1.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
2.
Hampstead and Kilburn (UK Parliament constituency)
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Hampstead and Kilburn is a constituency created in 2010 and currently represented in the British House of Commons by Tulip Siddiq of the Labour Party. Glenda Jackson was the MP from 2010 to 2015, having served for the seat since 1992. Hampstead and Kilburn was in 2010 the closest three-way marginal seat as the third-placed candidate obtained 841 fewer votes than the winner, approximately 1% of the electorate. In January 2013, Glenda Jackson announced that she would not seek re-election, the seat was won by Labour candidate Tulip Siddiq. The 2015 result made the seat the 10th narrowest result of the partys 232 seats, comparing the 2015 election to the 2010 election, the Liberal Democrat share of the vote fell by 25. 6% which compared to a national negative swing for the party of 15. 2%. The seat of Hampstead and Kilburn is a new creation resulting from these changes, brondesbury Park, Kilburn and part of Queens Park wards were transferred from the former constituency of Brent East. A small part of Queens Park ward was transferred from the constituency of Brent South. * Independent candidate The Eurovisionary Carroll died following the close of nominations for the 2015 General Election, under current rules, the election proceeded with his name on the ballot paper and would have been rerun had he won
3.
Tulip Siddiq
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Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, FRSA is a British Labour Party and Co-operative Party politician. She was elected Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn at the 2015 general election and she is vice-chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism and a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee. She was previously a councillor for Regents Park and Cabinet Member for Culture, Siddiq was born in St Helier Hospital in Mitcham, London. From the age of five, she spent her childhood in Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Singapore, in September 2011, she completed a second masters degree in Politics, Policy and Government, writing her dissertation on Local Government also at Kings College London. Siddiq grew up in Hampstead, was raised in a Muslim household and has said that her family embraced multicultural Britain and they met when Shafiq Siddiq was studying for a PhD and they married in Kilburn in 1970. Her maternal grandfather is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father and the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh and her mothers older sister is Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina. She has a brother, Radwan Bobby Mujib, and a younger sister. Siddiqs mother and aunt survived as they were on holiday in Germany at the time, at the age of 16, Siddiq joined the Labour Party. Siddiq worked on Ed Milibands campaign to be leader of the Labour Party and she has campaigned for political parties internationally and in 2008, she campaigned for Barack Obama in the U. S. In a 2006 by-election, Siddiq stood for Camden Council but did not win and it was an overwhelming Liberal Democrats seat and had been Liberal Democrats for 25 years. In May 2010, in the Camden election, Siddiq became the first Bengali female councillor in Camden Council, where she was Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities until May 2014. She has also campaigned in support of services, such as to keep Belsize Fire Station open, to improve disabled access at West Hampstead tube station. In May 2015, Siddiq won the Hampstead and Kilburn seat with 23,977 votes, Siddiq became Camdens first new MP in 23 years as the seat was previously held by Glenda Jackson from 1992 to 2015. The seat had previously been the second tightest in the country after Jackson won by just 42 votes in 2010 and was billed as the UKs most marginal general election contest, in June 2015, Siddiq was appointed vice-chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism. She is also a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, in the same month, she was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election, although she later supported Andy Burnham. In the same month, she was appointed Permanent Private Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, in November 2015, she campaigned against changes to junior doctor contracts. In the same month, Siddiqs maiden speech in Parliament was judged one of the top seven from 2015s intake of MPs by the BBC, in October 2016, she was appointed as Shadow Education Minister in Jeremy Corbyns front bench. In January 2017, she resigned from the front bench over the Article 50 vote, as reason she gave that her Hampstead and Kilburn constituency voted to remain in the European Union as one of the top 10 remain areas, and hence could not support Labours three line whip
4.
Birkenhead
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Birkenhead /ˌbɜːrkənˈhɛd/ is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Historically in Cheshire, it is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, the Birkenhead Urban Area defined as the contiguous built-up area along the eastern side of the Wirral had a total population of 325,264 in the 2011 Census. In the 2011 census, the Parliamentary constituency of Birkenhead had a population of 88,818, the Birkenhead and Tranmere electoral ward, covering a much smaller area, had a population of 15,879. The recorded history of Birkenhead began with the establishment of Birkenhead Priory, during the 19th century Birkenhead expanded greatly, becoming a town as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, with Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square being examples of the era. Around the same time, Birkenhead gained the first street tramway in Britain, later, the Mersey Railway connected Birkenhead and Liverpool, with the worlds first tunnel beneath a tidal estuary. Birkenhead is perhaps best known for the shipbuilding of Cammell Laird, in the second half of the 20th century, the town suffered a significant period of decline, with containerisation causing a reduction in port activity. During the first half of the 21st century, the Wirral Waters development is planned to regenerate much of the dockland. The name Birkenhead probably means headland overgrown with birch, from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree, the name is not derived from the Birket, a stream which enters the Mersey between Birkenhead and Seacombe. The Birket is a name which was introduced by Ordnance Survey. The earliest records state that the Mersey ferry began operating from Birkenhead in 1150, the priory was visited in 1275 and 1277 by Edward I. In a royal charter of 13 April 1330, Edward III granted the priory further rights, distanced from the Industrial Revolution in Liverpool by the physical barrier of the River Mersey, Birkenhead retained its agricultural status until the advent of steam ferry services. In 1817 a steam ferry service started from Liverpool to Tranmere and in 1822 the paddle steamer, Royal Mail, an iron works was initially established by William Laird in 1824 and was joined by his son John Laird in 1828. The business eventually became Cammell Laird, merchant vessels were also built such as RMS Mauretania and RMS Windsor Castle. The Mersey Railway tunnel opened in 1886, providing direct access to Liverpool. In September 1932 thousands of unemployed people protested in a series of demonstrations organised by the branch of the National Unemployed Workers Movement. After three days of rioting, police were brought in from elsewhere to help quell the rioters, in addition to the ferries and the railway, the Queensway road tunnel opened in 1934 and gave rapid access to Liverpool. This opened up the Wirral Peninsula for development, and prompted further growth of Birkenhead as an industrial centre. Bolstered by migration from rural Cheshire, southern Ireland and Wales, formerly a township in Bidston Parish of the Wirral Hundred, Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1877, and became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888
5.
Cheshire
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Cheshire is a county in North West England, bordering Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south and Wales to the west. Cheshires county town is Chester, the largest town is Warrington, other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Northwich, Runcorn, Widnes, Wilmslow, and Winsford. The county covers 905 square miles and has a population of around 1 million and it is mostly rural, with a number of small towns and villages supporting the agricultural and other industries which produce Cheshire cheese, salt, chemicals and silk. Cheshires name was derived from an early name for Chester. Although the name first appears in 980, it is thought that the county was created by Edward the Elder around 920, in the Domesday Book, Chester was recorded as having the name Cestrescir, derived from the name for Chester at the time. A series of changes occurred as English itself changed, together with some simplifications and elision, resulted in the name Cheshire. Because of the close links with the land bordering Cheshire to the west. The Domesday Book records Cheshire as having two complete Hundreds that later became the part of Flintshire. Additionally, another portion of the Duddestan Hundred later became known as Maelor Saesneg when it was transferred to North Wales. For this and other reasons, the Welsh name for Cheshire is sometimes used within Wales, after the Norman conquest of 1066 by William I, dissent and resistance continued for many years after the invasion. In 1069 local resistance in Cheshire was finally put down using draconian measures as part of the Harrying of the North, the ferocity of the campaign against the English populace was enough to end all future resistance. Examples were made of major landowners such as Earl Edwin of Mercia, William I made Cheshire a county palatine and gave Gerbod the Fleming the new title of Earl of Chester. When Gerbod returned to Normandy in about 1070, the king used his absence to declare the earldom forfeit, due to Cheshires strategic location on Welsh Marches, the Earl had complete autonomous powers to rule on behalf of the king in the county palatine. Cheshire in the Domesday Book is recorded as a larger county than it is today. It included two hundreds, Atiscross and Exestan, that became part of North Wales. At the time of the Domesday Book, it included as part of Duddestan Hundred the area of land later known as English Maelor in Wales. The area between the Mersey and Ribble formed part of the returns for Cheshire, an example is the barony of Halton. One of Hugh dAvranches barons has been identified as Robert Nicholls, Baron of Halton, in 1182 the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of Lancashire, thus resolving any uncertainty about the county in which the land Inter Ripam et Mersam was
6.
