is an American-born English actor best known for his role as Lieutenant Hubert Gruber in the British television series Allo Allo. Siner was born in New York City and his father was American, born in Manhattan, New York, and his mother English, born in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. His mother wanted him to be educated in the United Kingdom, after attending St Edmunds School, Hindhead, he trained for the stage at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He is cousin to the actress Selina Cadell and her brother, in 1980, Siner portrayed director Mack Sennett in The Biograph Girl, a short-lived West End musical about the silent film era. He played Lieutenant Hubert Gruber in the sitcom Allo Allo. between 1982 and 1992, other credits include I, Claudius, Babylon 5, Seinfeld, You Rang, MLord. The Brittas Empire, Leprechaun 4, In Space, Martial Law, Diagnosis, Murder, Secret Army, Star Trek, Enterprise and he also played a small role in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl. In addition to this, he appeared in ChuckleVision. After Allo Allo came to the end of its run in 1992, Siner worked for a time in the United States, based in Los Angeles and he has since returned to the United Kingdom, and now resides in Chesham in Buckinghamshire. Siner is notable as being one of ten actors to appear in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises. In 2006, Siner appeared in two films by writer and director David Roden called Beginners Please and The Resurrectionist, the other characters were portrayed by various Australian actors, including Katy Manning, Steven Tandy and Jason Gann. Guy Siner at the Internet Movie Database Official website
7.
Richard Marner
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Richard Marner was a Russian-born British stage and screen actor. He was probably best known for his role as Colonel Kurt Von Strohm in the British sitcom Allo Allo. In 1924, his family left Russia and went to Finland and then Germany, before ending up in London. After being educated at Monmouth School in Wales, Molchanoff became an assistant to the Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing, during World War II he joined the RAF, and was posted to South Africa with the Air Training Corps. After being invalided out, he changed his name to Richard Marner, one of Marners early stage roles – as Dracula, with Howard Dean – is still regarded by some as the definitive interpretation of the role. In 1967, well before his role as the German Colonel in Allo Allo Marner played the minor and he was also in the television movie Birth of the Beatles, as Bruno Koschmider. Marners best known role was in Allo Allo. as German Commandant Colonel Kurt Von Strohm and he appeared in all nine series of the programme between 1984 and 1992. He also appears in an episode of Secret Army, the programme that Allo Allo parodies and his other work included roles in Mackenzie, Triangle, Lovejoy, and the film The Sum of All Fears. In 1991, when Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin, convened a Congress of Compatriots, Marner was one of the 600 people who returned to the motherland. Despite being caught up in a coup, he stayed long enough to watch, through tearful eyes, the raising of the first Imperial Russian flag flown in Moscow since the 1920s. He died 9 days before his 83rd birthday on 18 March,2004, aged 82 in Perth, Scotland and left a wife, actress Pauline Farr, who retained Molchanoff as her off-stage name. Marner was fluent in Russian, English, French and German, Richard Marner at the Internet Movie Database
8.
Sam Kelly
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Roger Michael Kelly, known by the stage name Sam Kelly, was an English actor who appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. He is best known for his roles as Captain Hans Geering in Allo Allo, warren in Porridge and Ted Liversidge in Barbara. Kelly was born in Manchester, Lancashire on 19 December 1943 and he attended the Liverpool Collegiate School and was a chorister at Liverpool Cathedral, where he showed early acting talent by reciting monologues. He worked for three years in the Civil Service in Liverpool before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, after graduating in 1967, he appeared in repertory theatres around the UK. His early roles included playing a director in Tiffany Jones and appearances in two of the later Carry On films, Carry On Dick and Carry On Behind. He played German officer Captain Hans Geering, leaving after the third season and he played the law-stationer Mr Snagsby in the 1985 BBC adaptation of Bleak House. In On the Up he played Dennis Watermans chauffeur and he appeared in Well Think of Something as Les Brooks, from 1995 