1.
Comic Relief, Inc.
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Comic Relief, Inc. previously known as America Gives Back Inc. is an operating 501 American charity. It is an independent sister organization to the UK charity Comic Relief and is not connected to the former American charity Comic Relief USA. Comic Relief, Inc. is notable for the 2015 US launch of Red Nose Day, on February 8,1988, Lenny Henry went to Ethiopia and celebrated the very first Red Nose Day Telethon. Over 150 celebrities and comedians participated, the event raised £15 million and attracted 30 million viewers on BBC television. The highlight of Comic Relief is Red Nose Day which raises funds for children in need, poverty alleviation, Official Comic Relief, Inc. website Official Comic Relief UK website Red Nose Day USA web site NBC. com page for Red Nose Day
Comic Relief, Inc.
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Comic Relief logo
2.
Comic Relief USA
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Comic Relief, Inc. was a non-profit charity organization whose mission is to raise funds to help those in need—particularly Americas homeless. It has raised and distributed nearly US$50 million toward providing assistance—including health care services—to homeless people throughout the United States, in exchange for contributions exceeding certain key amounts, T-shirts, sweatshirts and other merchandise are typically for sale. He worked with HBO executive Chris Albrecht to found the U. S. version in 1986, robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg were chosen to co-host Comic Reliefs four-plus-hour maiden fundraiser. Other comics involved included Michael Keaton, Richard Dreyfuss, and Penny Marshall, as well as Bob Goldthwait, Howie Mandel, Minnie Pearl, the first show netted US$2.5 million. According to the website, more than $50 million has been raised since. Notes, * indicates an event, or a compilation. Italics indicates a formal Comic Relief show, there has also been an A&E Network series, The Best of Comic Relief. Generally, HBO and other sponsors pick up all of the costs of Comic Relief events, also, the hosts and other performers of Comic Relief events often get involved personally in projects run or supported by the charity. Comic Relief distributes most of its funds raised to Health Care for the Homeless, conference of Mayors, and works annually in all 50 states with thousands of homeless children. HCH projects are created and run by their 104 organizational members in local communities, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Comic Relief made a point of rescuing pets and animals—and returning them to their owners when possible. A new internationally held and aired event, Comic Relief Wild, The Concert for Animals, addressed endangered species and habitat destruction around the world in 2007
Comic Relief USA
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Comic Relief
Comic Relief USA
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Billy Crystal
Comic Relief USA
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Whoopi Goldberg
Comic Relief USA
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Robin Williams
3.
Telethon
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A telethon is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitations for pledges combined with variety show style entertainment, the equivalent term for a radio broadcast is a radiothon, most radiothons do not include the entertainment. In 1949, Milton Berle hosted the first ever telethon, raising $1,100,000 for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation over the course of 16 hours, the first published appearance of the word telethon was in the following days newspapers. One of the first continuing annual telethons in the United States was the United Cerebral Palsy telethon and he continued to host New York-based segments on the telethon through the 1980s. The telethon is now defunct as UCP raises funds through other means, by 1955 televised telethons had become a familiar enough part of American culture to be parodied that year in the film noir Tight Spot as comic relief. That began broadcasting as a 22-hour event on the first weekend of March 1954, as of 2016, WBAY has presented the telethon for 62 years. The Crusade is famous for the legions of firefighters who collect money at road blocks at intersections throughout the area each May and June. The Crusade annually collects more than $5 million in donations for a variety of child-related charities and causes, the most-broadcast telethon to date was the January 22,2010 Hope for Haiti Now telethon, to aid the victims of the January 10th earthquake. It offered the possibility for viewers to text donations on cell phones, in the United States, telethons are held for various Charitable organizations, as of 2012, however, no national telethons currently exist. The MDA telethon had its final edition in 2014, before it was announced in May 2015 that the MDA was discontinuing its annual event. In the past, other such as the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, United Cerebral Palsy. On PBS member stations, the recent practice of pre-produced pledge breaks has become common, trinity Broadcasting Network, a religious television network, hosts non-stop, week-long, semi-annual telethons called Praise-a-Thons. The Christian Broadcasting Network stages a modified form of a telethon thrice yearly, other religious stations and networks hold telethons as well, including West Coast Chabad Lubavitch since 1980. For a brief time in the early 1970s, beginning in 1972, the telethon idea was created and promoted by John Y. Brown, Jr. the businessman who built Kentucky Fried Chicken into a worldwide chain, New York City also features a telethon of sorts, the WFAN Radiothon, by virtue of its two drive time shows being simulcast on cable television, has portions covered on television. Since 2010, this has included the portion covering Boomer and Carton in the Morning on CBS Sports Network and Mikes On on Fox Sports 1/2. From 2002 to 2007, the shows in question were Imus in the Morning on MSNBC and Mike, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital orchestrates a series of Radio Cares for St. Jude radiothons on local radio stations of various formats across the United States each year. Garden City High School in Garden City, Kansas holds annual telethons to fund the schools broadcasting, debate
Telethon
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The "Glass House" radiothon studio of Serious Request in
Groningen 's market square in 2009, in front of its city hall.
Telethon
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Fundraising for 24 Hour Television at
Kanazawa-Bunko Station, 2007.
4.
Richard Curtis
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Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is an English screenwriter, producer and film director, who was born in New Zealand to Australian parents. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley and he is also the co-founder of the British charity Comic Relief along with Sir Lenny Henry. In 2007, Curtis received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest award the British Film Academy can give a filmmaker and he received the BAFTA Humanitarian Award at the 2008 Britannia Awards, for co-creating Comic Relief and contributions to other charitable causes. In 2008 he was ranked number 12 in The Telegraphs list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture. In 2012, Curtis was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles Sgt, peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Australian parents Glyness S. and Anthony J. Curtis and his father was a Czechoslovakian refugee who moved to Australia when aged thirteen. Curtis and his family lived in different countries during his childhood, including Sweden. For a short period in the 1970s, Curtis lived in Warrington, where he attended Appleton Grammar School, before he won a scholarship to Harrow School and he achieved a first-class Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. At the University of Oxford, Curtis met and began working with Rowan Atkinson and he appeared in the companys After Eights at the Oxford Playhouse in May 1976. Collaborating with Rowan Atkinson in the Oxford Revue, he appeared alongside him at his breakthrough Edinburgh Fringe show, as a result of this, Curtis was commissioned to co-write the BBC Radio 3 series The Atkinson People with Atkinson in 1978, which was transmitted in 1979. He then began to write comedy for film and TV and he was a regular writer on the TV series Not the Nine OClock News, where he wrote many of the shows songs with Howard Goodall and many sketches, often with Rowan Atkinson. Curtis was the co-writer with Philip Pope of the Hee Bee Gee Bees single Meaningless Songs released in 1980 to parody the style of a series of Bee Gees disco hits. First with Atkinson, and later with Ben Elton, Curtis then wrote the Blackadder series from 1983 to 1989, Atkinson played the lead throughout, but Curtis remains the only person to have been a writer for every episode of Blackadder. The pair continued their collaboration with the comedy series Mr. Bean, Curtis had by then already begun writing feature films. His first was The Tall Guy in 1989, the romantic comedy starred Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson and was produced by Working Title films. The TV movie Bernard and the Genie followed in 1991, in 1994, Curtis created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French, which was a great success. Curtis achieved his success with the romantic comedy Four Weddings. The 1994 film, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was produced on a budget by the British production company Working Title Films
Richard Curtis
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Curtis in 1999
5.
