1.
Wandsworth
–
Wandsworth /ˈwɒnzwərθ/ is a district of southwest London within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated 4.6 miles southwest of Charing Cross, the area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Wandsworth takes its name from the River Wandle, which enters the Thames at Wandsworth, Wandsworth appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Wandesorde and Wendelesorde. This means enclosure of Waendel, whose name is lent to the River Wandle. At the time of the Domesday Book, the manor of Wandsworth was held partly by William, son of Ansculfy and its Domesday assets were 12 hides, with 5½ ploughs and 22 acres of meadow. Between Wandsworth town centre and the river is the site of Young & Cos Ram Brewery, traditional draught beer was produced on the site for 425 years starting from 1581, making the Ram Brewery the oldest site in Britain at which beer had been brewed continuously. Shire horse-drawn brewery drays were used to deliver beer to local pubs. Whilst brewing by Youngs stopped in September 2006 when Young & Co merged its operations with Charles Wells of Bedford, a planning application to redevelop the site for residential and shopping/leisure mixed use was submitted in 2012. Wandsworth gas plant was built in 1834 against the River Thames near Wandsworth Bridge, the undertaking became the Wandsworth and Putney Gaslight and Coke Company in 1854 and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1856. Coal for making coal gas was brought by sea from North East England, the firm grew by a series of mergers and takeovers so that by 1936 it served a considerable area of south-west London. The companys name evolved each time it merged with or took over neighbouring gas companies, the company was nationalised in 1949 and became part of the South Eastern Gas Board. Wandsworth, home of Minibus Hinton, has a low foreign born population for London as a whole at 28. 1%, the former wharf area of the river-front is now lined with new apartment blocks, with several bars and restaurants. Notable pubs include the Ship Inn and the Waterfront, on the western and eastern side of Wandsworth Bridge respectively, also in the area is the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, which now contains flats, a theatre school and a restaurant. The Tonsleys/Old York Road is an area of old Wandsworth close to the river and town centre. It has a village feel with the Old York Roads cafes, the area has three notable pubs, the Royal Standard, the East Hill and the Alma. Bradys Fish Restaurant serves traditional fish and chips, the area was recently used as the location for the BBC TV series Outnumbered. East Hill is an area of large Victorian houses bordered by the west side of Wandsworth Common, Wandsworth High Street is dominated by the regenerated Southside shopping centre, cinema and restaurant complex. Behind the shopping centre, and following the River Wandle upstream towards Earlsfield, Wandsworth Museum occupies the former Victorian library in West Hill having been moved here in 2007
Wandsworth
–
St Anne's Church, Wandsworth
Wandsworth
–
Church Row, 1-6, Wandsworth Plain, London SW18
2.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
London
–
Palace of Westminster,
Buckingham Palace and
Central London skyline
London
London
London
–
The name London may derive from the
River Thames
3.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
England
–
Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
–
Flag
England
–
Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
–
Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
4.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
The British
HMS Sandwich fires into the French
flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) during
Trafalgar. The Bucentaure also fights
HMS Victory (behind her) and
HMS Temeraire (left side of the picture). In fact, HMS Sandwich never fought at Trafalgar, it's a mistake by
Auguste Mayer, the painter.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
Flag
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
Signing of the
Treaty of Ghent (1814), by A. Forestier c. 1915
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
The Duke of Wellington
5.
Woodland Hills, California
–
Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. Woodland Hills is an affluent neighborhood in the region of the San Fernando Valley which is located east of Calabasas. On the north it is bordered by West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka, some neighborhoods are in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Running east–west through the community are U. S. Route 101 and Ventura Boulevard, the first Europeans to enter the San Fernando Valley were the Portola Expedition in 1769, exploring Alta California for Spanish missions and settlements locations. Seeing it from present-day Sepulveda Pass, the oak savanna inspired them to call the area El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos, the Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797 and controlled the Valleys land, including future Woodland Hills. Ownership of the half of the valley, south of present-day Roscoe Boulevard from Toluca Lake to Woodland Hills. Moses Sherman and others in 1910, victor Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the area from Chandlers group and founded the town of Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers and his 300 pepper trees formed a canopy over Canoga Ave. between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo St. became Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #93 in 1972. The community of Girard was eventually incorporated into Los Angeles, Woodland Hills has a firmly subtropical mediterranean climate. Within the San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills generally experiences some of the extreme temperature changes season to season than other regions. During the summer, temperatures are very hot, while during the winter. On July 22,2006, Woodland Hills recorded the highest temperature ever in Los Angeles County, the climate is classified as a Csa in the Köppen climate classification, which is characterized by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. This climate is referred to as mediterranean. Precipitation in Woodland Hills averages much the same as most other regions of the west San Fernando Valley, in 2008 the population of Woodland Hills was approximately 63,000. The median age in 2000 was 40, considered old when compared to city and county jurisdictions. As of the 2000 census, and according to the Los Angeles Almanac, there were 67,006 people and 29,119 households residing in Woodland Hills. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 79. 90% White,6. 97% Asian,0. 13% Pacific Islander,3. 34% African American,0. 33% Native American,4. 80% from other races, and 4. 52% from two or more races. 11. 94% of the population were Hispanic of any race, in population, it is one of the least dense neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and the percentage of white people is high for the county
Woodland Hills, California
–
Woodland Hills, California in the foreground, including
Warner Center, from the Top of Topanga Overlook
Woodland Hills, California
–
William Howard Taft High School
Woodland Hills, California
–
Orr Barouch
Woodland Hills, California
–
Ryan Lavarnway
6.