England
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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
7.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
8.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
9.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
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The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school in London, England. It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, RADA is an affiliate school of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. Its higher education awards are validated by Kings College London and its students graduate alongside members of the departments which form the Kings Faculty of Arts & Humanities and it is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senate House complex of the University of London. Undergraduate students are eligible for government student loan through the Conservatoire for Dance, RADA also has a significant scholarships and bursaries scheme, offering financial assistance to many students at the Academy. The current director of the academy is Edward Kemp, the president is Sir Kenneth Branagh, the chairman is Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen and its vice-chairman was Alan Rickman until his death in 2016. RADA was founded in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, an actor manager, in 1905, RADA moved to 52 Gower Street, and a managing council was set up to oversee the school. Its members included George Bernard Shaw, who donated his royalties from his play Pygmalion to RADA. In 1920, RADA was granted a Royal Charter, and in 1921, the Prince of Wales opened the theatre. The Gower Street buildings were torn down in 1927, and replaced with a new building, financed by George Bernard Shaw, in 1923, John Gielgud studied at RADA for a year. He later became President of the academy, and its first honorary fellow, a number of famous actors took on leading roles at RADA, such as Richard Attenborough, Oliver Neville, Nicholas Barter, and Alan Rickman. Other 1924 saw RADAs first government subsidy, a grant of £500, in 2001, RADA joined forces with the London Contemporary dance School to create the UKs first Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance joined this Conservatoire in 2005, in 2000 the Academy founded RADA Enterprises Ltd, which includes RADA in Business, providing training in communications and teambuilding that uses drama training techniques in a business context. The profits are fed back into the Academy to fund students training, RADA is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London. The main RADA building is on Gower Street, with a second premises nearby in Chenies Street, the Goodge Street and Euston Square underground stations are both within walking distance. RADA has five theatres and a cinema, there is also a 150-seat cinema. In January 2012, RADA acquired the lease to the adjacent Drill Hall venue in Chenies Street, the Drill Hall is a Grade II listed building with a long performing arts history, and was where Nijinsky rehearsed with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in 1911. This venue has a 200-seat space, the Studio Theatre, and a 50-seat space, the RADA library contains around 30,000 items. The collection was started in 1904 with donations from actors and writers of the such as Sir Squire Bancroft, William Archer, Arthur Wing Pinero
10.
Royal Shakespeare Company
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The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The companys home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has recently redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare, the theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week, performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre. The 2011-season began with performances of Macbeth and a re-imagined lost play The History of Cardenio, the fiftieth birthday season also featured The Merchant of Venice with Sir Patrick Stewart and revivals of some of the RSCs greatest plays, including a new staging of Marat/Sade. For the London 2012 Festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad, in 2013 the company began live screenings of its Shakespeare productions – called Live from Stratford-upon-Avon – which are screened around the world. In 2016, the company collaborated with Intel and The Imaginarium Studios to stage The Tempest, John Wards Birmingham-based company, the Warwickshire Company of Comedians, agreed to perform it. A surviving copy of the records that the company performed Othello. The first building erected to commemorate Shakespeare was David Garricks Jubilee Pavilion in 1769, the first permanent commemorative building to Shakespeares works in the town was a theatre built in 1827, in the gardens of New Place, but has long since been demolished. The RSCs history began with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, which was the brainchild of a local brewer and he donated a two-acre site by the River Avon and in 1875 launched an international campaign to build a theatre in the town of Shakespeares birth. The theatre, a Victorian-Gothic building seating just over 700 people, opened on 23 April 1879, with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, a title which gave ammunition to several critics. From 1919, under the direction of William Bridges-Adams and after a slow start, the theatre received a Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1925, which gave it status. On the afternoon of 6 March 1926, when a new season was about to commence rehearsals, fire broke out, and the mass of half-timbering chosen to ornament the interior provided dry tinder. By the following morning the theatre was a blackened shell, the company transferred its Shakespeare festivals to a converted local cinema. Fund-raising began for the rebuilding of the theatre, with generous donations arriving from philanthropists in America, george Bernard Shaw commented that her design was the only one that showed any theatre sense. Her modernist plans for an art deco structure came under fire from many directions, later it came under the direction of Sir Barry Jackson in 1945, Anthony Quayle from 1948 to 1956 and Glen Byam Shaw 1957–1959, with an impressive roll-call of actors. Scotts building, with minor adjustments to the stage, remained in constant use until 2007 when it was closed for a major refit of the interior. Timeline,1932 – new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens, abutting the remains of the old,1961 – chartered name of the corporation and the Stratford theatre becomes ‘Royal Shakespeare. ’1974 – The Other Place opened, created from a prefabricated former store/rehearsal room in Stratford. 1986 – the Swan Theatre opened, created from the shell of the 1879 Memorial Theatre,1991 – Purpose-built new Other Place, designed by Michael Reardon, opens
11.
Peter Brook
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Peter Stephen Paul Brook, CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director who has been based in France since the early 1970s. He has won multiple Tony and Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Praemium Imperiale, and he has been called our greatest living theatre director. With the Royal Shakespeare Company, Brook directed the first English language production of Marat/Sade in 1964 and it transferred to Broadway in 1965 and won the Tony Award for Best Play, and Brook was named Best Director. Brook was born in the Turnham Green area of Chiswick, London, the family home was at 27 Fairfax Road, Turnham Green. His elder brother was the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexis Brook and his first cousin was Valentin Pluchek, chief director of the Moscow Satire Theatre. Brook was educated at Westminster School, Greshams School, and Magdalen College and he directed Dr Faustus, his first production, in 1943 at the Torch Theatre in London, followed at the Chanticleer Theatre in 1945 with a revival of The Infernal Machine. In 1947, he went to Stratford-upon-Avon as assistant director on Romeo and Juliet, from 1947 to 1950, he was Director of Productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His work there included a highly controversial staging of Strauss Salome with sets by Salvador Dalí, a proliferation of stage and screen work as producer and director followed. Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson, at the Ambassadors Theatre and it has been based in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord theatre since 1974. In 2008 he made the decision to resign as director of Bouffes du Nord, handing over to Olivier Mantei. Brook has been influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his ideas for his Theatre of Cruelty, the result was a showing of works in progress made up of improvisations and sketches, one of which was the premier of Artauds The Spurt of Blood. – Lee Jamieson, Antonin Artaud, From Theory to Practice, Greenwich Exchange,2007 His greatest influence, Brook described her as the most galvanising director in mid-20th century Britain. Brooks work is inspired by the theories of experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Chris Covics and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Gurdjieff, Edward Gordon Craig, and Matila Ghyka, Brook first encountered Wakhévitch in London when he saw the production of Jean Cocteaus ballet Le Jeune Homme et la Mort which Wakhévitch designed. Brook declared, he was convinced that this was the designer for whom I had been waiting, however, many postcololonial scholars have challenged the claim to universalism, accusing the play of orientalism. In 2015 Brook returned to the world of Mahabharata with a new Young Vic production, Battlefield in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, in 2005 Brook directed Tierno Bokar, based on the life of the Malian sufi of the same name. The play was adapted for the stage by Marie-Hélène Estienne from a book by Amadou Hampate Ba, the book and play detail Bokars life and message of religious tolerance. Columbia University produced 44 related events, lectures, and workshops that were attended by over 3,200 people throughout the run of Tierno Bokar, panel discussions focused on topics of religious tolerance and Muslim tradition in West Africa
12.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
13.