Lenny Henry
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Henry was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, on 29 August 1958, the son of Jamaican immigrants. One of seven children, he was the first to be born in the United Kingdom and he attended St Johns Primary School and later The Blue Coat School in Dudley before completing his schooling at W. R. Tuson College in Preston, Lancashire. Henrys first manager was Robert Luff, who signed him in 1975 and gave him the opportunity to perform as part of the Luff-produced touring stage version of The Black, in July 2009, Lenny Henry stated he was contractually obliged to perform and regretted his part in the show. His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, the following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWTs sitcom The Fosters, Britains first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working mens clubs, where he impersonated mainly white characters such as the Some Mothers Do Ave Em character Frank Spencer and he also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show. In 1980, Henry performed in Summer Season in Blackpool with Cannon and he has since said that the summer season was the first time felt that act had received a proper response from an audience. Around the same time, he co-hosted the childrens programme Tiswas from 1978 until 1981, also in 1980, he teamed up with The Comic Strip where he met his wife, comedian Dawn French. She encouraged him to move over to the alternative comedy scene. He introduced characters who both mocked and celebrated black British culture, such as Theophilus P. Wildebeeste, Brixton pirate radio disc jockey DJ Delbert Wilkins and his stand-up material, which sold well on LP, owed much to the writing abilities of Kim Fuller. During this time he spent three years as a DJ on BBC Radio 1, playing soul and electro tracks and introducing some of the characters that he would later popularise on television. He made a guest appearance in the episode of The Young Ones as The Postman. The first series of The Lenny Henry Show appeared on the BBC in 1984, a principal scriptwriter for his television and stage shows during the 1990s was Jon Canter. The Lenny Henry Show ran for a further 20 years in various incarnations and he performed impressions such as Tina Turner, Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Run DMC, among others. Prior to the 1987 general election, Henry lent his support to Red Wedge by participating in a tour organised by the campaign. In 1987, he appeared in a TV film Coast to Coast and it was a comedy thriller with John Shea about two DJs with a shared passion for Motown music being chased across Britain. The film has a following, but contractual problems have prevented it from being distributed on video or DVD. In the early 1990s, Henry starred in the Hollywood film True Identity, the film was not commercially successful. In 1991, he starred in a BBC drama alongside Robbie Coltrane called Alive and Kicking, in which he played a heroin addict, also in 1991, he starred in the Christmas comedy Bernard and the Genie alongside Alan Cumming and Rowan Atkinson
Lenny Henry
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Henry in the 1980s
Lenny Henry
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Henry (right) in The Comedy of Errors in 2011
6.
Jonathan Ross
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Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE is an English television and radio presenter, film critic, and actor best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross during the 2000s. Ross also hosted his own show on BBC Radio 2. After leaving the BBC, Ross then began hosting a new show on ITV. Other regular roles have included being a regular panellist on the sports quiz They Think Its All Over. Ross began his career as a programme researcher, before débuting as a television presenter for The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross on Channel 4 in 1987. Over the next decade he had radio and television roles, many through his own production company. In 1995 he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC. In 1999, Ross took over presenting the Film programme from Barry Norman, for the chat show, Ross won three BAFTA awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004,2006 and 2007. By 2006 Ross was believed to be the BBCs highest paid star, in 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting. Ross has been involved in throughout his broadcasting career. As a result, in 2008 he wrote a work titled Why Do I Say These Things. Detailing some of his life experiences, Ross has been married to the author, journalist and broadcaster Jane Goldman since 1988, they have three children. Ross and Goldman have together established the production company Hotsauce TV. Ross is known as a fan and collector of comic books and memorabilia. Ross is known for his voice, flamboyant style of dress, light-hearted banter. Their mother put all of her children forward for roles in television advertisements, Ross first appeared in a television advertisement for the breakfast cereal Kelloggs Rice Krispies in 1970, when he was 10 years old. He also appeared in an ad for the laundry detergent Persil, Ross was educated at Norlington School for Boys, a comprehensive school and at Leyton County High School for Boys, a comprehensive school. He then studied Modern European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London, Ross began his adult career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show Loose Talk
Jonathan Ross
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Jonathan Ross at
Live 8 on 2 July 2005.
Jonathan Ross
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Ross with
Ricky Gervais at
Live 8 in July 2005
Jonathan Ross
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Ross with his wife
Jane Goldman at the
British Academy Television Awards 2009
7.
Miranda Hart
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Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke, known professionally as Miranda Hart or sometimes referred to as Miranda, is an English actress and comedian. Hart reached an audience with her self-driven semi-autobiographical BBC sitcom Miranda. The television sitcom ran for three series and several Christmas specials from 2009 to 2015 and earned its star 3 Royal Television Society awards,4 British Comedy Awards and 4 BAFTA nominations, in 2012, she began appearing in the BBC drama Call the Midwife as Camilla Chummy Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne. She made her Hollywood debut in Paul Feigs film Spy as Melissa McCarthys sidekick Nancy B, Hart has also written three books, Is It Just Me. A semi-autobiographical book, The Best of Miranda, a compilation of scripts from the TV series and her father was commanding officer of HMS Coventry when it was sunk by the Argentinians in the 1982 Falklands conflict, and he was badly burned in trying to escape the stricken warship. Hart added that her genealogy can be traced back to the 12th century and her paternal family can be traced through her grandfather, the Reverend Eric Hart Dyke. Her paternal great-great-great-grandfather was cricketer and Rector Thomas Dyke, Harts patrilineal great-great-great-great-grandfather was Sir Percival Hart Dyke, 5th Baronet. Her distant cousin, the 10th and present baronet, Sir David Hart Dyke, One of her first cousins is plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, creator of the World of Gardens at Lullingstone Castle. Her maternal grandfather was Sir William Luce, who was Commander-in-Chief and her mothers only sibling is The Rt Hon The Lord Luce, a former Conservative MP and Minister, later HM Governor and Commander in Chief of Gibraltar and Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household. Richards son, the journalist and author Edward Luce, is one of Miranda Harts first cousins and her great-uncle, the brother of her maternal grandfather, was Admiral Sir David Luce, who served as First Sea Lord. The father of David and William, Miranda Harts great-grandfather, was Rear Admiral John Luce, johns brother, her great-great-uncle, was Major General Sir Richard Harman Luce, who served as Member of Parliament for Derby from 1924–29. Her other maternal great-grandfather was Vice Admiral Sir Trevylyan Napier, who was the Commander-in-Chief, America and his wife, Mirandas great-grandmother, was Mary Elizabeth Culme-Seymour, daughter of Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet, Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom. Both the Culme-Seymours were implicated in the Mylius affair, Hart was a fourth cousin, twice removed, of Diana, Princess of Wales. Their common ancestors were George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer and his wife Lavinia Spencer and she attended the University of the West of England in Bristol, graduating with a 2,1 degree in political science. Hart then completed a course in Acting at the Academy of Live. In 2002, she performed a show in Edinburgh and in 2004 she pitched a comedy show to the BBC. At her read-through for BBC executives, Ab Fab writer and star Jennifer Saunders was present, before her own series was commissioned, Hart made appearances in various British sitcoms. In Not Going Out she initially appeared as an acupuncturist, however, her performance impressed producers so much that they wrote a regular role for her as Barbara, a clumsy cleaner
Miranda Hart
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Hart in 2011
Miranda Hart
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Hart at the London premiere of
I Want Candy in March 2007
8.
Romesh Ranganathan
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Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan is a British stand-up comedian and actor. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards and he has made multiple appearances on comedy panel shows and in 2016, he co-presented Its Not Rocket Science, alongside Rachel Riley and Ben Miller. He is also regular panellist on Play to the Whistle and The Apprentice, in 2016, he completed his first major tour, Irrational Live, in which he performed in some iconic venues such as the Hammersmith Apollo. This tour was released as a DVD. Ranganathan started presenting Newsjack on Radio 4 Extra in March 2014 and he appeared on The Great British Bake Off, An Extra Slice in 2014, during which he presented his homemade vegan chocolate brownies. Ranganathan is a vegan, having been a vegetarian up until 2013, Ranganathan has guested on multiple episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. He has also appeared on Would I Lie to You, holby City, Soccer AM, Russell Howards Good News, Sweat the Small Stuff, The Last Leg, Virtually Famous, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week. He was a contestant on the first series of Taskmaster. In 2015, he presented a series for BBC Three, Asian Provocateur, in October 2016, the second series was aired in which Ranganathan and his mother travel to America to meet more of his relatives. He also joined The Apprentice, Youre Fired. in 2015 as a regular panellist, the show is a spin-off from The Apprentice. In December 2015, he appeared in Josh Widdicombes sitcom, Josh, in 2016, he co-presented Its Not Rocket Science, a new entertainment series for ITV, alongside Ben Miller and Rachel Riley. He is married and a father of three, in 2014 Ranganathans wife, Leesa, was admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during The Edinburgh Fringe Festival where Ranganathan was appearing and gave birth to their son. Prior to his career, he was a freestyle rapper under rap name Ranga. Ranganathan taught maths and was head of form at Hazelwick School in Crawley before becoming a professional comedian in 2012. His wife was a teacher at Hazelwick. He is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent and a supporter of Arsenal F. C. Ranganathan is a vegan and was raised Hindu and his mother has said that he always prays before he leaves the home, although Ranganathan describes himself as not massively spiritual. In February 2015, shortly after the Chapel Hill shooting, he tweeted, alan Carrs 12 Stars of Christmas Big Fat Quiz of the Year Romesh Ranganathan at the Internet Movie Database Romesh Ranganathan on Twitter
Romesh Ranganathan
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Romeshi Ranganathan in 2013
9.