Cecil Kellaway
–
Cecil Lawriston Kellaway was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both The Luck of the Irish and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Cecil Kellaway was born on 22 August 1890 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was the son of English parents, Edwin John Kellaway, an architect and engineer, Edwin Kellaway had come to South Africa to help build the Houses of Parliament and was a good friend of Cecil Rhodes, who was Cecils godfather. He was interested in acting from an early age and he was educated at the Normal College, Cape Town, and in England at Bradford Grammar School. He studied engineering and on his return to South Africa was employed in an engineering firm, however the lure of acting was too strong and he became a full-time actor, making his debut in Potash and Perlmutter. He briefly served in the army in 1914 but was invalided out and he toured for three years through China, Japan, Siam, Borneo, Malaya, North and South Africa, and Europe. Kellaway arrived in Australia in 1921 under contract to J. C. Williamson Ltd and he had a notable success as the comic father of four daughters in A Night Out which he played in 1922,1924,1926, and 1931. He acted for Williamsons over sixteen years, mostly in musical comedies, Kellaway made his film debut in the lead of The Hayseeds, a popular local comedy. After receiving acclaim for his role in the Australian Cinesound film It Isnt Done, for which he also provided the original story, he was screen-tested by RKO Pictures. Kellaway returned to Australia for a second Cinesound film, Mr. Chedworth Steps Out and he was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Luck of the Irish in 1948 and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner in 1967. In 1959, he made a guest appearance on Perry Mason as chemist and murderer Darrell Metcalf in The Case of the Glittering Goldfish, in 1961, Kellaway guest-starred as MacKay in the episode Incident In The Middle of Nowhere on CBSs Rawhide. In 1964, he played Santa Claus in the Visions of Sugarplums episode of Bewitched, in 1967, Kellaway played the part of a lonely, megawealthy much older suitor of Ann Marie in an episode of That Girl. He also appeared as Admiral Snedecker in a1969 episode of The Ghost, Kellaway married Doreen Elizabeth Joubert in Johannesburg on 15 November 1919. His brother Alec Kellaway became an actor in his own right. His other brother Leion became ballet-master for Edouard Borovansky and the Australian Ballet and his cousins were fellow actors Edmund Gwenn and Arthur Chesney. Kellaway died after an illness at a West Los Angeles convalescent home on February 28,1973. He was survived by his wife, two sons, and four grandchildren and his interment was at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Cecil Kellaway
–
from the trailer for
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
7.
Santa Claus
–
Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Wodan, who was associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, childrens books, films and he accomplishes this feat with the aid of his elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and his flying reindeer, who pull his sleigh. He is commonly portrayed as living at the North Pole and saying ho ho ho often, Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe he is portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. The remains of Saint Nicholas are in Italy, in 1087, the Italian city of Bari mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Saint. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was conquered by Italian sailors, a basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas skeleton, leaving all the fragments in the grave. These were collected by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and taken to Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors. He is also the saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow. During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his day of 6 December. So Saint Nicholas changed to Santa Claus, martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people, Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine, as England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer, in the Netherlands and Belgium the character of Santa Claus has to compete with that of Sinterklaas, Santas presumed progenitor
Santa Claus
–
1881 illustration by
Thomas Nast who, along with
Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus
Santa Claus
–
The modern portrayal of Santa Claus frequently depicts him listening to the Christmas wishes of children.
Santa Claus
–
A 13th-century depiction of St. Nicholas from
Saint Catherine's Monastery,
Sinai
Santa Claus
–
An 1886 depiction of the long-bearded Germanic god
Odin by
Georg von Rosen
8.
Miracle on 34th Street
–
Miracle on 34th Street is a 1947 Christmas comedy-drama film written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies. It stars Maureen OHara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn, the story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite, the film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentlemans Agreement, in 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The Academy Film Archive preserved Miracle on 34th Street in 2009, Davies also penned a short novelization of the tale, which was published by Harcourt Brace simultaneously with the films release. Kris Kringle is indignant to find that the man assigned to play Santa in the annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade is intoxicated, when he complains to event director Doris Walker, she persuades Kris to take his place. He does so well, he is hired to play Santa at Macys flagship New York City store on 34th Street, ignoring instructions to steer parents to buy from Macys, Kris directs one shopper to a competitor. Impressed, she tells Julian Shellhammer, head of the toy department, Attorney Fred Gailey, Doris neighbor, takes the young divorcées second-grade daughter Susan to see Santa. Doris has raised her to not believe in tales. Doris asks Kringle to tell Susan that he is not Santa, worried, Doris decides to fire him. However, Kris has generated so much publicity and goodwill for Macys that a delighted Macy promises Doris. To alleviate Doriss misgivings, Julian has Granville Sawyer administer a psychological evaluation, Kris passes, but questions Sawyers own mental health. The store expands on the concept, to avoid looking greedy, competitor Gimbels implements the same policy, forcing Macys and others to escalate. Eventually, Kris does the impossible, he reconciles bitter rivals Macy, pierce, the doctor at Kris nursing home, assures Doris that Kris is harmless. Kris makes a pact with Fred – he will work on Susans cynicism while Fred does the same with Doris, when Susan reveals she wants a house, Kris reluctantly promises to do his best. Kris learns that Sawyer has convinced young employee Alfred that he is mentally ill simply because he is kind-hearted, finding Sawyer unwilling to budge, Kris hits him on the head with his cane. Sawyer exaggerates his pain in order to have Kris confined to Bellevue Hospital, tricked into cooperating, and believing Doris to be in on the deception, Kris deliberately fails his examination and is recommended for permanent commitment. However, Fred persuades Kris not to give up, at a hearing before Judge Henry X. Harper, District Attorney Thomas Mara gets Kris to assert that he is Santa Claus and rests his case
Miracle on 34th Street
–
Original movie poster
9.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Walter Brennan was the first winner of award for his role in Come. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 72 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards, Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, and Claude Rains were nominated on four occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Mahershala Ali is the most recent winner in category for his role as Juan in Moonlight. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-1-55002-574-3. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Walter Brennan was the first winner in this category for 1936's
Come and Get It; He would also win for his roles in
Kentucky (1938) and
The Westerner (1940).