Academy Award for Best Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a leading role while working within the film industry. The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with Janet Gaynor receiving the award for her roles in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. Currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the branch of AMPAS. In the first three years of the awards, actresses were nominated as the best in their categories, at that time, all of their work during the qualifying period was listed after the award. The following year, this unwieldy and confusing system was replaced by the current system in which an actress is nominated for a performance in a single film. Starting with the 9th ceremony held in 1937, the category was officially limited to five nominations per year, one actress has been nominated posthumously, Jeanne Eagels. Only three film characters have been nominated more than once in this category, elizabeth I of England, Leslie Crosbie in The Letter, and Esther Blodgett in A Star is Born. Six women on the list have received an Honorary Academy Award for their acting, they are Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Pickford, Deborah Kerr, Gena Rowlands, since its inception, the award has been given to 74 actresses. Katharine Hepburn has won the most awards in this category, with four Oscars, meryl Streep, who has a total of 20 Oscar nominations, has been nominated in this category on 16 occasions, resulting in two awards. As of the 2017 ceremony, Emma Stone is the most recent winner in category for her role as Mia Dolan in La La Land. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933
14.
Women in Love (film)
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Women in Love is a 1969 British romantic drama film directed by Ken Russell and starring Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from D. H. Lawrences novel of the same name, the plot follows the relationships between two sisters and two men in a mining town in post First World War England. The two couples take markedly different directions, the film explores the nature of commitment and love. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Writing, Jackson won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role, as well as a slew of critics honours. The film takes place in 1920, in the Midlands mining town of Beldover. Two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, discuss marriage on their way to the wedding of Laura Crich, daughter of the wealthy mine owner, Thomas Crich, to Tibby Lupton. At the villages church, each sister is fascinated by a member of the wedding party – Gudrun by Lauras brother, Gerald. Ursula is a teacher and Rupert is a school inspector, she remembers his visit to her classroom. The four are brought together at a house party at the estate of Hermione Roddice. When Hermione devises, as entertainment for her guests, a dance in the style of the Russian ballet, Rupert becomes impatient with her pretensions and this sets off spontaneous dancing among the whole group and angers Hermione. When Birkin follows her into the room, she smashes a glass paperweight against his head. He discards his clothes and wanders through the woods, when Gerald and Rupert appear, Gerald calls Gudruns behaviour impossible and ridiculous, and then says he loves her. Thats one way of putting it, she replies, Ursula and Birkin wander away discussing death and love. They make love in the woods, the day ends in tragedy when Laura and Tibby drown while swimming in the lake. During one of Gerald and Ruperts discussions, Rupert suggests Japanese-style wrestling and they strip and wrestle in the firelight. Ursula and Birkin decide to marry while Gudrun and Gerald continue to see each other, one evening, emotionally exhausted after his fathers illness and death, Gerald sneaks into the Brangwen house to spend the night with Gudrun in her bed, then leaves at dawn. Later, after Ursula and Birkins marriage, Gerald suggests that the four of them go to the Alps for Christmas, at their inn in the Alps, Gudrun irritates Gerald with her interest in Loerke, a gay German sculptor. An artist herself, Gudrun is fascinated with Loerkes idea that brutality is necessary to create art, while Gerald grows increasingly jealous and angry, Gudrun only derides and ridicules him
15.
A Touch of Class (film)
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A Touch of Class is a 1973 British romantic comedy film which tells the story of a couple having an affair, who find themselves falling in love. It stars George Segal, Glenda Jackson, Hildegarde Neil, Paul Sorvino and it was adapted by Melvin Frank and Jack Rose from the story She Loves Me, She Told Me So Last Night by Frank, who also directed. The lead role of Steve was originally offered to Cary Grant, however, Grant opted to remain in retirement from filmmaking, and he turned the role down. He did remain connected to the film, however, as it was produced by Fabergés Brut Productions, morecambe, after hearing that Jackson had won the Oscar, sent her a telegram reading, Stick with us and we will get you another one. Vickie Allessio is a divorced British mother of two, Steve Blackburn is an American married man who has never cheated on his wife. After sharing a London taxi, Steve invites Vickie to tea, then lunch, then takes Vickie to a hotel room, Vickie admits she would like to have uncomplicated sex, but isnt impressed by the setting, wanting somewhere sunny. Steve arranges a trip to Málaga, Steves wife Gloria turns up just as they are about to go, with Vickie traveling as his mother. He arranges plane tickets for his wife, children and in-laws, once at the airport, Steve bumps into friend Walter Menkes, an American movie producer. Unable to admit that hes with Vickie, Steve spends the next to Walter. On arrival in Málaga, Steve ends up giving the last decent car to Walter to get rid of him and he takes an Italian car with an awkward clutch, which he has trouble driving to Vickies discomfort and annoyance. At the hotel, they end up struggling up several flights of stairs in order to a double room, once settled, the atmosphere becomes awkward, as both argue over their respective sides during sex. Steve is persuaded to just get on top of her, but turns suddenly, a doctor is called and Steve is put to sleep, while Vickie sleeps atop the bedding. In the morning, Vickie bumps into an American lady, Patty, Steve wakes up to find Vickie sunning herself in a bikini on the balcony. Getting dressed after, Steve is disappointed in Vickies lack of enthusiasm about their sex, during a game of golf, Vickie becomes offended by Steves need to defeat a local boy, who has placed a bet with him while playing. As the tension mounts between them, Vickie decides to go to dinner with Patty and Steve arranges dinner with Walter, when they arrive separately, Vickie discovers Patty is Walters wife and the two are forced into an uncomfortable dinner with the couple. Steve becomes offended when Vickie is amused that Steves daughter is fat and has crooked teeth, after an argument in the bedroom, Steve and Vickie decide to head back to London. Steve decides not to bother reserving any plane tickets, but at the airport the last two tickets have just been sold, returning to the hotel, they begin to attack each other in the room. Steve grabs Vickie atop the bed, almost ripping her dress off, suddenly excited, Steve tries to have sex with her, but cant undo his trouser zip
16.
Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)
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Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film written by Penelope Gilliatt, directed by John Schlesinger and starring Murray Head, Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Peggy Ashcroft. It tells the story of a young bisexual artist and his simultaneous relationships with a female recruitment consultant. The film is significant for its time in that Finchs homosexual character is depicted as successful and relatively well-adjusted, the film was released before the 1972 shooting by the British Army of unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, an event dubbed Bloody Sunday. Not only are Hirsh and Greville both aware that Elkin is seeing the other but they know one another through common friends, despite this, they are willing to put up with the situation through fear of losing Elkin, who switches freely between them. For Greville, the relationship is bound up with a growing disillusionment about her life, failed marriage. For Hirsh, it represents an escape from the nature of his Jewish upbringing. Despite their opposed situations, both Hirsh and Greville come to realize that it is time to move on and Elkin leaves for the USA. Peter Finch as Dr. Daniel Hirsh Glenda Jackson as Alex Greville Murray Head as Bob Elkin Peggy Ashcroft as Mrs. Greville Tony Britton as George Harding Maurice Denham as Mr. However he was held up filming The Go-Between and was replaced first by Ian Bannen, however, the role of Daniel was written as that of a much younger man. Several actresses politely refused the part of Glenda Jacksons mother, Mrs. Greville, Peggy Ashcroft accepted after the director explained to her the elements of the story and she gladly signed on. Ian Bannen was fired from the role of Daniel Hirsh shortly after filming began, apparently, he was so nervous about what kissing another actor on screen might do to his career, he could not concentrate enough to even get going with the part. He later said that losing the set back his career. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis made his debut at the age of 14 in this film as a vandal in an uncredited role. He described the experience as heaven, for getting paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church, the film makes extensive use of source music including a recurring motif of the trio Soave sia il vento from Mozarts opera Così fan tutte. The film currently holds a 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and this film appeared on both Roger Eberts and Gene Siskels Top 10 list of 1971. Listed as No.5 and No.6 respectively, Roger Ebert commented, The official East Coast line on John Schlesingers Sunday Bloody Sunday was that it is civilized. That judgment was enlisted to carry the critical defense of the movie and this is not a movie about the loss of love, but about its absence
17.