Warwick Davis
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Davis also starred as a fictionalised version of himself in the sitcom Lifes Too Short, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Davis was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son of Susan J. and Ashley Davis and he was educated at Chinthurst School and later the City of London Freemens School. Davis was born with Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare form of dwarfism. When Davis was 11, his grandmother heard a radio advert calling for people who were 4 feet tall or shorter to be in Return of the Jedi, to Davis, who was a fan of the Star Wars films, it was a dream come true. During the filming of Return of the Jedi, Mark Hamill bought Davis every Star Wars figure he did not have, Davis based his Ewok movements on his dog, who would tilt his head from side to side whenever he saw something strange. The unreleased film was a look at his decision to become an actor and act in the film. Davis reprised his role as Wicket in the ABC made-for-TV films Caravan of Courage, An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks, The Battle for Endor. In 1987, Davis was called to Elstree Studios in London to meet with Ron Howard and George Lucas to discuss a new project called Willow. Willow was his first opportunity to act with his face visible and he co-starred with Val Kilmer in the film, which received a Royal Premiere before the Prince and Princess of Wales. In 1993, he played the villainous Irish goblin in Leprechaun, Davis played the role of Professor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter films. Davis played a white-moustached Flitwick in the first two films, and then an unnamed chorus conductor for the third instalment of the series. In the fourth film, Flitwick is younger looking, with short, brown hair, in addition to playing Flitwick, Davis played the role of the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, despite the role being played previously by fellow dwarf actor Verne Troyer. In 2004, Davis played the character Plates in the indie film Skinned Deep, in 2006, Davis appeared, alongside fellow Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, in an episode of BBCs comedy series Extras as a satirical version of himself. Davis starred in the version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. In December 2006, Davis starred in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the Opera House, Manchester, and again in 2007–08 at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Davis appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, in which he played Nikabrik the Dwarf and he also appeared as a contestant on the 2007 series of Children in Need reality show Celebrity Scissorhands. Davis starred as a version of himself in Lifes Too Short, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In December 2012, Davis returned to New Wimbledon Theatre to reprise his role in Snow White, in 2014, Davis hosted a factual series for ITV called Weekend Escapes with Warwick Davis
Warwick Davis
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Davis in 2007
Warwick Davis
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Davis with fellow Star Wars actor
Anthony Daniels in 2010
10.
Graham Norton
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Graham William Walker, better known as Graham Norton, is an Irish television and radio presenter, DJ, comedian, actor, and writer. He is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show, previously shown on BBC Two, it took the prestigious Friday night slot on BBC One from The Jonathan Ross Show in 2010. He also presents on BBC Radio 2 and is the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest, Norton is known for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style. In 2012, he sold his company, So Television. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Norton was named the eighth most influential person in British culture, Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, and grew up in Bandon, County Cork. His family are members of the Church of Ireland and his fathers family were from County Wicklow, while his mother was Northern Irish, from Belfast. Norton took part in the TV programme Who Do You Think You Are. to trace his ancestry. Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School, in West Cork, and then University College, Cork, in June 2013, he received an honorary doctorate from University College Cork, he occasionally mentions this in order to win on-air arguments on his BBC Radio 2 show. Norton moved to London and attended the Central School of Speech and he also worked as a waiter during that time. Upon joining the actors union Equity, he chose Norton as his stage name, as there was already an actor called Graham Walker. His rise to fame began as one of the successes of Channel 5. In 1996, he co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane. In 1996, Norton played the part of Father Noel Furlong in three episodes of the Channel 4 series Father Ted, which was set on the fictional Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland, Father Furlong was often seen taking charge of the St. Lukes Youth Group. After this early success, Norton moved to Channel 4 to host his own shows including So Graham Norton. As a performer who is not only gay, but also camp and flamboyant, it was here that Nortons act was fully honed as a cheeky. In 2003, he was the subject of controversy in the United Kingdom when, on his show on Channel 4, also in 2003, Norton was listed in The Observer as one of the 1000 funniest acts in British comedy. In the summer of 2004, Norton ventured into American television, the Graham Norton Effect debuted on 24 June 2004 on Comedy Central, and was also broadcast in the UK on BBC Three. In the midst of controversy surrounding Justin Timberlake and Janet Jacksons Super Bowl performance, Norton was wary of moving into the market
Graham Norton
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Norton in 2004.
Graham Norton
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Norton at 2009 BAFTA awards
Graham Norton
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Norton with
Josh Dubovie at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Graham Norton
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Norton with his dog Bailey in 2006, supporting
Crusaid.
11.
Russell Brand
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Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, author, and activist. Beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter, Brand first achieved notoriety in 2004 as the host of Big Brothers Big Mouth. He also worked as an actor in the animated films Despicable Me in 2010, Hop in 2011, and Despicable Me 2 in 2013. In 2013, he released the successful stand-up special Messiah Complex, in 2014, Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews, released a book entitled Revolution, and began work on a documentary about financial inequality with Michael Winterbottom. He has incorporated many of his public antics into his comedic material. In 2015 a biographical documentary called Brand, A Second Coming was released, Russell Edward Brand was born in Orsett Hospital in Grays, Essex, England. He is the child of Barbara Elizabeth and photographer Ronald Henry Brand. Brands parents split up when he was six months old, when he was 7, a tutor sexually abused him. When Brand was 8, his mother contracted uterine cancer and then breast cancer one year later, while she underwent treatment, Brand lived with relatives. When he was 14, he suffered from bulimia nervosa, when he was 16, he left home because of disagreements with his mothers partner. Brand then started to use drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, LSD. Brand says he had a relationship with his father, whom he saw sporadically. He made his debut at the age of 15 in a school production of Bugsy Malone. Brand attended Grays School Media Arts College and in 1991, he was accepted to the Italia Conti Academy and had his first year of tuition funded by Essex County Council, after his first year at Italia Conti Academy, Brand was expelled for illegal drug use and poor attendance. Brand performed stand-up at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000, although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of Gagged and Bound Comedy Ltd agent Nigel Klarfeld. That year, he made his Edinburgh debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablos Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate. In 2004, he took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now, to the Edinburgh Festival and he returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006, Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the coverage about him in the tabloid press
Russell Brand
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Brand at the premiere for
Arthur in 2011
Russell Brand
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Russell Brand in April 2011
Russell Brand
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Brand performs stand-up at the London Roundhouse, 25 January 2008
Russell Brand
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Brand speaking with
Courtney Love in Los Angeles, 2008
12.
Noel Fielding
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Noel Fielding is an English comedian, writer, actor, artist, and musician. Fielding is best known for playing Vince Noir and numerous characters, such as Old Gregg, in The Mighty Boosh. From 2009, he was a captain on BBC Two music/comedy panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks until it was cancelled in 2015. He also writes and appears as the character in Noel Fieldings Luxury Comedy. Fielding portrayed Richmond Avenal in The IT Crowd and he is the founder of the band Loose Tapestries, formed with Kasabians Sergio Pizzorno. Fielding performed regularly as a comedian during the late 1990s. His highly animated stand-up routine included surreal stories, physical comedy, characters, in 2010, Fielding was to perform a solo tour across the country. It was cancelled, however, so he could concentrate on writing The Mighty Boosh film with Julian Barratt, Fielding announced via Twitter that he was too busy to do the tour. In 2015, Fielding told the Guardian that the film was something he talked about writing with Barratt, the album was released in June 2016. In 2010, Fielding took part in Channel 4s Comedy Gala, Fielding is best known for playing the role of Vince Noir, a childlike eccentric, opposite Julian Barratt in the cult comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Fielding met Barratt when he was performing a gig, impressed by Fieldings skill, Barratt offered him a place to perform, and the two went on to form a partnership. Vince can talk to animals, earning him the nickname Mowgli in Flares, Vince is vibrant and flamboyant, contrasting with his friend Howard, who is more like a geography teacher from Leeds. The Mighty Boosh has won the Shockwaves NME Best TV Award three times, in 2007,2008, and 2010 and he also appeared in 1998 sketch show Unnatural Acts. In February 2007, Fielding appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks as a panellist, Fielding also made a short appearance in the film Plunkett & Macleane as a bystander to Robert Carlyles scuffle in a brothel. Fielding appeared on The Charlotte Church Show as a special guest, at Bill Baileys request, Fielding stood in as a team captain for three episodes during Season 21 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He also achieved a record for the highest team score ever on the show, when Bailey returned, presenter Simon Amstell made various jokes about Fieldings departure. In 2009, Bailey left the show and Fielding became one of the team captains. According to Neil Gaimans blog, Fielding was scheduled to appear in the film Stardust and he also participated twice with Russell Brand in 2006 and 2007 on the annual quiz show The Big Fat Quiz of the Year
Noel Fielding
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Noel Fielding performing at The Mighty Boosh Live
13.