to 2003, he played Barbaras husband Ted in the British sitcom Barbara. In 1996, Kelly appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundsons adaptation of Leo Tolstoys War and he played Bernard in Holding On and Carl Langbehn in the five-part television drama Christabel. He appeared in Midsomer Murders Down Among the Dead Men as Jack Fothergill and as the eccentric impoverished ghostwriter, Majors, in the 1990s, he co-starred in the comedy television series Haggard and in the miniseries Martin Chuzzlewit. Pinafore with the new DOyly Carte Opera Company in 2002, in 1998, Kelly appeared in an episode of the first series of Cold Feet, playing Algernon Gifford. On radio, he played the part of Carter Brandon in the BBC Radio 4 series of the adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in Uncle Morts South Country. These were written by Peter Tinniswood, in 2004, he appeared in EastEnders playing Stan Porter, and he also appeared in the comedy series Black Books as the father of Manny. In 2006 he appeared as the villain Guy Carse in New Tricks, Kelly starred in Jean-Paul Sartres play Kean alongside Antony Sher at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and in the West End in May 2007. In December 2007, a car struck and injured Kelly in the West End and he was to have performed in the Doctor Who episode filmed in that month, but the role was taken by David Troughton instead. Kelly though did act in the Doctor Who audio dramas The Holy Terror, in 2008, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Remember Me. In November 2008, he starred in the role of Christopher Reasons radio dramatisation of Jaroslav Hašeks The Good Soldier Švejk. From May 2009, Kelly starred as the Wizard in Londons West End Theatre production of the Wizard of Oz inspired musical Wicked, from 27 March 2010 he was succeeded by Clive Carter. He worked with director Mike Leigh on several occasions, including Grown-Ups, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing, on 23 July 2010, Kelly starred as Martin in the sitcom My Family and in the Heartbeat episode Deadlier Than the Male
9.
Vicki Michelle
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Vicki Michelle MBE is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series Allo Allo. and her father was a fish-trader and her mother an actress. She attended Knewnham Junior School in Wanstead and West Hatch Technical High School, after O-levels she stayed on at school to complete a secretarial course. Hoping to become a dancer she joined the Aida Foster stage school. Michelle was given small roles while still at stage school. She also appeared regularly in the 1970s childrens BBC TV series Crackerjack, more recently, she played the role of Amanda Newman in the 2010 TV film Resentment, and she was Deborah Whitton in the 2013 rom com The Callback Queen. After spending much of 2008 on tour with the Allo Allo, stage show, Michelle took a break to pursue various other projects, including appearing as the Wicked Queen in a pantomime production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Hull New Theatre. She rejoined the cast of Allo Allo. in March 2009, Michelle made several appearances in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Patricia Foster, mother of Jonny Foster – a role which she reprised for two episodes in early 2009. In Autumn 2014, Michelle returned to the stage in the hit play Hello Norma Jeane at Londons Kings Head Theatre, in 2012, Michelle was executive producer of the film based on the Ray Cooney theatrical Run For Your Wife. Michelle was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to charity, Vicki Michelle now suffers from the condition tinnitus. Vicki Michelle at the Internet Movie Database Official site Vicki Michelles charitable work, Daily Mail Im A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here 2014 Interview with Vicki Michelle
10.
Kirsten Cooke
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Kirsten Cooke is an English stage actress who trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Almost all of her work has been in the field of comedy. She attended Horsham High School for Girls, a grammar school. She is best known for her role as resistance fighter Michelle Dubois in the British television series Allo Allo. produced by the BBC, before then, she was an occasional member of the ensemble of comedy actors who appeared in Dave Allens sketches across several of his BBC series. More recently, she starred in episodes of the BBC childrens comedy series ChuckleVision. Her other television credits include Woolcott, Rings on Their Fingers, The Dawson Watch, The Upper Hand and she also appeared as a panellist on Blankety Blank in 1984. Kirsten Cooke at the Internet Movie Database
11.