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Van Heflin won in 1942 for his performance in
Johnny Eager.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
George Sanders won for his role in 1950's
All About Eve.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Karl Malden won in 1951 for
A Streetcar Named Desire.
10.
Mister 880
–
Mister 880 is a 1950 American comedy film about an amateurish counterfeiter who only counterfeits one dollar bills, and manages to elude the Secret Service for 10 years. The film was based on an article by St. Clair McKelway that was first published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelways book True Tales from the Annals of Crime & Rascality. Edmund Gwenn, who played Skipper Miller, won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, in real life, Juettner was caught and arrested in 1948, and served four months in prison. Juettner made more money from the release of Mister 880 than he had made in his entire counterfeiting career, Mister 880 at the American Film Institute Catalog Mister 880 at the Internet Movie Database Mister 880 at the TCM Movie Database
Mister 880
–
Mister 880
11.
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Studio publicity photo, circa 1955.
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Hitchcock (right) during the making of
Number 13 in London
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Hitchcock with
Chandran Rutnam (centre) and Sri Lankan film maker Anton Wickremasinghe at the
Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Alfred Hitchcock
–
Cary Grant and
Ingrid Bergman in
Notorious (1946)
12.
West End theatre
–
West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
West End theatre
–
London's
Palace Theatre built in 1891
West End theatre
–
The
Lyceum Theatre, home to
Disney's The Lion King.
West End theatre
–
The
St Martin's Theatre, home to
The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the world.
West End theatre
–
The exterior of the Old Vic
13.
George Bernard Shaw
–
He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman, Pygmalion and Saint Joan. With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1873, where he established himself as a writer and novelist. By the mid-1880s he was a theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society, Shaw had been writing plays for years before his first public success, 1894s Arms and the Man. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he sought to introduce a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social and religious ideas. By the early twentieth century his reputation as a dramatist was secured with a series of critical and popular successes that included Major Barbara, The Doctors Dilemma and Caesar, Shaws expressed views were often contentious, he promoted eugenics and alphabet reform while opposing vaccination and organised religion. He courted unpopularity by denouncing both sides in the First World War as equally culpable and he castigated British policy on Ireland in the postwar period, and became a citizen of the Irish Free State in 1934, maintaining dual citizenship. He was prolific, finishing during the years a series of often ambitious plays which achieved varying degrees of popular success. Since Shaws death, opinion has varied about his works and he has at times been rated as second only to William Shakespeare among English-language dramatists, analysts recognise his extensive influence on generations of playwrights. The word Shavian has entered the language as encapsulating Shaws ideas, Shaw was born at 3 Upper Synge Street in Portobello, a lower-middle-class part of Dublin. He was the youngest child and only son of George Carr Shaw and his elder siblings were Lucinda Frances and Elinor Agnes. The Shaw family was of English descent and belonged to the dominant Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, George Carr Shaw and his relatives secured him a sinecure in the civil service, from which he was pensioned off in the early 1850s, thereafter he worked irregularly as a corn merchant. In 1852 he married Bessie Gurly, in the view of Shaws biographer Michael Holroyd she married to escape a tyrannical great-aunt, if, as Holroyd and others surmise, Georges motives were mercenary, then he was disappointed, as Bessie brought him little of her familys money. She came to despise her ineffectual and often drunken husband, with whom she shared what their son later described as a life of shabby-genteel poverty. By the time of Shaws birth, his mother had become close to George John Lee, Shaw retained a lifelong obsession that Lee might have been his biological father, there is no consensus among Shavian scholars on the likelihood of this. The young Shaw suffered no harshness from his mother, but he recalled that her indifference. He found solace in the music that abounded in the house, Lee was a conductor and teacher of singing, Bessie had a fine mezzo-soprano voice and was much influenced by Lees unorthodox method of vocal production. The Shaws house was filled with music, with frequent gatherings of singers and players
George Bernard Shaw
–
Shaw in 1936
George Bernard Shaw
–
Shaw's birthplace,
Dublin
George Bernard Shaw
–
Shaw around 1900 (aged 44).
14.
John Galsworthy
–
John Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932. Galsworthy was born at what is now known as Galsworthy House on Kingston Hill in Surrey, England and he attended Harrow and New College, Oxford, after which he trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1890. However, he was not keen to begin practising law and instead travelled abroad to look after the shipping business. During these travels he met Joseph Conrad, then the first mate of a sailing-ship moored in the harbour of Adelaide, Australia, in 1895 Galsworthy began an affair with Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. After her divorce ten years later, they were married on 23 September 1905, before their marriage, they often stayed clandestinely in a farmhouse called Wingstone in the village of Manaton on Dartmoor, Devon. In 1908 Galsworthy took a lease on part of the building. From the Four Winds, a collection of stories, was Galsworthys first published work in 1897. His first full-length novel, Jocelyn, was published in an edition of 750 under the name of John Sinjohn – he later refused to have it republished, although he continued writing both plays and novels, it was as a playwright that he was mainly appreciated at the time. Along with those of writers of the period, such as George Bernard Shaw, his plays addressed the class system and other social issues. He is now far better known for his novels, particularly The Forsyte Saga, his trilogy about the eponymous family and these books, as with many of his other works, deal with social class, and upper-middle class lives in particular. Although sympathetic to his characters, he highlights their insular, snobbish and he is viewed as one of the first writers of the Edwardian era who challenged some of the ideals of society depicted in the preceding literature of Victorian England. The depiction of a woman in an unhappy marriage furnishes another recurring theme in his work, the character of Irene in The Forsyte Saga is drawn from Ada Pearson, though her previous marriage was not as miserable as that of the character. Through his writings Galsworthy campaigned for a variety of causes, including prison reform, womens rights, and animal welfare and he was too ill to attend the Nobel awards ceremony and died six weeks later. Galsworthy lived for the seven years of his life at Bury in West Sussex. He died from a brain tumour at his London home, Grove Lodge, the popularity of his fiction waned quickly after his death but the hugely successful television adaptation of The Forsyte Saga in 1967 renewed interest in his work. A number of John Galsworthys letters and papers are held at the University of Birmingham Special Collections, in 2007, Kingston University opened a new building named in recognition of his local birth. Galsworthy Road in Kingston, the location of Kingston Hospital, is named for him
John Galsworthy
–
John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy
–
Bury House, Galsworthy's West Sussex home.