Comic Relief
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Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Reliefs appeal is Red Nose Day, a telethon held in March. Comic Relief was launched live on Noel Edmonds Late, Late Breakfast Show on BBC1, the idea for Comic Relief came from the charity worker Jane Tewson, who established it as the operating name of Charity Projects, a registered charity in England and Scotland. On 4 April 1986 the inaugural live fund-raising show, Comic Relief Utterly Utterly Live, was staged at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London featuring popular alternative comedians and pop stars. An audio recording was released on WEA which included a performance of the charity single Living Doll by Cliff Richard. On 8 February 1988, Lenny Henry went to Ethiopia and celebrated the very first Red Nose Day Telethon, over 150 celebrities and comedians participated. The event raised 15 million British pounds sterling and attracted 30 million television viewers on BBC1, the highlight of Comic Relief is Red Nose Day. One of the principles behind working at Comic Relief is the Golden Pound Principle where every single donated pound is spent on charitable projects. All operating costs, such as salaries, are covered by corporate sponsors. Currently, its supporters are the BBC, BT, Sainsburys supermarket chain. The BBC is responsible for the live television extravaganza on Red Nose Day, BT provides the telephony, and Sainsburys sells merchandise on behalf of the charity. The average full-time staff was 214, with 14 staff paid over £60,000 with remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, Sport Relief is a biennial charity event, and the campaign deliberately alternates years with Red Nose Day, Comic Reliefs flagship event. Red Nose Day occurs in odd-numbered years, and Sport Relief in even-numbered years, in 2009, Comic Relief launched a website calling for a financial transaction tax, the Robin Hood tax. At the end of the 2015 Red Nose Day telethon on 14 March it was announced that in the 30-year history of Comic Relief the Red Nose Day, the television programming begins in the afternoon, with CBBC having various related reports, money raising events and celebrity gunging. Whilst the BBC News at Ten is aired on BBC One, Comic Relief continues on BBC Two and these celebrities do the work for free, as do the crew, with studio space and production facilities donated by the BBC. Regular themes throughout the shows parodies of recent popular shows, films and clips, events. Smith and Jones, and a sketch starring Rowan Atkinson are both regularly featured. The First Red Nose Day was held on Friday 5 February 1988 with the slogan, The Plain Red Nose, the Second Red Nose Day was held on Friday 10 March 1989 with the slogan, Red Nose Day 2, and raised £27 million
Comic Relief
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Comic Relief
14.
BBC Television Centre
–
Television Centre in White City, West London was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type, parts of the building are Grade II listed, including the central ring and Studio 1. Live television events from studios and routing of national and international sporting events took place within the Television Centre before being passed to the Broadcast Centre for transmission and it was announced on 21 September 2010 that the BBC would cease broadcasting from Television Centre in 2013. BBC Worldwide moved into space in the Stage 6 building following extensive refurbishment in 2015. The radio and television news departments moved to Broadcasting House in central London, the building is 4 miles west of central London, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The nearest Underground stations are White City and Wood Lane, London broadcasts at the time came from Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove Studios. It was to be the largest television centre in the world, riverside Studios in Hammersmith were used from 1954. It was planned to be 6 acres, but turned out to be twice as big, on 24 August 1956 the main contract was awarded to Higgs and Hill, which also built The London Studios for ITV in 1972. The building was planned to cost £9M, when it opened, the Director of BBC television was Gerald Beadle, and the first programme broadcast was First Night with David Nixon in Studio Three. In 1997 the BBC News Centre was opened, in a new complex at the front of the building, the building featured a central circular block around which were studios, offices, engineering areas and the News Centre. In the centre of the block was a statue designed by T. B. Huxley-Jones of Helios. At the foot of the statue were two reclining figures, symbolising sound and vision, the components of television, even though there was a foundation stone marked BBC1956 in the basement of the main building, construction began in 1951. With the migration of staff and functions to complexes in Salford and London W1, the overall design from the air appeared to resemble a question mark in shape. The architect, Graham Dawbarn CBE, drew a question mark on an envelope while thinking about the design of the building, an article in The BBC Quarterly, July 1946, proposed a circular design, several years before Dawbarn drew up his plans. The building was commissioned in 1949 with work starting in 1950, work resumed in 1953 on the TVC scenery block and work began in 1954 on the canteen block, which doubled as a rehearsal space. Work on Stage 3, the central office block and studios. The shells of TC1, TC6 and TC7 were constructed around the same time, BBC Television Centre officially opened with TC3 operational on 29 June 1960. Arthur Hayes worked on the building from 1956 to 1970 and was responsible for the creation of the iconic BBC Television Centre lettering on the façade of Studio 1, the lettering was later used all over the building, even in tile work outside lift entrances
BBC Television Centre
–
One of the largest such facilities in the world
BBC Television Centre
–
Studio TC1 at BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
–
Panoramic view of the centre of the building, showing the statue of
Helios, the Greek god of the sun
15.
The London Palladium
–
The London Palladium is a 2, 286-seat Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London, the theatre has also hosted the Royal Variety Performance a record 40 times, most recently in 2014. Walter Gibbons, an early manager, built the Palladium in 1910 to compete with Sir Edward Mosss London Hippodrome. The facade, dates back to the 19th century, formerly it was a temporary wooden building called Corinthian Bazaar, which featured an aviary and aimed to attract customers from the recently closed Pantheon Bazaar on Oxford Street. It then became the National Skating Palace – a skating rink with real ice, however the rink failed and the Palladium was redesigned by Frank Matcham, a famous theatrical architect who also designed the Coliseum, on the site that had previously housed Hengler’s Circus. The building now carries Heritage Foundation commemorative plaques honouring Lew Grade, the theatre retains many of its original features and was Grade II* listed in September 1960. The Palladium had its own telephone system so the occupants of boxes could call one another and it also had a revolving stage. The theatre started out as The Palladium, a venue for variety performances. In 1926, the pantomime starred Lennie Dean as Cinderella, footage of remains to this day. The theatre is especially linked to the Royal Variety Performances, where many were, in 1928, for three months the Palladium also ran as a cinema. Following this Cine-Variety episode the theatre fell dark for a period in the autumn of 1928. From 3 September 1928, the Palladium reopened under the directorship of the impresario/producer George Black as part of the General Theatre Corporation, when Black took control the theatre was close to bankruptcy. Before too long, under Blacks management the Palladium was soon gaining praise again as The Worlds Leading Variety Theatre, in 1935, Black initiated the Crazy Gang revues at the Palladium with Life Begins at Oxford Circus. The revues continued at the Palladium as an event until they transferred to the Victoria Palace theatre in 1940. Black managed the Palladium until his death in 1945, the climax of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller The 39 Steps was filmed at the Palladium. The theatre was hit by an unexploded German parachute mine on 11 May 1941, the device had fallen through the roof, becoming lodged over the stage. A Royal Navy bomb disposal team was sent to deal with it, after the mine was located, the fuze locking ring had to be turned to allow access to the fuze itself. Rather disconcertingly, the fuze began ticking as soon as it was touched and this caused a rapid evacuation of the immediate area, but the mine did not detonate
The London Palladium
–
The London Palladium
16.