Kenneth Connor
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Kenneth Connor, MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films. By 11 years old, he had his own act and he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he was a Gold Medal winner. Connor made his debut in J. M. Barries The Boy David, at His Majestys Theatre. During World War II he served as a gunner with the Middlesex Regiment but continued acting by touring Italy. While waiting to be demobbed in Cairo, Connor received a telegram from William Devlin asking him to join the newly formed Bristol Old Vic and he moved on to the London Old Vic Company for a 1947–48 season at the New Theatre. His most notable performances there were as Chaplain de Stogumber in Saint Joan and Dobchinsky in The Government Inspector, realising he was not a tall, impressive juvenile lead or a young lover type, he decided to specialise in comedy. He took over from Peter Sellers in Ted Rays radio show Rays a Laugh – launched by the BBC in 1949 as a successor to Tommy Handleys ITMA and he played the brother-in-law and other oddball characters such as Sidney Mincing. Ray took Connor with him to his TV shows, and the pair would star together in the third Carry On film, on occasion he appeared in The Goon Show, standing in for regular cast members struck down by illness. He also appeared in the anarchic, Goon-style TV series The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d, in 1955, Connor gained a small role in the film The Ladykillers as a taxi driver. Alongside Kenneth Williams and Eric Barker, Connor was one of three actors to appear in both the first and last of the original sequence of Carry On films. In Carry On Nurse, his real-life son Jeremy appeared as his character Bernie Bishops son, in 1961, he starred with fellow Carry On stars Sid James and Esma Cannon in the comedy film What a Carve Up. In fact, in the 1959 –1961 period, he was one of the most prominent leading men in British comedy films. As well as What a Carve Up. and the Carry On films, other films he starred in during this period included Watch Your Stern, Nearly a Nasty Accident, in 1960, he appeared as various characters in the Four Feather Falls puppet series. Connor had a tenor voice, which he occasionally used to good effect. In contrast with some of his Carry On co-stars, Connor found further success on the London stage, between 1971 and 1973, Connor joined Dads Army stars Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender on the BBC radio comedy Parsley Sidings. On television he appeared in The Black and White Minstrel Show, as Whatsisname Smith in the childrens show Rentaghost and he was honoured by the Queen with appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1991. He was still working just two days before his death, with an appearance on Noel Edmonds Telly Addicts and his final TV appearance, as Mr Warren in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes episode The Adventure of the Red Circle, was broadcast posthumously in 1994. Connor died of cancer at his home in Harrow, London in 1993, Kenneth Connor at the Internet Movie Database
12.
Richard Gibson
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Richard Gibson is an English actor, probably best known for his role as the archetypal Gestapo Officer Herr Otto Flick in the BBC hit sitcom series, Allo Allo. Gibson was born in Kampala, Uganda, before the country gained independence from the UK and he was a chorister at St. Pauls Cathedral and educated at St Pauls Cathedral School, Radley College near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and the Central School of Speech and Drama. He took part in Allo Allo. during the vast majority of the series, Gibson then toured with the group when Allo Allo. Transferred to the stage and had successful tours both in the United Kingdom and abroad, the stage version of the show gave rein to his other skills, and he was able to demonstrate his mastery of the violin. In 2003, he guest starred in the Doctor Who audio drama Flip-Flop, in the past 15 years, he has divided his time between Ireland and the UK, and continues to work in films, television, and theatre. Due to the popularity of Allo. He and Kim Hartman have formed a Flick and Helga fan club and made numerous appearances, using songs. In 2012, as guest speakers on the Fred Olsen ships, Boudicca and Balmoral, they travelled to the Canary Islands and up the Amazon River. In 2014, they were also guest performers at the Malfest Arts Festival in Malpas, Cheshire, in 2014 Gibson appeared with fellow Allo, Allo. Cast members at the Sofia International Film Festival, Gibson also works as a radio actor, scriptwriter and voiceover artist. Richard Gibson at the Internet Movie Database Interview at Den of Geek
13.
John Louis Mansi
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John Louis Mansi was a British television and film actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Born in London to an Italian father and an Irish mother, he served in the merchant navy and he was best known for his role as Engelbert von Smallhausen in the popular BBC sitcom Allo Allo. in seasons 2 to 9. He also appeared in Department S, the Ripping Yarns story Across the Andes By Frog, and his film appearances have included The Small World of Sammy Lee, the Beatles film Help. The original version of The Italian Job, Tales from the Crypt, ended in 1992, he retired from acting. He was often credited as Louis Mansi in his roles, for six years he suffered from Parkinsons disease and in May 2010 was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His interests included reading, letter writing, animal welfare and watching DVDs/videos of past favourite series/films, secret People - Member of Paris Committee Hammer the Toff - The Italian The Small World of Sammy Lee - Lous assistant Heavens Above. - Man Buying Groceries Joey Boy - Tony Help, - Priest / Thug Just like a Woman The Italian Job - Computer Room Official Tales from the Crypt - 2nd Blind Man Ooh. You Are Awful - Mancini Hard Road - Kellys Father Play Me Something - Birdwatcher Louis Mansi at the Internet Movie Database Obituary in The Independent
14.