15.
J. B. Priestley
–
Priestley, OM, was an English novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, and broadcaster. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in The Good Companions, many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present, and future. In 1940, he broadcast a series of short propaganda radio shows that were credited with strengthening civilian morale during the Battle of Britain and his left-wing beliefs brought him into conflict with the government, and influenced the birth of the Welfare State. The programme was cancelled by the BBC for being too critical of the Government. He is perhaps best known for his 1945 play An Inspector Calls, Priestley was born at 34 Mannheim Road, Manningham, which he described as an extremely respectable suburb of Bradford. His mother died when he was just two old and his father remarried four years later. Priestley was educated at Belle Vue Grammar School, which he left at sixteen to work as a clerk at Helm & Co. a wool firm in the Swan Arcade. During his years at Helm & Co. he started writing at night and had published in local. He was to draw on memories of Bradford in many of the works he wrote after he had moved south, including Bright Day and When We Are Married. As an old man he deplored the destruction by developers of Victorian buildings in Bradford such as the Swan Arcade and he was badly wounded in June 1916, when he was buried alive by a trench-mortar. As he describes in his reminiscences, Margin Released, he suffered from the effects of poison gas. After his military service, Priestley received a university education at Trinity Hall, by the age of 30 he had established a reputation as an essayist and critic. His novel Benighted was adapted into the James Whale film The Old Dark House, Priestleys first major success came with a novel, The Good Companions, which earned him the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and made him a national figure. His next novel, Angel Pavement, further established him as a successful novelist, in 1934 he published the travelogue English Journey, an account of what he saw and heard while travelling through the country in the depths of the Depression. I should be interested to hear a speech and read a book or two on the subject of what Ireland has done to England and he moved into a new genre and became equally well known as a dramatist. Dangerous Corner was the first of many plays that would enthrall West End theatre audiences and his best-known play is An Inspector Calls. His plays are more varied in tone than the novels, several being influenced by J. W. Dunnes theory of time, which plays a part in the plots of Dangerous Corner and Time, many of his works have a strong socialist theme. In 1940, Priestley wrote an essay for Horizon magazine, where he criticised George Bernard Shaw for his support of Stalin, during the Second World War, he was a regular broadcaster on the BBC
J. B. Priestley
–
J. B. Priestley
16.
Second World War
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
Second World War
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
Second World War
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
Second World War
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
Second World War
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
17.
Willie Edouin
–
Willie Edouin was an English comedian, actor, dancer, singer, writer, director and theatre manager. After performing as a child in England, Australia and elsewhere, Edouin moved to America and he returned to America in 1877, where, by 1880, he managed his own company. For over a decade, starting in 1884, Edouin managed theatres in London, particularly the Strand Theatre, from the 1890s, he appeared as the comic lead in several hit Edwardian musical comedies, including Florodora. Edouin was born in Brighton under the name William Frederick Bryer, the youngest of five children of John Edwin Bryer, an English dance instructor and he and his siblings played together in childrens shows in London and Brighton. By 1849, the children were appearing as The Living Marionettes in London in farces, ballets daction, in 1852 and 1854, the Edouin children played in pantomimes at the Strand Theatre. In 1857, Edouins parents took the family on a tour of Australia, India, China. In 1863, Edouin and his sister Rose played in Fawcetts stock company at the Princesss Theatre, Melbourne, Edouin moved to the United States in 1869, where he first appeared with Lawrence Barrett and John McCullough at the California Theatre in San Francisco. He soon became popular for his burlesques of popular plays and local celebrities and he made his New York debut in 1870 in The Dancing Barber as Narcissus Fitzfrizzle. Edouin next played the role of Murphy in Handy Andy with the Bryants Minstrels, in 1871, he joined Lydia Thompsons burlesque company, as its leading male comedian, and met his future wife, Alice Atherton, who was also appearing with the troupe. Edouin played with Thompson for six seasons in burlesques, many of them by H. B, farnie, of Bluebeard, The Princess of Trébizonde. The Forty Thieves, Lurline, Robin Hood, Mephisto and the Fourscore and he earned particular praise in Robinson Crusoe, for his acrobatics and clowning as Friday, and in Bluebeard, for his portrayal of Chinaman Washee-Washee. He returned to England with Thompson in 1874 and repeated the role in London that year. Edouin continued to perform with the troupe both in London and on tour in Britain for three seasons, in 1877, Edouin returned with Thompson to New York. In 1880 he formed his own company, Willie Edouins Sparks, co-authoring and starring in a successful farce, in 1881, Edouin purchased a photo gallery in Philadelphia but sold it the following year. Edouin returned to England in 1884, partnering with Lionel Brough, to produce the successful burlesque The Babes, or, Whines from the Wood, the play was performed at Tooles Theatre and starred Edouin and his wife. In August 1886, Edouin played Carraway Bones with much success in the farce Turned Up by Mark Melford, from 1888 he mostly starred under his own management at the Strand Theatre in London. There he produced Katti, the Family Help, starring himself, in 1889, however, he managed Our Flat at the Opera Comique, in which he was popular as Nathaniel Glover. The play ran for nearly 600 nights, at the Strand in the early 1890s, he continued to manage and appear in comedies
Willie Edouin
–
Contents
Willie Edouin
–
Edouin as General des Ifs in
The Little Michus
18.