Elizabeth R
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Elizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson in the title role. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia, the Lions Cub - The fragile succession heralds dangerous times for the young Princess Elizabeth. Will the Princess Elizabeth survive her emotionally unstable half-sisters reign, the Marriage Game - The new Queen Elizabeth I is 25 years old - and unmarried. Her council—particularly the man she trusts most, Sir William Cecil—urges her to marry quickly, only Lord Robert Dudley, at first her Master of the Horse, and eventually the Earl of Leicester, seems to interest the queen. When Dudleys wife dies under mysterious circumstances, Elizabeth must decide if she wants to marry. Shadow in the Sun - Elizabeth meets her most eligible suitor yet, François, Duke of Alençon, a marriage will cement Frances sought-for alliance with England. Both Sir William Cecil and Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, despite the Puritans rousing opposition in the country, Elizabeth seems taken with the witty and flower-tongued François. As her duties as queen clash with her feelings as a woman, in the end, her good friend and councillor Sussex helps Elizabeth make her painfully honest, final decision. Elizabeth does not want to marry - ever, horrible Conspiracies - As long as the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots lives, she is the focus of plotters and revolutionaries. Despite a harsh clampdown against conspiring Roman Catholics, Mary, inspires an earnest attempt to overthrow Elizabeth, is the execution of Mary the only way Elizabeth will remain on the throne. Sir Francis Walsingham definitely thinks so, and will use any means to convince Elizabeth to eliminate Mary, but Elizabeth fears Marys death will condemn her in the eyes of God. In the end, Elizabeth makes a final choice, the Enterprise of England - Whispers of war fill the air in Elizabeths court and in Spain. The infirm King Philip II of Spain is eager to avenge the death of Mary, Philip urges an unprepared fleet, commanded by the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia, to sail on England. Even as Elizabeth rebukes the hawks in her council, with hopes of peace and her fate and the future of the country now lie in the hands of Drake, and the Navy. England triumphs, but Elizabeth pays a heavy price with the death of her beloved Robert Dudley. Sweet Englands Pride - He is the sun in splendour, he is all our pride, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, is the peoples champion. He and Charles Howard were successful in capturing and sacking the Spanish seaport of Cadiz, the queen tells her secretary Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, I am not Gloriana without the magic of his mirror. After his unsuccessful uprising against the queen in London, he is executed, the old queen shines in her final address to Parliament, but dies soon afterward
18.
United Kingdom general election, 1992
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The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. It was the last outright win for the Conservatives until 2015 and this election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown the Labour Party, under leader Neil Kinnock, consistently, if narrowly, ahead. John Major had won the election in November 1990 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. The economy was facing a recession around the time of Majors appointment, because it confounded the opinion polls, the 1992 election was one of the most dramatic elections in the UK since the end of the Second World War. The BBCs live television broadcast of the results was presented by David Dimbleby and Peter Snow. Sky News presented full coverage of an election night for the first time. The Conservative Party received what remains the largest number of votes in British history, Labour began to lead the Conservatives in the opinion polls by as much as 20 percentage points. Thatcher resigned after the party leadership ballot in November 1990 and was replaced by John Major and this was well received by the public, Labour lost some momentum as it reduced the impact of their calls for Time for a Change. Parliament was due to no later than 16 June 1992. Major called the election on 11 March, shortly after Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont had delivered the Budget, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock the Labour party had undergone further developments and alterations since its 1987 election defeat. Labour entered the campaign confident, with most opinion polls showing a slight Labour lead that if maintained suggested a hung parliament, the parties campaigned on the familiar grounds of taxation and health care. Major became known for delivering his speeches while standing on an upturned soapbox during public meetings, immigration was also an issue, with Home Secretary Kenneth Baker making a controversial speech stating that, under Labour, the floodgates would be opened for immigrants from developing countries. Some speculated that this was a bid by the Conservatives to shore up its support amongst its white working-class supporters. The Conservatives also pounded the Labour Party over the issue of taxation, producing a memorable poster entitled Labours Double-Whammy, showing a boxer wearing gloves marked tax rises, Labour seemingly recovered from the NHS controversy, and opinion polls on 1 April showed a clear Labour lead. But the lead fell considerably in the following days polls, however some analysts and participants in the campaign believed it actually had little effect, with the event only receiving widespread attention after the election. This was the first general election for the newly formed Liberal Democrats and its formation had not been without its problems, but under the strong leadership of Paddy Ashdown, who proved to be a likeable and candid figure, the party went into the election ready. They focused on education throughout the campaign, as well as a promise on reforming the voting system, in Scotland the Scottish National Party hoped for a major electoral breakthrough in 1992 and had run a hard independence campaign with Free by 93 as their slogan. Although the party increased its vote by 50% compared to 1987
19.
Tony Blair
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Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
20.
United Kingdom general election, 2015
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The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons and it was the first general election at the end of a fixed-term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day, polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote as they won an outright majority. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservatives won 330 seats and 36. 9% of the vote, the British Polling Council began an inquiry into the substantial variance between opinion polls and the actual result. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw an increase in its vote share to 30. 4%. This was its lowest seat tally since the 1987 election, senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated. The UK Independence Party came third in terms of votes with 12. 6%, the Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 3. 8%, and held Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority, though did not win any additional seats. Labours Miliband and Murphy resigned, as did Clegg, Farage claimed that his resignation was rejected by his party, and he remained in post. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after an absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share. That renegotiation was followed by an in-out referendum a year later in June 2016, as a result, it is likely that this was the last general election to be held in the UK during its membership of the EU. There were local elections on the day in most of England. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, all British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament to seats in the House of Commons. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the first-past-the-post system, if one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government. If the election results in no party having a majority. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government, the next boundary review is now set to take place in 2018, thus the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies,533 are in England,59 in Scotland,40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland, in addition, the 2011 Act mandated a referendum in 2011 on changing from the current first-past-the-post system to an alternative vote system for elections to the Commons
21.
United Kingdom general election, 2010
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The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday,6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system, none of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats and this resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the general election since World War II to return a hung parliament. The coalition government that was formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome. The hung parliament came in spite of the Conservatives managing a higher share of the vote than the previous Labour government had done in 2005 that had a comfortable majority, Coalition talks began immediately between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and lasted for five days. There was an attempt to put together a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition. To facilitate this Gordon Brown announced on the evening of Monday 10 May that he would resign as Labour Party leader. Realising that a deal with the Conservatives was in reach, the day on Tuesday 11 May, Brown announced his resignation as Prime Minister. This was accepted by Queen Elizabeth II, who then invited David Cameron to form a government in her name and become Prime Minister, none of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign, a situation which had not occurred since the 1979 election. During the campaign, the three party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, the first such debates in a British general election campaign. The Liberal Democrats achieved a breakthrough in opinion polls after the first debate, nonetheless on polling day their share of the vote increased by only 1% over the previous general election, and they suffered a net loss of five seats. This was still the Liberal Democrats largest popular vote since the partys creation, the share of votes for parties other than Labour or the Conservatives was 35%, the largest since the 1918 general election. In terms of votes it was the most three-cornered election since 1923, the Green Party of England and Wales won its first ever seat in the Commons, and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland also gained its first elected member. The General Election saw a 5. 1% national swing from Labour to the Conservatives, the result in one constituency, Oldham East and Saddleworth, was subsequently declared void on petition because of illegal practices during the campaign, the first such instance since 1910. The election took place on 6 May in 649 constituencies across the United Kingdom, under the first-past-the-post system, voting in the Thirsk and Malton constituency was postponed for three weeks because of the death of a candidate. The governing Labour Party had campaigned to secure a consecutive term in office. The Conservative Party sought to gain a dominant position in British politics after losses in the 1990s, the Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both sides and hoped to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament
22.