Rose Hill (actress)
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Rose Lilian Hill was an English actress and operatic soprano, who remains best known for her role as Madame Fanny La Fan in the British television series Allo Allo. She was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Hill was born in London and won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and she started her career as a soprano in 1939, singing at the Sadlers Wells Opera in London, soubrette and lyric soprano roles such as Despina in Mozarts opera Così fan tutte. For the Glyndebourne Festival she sang Barbarina in Mozarts The Marriage of Figaro, in 1948 she sang Lucy in the world premiere of Benjamin Brittens adaptation of The Beggars Opera. Hills career in television and film started with the 1958 film The Bank Raiders and this version was filmed by Channel 4 in 1982 and broadcast as four two-hour episodes on consecutive nights in November 1982. Her longest-running role as an actress was as Madame Fanny La Fan in the British sitcom Allo Allo. in which she featured from 1982 to 1992. Her film credits included roles in A Shot in the Dark, Every Home Should Have One, Tiffany Jones, flanders and Swann wrote a song for Rose Hill called A Word on My Ear. She spent her years in Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors, until her death in 2003
15.
Gavin Richards
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Gavin Richards is an English actor, writer and director. He is best known for adapting, directing and starring in the West End production of Dario Fos Accidental Death of an Anarchist. He also played Captain Alberto Bertorelli in the BBC sitcom Allo Allo. from 1987 to 1989, Gavin was born in Tufnell Park, Islington, north London. His mother was Margaret Richards, who worked for years as an assistant to Hugh Binkie Beaumont. She went on to become secretary to Roy Strong at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Gavin attended the Burleigh Road School in Tufnell Park and later the Quintin Grammar School in St Johns Wood. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 1964–66 and he began his professional career with five years in repertory theatres in Leicester, Manchester, Bolton and Liverpool. Richards has worked as an actor, director and writer in theatre, television and he is most familiar for his portrayal of Terry Raymond in the BBC TV series EastEnders, appearing in over 300 episodes. He also played Captain Alberto Bertorelli in the TV comedy hit Allo Allo. in which he appears in thirty episodes. His television credits include roles in Coronation Street, Hi-de-Hi. The Bill, Lovejoy, Minder, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between the Lines and he co starred with Robert Powell in Hannay, with Leigh Lawson in Kinsey, Michael Kitchen in The Reporters and with Rowan Atkinson in Full Throttle. He also starred in the series Annies Bar, Driving Ambition, Hardwicke House, Mike & Angelo and many other programmes. He has appeared in films, amongst others, with Robin Williams in Being Human, with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson in Michael Apteds Triple Echo and he also starred in the production for Channel 4 TV in the UK. Gavin played Face in Griff Rhys Joness production of The Alchemist at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and he worked as a guest artist on the BBC/SPP TV co production of Kidnapped, and the TVNZ production of The Lost Children, both shot entirely in New Zealand. Gavin has performed at the London Palladium in the production of Allo Allo. He directed Shane Connaughtons first play, Jenny at the Roundhouse, London, belt & Braces also produced Brechts Mother Courage. In 1989 he played Brian in the British Gas Public Information Film about the dangers of a gas leak, the production was then remounted in the UK at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. The production also played in Blenheim, Invercargill, Whangarei, Tauranga, Theatre South is the only professional theatre company in Malrborough. Past productions include a workshop production, The Hole in the Sky
16.