Terry family
–
The Terry family was a theatrical dynasty of the late 19th century and beyond. The family includes not only members with the surname Terry. The dynasty was founded by the actor Benjamin Terry and his wife, the first member of the family to achieve national prominence was their eldest surviving daughter, Kate. Her younger sister, Ellen, achieved fame, in partnership with Henry Irving. Ellen Terry was seen as the greatest star of the family for many decades, among those of the family who did not become actors, Gordon Craig, Ellens son, was an internationally-known theatre designer and director. Members of the family who were associated with the theatre. Other members of the family are mentioned in the text, the graphic below is simplified to show the best-known family members. For example, it only three of Gordon Craigs eight children. The names of actors and others connected with the theatre are shown in capital letters, Benjamin Terry was a moderately successful actor in the mid-19th century. His father, also called Benjamin, an innkeper, married Catherine Crawford in 1838, the younger Benjamins wife, Sarah, née Ballard, was the daughter of Peter Ballard, a builder and Master Sawyer who worked in Portsmouth. She had no theatrical connections before meeting Terry and marrying him without her parents knowledge and she became an actress, adopting the stage name Miss Yerrett. But it was Terry who was the theatrical influence on their children. He had been a member of William Charles Macreadys company, and his daughter Ellen recalled that he always corrected me if I pronounced any word in a slipshod fashion, and if I now speak my language well it is in no small degree due to my early training. The couple had children, two of whom died in infancy. Of the nine children who survived to adulthood only two, the eldest son, Benjamin, and the next to youngest, Tom, had no theatrical history. Benjamin went into commerce and emigrated to Australia and then India, and Tom and her husband, Wojciech, was also a famous leading actor. Their daughter, also called Aniela, married Adam Gielgud, who had born at sea during his parents flight from Poland after the failed rising against Russian rule in 1830. Their son Frank married Kate Terrys daughter, Kate Terry-Lewis, listed in order of date of birth
Terry family
–
Top:
Kate Terry and
Gordon Craig; centre:
Ellen Terry; Below:
John Gielgud and
Phyllis Neilson-Terry
Terry family
Terry family
–
Sarah Terry with her daughter
Ellen, circa 1860
Terry family
–
Ellen Terry's jubilee celebrations, 1906. She is on the right in the group of three, centre stage, with her sisters
Marion and
Kate.
Fred is at the far right. All others on the stage are also members of the family
19.
Ellen Terry
–
Dame Alice Ellen Terry, GBE, known professionally as Ellen Terry, was an English actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, at 16 she married the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts, but they separated within a year. She soon returned to the stage but began a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin and she resumed acting in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics. In 1878 she joined Henry Irvings company as his leading lady, two of her most famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. She and Irving also toured with success in America and Britain. In 1903 Terry took over management of Londons Imperial Theatre, focusing on the plays of George Bernard Shaw, the venture was a financial failure, and Terry turned to touring and lecturing. She continued to find success on stage until 1920, while appearing in films from 1916 to 1922. Her career lasted nearly seven decades, Terry was born in Coventry, England, the third surviving child born into a theatrical family. Her parents, Benjamin, of Irish descent, and Sarah, of Scottish ancestry, were actors in a Portsmouth-based touring company. At least five of them actors, Kate, Ellen, Marion, Florence. Two other children, George and Charles, were connected with theatre management, Kate and Marion were particularly successful on stage. Terry made her first stage appearance at age nine, as Mamillius, opposite Charles Kean as Leontes, in Shakespeares The Winters Tale at Londons Princesss Theatre in 1856. She also played the roles of Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Prince Arthur in King John, during the theatres summer closures, Terrys father presented drawing-room entertainments at the Royal Colosseum, Regents Park, London, and then on tour. In 1859, she appeared in the Tom Taylor comedy Nine Points of the Law at the Olympic Theatre, for the next two years, Terry and her sister Kate toured the British provinces in sketches and plays, accompanied by their parents and a musician. Between 1861 and 1862, Terry was engaged by the Royalty Theatre in London, managed by Madame Albina de Rhona, in 1862, she joined her sister Kate in J. H. In 1863, Chute opened the Theatre Royal, Bath, where 15-year-old Terry appeared at the opening as Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream, buckstones company at the Haymarket Theatre in Shakespearean roles as well as Sheridan and modern comedies. Terry married three times and was involved in numerous relationships, in London, during her engagement at the Haymarket Theatre, she and her sister Kate had their portraits painted by the eminent artist George Frederic Watts. His other famous portraits of her include Ophelia and Watchman, and, with Kate and he proposed marriage to Terry in spite of his being three decades her senior
Ellen Terry
–
Ellen Terry at age 16 Photo by
Julia Margaret Cameron
Ellen Terry
–
Charles Kean (left) and Ellen Terry in
The Winter's Tale, 1856
Ellen Terry
–
Choosing: painting by first husband,
George Frederic Watts, c. 1864
Ellen Terry
–
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, by
John Singer Sargent, 1889
20.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
Australia
–
Aboriginal rock art in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Australia
Australia
–
Portrait of Captain
James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770
Australia
–
Tasmania's
Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed
Australian Convict Sites.
21.