Wirral Peninsula
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Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in northwest England. It is bounded to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey, the roughly rectangular peninsula is about 15 miles long and 7 miles wide. Historically, the Wirral was wholly within Cheshire, in the Domesday Book, however, since the passing of the Local Government Act 1972, only the southern third has been in Cheshire, with the rest in metropolitan borough in the county of Merseyside. The name Wirral literally means myrtle corner, from the Old English wir, a tree, and heal. It is supposed that the land was overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area. The name was given to the Hundred of Wirral around the 8th century, whether the name should be preceded by the definite article is the subject of debate, as is whether something should be described as being in the Wirral or on the Wirral. In 2014, a poll of Liverpool Echo readers indicated that 73% of respondents would use the phrase on the Wirral in everyday conversation. The earliest evidence of occupation of the Wirral dates from the Mesolithic period. Later Neolithic stone axes and pottery have found in Oxton, Neston. At Meols and New Brighton there is evidence of continuing occupation through to the Bronze Age, around 1000 BC, before the time of the Romans, the Wirral was inhabited by a Celtic tribe, the Cornovii. Artefacts discovered in Meols suggest it was an important port from at least 500 BC, traders came from Gaul and the Mediterranean seeking minerals from North Wales and Cheshire. There are also remains of a small Iron Age fort at Burton, around 70 AD, the Romans founded Chester. Evidence of their occupation in the Wirral has been found, including the remains of a road near Mollington, Ledsham and this road may have continued to the port at Meols, which may have been used as a base for attacking the north Wales coast. Storeton Quarry may also have used by Romans for sculpture. By the end of the Roman period, pirates were a menace to traders in the Irish Sea, and soldiers may have been garrisoned at Meols to combat this threat. Although Roman rule ended with the departure of the last Roman troops in 410, later coins, the Celtic names of Liscard and Landican both suggest an ancient British origin. The name of Wallasey, meaning Welsh island, is evidence of British settlement, the Welsh name, both ancient and modern, for the Wirral is Cilgwri. In Welsh mythology, the ouzel of Cilgwri was one of the most ancient creatures in the world, the Anglo-Saxons under Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, laid waste to Chester around 616
23.
West Kirby Grammar School
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West Kirby Grammar School is a non-denominational selective state-funded grammar school for girls with academy status in West Kirby on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The school currently has 1182 students, of whom most are girls, the school is one of The Sunday Times top one hundred state schools. In 1912 it was open for girls and boys but in 1913 was made a girls grammar school, founded in 1913 the school celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2008, with a whole school photograph. The school celebrated its 100th birthday in 2013, a weekend of events including another whole school photograph, the Centenary Room, funded by the Old Girls Association, was also opened next to the main hall of the school. It was recently given a grant to renovate facilities on site, the technology block was completed in September 2007, and the English/Humanities block in October 2008. Furthermore, in 2006 the school won the Wirral International School Award, the school has 6 houses, Hudson, Stewart, Gonner, Furniss, Wallis and Paton. These all compete throughout the year at various events ranging from music. The schools Under 13 football team has achieved national success after competing in the final of the tournament at Wembley stadium. Pupils at the study a standard UK curriculum with GCSE. Sports studied as standard in Physical Education lessons include Hockey, Netball, Tennis, there is a large Combined Cadet Force contingent shared with Calday Grange Grammar School, which students from Year 9 upwards can join. There is a German exchange programme and there are links with schools in Germany, Finland, Hungary. Sheila McClennon, Radio 4 presenter on Womans Hour and You and Yours West Kirby Grammar School website
24.
Boots UK
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Boots UK Limited, trading as Boots, is a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with outlets in most high streets, shopping centres and airport terminals. The companys former parent, The Boots Company Plc, merged with Alliance UniChem in 2006 to form Alliance Boots, in 2012, Walgreens bought a 45% stake Alliance Boots, with the option to buy the rest within three years. It exercised this option in 2014, and as a result Boots became a subsidiary of the new company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, the company operates over 2,500 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland ranging from local pharmacies to large health and beauty stores. Their stores are located on the high streets and in shopping centres. It sells many health and beauty products, and also provides optician and hearing care services within stores, Boots also operates a retail website and runs a loyalty card programme branded as the Boots Advantage Card. Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot, in 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company. However, because of deteriorating economic circumstances in North America Boots was sold back into British hands in 1933, the grandson of the founder, John Boot, who inherited the title Baron Trent from his father, headed the company. The Boots Pure Drug Company name was changed to The Boots Company Limited in 1971, Boots diversified into the research and manufacturing of drugs with its development of the Ibuprofen painkiller during the 1960s, invented by Stewart Adams. The company was awarded the Queens Award For Technical Achievement for this in 1987, a major research focus of Boots in the 1980s was the drug for congestive heart failure Manoplax. In 2006, it sold the Nurofen brand to Reckitt Benckiser, the 2006 sale of Boots Healthcare International included everything made by Crookes Healthcare, based on the Nottingham site. In 1968 Boots acquired the 622-strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain, Boots expanded into Canada by purchasing the Tamblyn Drugs chain circa 1978. Most Canadian Boots stores were converted to Pharma Plus in 1989, although a handful of locations remained as late as 1993, in 1982, the company opened a new manufacturing plant in Cramlington, Northumberland. In the early 1990s, Boots began to diversify and bought Halfords and it also developed the Childrens World business but sold it in 1996 to Mothercare. Boots Opticians Ltd. was formed in 1987 with the acquisition of Clement Clarke Ltd. and Curry, Boots Opticians became the UKs second largest retail optics chain. Boots diversified into dentistry in 1998, with a number of stores offering this service, Boots sold its Do-It-All home furnishings chain to Focus in 1998. com to wellbeing. com In late 2004, Boots sold its laser eye surgery business to Optical Express. In October 2005, a merger with Alliance UniChem was announced by the then chairman, the CEO Richard Baker left, and the new group became Alliance Boots plc. The merger became effective on 31 July 2006 and this was the first ever instance of a FTSE100 company having been bought by a private equity firm. In June 2008, the headquarters were moved to Zug
25.
Terence Rattigan
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Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, CBE was a British dramatist. He was one of Englands most popular mid twentieth century dramatists and his plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He is known for works as The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, The Deep Blue Sea and Separate Tables. A troubled homosexual, who saw himself as an outsider, his plays confronted issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships and adultery, Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South Kensington, London, United Kingdom, of Irish Protestant extraction. He had a brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan, a notable India-based jurist and his father was Frank Rattigan CMG, a diplomat whose exploits included an affair with Princess Elisabeth of Romania which resulted in her having an abortion. Rattigans birth certificate and his announcement in The Times indicate he was born on 9 June 1911. However, most reference books state that he was born the following day, there is evidence suggesting that the date on the birth certificate is incorrect. He was given no name, but he adopted the middle name Mervyn in early adulthood. Rattigan was educated at Sandroyd School from 1920 to 1925, at the based in Cobham, Surrey. Rattigan played cricket for the Harrow First XI and scored 29 in the Eton–Harrow match in 1929 and he was a member of the Officer Training Corps and organised a mutiny, informing the Daily Express. Even more annoying to his headmaster, Cyril Norwood, was the telegram from the Eton OTC and he then went to Trinity College, Oxford. Success as a playwright came early, with the comedy French Without Tears in 1936, Rattigans determination to write a more serious play produced After the Dance, a satirical social drama about the bright young things and their failure to politically engage. The outbreak of the Second World War scuppered any chances of a long run. During the war, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force as a gunner, his experiences helped inspire Flare Path. He was a friend of Spike Milligans junior officer, Lieutenant Tony Goldsmith, Rattigan wrote an obituary of his friend and sent it to The Times. A copy of it is in Rommel, Rattigan responded to this critical disfavour with some bitterness. His plays Ross, Man and Boy, In Praise of Love, aunt Edna inspired Joe Orton to create Edna Welthorpe, a mischievous alter ego stirring up controversy about his own plays
26.