Hilary Minster
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Roger Michael Hilary Minster, better known as Hilary Minster, was an English character actor. Born in Surrey, England, he is perhaps best known for playing General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen in the sitcom Allo Allo. between 1984 and 1992, other credits include Crossroads, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and a semi-regular role in Secret Army as Hauptmann Muller. Minster also had a period writing scripts with Kenneth Williams for the latters International Cabaret television show. In 1974, Minster appeared as Lieutenant Lightfoot in the Upstairs, Downstairs episode Facing Fearful Odds and he also appeared twice in Doctor Who, as the Thal soldier Marat in Planet of the Daleks and as an unnamed Thal soldier in Genesis of the Daleks. This makes him one of the few Doctor Who actors to have played two characters from the alien race. He also had a part in another episode of a successful science fiction series playing Yagon in Achilles Heel. His film appearances were scarce but include roles in A Bridge Too Far, The Godsend, Cry Freedom and he was a presenter and producer of Central Independent Televisions flagship ethnic minorities current affairs programme Here and Now during the early 1980s. Minster died from cancer in London on 24 November 1999 and his body was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery. The epitaph on the gravestone reads, The noblest of men and he brought laughter to a million hearts. Loving father to Leo, Quona, Jack and Lyall, sources differ as to the year of his birth. Dates given include 19 September 1939 and 21 March 1945, according to the BBC DVD Genesis of the Daleks, Hilary Minster was born in 1945. According to the index, however, his birth was registered between April and June 1944
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BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
18.
BBC Worldwide
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BBC Worldwide Ltd. is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcast abroad with the aim of supplementing the income received by the BBC through the licence fee. In 2013/14, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £157. 4m and headline sales of £1,042. 3m, in 2012/13 it made a profit of £156. 3m on a turnover of £1,115. 8m. The company had made a profit of £104m on a turnover of £1, 085m in the previous financial year. BBC Worldwides profit rate was 11. 2% in 2011/2012, up slightly from 9. 6% the previous year, down from a peak of 21. 5% in 2002/2003, contrasting with 7. 8% in 2003/2004. The highest profile of these products was the listings magazine Radio Times. Prior to 1979, several BBC departments dealt with the exploitation and sale of BBC brands and this was rectified however as the economic situation eased and by 1982 BBC Publications had a trading profit of £4.7 million. BBC Transcription Services licensed BBC Radio material to overseas broadcasters, the selling of television programmes was at first handled in 1958 with the establishment of a business manager post. This gradually expanded until the establishment of the Television Promotions department in 1960 under a general manager, in its first year, the department saw the sale of 550 programmes overseas with a turnover of £234,000, with a further 1,200 programmes sold the following year. Radio programmes were only exploited on the level with the creation of the Radio Enterprises department in 1965. However, following the retirement of the Radio Enterprises general manager in 1969, in 1979 the department became BBC Enterprises Ltd. a subsidiary company wholly owned by the BBC. By 1982, the division were expanding with divisions responsible for video, recorded audio, film. At this point the company had a turnover of £23 million, on 1 April 1986, all commercial activities of the corporation, including BBC Publications, was merged into BBC Enterprises Ltd. In 1991 BBC World Service Television became the first commercially funded BBC broadcasting operation after the Foreign Office refused to pay for it, BBC Enterprises Ltd was subsequently reorganised in 1995 as BBC Worldwide Ltd. A review of the BBCs commercial activities took place in 2004 and concluded that the sell off of BBC Worldwides assets would not be as advantageous as keeping the business and driving it harder. Instead, some changes to its remit, focus, structure and governance were made, in 2007 BBC Worldwide purchased a 75% stake in the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet, acquiring the final 25% of the company in 2011. The acquisition was part of the BBCs strategy to grow its online portfolio and to increase its operations in Australia, in January 2009 it was announced that Ofcom had put forward the recommendation that Channel 4 merge with either the commercial network Five or BBC Worldwide. In the same year, the company was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise in recognition of the companies growth, in 2012, the company began to reorganise their divisions from a product based system to a location-based system, resulting in Jana Bennett leaving the company
19.
Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
20.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Australias national public broadcaster, owned and funded by the government. The ABC plays a role in the history of broadcasting in Australia. With a total budget of A$1. Founded in 1929 as the Australian Broadcasting Company, it was made a state-owned corporation on 1 July 1932 as the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains editorially independent as ensured through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983. The ABC is sometimes referred to as Aunty, originally in imitation of the British Broadcasting Corporations nickname. The first public station in Australia opened in Sydney on 23 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB with other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. It also nationalised the Australian Broadcasting Company which had created by entertainment interests to supply programs to various radio stations. Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a broadcasting organisation through regular program relays. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum was constituted of the ABC and the commercial sector, in 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing and it was used only once, in 1963. In the same year, Kindergarten of the Air began on ABC Radio in Perth, cater argues that reform was urgently needed in 1945, By the end of World War II, the ABC was a decadent, hollow institution. Its authority had been compromised by a poorly drafted charter and further undermined by timid management, poor governance, in April 1945, Boyer refused to accept the post of chairman until Prime Minister Curtin issued a mandate of independence which Boyer drafted itself. The ABC commenced television broadcasting in 1956, and followed the earlier practice of naming the station after the first letter of the base state. ABN-2 Sydney was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956, with the first broadcast presented by Michael Charlton, aBV-2 followed two weeks later, on 18 November 1956. Stations in other cities followed, ABQ-2, ABS-2, ABW-2. ABC-3 Canberra opened in 1961, and ABD-6 started broadcasting in 1971, although radio programs could be distributed nationally by landline, television relay facilities were not in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually
21.