J. C. Williamson
–
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australias foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd. Born in Pennsylvania, Williamson moved with his family to Milwaukee and his father died when he was eleven years old. In 1871, he became the leading comedian at the California Theatre in San Francisco, the two found success touring in Australia, and then playing in London, the U. S. and elsewhere in a comedy called Struck Oil. In 1879, Williamson obtained the right to present H. M. S, pinafore and then other Gilbert and Sullivan operas in Australia. He soon formed his Royal Comic Opera Company, irving and Nellie Melba, and becoming known for spectacular, large-scale productions. It also toured and presented shows in London and elsewhere, in 1976, the company closed and leased out its name. Williamson was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania and he was the son of a doctor, James Hezlep Williamson, and his wife Selina. About 1856, the moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where young James appeared in amateur theatricals beginning in 1857. That year, his father died in an accident, in 1861, Williamson worked for the local theatre company of Messrs. Hurd and Perkins as call-boy, general assistant and scenery and props maker, there he made his official stage debut. He later recalled, I used to act in amateur theatricals, I was full of energy and enthusiasm, and did pretty well everything. My mornings were spent in learning fencing and dancing, in the afternoon Id look after the box office, and at evening help the stage manager and take my part – sometimes three or four parts. The next year, he joined the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Toronto, Canada and then moved on to New York where he work as a dialect comedian. From his seven-year apprenticeship there, Williamson emerged with a knowledge of acting, play production. He then played in a comedy at the Theatre Comique in New York under the management of W. H. Lingard. Although Williamson was not a singer, his talent for comedy carried him. Later that month, they starred together in a comedy called Struck Oil in Salt Lake City, Williamson purchased the script for $100 and had it rewritten by his friend Clay M. Greene. The Williamsons then visited Australia, travelling on the S. S. Mikado, in 1874, they opened a season at The Theatre Royal, Melbourne, beginning with Struck Oil, which became an instant success
J. C. Williamson
–
J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
–
Maggie Moore in the 1870s
J. C. Williamson
–
Poster for
A Country Girl and
La Mascotte, 1907
J. C. Williamson
–
Williamson in later years
22.
Ben-Hur (play)
–
Ben-Hur was an 1899 theatrical adaption of the novel Ben-Hur, A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace. The play was dramatized by William W. Young and produced by Marc Klaw, inspired by the success of Wallaces popular novel, the stage production was notable for its elaborate use of spectacle. It had six acts with music written by American composer Edgar Stillman Kelley. The stage production opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City on November 29,1899, traveling versions of the production, including a national tour that ran for twenty-one years, played in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. By the end of its run in April 1920, the play had been seen by more than twenty million people, there have been other stage adaptations of Wallaces novel as well as several motion picture versions. In 1899, following three months of negotiations, Wallace entered into agreement with theatrical producers Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger to adapt his novel into a stage production. Wallace would receive two thirds of the royalties from the production, while Harper and Brothers, the books publisher, playwright William Young wrote the stage adaptation, reducing it to six acts in thirteen scenes. The stage version closely followed the plot and retained portions of its dialog. Edgar Stillman Kelley composed the music, but it was its elaborate staging. The character of Ben-Hur was initially cast with Walker Whiteside, William Farnum replaced Morgan after the shows first season. Hart would go on to leading roles in silent films such as The Aryan, Farnum also appeared in several films, including The Spoilers. The character of Christ was represented as a 25, 000-candlepower beam of light, the resulting production of Ben-Hur opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City on November 29,1899. It ran for 194 performances in its first season, before closing on May 10,1900, critics of the three-hour-and-twenty-nine-minute performance gave it mixed reviews, however, the audience, many of whom were first-time theatergoers, packed the house. Ben-Hur became a hit show, selling 25,000 tickets per week, the play reopened in New York City on September 3,1900, and ran for eighteen non-consecutive years on Broadway. The plays twenty-one-year national tour included venues in cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago. International versions of the played in London, England, and in Sydney and Melbourne. When the play closed in April 1920, it had been seen by more than twenty million people. Fans included William Jennings Bryan, who claimed it was the greatest play on stage when measured by its religious tone and its popularity is credited with introducing stage shows to a new audience, many of them devout churchgoers whod previously been suspicious of the stage
Ben-Hur (play)
–
1899 poster from the
Broadway premiere
Ben-Hur (play)
–
A 1901 poster for a production at the Illinois Theater in Chicago
23.
Irene Vanbrugh
–
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession, more famous for comic rather than dramatic roles, Vanbrugh nevertheless played a number of the latter in both modern works and the classics. Vanbrugh appeared frequently in fundraising shows for various charities and she was active over many years in the support of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, of which her brother was principal. After her death the Academys new theatre was named The Vanbrugh Theatre in honour of her and her sister, irenes eldest sister Violet and younger brother Kenneth were also to make theatrical careers. Another sister Edith married an official in the service and became a pillar of the British Raj. Irene was educated at Exeter High School and at schools in Paris, when the Barnes family moved to London, she attended a school near Earls Court recommended by the actress Ellen Terry, a family friend. It was also at Terrys suggestion that Violet, on starting a career, had adopted the stage name Vanbrugh. Violets early success encouraged Irene to follow her into the theatrical profession, sir John Gielgud described the two, The Vanbrugh sisters were remarkably alike in appearance. Tall and imposing, beautifully spoken, they moved with grace and they were elegantly but never ostentatiously dressed, entering and leaving the stage with unerring authority. Violet never struck me as a natural comedienne, as Irene was, as her elder sister had done, Irene enrolled at Sarah Thornes school of acting, based at Margate, which gave her a thorough practical grounding. Lewis Carroll, a friend of Vanbrughs father, saw her performing in Margate. On his recommendation she made her London début in December 1888, playing the White Queen, another Barnes sister, Edith, joined her in this production. Violets early theatrical engagements had been with J. L. Toole, for Toole, she played in established comedy successes including Dion Boucicaults Dot and H. J. Byrons Uncle Dicks Darling. When Toole toured Australia in 1890, Vanbrugh was a member of his company, acting in every play in its repertoire. She later commented, I think this was even better training than Miss Thornes school, not only was I constantly playing a new part, but I was constantly playing to a different type of audience. We visited all sorts of Australian cities, large and small, on her return, she remained with Tooles company, and played her first original roles as Thea Tesman in James Barries, burlesque Ibsens Ghost, and as Bell Golightly in Barries Walker, London. In 1893, Vanbrugh joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the Haymarket Theatre as Lettice in The Tempter by Henry Arthur Jones, after a short break she then played the role that made her name, Sophy Fullgarney in Pineros The Gay Lord Quex. This part, a little Cockney manicurist, was different from any she had played before
Irene Vanbrugh
–
As Lady Mary in
The Admirable Crichton, 1902
Irene Vanbrugh
–
Allan Aynesworth,
Evelyn Millard, Vanbrugh and
George Alexander in the 1895 London premiere of
The Importance of Being Earnest
Irene Vanbrugh
–
Vanbrugh in The Gay Lord Quex
Irene Vanbrugh
–
Vanbrugh in 1910
24.