Separate Tables
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Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a town on the south seacoast of England. The first play, entitled Table by the Window, focuses on the relationship between a disgraced Labour politician and his ex-wife. The two principal roles in both plays are written to be played by the same performers, the secondary characters – permanent residents, the hotels manager, and members of the staff – appear in both plays. The plays are about people who are driven by loneliness into a state of desperation, the production was a commercial success, running for 726 performances. In Table by the Window, Martin, a politician, now turned to drink, is dining with his ex-wife. She, having remarried, is now divorced a second time, in Table Number Seven, Major Pollock tries to conceal from his fellow guests a report in the local newspaper of his sexual harassment of women at a local cinema. A repressed and hysterical woman, under the thumb of her formidable mother, takes his side. Again Miss Cooper encourages her guests to examine their feelings honestly, tynan also wrote that both plays are about people who are driven by loneliness into a state of desperation. Separate Tables was presented at The Music Box, New York and it was a transfer of the London production with the same principal players and many of the supporting cast. In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, Since Terence Rattigan has written a fine play. The production won one Tony award and was nominated for five more, for the play, the direction, the 1958 film, with a few extra parts, was adapted for the screen by Rattigan. It starred Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Burt Lancaster, john Schlesinger directed a television film version in 1983, with Julie Christie and Alan Bates as the two couples, with Claire Bloom as Miss Cooper and Irene Worth as Mrs Railton-Bell. London, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, list of Rattigans plays IBDB entry for Separate Tables
27.
This Sporting Life
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This Sporting Life is a 1963 British feature film based on the 1960 novel of the same name by David Storey, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award. It recounts the story of a league footballer, Frank Machin, in Wakefield. Storey, a professional rugby league footballer, also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, William Hartnell and it was directed by Lindsay Anderson. The film was Richard Harriss first starring role, and won him a Best Actor Award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival and he was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rachel Roberts won her second BAFTA award for This Sporting Life, Harris was nominated for the BAFTA that year as well. The film opened at the Odeon Leicester Square in Londons West End on 7 February 1963, set in Wakefield, the film concerns a bitter young Yorkshire coal miner, Frank Machin. Although at first somewhat uncoordinated at league, he impresses the teams owner, Gerald Weaver, with the spirit and he is signed up to the top team as a loose forward and impresses all with his aggressive forward play. He often punches or elbows the opposition players throughout the game, off the field, Frank is much less successful. Frank eventually has sexual relations with Margaret, but in her grief she cannot return any affection and she sometimes insults him, referring to him as just a great ape, and finds his boorish behaviour at a smart restaurant off-putting. He is occasionally violent towards her and he leaves and stays at a homeless mens shelter after a row over her late husband. He has another quarrel with Weaver and his wife, whose advances he rejects. Intending a reconciliation with Margaret, he finds that she is in a hospital and she is unconscious, having suffered a brain haemorrhage shortly after their split, and she dies without regaining consciousness. In the end he is seen as just a great ape on a field, vulnerable to the ravages of time. Richard Harris as Frank Machin Rachel Roberts as Margaret Hammond Alan Badel as Gerald Weaver William Hartnell as Dad Johnson Colin Blakely as Maurice Braithwaite Vanda Godsell as Mrs, among the supporting cast is William Hartnell, who shortly afterwards began playing the Doctor in Doctor Who. It was his role in This Sporting Life that brought Hartnell to the attention of Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert, the film also features the future Dads Army star, Arthur Lowe, who appeared in four more films directed by Anderson. Many of the scenes in This Sporting Life were filmed at Wakefield Trinitys stadium, Belle Vue, the scene where Frank leaps from a bus to buy a newspaper, then leaps back onto the bus was filmed at the top of Westgate, Wakefield. The location is instantly recognisable today and has changed very little, apart from the addition of small bars
28.
Theatre of Cruelty
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The Theatre of Cruelty is a form of theatre developed by avant-garde playwright, actor, essayist, and theorist, Antonin Artaud, in The Theatre and its Double. Originally a member of the surrealist movement, Artaud eventually began to develop his own theatrical theories, while Artaud was only able to produce one play in his lifetime that reflected the tenets of the Theatre of Cruelty, the works of many theatre artists reflect his theories. These artists include Jean Genet, Jerzy Grotowski, and Peter Brook, Antonin Artaud was a member of the surrealist movement in Paris in the 1920s, and was well known as an actor, playwright, and essayist of avant-garde theatre. Much of the theatre developed in France from 1914-1939 can be seen as a revolt against tradition. Deeply affected by the events of World War I, the artists of the movement felt increasing skepticism of the existing structures that had allowed for global warfare. While Artaud would eventually break away from surrealism, the movement helped to shape his later theories on the Theatre of Cruelty, led by André Breton, surrealist theatre reflected a belief that the unconscious mind is a source of artistic truth. In his manifesto on surrealism, Breton writes, “pure psychic automatism, by which is intended to express, verbally, in writing, or by other means, the real process of thought. Thought’s dictation, in absence of all control exercised by the reason and outside all esthetic or moral preoccupation. ”In 1926, in association with surrealist playwright Roger Vitrac, Artaud founded the Theatre Alfred Jarry, the theatre lasted only two years. The performance conventions of Balinese dance were different than any Artaud had previously experienced, Artaud went on to publish his major work on the Theatre of Cruelty, The Theatre and Its Double, seven years later in 1938. Defining Artaud’s “theatre” and “cruelty” In his writings on the Theatre of Cruelty, for Artaud, theatre does not merely refer to a staged performance before a passive audience. The theatre is a practice, which “wakes us up. ”Similarly, according to scholar Nathan Gorelick, “Cruelty is, more profoundly, the unrelenting agitation of a life that has become unnecessary, lazy, or removed from a compelling force. He wanted to delve into the aspects of the subconscious that he believed were often the cause of human being’s mistreatment of one another. Through an assault on the senses, Artaud was convinced that a theatrical experience could help people purge destructive feelings. For Artaud, “the theatre has created to drain abscesses collectively. ”Insufficiency of language Artaud believed that language was an entirely insufficient means to express trauma. Accordingly, he felt that words should be stripped of meaning and chosen for their phonic elements. ”Somewhat paradoxically, Artaud claims that his characters are able to express things that others are unable to say. Vork claims, “Artaud seems to be suggesting that his play reveals emotions and experiences that we all attempt to proscribe and are unwilling to acknowledge and this impossibility has not prevented others from articulating a version of his principles as the basis for explorations of their own. Though many of those theatre-artists proclaimed an Artaudian lineage, Susie Tharu argues, there is, she suggests, another Artaud and the tradition he was midwife to. Artaud wanted to abolish the stage and auditorium, and to do away with sets and props and he envisioned the performance space as an empty room with the audience seated in the center and the actors performing all around them
29.