BBC One
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BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
22.
BBC Television
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BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927 and it produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936. The BBCs domestic television channels have no advertising and collectively they account for more than 30% of all UK viewing. The services are funded by a television licence, the BBC operates several television networks, television stations, and related programming services in the United Kingdom. As well as being a broadcaster, the corporation also produces a number of its own programmes in-house. The simultaneous transmission of sound and pictures was achieved on 30 March 1930, by late 1930, thirty minutes of morning programmes were broadcast from Monday to Friday, and thirty minutes at midnight on Tuesdays and Fridays after BBC radio went off the air. Bairds broadcasts via the BBC continued until June 1932, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. Ally Pally housed two studios, various stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms, offices, and the transmitter itself. BBC television initially used two systems on alternate weeks, the 240-line Baird intermediate film system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system. The use of both made the BBCs service the worlds first regular high-definition television service, it broadcast from Monday to Saturday between 15,00 and 16,00, and 21,00 and 22,00. The two systems were to run on a basis for six months, early television sets supported both resolutions. Television production was switched from Bairds company to what is now known as BBC One on 2 August 1932, regularly scheduled electronically scanned television began from Alexandra Palace in London on 2 November 1936, to just a few hundred viewers in the immediate area. The first programme broadcast – and thus the first ever, on a dedicated TV channel – was Opening of the BBC Television Service at 15,00, the first major outside broadcast was the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937. The service was reaching an estimated 25, 000–40,000 homes before the outbreak of World War II which caused the service to be suspended in September 1939. Also, many of the services technical staff and engineers would be needed for the war effort. According to figures from Britains Radio Manufacturers Association,18,999 television sets had been manufactured from 1936 to September 1939, BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00. Jasmine Bligh, one of the announcers, made the first announcement, saying. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later
23.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
24.
Secret Army (TV series)
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Secret Army is a television drama made by the BBC and the Belgian national broadcaster BRT created by Gerard Glaister. It was made in the UK and Belgium and three series were broadcast on BBC1 between 7 September 1977 and 15 December 1979, Lisa Colbert runs Lifeline, a Brussels-based resistance organisation that helps Allied aircrew to evade capture and return to Britain via neutral Switzerland or Spain. She is helped by Albert Foiret, proprietor of the Cafe Candide, his mistress Monique Duchamps and their operations are put under further strain when fervent Nazi Gestapo Sturmbannführer Ludwig Kessler is assigned to work with Luftwaffe Major Erwin Brandt and close down the evasion line. Flight Lieutenant John Curtis, an evader, is sent back by London as a Special Operations Executive liaison officer to coordinate its activity. At first he is greeted with hostility and suspicion, there is romantic tension between him and Lisa. Series One introduces the characters and the daily risks they take to rescue the young airmen whilst under German occupation, protecting their safehouses. By the end of this series Kessler and Brandt are closing in on Curtis, since their investigation into a murder in France has led them to the name Monsieur Maurice, Brandt and Kessler pay their first visit to the Candide to locate him. Kesslers interest in Curtis poses a significant threat to Lifeline and so it is agreed that Curtis will return to England, however Kessler orders a troop encirclement of Brussels in order to trap him. Curtis manages to escape to Switzerland by posing as bus driver for a local Hitler Youth group that is travelling out of the city on a day trip, a continuing storyline is Alberts affair with barmaid Monique Duchamps, while his wife Andrée Foiret is bedridden. In the final episode of the series Andrée finds out by spotting Monique going into Alberts bedroom and she tries to speak to Albert and gets into her wheelchair for the first time but falls down the stairs and breaks her neck, dying instantly. Other characters introduced in the first series are, Gaston Colbert, Lisas uncle and bank manager, who has been helping Lifeline, a batch of forged banknotes is traced to Gaston, and Kessler interrogates him in the belief he will lead to the people running the evasion line. Lisa later learns that Gaston has been shot trying to escape from German HQ. Alain Muny, who is Lifelines wireless operator who maintains with London, dr Pascal Keldermans who helps with medical treatment for the airmen, and gives Lisa cover by employing her as a nurse at his surgery. Albert has sold the Cafe Candide and now owns an upper-class black-market restaurant, called the Restaurant Candide, Albert takes over the running of Lifeline when Lisa is killed in the first episode by Allied bombing whilst travelling in France. The German officers frequent the new establishment regularly, allowing all the characters to interact. To capitalise on actress Angela Richards singing talents, Monique performs regularly for the diners, and these scenes both transform the character of Monique from a dowdy waitress to a sultry chanteuse and provide a contrast to their often stressful undercover activities. Although he declines, he becomes seen as guilty by association and this, and the death of his family in a British air raid on Berlin, results in his suicide, to avoid a court-martial, at the end of these series. The series also introduces a new character, pianist and forger Max Brocard, Max is a Communist infiltrator of Lifeline, responsible for the death of Natalies boyfriend François