J. M. Barrie
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Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland but moved to London, although he continued to write successfully, Peter Pan overshadowed his other work, and is credited with popularising the name Wendy. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents, Barrie was made a baronet by George V on 14 June 1913, and a member of the Order of Merit in the 1922 New Year Honours. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus to a conservative Calvinist family. His father David Barrie was a successful weaver. His mother Margaret Ogilvy had assumed her mothers household responsibilities at the age of eight. Barrie was the child of ten, all of whom were schooled in at least the three Rs in preparation for possible professional careers. His siblings were, Alexander, Mary Ann, Jane, Elizabeth, Agnes, David Ogilvy, Sarah, Isabella and he was a small child and drew attention to himself with storytelling. He only grew to 5 ft 3 1⁄2 in, when he was 6 years old, Barries next-older brother David died two days before his 14th birthday in an ice-skating accident. This left his mother devastated, and Barrie tried to fill Davids place in his mothers attentions, even wearing Davids clothes, one time, Barrie entered her room and heard her say, Is that you. I thought it was the boy she was speaking to, wrote Barrie in his biographical account of his mother Margaret Ogilvy and I said in a little lonely voice, No, its no him. Barries mother found comfort in the fact that her son would remain a boy forever, never to grow up. Eventually, Barrie and his mother entertained each other stories of her brief childhood and books such as Robinson Crusoe, works by fellow Scotsman Walter Scott. At the age of 8, Barrie was sent to the Glasgow Academy in the care of his eldest siblings Alexander and Mary Ann, when he was 10, he returned home and continued his education at the Forfar Academy. At 14, he left home for Dumfries Academy, again under the watch of Alexander and he became a voracious reader, and was fond of Penny Dreadfuls and the works of Robert Michael Ballantyne and James Fenimore Cooper. At Dumfries, he and his friends spent time in the garden of Moat Brae house and they formed a drama club, producing his first play Bandelero the Bandit, which provoked a minor controversy following a scathing moral denunciation from a clergyman on the schools governing board. Barrie knew that he wished to follow a career as an author, however, his family attempted to persuade him to choose a profession such as the ministry. With advice from Alexander, he was able to out a compromise, he would attend a university
J. M. Barrie
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J.M. Barrie by
Herbert Rose Barraud, 1892
J. M. Barrie
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Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, London
J. M. Barrie
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Sir James Barrie, around 1895.
J. M. Barrie
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J. M. Barrie by
George Charles Beresford, 1902
25.
The Times
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The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London, England. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, the Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967 and its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in touch with 10 Downing Street. In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope, in November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, the Sunday Times remains a broadsheet. The Times had a daily circulation of 446,164 in December 2016, in the same period. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006 and it has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company where he was working went bankrupt because of the complaints of a Jamaican hurricane. Being unemployed, Walter decided to set a new business up and it was in that time when Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was faster and more precise. Walter bought the patent and to use it, he decided to open a printing house. The first publication of the newspaper The Daily Universal Register in Great Britain was 1 January 1785, unhappy because people always omitted the word Universal, Ellias changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name, the Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its life, the profits of The Times were very large. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig, in 1815, The Times had a circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed editor in 1817
The Times
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Front page of The Times from 4 December 1788
The Times
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Roy Thomson
The Times
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A wounded British officer reading The Times's report of the end of the
Crimean War, in
John Everett Millais ' painting
Peace Concluded.
The Times
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John Walter, the founder of The Times
26.
Royal Court Theatre
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The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre, in 1956 it was acquired by and is home to a resident company, the English Stage Company. The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. By 1878, management of the theatre was shared by John Hare, further alterations were made in 1882 by Alexander Peebles, after which its capacity was 728. After that, Arthur Cecil was co-manager of the theatre with John Clayton, among other works, they produced a series of Arthur Wing Pineros farces, including The Rector, The Magistrate, The Schoolmistress, and Dandy Dick, among others. The theatre closed on 22 July 1887 and was demolished, the present building was built on the east side of Sloane Square, replacing the earlier building, and opened on 24 September 1888 as the New Court Theatre. Designed by Walter Emden and Bertie Crewe, it is constructed of red brick, moulded brick. Originally the theatre had a capacity of 841 in the stalls, dress circle, amphitheatre, Cecil and Clayton yielded management of the theatre to Mrs. John Wood and Arthur Chudleigh in 1887, although Cecil continued acting in their company until 1895. The first production in the new building was a play by Sydney Grundy titled Mamma, starring Mrs. John Wood and John Hare, with Arthur Cecil and Eric Lewis. Harley Granville-Barker managed the theatre for the first few years of the 20th century and it ceased to be used as a theatre in 1932 but was used as a cinema from 1935 to 1940, until World War II bomb damage closed it. The interior was reconstructed by Robert Cromie, and the number of seats was reduced to under 500, George Devine was appointed artistic director at the suggestion of Oscar Lewenstein, one of the other two co-founders of the English Stage Company. The ESC opened at the Royal Court in 1956 as a subsidised theatre producing new British and foreign plays, Devine aimed to create a writers theatre, seeking to discover new writers and produce serious contemporary works. Devine produced the new companys production in 1956, John Osbornes Look Back in Anger. Osborne followed Look Back In Anger with The Entertainer, with Laurence Olivier in the lead as Archie Rice, significantly, although it was quickly reversed, the artistic board of the ESC initially rejected the play. Two members of the board were in agreement in opposing The Entertainer, in the mid-1960s, the ESC became involved in issues of censorship. The succès de scandale of the two helped to bring about the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK. During the period of Devines directorship, besides Osborne and Bond, early seasons included new international plays by Bertolt Brecht, Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Marguerite Duras. In addition to the 400-seat proscenium arch Theatre Downstairs, the smaller studio Theatre Upstairs was opened in 1969
Royal Court Theatre
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The Royal Court Theatre at dusk in 2007
27.