The O2
–
Naming rights to the district were purchased by the mobile telephone provider O2 from its developers, Anschutz Entertainment Group, during the development of the district. AEG owns the long-term lease on the O2 Arena and surrounding leisure space, from the closure of the original Millennium Experience exhibition occupying the site, several possible ways of reusing the Millennium Domes shell were proposed and then rejected. The official renaming of the Dome in 2005 gave publicity to its transition into an entertainment district, the Domes shell itself remained in site, but its interior and the area around North Greenwich Station, the QE2 pier and the main entrance area were completely redeveloped. The area is served by North Greenwich tube station, which was opened just before the exhibition, on the Jubilee line. Thames Clippers operate a boat service for London River Services. As well as a service, Thames Clippers also operates the O2 Express service. Local bus services serve the station and the nearby O2. In popular usage, the canopy is often still called The Dome, reflecting the substantial. The O2 was developed inside the structure by Anschutz Entertainment Group to a design by Populous. In December 2001, it was announced that Meridian Delta, Ltd and it is also hoped to relocate some of Londons tertiary education establishments to the site. Meridian Delta is backed by the American billionaire Philip Anschutz, who has interests in oil, railways, the Dome site was then sub-leased to Anshutz Entertainment Group, who strongly support Meridian Delta, for a minimum of 58 years. English Partnerships leased the arena directly to AEG Europe for 58 years, AEG would develop and operate The O2 during the length of the lease agreements. The lease agreements were made in the agreement that the government would get a percentage of profits through English Partnerships. English Partnerships and Quintain Estates and Development both own land around The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula and they will release land in stages, to developers, and develop the area in a joint venture with the aid of Meridian Delta. Some of the land is already being developed for offices and shops, ravensbourne, a specialist art and design institution previously located in Chislehurst, moved to a new campus built immediately adjacent to The O2 in September 2010. The David Beckham Academy football school ran nearby from 2005 to 2009, the cost of developing the whole Greenwich Peninsula area was estimated at 4 billion pounds in 2006. As part of the investment programme, naming rights were sold to O2 plc, the £6 million a year deal between O2 plc and AEG also included priority tickets and reserved VIP accommodation for O2 mobile customers. The service was made available to premium ticket holders
The O2
The O2
–
The O2
The O2
–
The O2 at night
The O2
–
The O2 concourse. The arena entrance can be seen in the background. Designed by Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture.
17.
BBC One
–
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
BBC One
–
Replica of an Emitron camera used to make the earliest 405-line programmes broadcast on the channel
BBC One
–
Logo of BBC1 from 16 February 1991 to 4 October 1997
BBC One
–
The BBC One 'Hippos' ident
18.
Children in Need
–
BBC Children in Need is the BBCs UK charity. Since 1980 it has raised over £600 million for disabled children, One of the highlights is an annual telethon, held in November and televised on BBC One, BBC One HD, BBC Two, and BBC Two HD from 7,30 pm until 2 am. Pudsey Bear is BBC Children in Needs mascot, whilst Terry Wogan was a long-standing host, following the temporary closure of Television Centre, the telethon broadcasts now take place at the BBC Elstree Centre. BBC Children in Need will move back to its home of BBC Television Centre in 2017. The BBCs first broadcast charity appeal took place in 1927, in the form of a radio broadcast on Christmas Day. It raised about £1,143, which equates to about £27,150 by todays standards, the first televised appeal took place in 1955 and was called the Childrens Hour Christmas Appeal, with the yellow glove puppet Sooty Bear and Harry Corbett fronting it. The Christmas Day Appeals continued on TV and radio until 1979, during that time a total of £625,836 was raised. Terry Wogan first appeared during this five-minute appeal in 1978, sometimes cartoon characters such as Peter Pan and Tom and Jerry were used. In 1980, the first Children in Need telethon was broadcast and it was devoted to raising money exclusively destined for charities working with children in the United Kingdom. The new format, presented by Terry Wogan, Sue Lawley and Esther Rantzen, saw an increase in public donations. This format has grown in scope to incorporate further events broadcast on radio, as a regular presenter, Wogan has become firmly associated with the annual event, continuing to front the event until 2014 stepping down due to ill health. In 1988, BBC Children in Need became a charity in England and Wales. An award called the Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year has been presented since 2016 to someone who has gone above and beyond to help raise money for Children in Need. The award was set up by Terrys family and was presented by Terrys son, Mark, featured celebrities often include those from programmes on rival network ITV, including some appearing in-character, and/or from the sets of their own programmes. A performance by BBC newsreaders became an annual fixture, stars of newly opened West End musicals regularly perform a number from their show later in the evening after curtain call in their respective theatres. Unlike the other BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, Children in Need relies a lot on the BBC regions for input into the telethon night, the BBC English regions all have around 5–8-minute round-ups every hour during the telethon. This does not interrupt the schedule of items shown from BBC Television Centre as presenter Terry Wogan usually hands over to the regions, giving those in the main network studio a short break. However BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland opted out of the schedule with a lot of local fundraising news
Children in Need
–
BBC Television Centre on the night of the 2008 telethon.
Children in Need
–
Pudsey Bear raising funds for BBC Children in Need 2009.
Children in Need
–
The original logo, used from 1980 to 1984
19.
Sport Relief
–
At the heart of the campaign is the Sport Relief Mile, which involves members of the public doing their bit for charity. Comic Relief teamed up with the newly established Sport Relief initiative in 2002 and alternates with Sport Relief, like Comic Relief, the television programming begins in the afternoon, with CBBC having various related reports and money raising events. However, whilst the BBC News at Ten is aired on BBC One, Sport Relief continues on BBC Two and these celebrities do the work for free, as do the crew, with studio space and production facilities donated by the BBC. The first Sport Relief single in 2002 was Your Song, re-recorded as a duet by original artist Elton John and Italian opera singer Alessandro Safina, reaching number 4 in the chart. In 2008 the Sport Relief single was by Leona Lewis with her single Footprints in the Sand, in 2010 the single was Morning Sun, sung by Robbie Williams. In 2012 the song was Proud, sung by JLS and in 2014 Word Up, sung by Little Mix both peaking at the 6th position. In 2016 Running sung by James Bay peaked at 60, the first event took place on Saturday 13 July 2002. Blair and Cash won the specially reduced set 4-1, tony Hawks was the courtside commentator and the game was shown live on Sunday Grandstand. The second Sport Relief was on Saturday 10 July 2004, the main show was on BBC One from 19. 00–00.30. The first half was presented by Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan, the second half of the main show was back on BBC One from 21.30 to 00.30. Eamonn Holmes was the host when Rugby took on Football with teams that included Dion Dublin, Lee Sharpe, Martin Offiah and Matt Dawson, Colin Jackson, Sir Steve Redgrave and Arsène Wenger were amongst the sporting names who also appeared live on the show. The show also included highlights of some of the Sport Relief Miles which had attracted 81,000 at giant, jo Brand was on hand to represent them and talk about her experiences at the Brighton Mile. Throughout the night there were also a series of appeal films to show where the Sport Relief money had already been spent. They were made by BBC Bristol and included Nick Knowles in Africa, the campaign itself involved 253 celebrities and raised £16 million. The final total on the night of the telethon was £11,078,359, the third Sport Relief took place on Saturday 15 July 2006 with a whole day of programming across the BBC that culminated in the main evening show on BBC One at 7pm. Gary Lineker, Chris Evans and Davina McCall were the hosts for the entire evening, once again the programme came live from TC1 at Television Centre and featured its biggest line up of names to date. The second half was back on BBC One from 22.30 to 01.00, bush, Catherine Tate in a new football sketch as Nan from The Catherine Tate Show and Sir Steve Redgrave and Colin Jackson taking part in a live power pint competition. The third Sport Relief Celebrity Boxing bout was won by Jack Osbourne who defeated the formed S Club 7 singer Bradley McIntosh and it was presented by Mark Durden-Smith with Dave Spikey as ringmaster
Sport Relief
–
Official logo
20.
Ethiopia
–
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
Ethiopia
–
Coins of the
Axumite king
Endybis, 227–235 AD, at the
British Museum. The inscriptions in
Ancient Greek read "AΧWMITW BACIΛEYC" ("King of Axum") and "ΕΝΔΥΒΙC ΒΑCΙΛΕΥC" ("King Endybis").
Ethiopia
–
Flag
Ethiopia
–
Dawit II (Lebna Dengel),
Ethiopia (nəgusä nägäst) (Emperor) of Ethiopia and a member of the
Solomonic dynasty.