25.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
26.
Nouvion
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Nouvion is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Nouvion is situated 10 miles north of Abbeville, between the Somme estuary and the forest of Crécy, on the D1001 departmental road junction with the departmental road D111, Nouvion had a station on the Noyelles - Forest-lAbbaye branch of the Réseau des Bains de Mer. It opened on 24 August 1892, and closed on 10 March 1947, Nouvion features as the name of the French town in which the BBC TV series Allo Allo. is set. The filming was however never done in the town, but in Norfolk, communes of the Somme department INSEE The community of communes of Nouvion-en-Ponthieu Quid town profile Position of Nouvion on the map of France
27.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
28.
Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
29.
The Fallen Madonna
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Written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, as well as The Cracked Vase with the Big Daisies by real artist Vincent van Gogh. The first episode of the first series of Allo Allo. following the pilot, was titled The Fallen Madonna, in an earlier pilot the painting was referred to as the reclining Madonna. Allo Allo. was set in the French town of Nouvion during the German occupation of the Second World War and its focus was a café in the town square run by René Artois. There were sustained attempts by the occupiers to appropriate the Fallen Madonna, among those who coveted it were the local German commandant Colonel Kurt Von Strohm and the Führer Adolf Hitler himself on whose behalf Herr Otto Flick of the Gestapo was instructed to secure it. The painting was seen and hidden in various guises, it was often secreted, with suggestive possibilities, an incredible number of forgeries of the Fallen Madonna were made, mostly by Lieutenant Gruber and Monsieur LeClerc, which were hidden in knackwurst sausages in Renés kitchen. The forgeries were subsequently destroyed in various ways
30.
Captain Hans Geering
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Captain Hans Geering is a fictional character from the British sitcom series Allo Allo. He was played by actor Sam Kelly, Geering is Colonel Kurt Von Strohms assistant and usually comes with him to the café. His rank is that of Captain, which is equal to Hauptmann in the Wehrmacht, the rank is denoted by two gilt stars, and the white band around the epaulette gives his arm of service as infantry. In the first episode, however, his uniform is that of a lieutenant, one rank junior to Captain, in Episode 2, Geering and Strohm get their uniforms stolen by René to help the British Airmen. They are forced to hide in the waitresses bedroom, Geering, twice in the series, mentions he is married and has children, although he cheats on his wife. Geering once mentioned that he was born in Berlin, but was smuggled out in a suitcase by his mother, to prevent his discovering that he existed. Geering develops the habit of greeting other officers with the abbreviated line -tler, Geering often heralded the Führer by saying -tler. In an episode where Geering and Von Strohm must retrieve a painting, Geering hits a German guard over the head, Von Strohm is mortified, saying, Hans, youre knocking out our own people. To which Geering replies, It was a shot, wasnt it. In the opening episode of Series 4, René, Edith, the waitresses, Strohm, Geering is used for the first test of their escape mechanism, a wooden see-saw. After René jumps from the roof of a hut onto one end, Geering is propelled from the other over the fence and it emerges that Geering was mistaken for a British airman by the Communist Resistance and sent to Britain, where he is now voluntarily working for British Intelligence. In series 7, René and Yvette are planning to make their way to England in an aeroplane, however, it is Edith that accidentally goes with René. They land in London, and Winston Churchill requests their presence, however, they are taken to Intelligence first. Seeing that they are not the airmen, the Intelligence boss calls his interpreter, however, upon entering the room, he doesnt seem to have got rid of the habit of raising his hand and greeting them with a loud tler. When alone with René and Edith, he explains how he became an English citizen and he also reveals that he found out, while working with the Intelligence, that René is the Resistance activist known as Nighthawk. Geering, a naturalised British citizen, speaks English with an upper-class and it is revealed that he knew how to speak English even back in Nouvion. He takes René and Edith to some important places in London, by night, René and Edith return home
31.