Harley Granville-Barker
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Harley Granville-Barker was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw he increasingly turned to directing and was a figure in British theatre in the Edwardian. As a writer his plays, which tackled difficult and controversial subject matter, Harley Granville-Barker was born in London, England on 25 November 1877. He left school at 14 and began a career in acting, as his career blossomed, he seemed to excel in roles that were a culmination of intelligence and romantic dreaminess. This landed him many such as, Tanner in Man and Superman, Cusins in Major Barbara, Marchbanks in Candida. To be more specific the Dubedat and Cusins characters were written by George Bernard Shaw with Granville-Barker specifically in mind, however, performing no longer appealed to Granville-Barker so he gave it up in 1911. With an interest for theatre still at heart, he decided to focus on directing, some of his first assignments were with the Stage Society, but it wasnt until 1904 when he worked with the Royal Court Theatre that his directing career took off. From 1904 to 1907 he was considered to be one of the reformers of the Edwardian Stage. While working with the Royal Court, he collaborated with J. E. Vedrenne to mount almost 1,000 performances, many of these performances were classics while some were new pieces work. Among the new pieces of work, were plays written by George Bernard Shaw. Granville-Barker often worked with Shaw to assist in staging his plays, as the Vedrenne-Barker seasons closed with the Royal Court, new opportunities opened with the Duke of Yorks Theatre in 1910. This new opportunity reminded Granville-Barker of the need for more repertory companies, in 1904 he collaborated with William Archer to write a book that argued for a national theatre, unfortunately it was a lost cause that became one of the biggest disappointments in his life. However, his efforts did not go to waste but added to the growth of the regional repertory movement in Britain, Granville-Barkers directing career boomed with three famous productions of Shakespeare at the Savoy Theatre The Winters Tale and Twelfth Night during 1912 and A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1914. Granville-Barker took these productions and removed all classic scenery and replaced it with symbolic scenery, the year before he met his first wife, Granville-Barker wrote The Voysey Inheritance which is considered to be a masterpiece of the Edwardian stage. However, his plays did not sit well with the Edwardian audience. They found his plays to be incomprehensible, according to The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance, his style was more similar to the styles of Chekhov by putting the action under the surface. Although his audience may not have him, this did not stop Granville-Barker from discussing important issues in society. In 1907 Granville-Barkers play Waste was banned due to the topic of abortion, in 1909, three volumes of his plays, The Voysey Inheritance, Waste and The Marrying of Ann Leete were published in a limited edition of 50 copies printed on handmade paper in a slipcase
Harley Granville-Barker
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Harley Granville-Barker circa 1915
Harley Granville-Barker
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Granville-Barker in 1906
Harley Granville-Barker
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Oberon in Harley Granville-Barker's production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.
28.
Man and Superman
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Man and Superman is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme, man and Superman opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but it omitted the third act. A part of the act, Don Juan in Hell, was performed when the drama was staged on 4 June 1907 at the Royal Court, the play was not performed in its entirety until 1915, when the Travelling Repertory Company played it at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Mr. Whitefield has recently died, and his will indicates that his daughter Ann should be left in the care of two men, Roebuck Ramsden and Jack Tanner. Ramsden, a old man, distrusts Jack Tanner, an eloquent youth with revolutionary ideas, saying He is prodigiously fluent of speech, restless, excitable. In spite of what Ramsden says, Ann accepts Tanner as her guardian and she also challenges Tanners revolutionary beliefs with her own ideas. Hector Malone, Sr. an elderly gentleman who has worked throughout his life to attain a high social status in which he now takes pride. Ann Whitefield, a woman, graceful, somewhat enigmatic. She corresponds to the character Doña Ana in the Don Juan myth, henry Straker, chauffeur with a cockney accent. John Tanner, also called Jack Tanner, a well-educated, well-spoken man who takes everything seriously, including himself, allegedly the descendant of Don Juan, as well as the modern representation of the Don Juan character. The very name John Tanner is obviously an anglicisation of the Spanish name Juan Tenorio, Violet Robinson, sister of Octavius Robinson. She has been married to Hector Malone, Jr. Mrs. Whitefield, mother of Ann, and widow of the late Mr. Whitefield, susan Ramsden, the spinster sister of Roebuck Ramsden. Hector Malone, Jr. an American gentleman who is married to Violet Robinson. Octavius Robinson, a young man who is in love with Ann Whitefield. He represents Don Ottavio from the Don Juan myth, Roebuck Ramsden, an aging civil reformer who was friend to the late Mr. Whitefield. He corresponds to the statue in the Don Juan myth, who is in turn the representation of the spirit of Don Gonzalo, mendoza, an anarchist who collaborates with Tanner. Mendoza is the President of the League of the Sierra, a self-described brigand and he corresponds to Shaws conception of the Devil as he would be portrayed in the Don Juan myth
Man and Superman
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Harley Granville Barker as John Tanner and
Lillah McCarthy as Anne Whitefield in first production, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1905
Man and Superman