Peter Weiss
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Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and he gained international success with Marat/Sade, the American production of which was awarded a Tony Award and its subsequent film adaptation directed by Peter Brook. His Auschwitz Oratorium, The Investigation, served to broaden the debates over the so-called Vergangenheitspolitik or politics of history, Weiss magnum opus was The Aesthetics of Resistance, called the most important German-language work of the 70s and 80s. His early, surrealist-inspired work as a painter and experimental filmmaker remains less well known, Weiss was born in Nowawes near Berlin, to a Hungarian Jewish father and a Christian mother. After the First World War and the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Weisss father became a Czech citizen, at age three he moved with his family to the German port city of Bremen, and during his adolescence back to Berlin where he began training as a painter. In 1935 he emigrated with his family to Chislehurst, near London, in 1936–1937 the family moved to Czechoslovakia. Weiss attended the Prague Art Academy, after the German occupation of the Czech Sudetenland in 1938, his family moved to Sweden, while Weiss was visiting Hermann Hesse in Switzerland. In 1939 he joined his family in Stockholm, Sweden, where he lived for the rest of his life and he became a Swedish citizen in 1946. Weiss was married three times, to the painter Helga Henschen, 1943–47, to Carlota Dethorey,1949, in the 1960s Weiss became increasingly politically radical, taking stands for revolutionary Cuba and against US intervention in Vietnam and visiting both countries. In 1966 he visited the United States together with the West German writers group Gruppe 47, during a conference at Princeton University he denounced the US war against North Vietnam which seems to have scandalized his German colleagues more than his US hosts. In 1967 he participated in the anti-war Russell Tribunal in Stockholm, during the same year he also visited North Vietnam and published a book about his trip. In 1970 Weiss suffered a heart attack, during the following decade, he wrote his monumental three-part novel, The Aesthetics of Resistance, as well as two very different stage versions of Kafkas novel The Trial. He died in Stockholm in 1982, during his early life as a painter –1930 to 1950 – Weiss was influenced by old Dutch masters such as Pieter Breughel, and Hieronymus Bosch. After World War II his painting, as well as his work in film and literature and he taught painting at Stockholms Peoples University, and illustrated a Swedish edition of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. In 1959 he directed his only full length film Hägringen, in the early 1950s, Weiss had begun to write again, producing a number of prose works, some in German, others in Swedish. Most are short, intense, surrealist text which suggest the influence of Kafka, the most important of these prose texts is Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers. It is a nearly hermetic experimental work which explores language through the use of surreal, the Surrealist effect was enhanced by collages in the style of Max Ernst, so-called xylography, which Peter Weiss created for the book. Coachman has been linked both to the French nouveau roman of Alain Robbe-Grillet and Raymond Queneau, as well as to French absurdist works by Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and Jean Genet
30.
Marat/Sade
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The work was first published in German. Set in the historical Charenton Asylum, Marat/Sade is almost entirely a play within a play, the actors are the inmates of the asylum, the nurses and supervisors occasionally step in to restore order. The bourgeois director of the hospital, Coulmier, supervises the performance, accompanied by his wife and daughter. He is a supporter of the government led by Napoleon, in place at the time of the production. His patients, however, have other ideas, and they make a habit of speaking lines he had attempted to suppress, or deviating entirely into personal opinion. They, as people who came out of the revolution no better than they went in, are not entirely pleased with the course of events as they occurred. The Marquis de Sade, the man after whom sadism is named, did indeed direct performances in Charenton with other inmates there, De Sade is a main character in the play, conducting many philosophical dialogues with Marat and observing the proceedings with sardonic amusement. Marat/Sade is a play with music, the use of music follows the approach of Brecht, whereby the songs comment on themes and issues of the play. Unlike a traditional format, the songs do not further the plot or expositional development of character in the play. By contrast they often add an effect, interrupting the action of the play. Richard Peaslee composed music for the original English-language production of Marat/Sade directed by Peter Brook, sections of the Peaslee score have been included in trade copies of the Geoffrey Skelton/Adrian Mitchell English version. The full score is available from ECS Publishing/Galaxy Music Corporation, the original Royal Shakespeare Company production was so popular that some of the songs from the show were recorded as a medley by Judy Collins on her album In My Life. Recordings of the songs were made by the cast of the original Royal Shakespeare Company production, the first recording of the show was a three-LP set released in 1964 by Caedmon Records. This was an audio recording of the original Broadway production. The second release was a soundtrack album LP of the film score. The third release was a CD compilation of two 1966 Brook/Peaslee Royal Shakespeare Company productions, Marat/Sade and US, released by Premier Recordings, the cast of this recording includes Patrick Magee, Glenda Jackson and Freddie Jones. In 1964 the play was translated by Geoffrey Skelton with lyric adaptation by Adrian Mitchell, Peter Brook directed a cast that included Ian Richardson as the herald, Clive Revill as Marat, Patrick Magee as de Sade and Glenda Jackson as Charlotte Corday. After two previews, the Broadway production opened on 27 December 1965 at the Martin Beck Theatre, Richardson took over the role of Marat, while Magee and Jackson reprised the roles they had originated in London
31.
Charlotte Corday
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Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday dArmont, known as Charlotte Corday, was a figure of the French Revolution. Marat had played a role in the political purge of the Girondins. His murder was memorialized in the painting The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David, in 1847, writer Alphonse de Lamartine gave Corday the posthumous nickname lange de lassassinat. Born in Saint-Saturnin-des-Ligneries, a hamlet in the commune of Écorches, in Normandy and she was a fifth-generation matrilineal descendant of the dramatist Pierre Corneille. While Corday was a girl, her older sister and their mother, Charlotte Marie Jacqueline Gaultier de Mesnival. After 1791, she lived in Caen with her cousin, Madame Le Coustellier de Bretteville-Gouville, the two developed a close relationship, and Corday was the sole heir to her cousins estate. After the revolution radicalized further and headed towards terror, Charlotte Corday began to sympathize with the Girondins and she admired their speeches and grew fond of many of the Girondist groups whom she met while living in Caen. She respected the principles of the Girondins and came to align herself with their thinking. She regarded them as a movement that would ultimately save France, the Gironde represented a more moderate approach to the revolution and they, like Corday, were skeptical about the direction the revolution was taking. The opposition to this thinking, coupled with the influence of the Gironde, ultimately led Corday to carry out her plan to murder the most radical of them all. Cordays action aided in restructuring the private versus public role of the woman in society at the time, the idea of women as worthless beings was challenged, and Corday was considered a hero to those who were against the teachings of Marat. There have been suggestions that her act incited the banning of political clubs. The influence of Girondin ideas on Corday is evident in her words at her trial, I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand. As the revolution progressed, the Girondins had become progressively more opposed to the radical, violent propositions of the Montagnards such as Marat, Jean-Paul Marat was a member of the radical Jacobin faction which had a leading role during the Reign of Terror. As a journalist, he exerted power and influence through his newspaper, Cordays decision to kill Marat was stimulated not only by her revulsion at the September Massacres, for which she held Marat responsible, but by her fear of an all-out civil war. She believed that Marat was threatening the Republic, and that his death would end violence throughout the nation and she also believed that King Louis XVI should not have been executed. Corday believed in a structure like that of Ancient Greece or Rome, on 9 July 1793, Corday left her cousin, carrying a copy of Plutarchs Parallel Lives, and went to Paris, where she took a room at the Hôtel de Providence. She bought a knife with a six-inch blade
32.
Marat/Sade (film)
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The screen adaptation is directed by Peter Brook, and originated in his theatre production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The English version was written by Adrian Mitchell from a translation by Geoffrey Skelton, the cast included Ian Richardson, Patrick Magee, Glenda Jackson, Clifford Rose, and Freddie Jones. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and released by United Artists on 22 February 1967 in the United States, the films score comprised Richard Peaslees compositions. The film uses the title in the opening credits, though most of the publicity materials uses the shortened form. In the Charenton Asylum in 1808, the Marquis de Sade stages a play about the murder of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday, the director of the hospital, Monsieur Coulmier, supervises the performance, accompanied by his wife and daughter. Coulmier, who supports Napoleons government, believes that the play will support his own bourgeois ideas and his patients, however, have other ideas, and they make a habit of speaking lines he had attempted to suppress, or deviating entirely into personal opinion. The Marquis himself, meanwhile, subtly manipulates both the players and the audience to create an atmosphere of chaos and nihilism that ultimately brings on an orgy of destruction. 8/10. Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film 4 out of a possible 4 stars, Brook shared the Nastro dArgento for Best Director of a Foreign Film with Robert Bresson, who was honored for Mouchette, and received Special Mention at the Locarno International Film Festival. Marat/Sade at the Internet Movie Database Marat/Sade at Rotten Tomatoes Marat/Sade at AllMovie Marat/Sade at the TCM Movie Database
33.