Adolf Hitler
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Adolf Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As dictator of the German Reich, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust, Hitler was born in Austria, then part of Austria-Hungary, and raised near Linz. He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I and he joined the German Workers Party, the precursor of the NSDAP, in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923 he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power, the failed coup resulted in Hitlers imprisonment, during which he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf. Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy, by 1933, the Nazi Party was the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, which led to Hitlers appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain, Hitler sought Lebensraum for the German people in Eastern Europe. His aggressive foreign policy is considered to be the cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and on 1 September 1939 invaded Poland, resulting in British, in June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941 German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe, failure to defeat the Soviets and the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time lover, on 30 April 1945, less than two days later, the two killed themselves to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians, in addition,29 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European Theatre of World War II. The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in warfare, Hitlers father Alois Hitler Sr. was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, in 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Aloiss mother Maria Anna. Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedlers brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, in 1876, Alois was legitimated and the baptismal register changed by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Aloiss father. Alois then assumed the surname Hitler, also spelled Hiedler, Hüttler, the Hitler surname is probably based on one who lives in a hut. Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Aloiss mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz, and that the familys 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, and no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenbergers existence, Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary, close to the border with the German Empire. He was one of six born to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl
32.
Herr Otto Flick
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Herr Otto Flick is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo Allo. which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by Richard Gibson for most of the sitcoms run, on The Return of Allo Allo. Herr Flick is an officer of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police during World War II, on the rare occasions he wears uniform, he is shown to be an SS-Sturmbannführer. He is portrayed as unemotional and seems hurt only when he finds Private Helga kissing the Italian Captain Bertorelli, apart from this, the only emotion he ever shows is anger. Flick is a godson of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and he explains in one episode that he is an orphan and was raised by nuns. He has stated that he didnt want to join the Gestapo. When he is arrested by General von Klinkerhoffen, Himmler comes to his rescue by sending a telegram to the General requesting Flicks release, Flick is assisted by Smallhausen, a junior officer of the Gestapo who is not too intelligent. Whenever Smallhausen makes a statement that is stupid or is out of line with his bosss thinking. Flick is in love with Helga, although he keeps this hidden. When she comes to see him he always says You may kiss me and she then proceeds to kiss him passionately, while he stands quite still, with his facial expression not changing. He is excessively domineering, to both her and Smallhausen and his secret HQs address is Rue de Gangoine 32. In his dungeon, Herr Flick has many disguises and he and his assistant Smallhausen are often shown in disguise, attempting entry to places they are not supposed to be, such as the Château. Herr Flick has a fondness for using experimental truth serums made from assorted exotic animals such as the Self-inflating Peruvian Marsh Frog or the Patagonian Fruit Bat and these serums often have interesting physical side effects on his victims. He also has a collection of Gestapo gramophone records dealing with such subjects as How to fool French peasants into believing you are English in one easy lesson – Faw F-Faw Faw-Faw-Faw. Flick plays the violin well and his favourite animal is the rat this is apparently why he tolerates Smallhausen. He owns a homing pigeon named Boris, at the start of Series 9, Flick has plastic surgery, so that when the Allies invade France he will not be recognised. This device is used to explain David Jansons taking-over playing the role, Herr Otto Flick at the Internet Movie Database