Ethiopia
–
King Fasilides' Castle.
21.
British culture
–
The wider culture of Europe has also influenced British culture, and Humanism, Protestantism and representative democracy developed from broader Western culture. British literature, music, cinema, art, theatre, comedy, media, television, philosophy, architecture, the United Kingdom is also prominent in science and technology, producing world-leading scientists and inventions. Sport is an important part of British culture, numerous sports originated in the country, the UK has been described as a cultural superpower, and London has been described as a world cultural capital. The Industrial Revolution, which started in the UK, had an effect on the socio-economic. These states are collectively known as the Anglosphere, and are among Britains closest allies. In turn the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine, the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness. First spoken in early medieval England, the English language is the de facto language of the UK. Individual countries within the UK have frameworks for the promotion of their indigenous languages, Irish and Ulster Scots enjoy limited use alongside English in Northern Ireland, mainly in publicly commissioned translations. There is also a campaign under way to recognise Scots as a language in Scotland, the Cornish language enjoys neither official recognition nor promotion by the state in Cornwall. Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the UK Government has committed to the promotion of linguistic traditions. The United Kingdom has ratified the charter for, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, Cornish, British Sign Language is also a recognised language. Owing to its history, dialects and regional accents vary amongst the four countries of the United Kingdom. Some cities in close proximity have a different dialect and accent, such as Scousers from Liverpool, notable Scouse speakers include John Lennon and Paul McCartney from The Beatles while Mancunians include Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis. Received Pronunciation is the accent of standard English in the UK, brummie is the dialect of natives of Birmingham in the west midlands of England – notable Brummies include rock musicians Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Lynne, and Rob Halford. Geordie is the dialect of people from Tyneside in northeast England – musicians Brian Johnson, Mark Knopfler, notable exponents of the Scottish accent include Sean Connery, comedian Billy Connolly, and The Proclaimers. The West Country accent from southwest England is identified in film as pirate speech – cartoon-like Ooh arr, talk is very similar, while famous pirates hailed from this region, including Blackbeard, West Country native Robert Newtons performance as Long John Silver in films standardised the pirate voice. The Northern Irish accent includes golfer Rory McIlroy and actor Liam Neeson, the early 18th century is known as the Augustan Age of English literature. From the late 18th century, the Romantic period showed a flowering of poetry comparable with the Renaissance 200 years earlier, in Scotland the poetry of Robert Burns revived interest in Scots literature, and the Weaver Poets of Ulster were influenced by literature from Scotland
British culture
–
The Proms is a nine-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts, culminating with a final night of traditional
patriotic music
British culture
–
A
street party at a primary school in Lancashire, England, on the occasion of the
wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
British culture
–
The manuscript of the
Anglo Saxon,
Old English, heroic epic poem
Beowulf is located in the British Library
22.
Noel Edmonds
–
Noel Ernest Edmonds is an English television presenter and executive. Edmonds first became known as a jockey on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. Originally working for the BBC, these have included Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, from 2005 to 2016, he presented the Channel 4 game show Deal or No Deal. The son of a headmaster who worked in Hainault, London, Edmonds attended Glade Primary School in Clayhall, in 1969, he moved to BBC Radio 1 where he began by recording trailers for broadcasts and filling in for absent DJs, such as Kenny Everett. In April 1970, Edmonds began his own two-hour Saturday afternoon programme, broadcasting from 1 pm–3 pm, before replacing Kenny Everett on Saturday mornings from 10 am–12 noon in July of that year. In October 1971, he was moved to a Sunday morning slot from 10 am–12 noon before being promoted to host The Radio 1 Breakfast Show from June 1973 to April 1978, taking over from Tony Blackburn. Edmonds moved back to Sunday mornings from 10 am–1 pm in 1978 and also presented Talkabout, in 2003, Edmonds made a brief radio comeback, taking over the drivetime broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for eight weeks while Johnnie Walker was undergoing treatment for cancer. His stint on Radio 2 lasted from 4 August until 3 October, in December 2004, Edmonds played a detective on a radio murder mystery play on local station BBC Radio Devon. He hosted the childrens Saturday morning programme Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, which ran from 1976 until 1982, with the Swap Shop regulars Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin Edmonds was a member of the trio Brown Sauce, which recorded the single I Wanna Be a Winner in 1981. It reached number 15 in the UK singles chart, in 1980 Edmonds took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, introducing the UK entry live on stage at the final in the Hague. Edmonds was one of the presenters of the BBCs motoring series Top Gear during the late 1970s. During his time on the programme he rubbished the Fiat Strada, saying it wasnt very good, in the 1980s Edmonds hosted a series on BBC1 called The Time of Your Life, in which celebrities recalled the time they were at their happiest professionally. It ran for three series from 1983, the Late, Late Breakfast Show was Edmonds first Saturday evening light entertainment show on the BBC. Presented by Noel Edmonds live on Saturday evenings from 4 September 1982 to 8 November 1986, initially with co-host Leni Harper, it also featured Mike Smith and John Peel. The programme is remembered for several accidents during its regular Give it a Whirl stunt slot, the show was cancelled by the BBC on 15 November 1986, following the death of Lush two days earlier. While rehearsing a bungee jump to be performed live on the show, Noel Edmonds quit the show immediately afterwards. In late June 1986, Noel hosted the The Noel Edmonds Show for American Broadcasting Company, the series was a one week trial week in late night, following Nightline. Telly Addicts was a BBC1 game show hosted by Edmonds, broadcast from 3 September 1985 until 29 July 1998, two teams sat opposite each other on sofas
Noel Edmonds
–
Noel Edmonds in 2006
23.
Refugee camp
–
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced persons who have fled their home country, usually refugees seek asylum after theyve escaped war in their home countries, but some camps also house environmental- and economic migrants. Camps with over a thousand people are common, but as of 2012 the average-sized camp housed around 11,400. They are usually built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations, there are also unofficial refugee camps, like Idomeni in Greece or the Calais jungle in France, where refugees are largely left without support of governments or international organizations. Refugee camps generally develop in a fashion with the aim of meeting basic human needs for only a short time. Facilities that make a camp look or feel more permanent are often prohibited by host country governments, if the return of refugees is prevented, a humanitarian crisis can result or continue. According to UNHCR, the majority of refugees worldwide do not live in refugee camps, at the end of 2015, some 67 per cent of refugees around the world lived in individual, private accommodations. This can be explained by the high number of Syrian refugees renting apartments in urban agglomerations across the Middle East. Worldwide, slightly over a quarter of refugees was reported to be living in planned/managed camps, at the end of 2015, about 56 per cent of the total refugee population in rural locations resided in a planned/managed camp, compared with 2 per cent who resided in individual accommodation. In urban locations, the majority of refugees lived in individual accommodations. A small percentage of refugees live in collective centers, transit camps. The average camp size is recommended by the UNHCR to be 45 sqm per person of accessible camp area, within this area the following facilities can usually be found, An administrative headquarters to coordinate services. Sleeping accommodations are frequently tents, prefabricated huts, or dwellings constructed of available materials. The UNHCR recommends a minimum of 3.5 sqm of covered living area per person, there should be at least 2m between shelters. Gardens attached to the family plot, the UNHCR recommends a plot size of 15 sqm per person. Hygiene facilities, such as washing areas, latrines or toilets, UNHCR recommends one shower per 50 persons and one communal latrine per 20 persons. Distance for the latter should be no more than 50m from shelter, hygiene facilities should be separated by gender. Places for water collection, either water tanks where water is off-loaded from trucks, UNHCR recommends 20 litres of water per person and one tap stand per 80 persons that should be no farther than 200m away from households
Refugee camp
–
Refugee camp (located in present-day eastern
Congo-Kinshasa) for
Rwandans following the
Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Refugee camp
–
A camp in
Guinea for refugees from
Sierra Leone.
Refugee camp
–
Nahr el-Bared,
Palestinian refugee camp in North
Lebanon in 2005.
Refugee camp
–
Mitzpe Ramon,
development camp for
Jewish refugees, southern Israel, 1957
24.
Shaftesbury Theatre
–
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. It had a capacity of 2,392 and a stage 3110 wide by 31 deep, the Princes was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue, and is located near New Oxford Street, perhaps explaining the many gaps between performances in its early years. It had considerable success with an 18-week season of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, presented by the DOyly Carte Opera Company and these became a regular attraction at the theatre in the 1920s, interspersed with runs of theatre productions transferred from other venues. Basil Rathbone appeared at the Princes Theatre in May 1933 when he played Julian Beauclerc in a revival of Diplomacy, the Rose of Persia was revived at the theatre in 1935. The DOyly Carte returned in 1942, the theatre was sold to EMI in 1962, and became the Shaftesbury Theatre the following year. Broadway productions that transferred to the theatre for long runs in the 1960s included Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, part of the ceiling fell in on 20 July 1973, forcing the closure of the long-running musical Hair, after 1,998 performances. The theatre reopened with West Side Story a year later, long runs in the 1980s included Theyre Playing Our Song and Follies. The next decade included long runs of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Eddie Izzard, Definite Article, the venue is currently owned by the Theatre of Comedy Company, who have owned the venue since 1984. In March 2006, the 1,400 seat theatre underwent a refurbishment, with the entire auditorium being reseated and recarpeted. Since reopening, the theatre has hosted several revivals, including the European premiere of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Hairspray, flashdance The Musical open in September 2010 and closing in January 2011. Stop Flirting Carmen Gentlemen Prefer Blondes How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Twang, originally starring Michael Ball, Leanne Jones, Mel Smith and Tracie Bennett. 140–1 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3 Whos Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London,1947, tottenham Court Road Holborn Theatre History Shaftesbury Theatre Scenes from the 1921–22 DOyly Carte season at the theatre Theatre of Comedy
Shaftesbury Theatre
–
Shaftesbury Theatre in January 2012
Shaftesbury Theatre
–
1921–22
D'Oyly Carte season:
Ruddigore
25.
Rowan Atkinson
–
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, CBE is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter best known for his work on the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. His work in theatre includes the 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver, Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. In addition to his 1981 BAFTA, he received an Olivier Award for his 1981 West End theatre performance in Rowan Atkinson in Revue. He has also had success with his performances in the Mr. Bean movie adaptations Bean and Mr. Beans Holiday. Atkinson, the youngest of four brothers, was born in Consett, County Durham, England and his parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and Ella May, who married on 29 June 1945. His three older brothers are Paul, who died as an infant, Rodney, a Eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000, and Rupert. Atkinson was brought up Anglican, and was educated at Durham Choristers School a preparatory school, St. Bees School, and Newcastle University, Atkinson starred in a series of comedy shows for BBC Radio 3 in 1978 called The Atkinson People. It consisted of a series of interviews with fictional great men. The series was written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, and produced by Griff Rhys Jones, after university, Atkinson toured with Angus Deayton as his straight man in an act that was eventually filmed for a television show. After the success of the show, he did a pilot for London Weekend Television in 1979 called Canned Laughter. Atkinson then went on to do Not the Nine OClock News for the BBC and he featured in the show with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, and was one of the main sketch writers. The success of Not the Nine OClock News led to him taking the role in the medieval sitcom The Black Adder. After a three-year gap, in due to budgetary concerns, a second series was broadcast. Blackadder II followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinsons original character, the same pattern was repeated in the two more sequels Blackadder the Third, and Blackadder Goes Forth. The final scene of Blackadder Goes Forth has been described as bold, during the 2014 centennial of the start of World War I, Michael Gove and war historian Max Hastings complained about the so-called Blackadder version of history. Atkinsons other creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared on New Years Day in 1990 in a special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened to a modern-day Buster Keaton, several sequels to Mr. Bean appeared on television until 1995, and the character later appeared in a feature film. Bean was directed by Mel Smith, Atkinsons colleague in Not the Nine OClock News, a second film, Mr. Beans Holiday, was released in 2007
Rowan Atkinson
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Atkinson at the
Johnny English Reborn Première in 2011.
Rowan Atkinson
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Rowan Atkinson in 1997, promoting Bean
Rowan Atkinson
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Rowan Atkinson at the
Mr. Bean's Holiday premiere at
Leicester Square in London (2007)
26.
Billy Connolly
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William Billy Connolly, CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin, in the early 1970s, he made the transition from folk- singer with a comedic persona to fully fledged comedian. Best known to many as a comedian, he appears in several lists of the greatest comedians ever. Connollys paternal grandfather, whom, like his grandmother, he never met, was an Irish immigrant who left Ireland when he was ten years old. His great-great-great and great-great grandfathers were from Connemara, Connollys mothers family came from the west coast of Scotland. His maternal grandparents moved inland to Finnieston Street, Glasgow, in the early 1900s and his maternal great-great-great-grandfather, John OBrien, fought at the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He was wounded during the siege by a severe gunshot to the left shoulder. He married a local 13-year-old Indian girl called Matilda and they had four children and settled in Bangalore after his military service. Connolly was born at 69 Dover Street, on the linoleum, three floors up at six oclock in the evening, in Anderston, Glasgow, to William and this section of Dover Street, between Breadalbane and Claremont Streets, was demolished in the 1970s. Connolly refers to this in his 1983 song I Wish I Was in Glasgow with the lines I would take you there and show you but theyve pulled the building down and They bulldozed it all to make a road. The flat had only two rooms, a room, with a recess where the children slept, and another room for their parents. The family bathed in the sink, and there was no hot water. In 1946, when he was four years old, Connollys mother abandoned her children while their father was serving as an engineer in the Royal Air Force in Burma. Ive never felt abandoned by her, Connolly explained in 2009 and my father was in Burma, fighting a bloody war. The Germans were dropping all kinds of crap on the town and we lived at the docks, so thats where all the bombs were happening. She was a teenager, with two kids, in a slum, a guy comes along and says, I love you. Given the choice, I think Id have gone with him and it looks as though it might all end next Wednesday, from where youre standing. I dont have an ounce of feelings that she abandoned me, Connolly and his older sister, Florence, were cared for by two aunts, Margaret and Mona Connolly, his fathers sisters, in their cramped tenement in Stewartville Street, Partick
Billy Connolly
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Connolly in June 2012
Billy Connolly
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Connolly's banana boots, designed by
John Byrne and a regular in his act during the 1970s, are now on display in the
People's Palace in Glasgow.
27.
Stephen Fry
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Stephen John Fry is an English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist. While at university, he involved with the Cambridge Footlights. As half of the double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie and also took the role of Jeeves in Jeeves. He was also the long-time host of the BBC television quiz show QI and he has also filmed commercials, including an advertisement where he explains the essence of British culture to foreigners arriving at Londons Heathrow Airport. Fry was born in Hampstead, London, on 24 August 1957, the son of Marianne Eve Fry and Alan John Fry, a British physicist and inventor. The Fry family originates in Dorset, at Shillingstone and Blandford, in the early 1800s, Samuel Fry settled in Surrey, Frys mother is Jewish, but he was not brought up in a religious family. His maternal grandparents, Martin and Rosa Neumann, were Hungarian Jews, rosas parents, who originally lived in Vienna, Austria, were sent to a concentration camp in Riga, Latvia, where they were murdered. His mothers aunt and cousins were sent to Auschwitz and Stutthof, Frys father is English, and his paternal grandmother had roots in Kent and Cheshire. Fry grew up in the village of Booton near Reepham, Norfolk, having moved from Chesham, Buckinghamshire and he has an elder brother, Roger, and a younger sister, Joanna. He was expelled from Uppingham when he was 15 and subsequently from the Paston School, at 17, after leaving Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen from a family friend. He had taken a coat when leaving a pub, planning to spend the night sleeping rough and he was arrested in Swindon, and, as a result, spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison on remand. While Fry was in Pucklechurch, his mother had cut out the crossword from every copy of The Times since he had been away, Fry later stated that these crosswords were the only thing that got him through the ordeal. Following his release, he resumed his education at City College Norwich and he scored well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry joined the Cambridge Footlights, appeared on University Challenge, Fry also met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie at Cambridge and starred alongside him in the Footlights Club. Frys career in television began with the 1982 broadcasting of The Cellar Tapes, a second series, retitled Alfresco, was broadcast in 1983, and a third in 1984, it established Fry and Lauries reputation as a comedy double act. In 1983, the BBC offered Fry, Laurie and Thompson their own show, which became The Crystal Cube, undeterred, Fry and Laurie appeared in an episode of The Young Ones in 1984, and Fry also appeared in Ben Eltons 1985 Happy Families series. In 1986 and 1987 Fry and Laurie performed sketches on the LWT/Channel 4 show Saturday Live, forgiving Fry and Laurie for The Crystal Cube, the BBC commissioned, in 1986, a sketch show that was to become A Bit of Fry & Laurie. The programme ran for 26 episodes spanning four series between 1986 and 1995, and was very successful, in a 1988 television special, Blackadders Christmas Carol, he played the roles of Lord Melchett and Lord Frondo
Stephen Fry
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Fry in Happy Birthday to
GNU (2008)
Stephen Fry
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Fry, upper right, rehearsing a student production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream at the
Norfolk College of Arts and Technology in 1975
Stephen Fry
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Fry signing autographs at the
Apple Store,
Regent Street, London, on 3 February 2009
Stephen Fry
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Stephen Fry visits Nightingale House, a care home in London, in December 2009
28.
Kate Bush
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Catherine Kate Bush, CBE is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. She has since released twenty-five UK Top 40 singles, including the top ten hits The Man with the Child in His Eyes, Babooshka, Running Up That Hill, Dont Give Up and King of the Mountain. She has released ten albums, all of which reached the UK Top 10, including the UK number-one albums Never for Ever. She is the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts, Bush has received widespread critical acclaim for her eclectic and idiosyncratic music as well as her theatrical performances. She has been nominated 13 times for British Phonographic Industry accolades, during the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In 2002, she was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, Bush was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music. A diverse range of artists have claimed Bush as an influence on their work, Bush was born in Bexleyheath, Kent, to English medical doctor Robert Bush and Hannah Daly. She was raised as a Roman Catholic in their farmhouse in East Wickham, both brothers were involved in the local folk music scene. One of the instructors, Dave Hazard, later noted in his autobiography that her dance moves seemed to owe something to karate and her familys musical influence inspired Bush to teach herself the piano at the age of 11. She also played the organ in a barn behind her parents house and she soon began writing her own tunes and eventually added lyrics to them. Bush attended St Josephs Convent Grammar School, a Catholic girls school, in Woolwich Road, Abbey Wood, south east London, during this time her family produced a demo tape with over 50 of her compositions, which was turned down by record labels. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd received the demo from Ricky Hopper, a friend of Gilmour. Impressed with what he heard, Gilmour helped the sixteen-year-old Bush get a more professional-sounding demo tape recorded that would be more saleable to the record companies, three tracks in total were recorded and paid for by Gilmour. The tape was produced by Gilmours friend Andrew Powell, who would go on to produce Bushs first two albums, and sound engineer Geoff Emerick, the tape was sent to EMI executive Terry Slater. Slater was impressed by the tape and signed her, the British record industry was reaching a point of stagnation. Progressive rock was popular and visually oriented rock performers were growing in popularity. Bush was put on retainer for two years by Bob Mercer, managing director of EMI group-repertoire division. According to Mercer he felt Bushs material was good enough to be released but felt if the album failed it would be demoralising
Kate Bush
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An embellished image of Bush, pictured here circa 1979.
Kate Bush
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Bush about to perform at
Comic Relief 1986
Kate Bush
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Bush performing at Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.
Kate Bush
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Bush's 2014 concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo sold out in 15 minutes.
29.
Cliff Richard
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Sir Cliff Richard OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor and philanthropist. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and he has total sales of over 21 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Richard was originally positioned as a rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard. With his backing group, The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. Increased focus on his Christian faith and subsequent softening of his music later led to a middle of the road pop image. He has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the UK Top 20, Richard has had 67 UK top ten singles, the second highest total for an artist behind Elvis Presley. Richard holds the record as the act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades. He has achieved 14 UK No.1 singles, and is the singer to have had a No.1 single in the UK in five consecutive decades. Richard has never achieved the same impact in the United States despite eight US Top 40 singles, including the million-selling Devil Woman and We Dont Talk Anymore. He has remained a music, film, and television personality in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Europe and Asia. Richard has been a resident in the United Kingdom for most of his life and he divides his time between living in Barbados and Portugal. Harry Rodger Webb was born in India at King Georges Hospital, Victoria Street, in Lucknow and his parents were Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the Indian Railways, and the former Dorothy Marie Dazely. Richard is primarily of English heritage, but he has one great-grandmother who was of half Welsh and half Spanish descent, the Webb family lived in a modest home in Maqbara, near the main shopping centre of Hazratganj. Dorothys mother served as the matron at the La Martiniere Girls School. In 1948, following Indian independence, the family embarked on a sea voyage to Tilbury, Essex. The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India, where lived in a company-supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta. Harry Webb attended a primary school, Stanley Park Juniors. He then attended Cheshunt Secondary Modern School from 1952 to 1957, as a member of the top stream, he stayed on beyond the minimum leaving age to take GCE Ordinary Level examinations and gained a pass in English literature
Cliff Richard
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Cliff Richard in November 2009
Cliff Richard
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Cliff Richard at a press conference in the Netherlands in 1962
Cliff Richard
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Cliff Richard with
the Shadows in 1962
Cliff Richard
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Portrait by
Allan Warren (1973)
30.
Warner Music Group
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Warner Music Group is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs in excess of 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world, the company owns and operates some of the largest and most successful record labels in the world, including its flagship labels Warner Bros. WMG also owns Warner/Chappell Music, one of the worlds largest music publishers, the film company had no record label division at the time and one of its contracted actors, Tab Hunter, scored a hit song for Dot Records, which was a division of rival Paramount Pictures. In order to prevent any repetition of its actors recording for rival companies, in 1963, Warner purchased Reprise Records, which had been founded by Frank Sinatra three years earlier so that he could have more creative control over his recordings. With the Reprise acquisition, Warner gained the services of Mo Ostin, the Canadian unit was opened in 1967 as Warner Reprise Canada Ltd, now called Warner Music Canada Co. After Warner Bros. was sold to Seven Arts Productions in 1967, it purchased Atlantic Records, founded in 1947 and WMGs oldest label and this acquisition brought Neil Young into the company fold, initially as a member of Buffalo Springfield. The Geffen catalogue, now owned by Universal Music Group, represents Youngs only major recordings not under WMG ownership, in 1969, two years after being purchased by Seven Arts, the Warner Bros. -Seven Arts company was sold to the Kinney National Company. Kinney combined the operations of all of its labels. An earlier attempt by Warner Bros. Records to create a distribution arm in 1958 didnt materialize. So in 1969, Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman approached Atlantics Jerry Wexler with the idea of setting up a joint distribution network for Warner, Elektra, an experimental branch was established in Southern California as a possible prototype for an expanded operation. Atlantic, its subsidiary Atco Records, and its affiliate Stax Records paved the way for Warners rise to industry prominence, the purchase brought in Atlantics lucrative back-catalogue, which included classic recordings by Ray Charles, the Drifters, the Coasters, and many more. But the sale led to Stax leaving the Atlantic fold because the new Warner owners insisted on keeping the rights to Stax recordings and it was soon apparent in 1969 that Atlantic/Atco president Ahmet Ertegün viewed Warner/Reprise president Mike Maitland as godlike. Maitland believed that, as vice-president in charge of the Warner Bros, in retrospect Ertegün clearly feared that Maitland would ultimately have more power than him and so he moved rapidly to secure his own position and remove Maitland. Following the takeover, Warners music group briefly adopted the umbrella name Kinney Music, erteguns campaign against Maitland began in earnest that summer. Atlantic had agreed to help Warner Bros. in its efforts to establish its labels overseas, Mike Maitland complained bitterly to Kinney executive Ted Ashley, but to no avail – by this time Ertegun was poised to make his move against Maitland. As he had with Hyman, Ertegun urged Steve Ross to extend Mo Ostin and Joe Smiths contracts, in response, Ertegun broadly hinted that Maitlands days were numbered and that he, Ertegun, was about to take over the recording division. Unlike the Warner/Reprise executives, Atlantics execs the Ertegun brothers and Wexler owned stock in Kinney, on Sunday January 25, Ted Ashley went to Maitlands house to tell him he had been dismissed, and Maitland declined the offer of a job at the movie studio. One week later, Mo Ostin was named as the new President of Warner Bros, Records, with Joe Smith as his Executive Vice-President
Warner Music Group
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Warner Music Group