Peter Hall (director)
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Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE is the pre-eminent British theatre director of his generation. In 1955 he introduced London audiences to the work of Samuel Beckett with the UK premiere of Waiting for Godot, Hall founded the Royal Shakespeare Company and went on to build an international reputation in theatre, opera, film and television. He was Director of the National Theatre and Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and he formed The Peter Hall Company and became founding director of The Rose Theatre, Kingston in 2003. Throughout his career, he has been a champion of public funding for the arts. Peter Reginald Frederick Hall was born in Suffolk at Bury St Edmunds and his father was a stationmaster and the family lived for some time at Great Shelford Station. He won a scholarship to The Perse School in Cambridge, before taking up a further scholarship to read English at St. Catharines College, Cambridge, Hall did his National Service in Germany at The RAF Headquarters for Education in Bückerberg. Whilst studying at Cambridge he produced and acted in a number of plays, directing five in his final year and he served on the University Amateur Dramatic Club committee before graduating in 1953. In the same year, Hall staged his first professional play, The Letter by W. Somerset Maugham,1954 to 1955 saw Hall as the Director of the Oxford Playhouse where he directed several notable young actors including Ronnie Barker and Billie Whitelaw. Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith were also part of the company as acting Assistants Stage Managers, from 1955-1957 Hall ran The Arts Theatre, London where he directed the English-language premiere of Waiting for Godot. Other notable productions at The Arts included the English language premiere of The Waltz of the Toreadors by Jean Anouilh, the company not only played in Stratford but expanded into the Aldwych Theatre, its first London home. The latter was described as the greatest Shakespearian event in living memory which also laid down the doctrine of Shakespearian relevance to the modern world, Peter Hall left the RSC in 1968 after almost ten years as its Director. Hall was appointed Director of The National Theatre in 1973 and led the organisation for fifteen years until 1988, frustrated by construction delays, Hall decided to move the company into the still-unfinished building and to open it theatre by theatre as each neared completion. Extracts from his production of Tamburlaine the Great with Albert Finney were performed out on the terraces, Hall returned to the NT for the last time in 2011 with a production of Twelfth Night mounted by the company to celebrate his eightieth birthday. His daughter, Rebecca Hall, played Viola, on leaving the NT in 1988, Hall launched his own commercial company with productions in the West End and on Broadway of Orpheus Descending and The Merchant of Venice. The Peter Hall Company went on to more than sixty plays in association with a number of well-known producing partners including Bill Kenwright. Notable productions include Wildes An Ideal Husband, Pam Gemss Piaf, Hamlet, The Master Builder, A Streetcar Named Desire, Julian Barrys Lenny, As You Like It, the fiftieth anniversary production of Waiting for Godot, Cowards Hay Fever and Shaws Pygmalion. Halls final acclaimed productions for his company were Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, in 2003, Peter Hall became the Founding Director of The Rose Theatre - a new venue to be constructed in Kingston upon Thames whose design was inspired by the Elizabethan original. He directed a number of productions there including Chekhovs Uncle Vanya, which opened the building in 2008, Hall is now Director Emeritus of The Rose Kingston
34.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
35.
Aldwych Theatre
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The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971 and its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. The theatre was constructed in the newly built Aldwych as a pair with the Waldorf Theatre, both buildings were designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by W. G. R. Sprague. The Aldwych Theatre was funded by Seymour Hicks in association with the American impresario Charles Frohman, the theatre opened on 23 December 1905 with a production of Blue Bell, a new version of Hickss popular pantomime Bluebell in Fairyland. In 1906, Hickss The Beauty of Bath, followed in 1907 by The Gay Gordons, in February 1913 the theatre was used by Serge Diaghilev and Vaslav Nijinsky for the first rehearsals of Le Sacre du Printemps before its première in Paris during May. In 1920, Basil Rathbone played Major Wharton in The Unknown, from 1923 to 1933, the theatre was the home of the series of twelve farces, known as the Aldwych farces, most of which were written by Ben Travers. Members of the company for these farces included Ralph Lynn, Tom Walls, Ethel Coleridge, Gordon James, Mary Brough, Winifred Shotter. In 1933, Richard Tauber presented and starred in a new version of Das Dreimäderlhaus at the Aldwych under the title Lilac Time, from the mid-1930s until about 1960, the theatre was owned by the Abrahams family. In 1949 Laurence Olivier directed the first London production of Tennessee Williamss A Streetcar Named Desire at the Aldwych Theatre, starring as Blanche DuBois was Oliviers wife Vivien Leigh, who later won an Academy Award for the role in the 1951 film of Williamss play. In the event the company stayed for over 20 years, finally moving to the Barbican Arts Centre in 1982, the theatre was sold to the Nederlander Organization immediately afterwards. For his involvement with these Aldwych seasons, run without Arts Council or other official support, in 1990–91, Joan Collins starred in a revival of Private Lives at the Aldwych. The theatre is referred to in Julio Cortázars short story Instructions for John Howell in the anthology All Fires the Fire, since 2000, the theatre has hosted a mixture of plays, comedies and musical theatre productions. Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical Whistle Down the Wind played until 2001, from 2006 to 2011, it was the home to the British musical version of Dirty Dancing
36.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
37.
Ken Russell
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Henry Kenneth Alfred Ken Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. Critics have accused him of being obsessed with sexuality and the Roman Catholic Church and his films in the main were liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers lives which were unusual for the time and he also directed many feature films independently and for studios. He is best known for his Oscar-winning films Women in Love, The Devils, The Whos Tommy, Russell also directed several films based on the lives of classical music composers, such as Elgar, Delius, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Liszt. Later in his life he turned to making experimental films such as Lions Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man. Ken Russell died of natural causes on 27 November 2011 at the age of 84, Russell was born in Southampton, England, on 3 July 1927, the elder of two sons of Ethel and Henry Russell, a shoeshop owner. His father was distant and took out his rage on his family, so Russell spent much of his time at the cinema with his mother and he cited Die Nibelungen and The Secret of the Loch as two early influences. He was educated at schools in Walthamstow and at Pangbourne College. He harboured an ambition to be a ballet dancer but instead joined the Royal Air Force. On one occasion he was made to watch in the blazing sun for hours on end while crossing the Pacific. His lunatic captain feared an attack by Japanese midget submarines despite the war having ended and he moved into television work after short careers in dance and photography. His series of documentary Teddy Girl photographs were published in Picture Post magazine in 1955, after 1959, Russells amateur films secured him a job at the BBC. Between 1959 and 1970, Russell directed art documentaries for Monitor and Omnibus. His best known works during this period include, Elgar, The Debussy Film, Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World, Song of Summer and Dance of the Seven Veils, a film about Richard Strauss. He once said that the best film he made was Song of Summer. Elgar was the first time that a televised arts programme broadcast a film about an artistic figure. It was also the first time that re-enactments were used, Russell fought with the BBC over using actors to portray different ages of the same character, instead of the traditional photograph stills and documentary footage. His television films became increasingly flamboyant and outrageous, the Strauss family was so outraged by the film that they withdrew all music rights
38.
The Music Lovers
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The Music Lovers is a 1970 British drama film directed by Ken Russell. It was one of the biographical films about classical composers. Much of the film is without dialogue and the story is presented in flashbacks, nightmares, as a child, the composer sees his mother die horribly, forcibly immersed in scalding water as a supposed cure for cholera, and is haunted by the scene throughout his musical career. Despite his difficulty in establishing his reputation, he attracts Madame Nadezhda von Meck as his patron and his marriage to the nymphomaniacal Antonina Miliukova is plagued by his homosexual urges and lustful desire for Count Anton Chiluvsky. The dynamics of his lead to deteriorating mental health and the loss of von Mecks patronage. The films title card reads Ken Russells Film on Tchaikovsky and The Music Lovers to differentiate it from Tchaikovsky, rafael Orozco recorded the piano pieces played by Tchaikovsky in the film. Director Russell hired his wife Shirley as costume designer and cast four of their children – Alexander, Victoria, James, the film includes at least two major factual errors. In one sequence, Tchaikovsky and his patron see each other on the road, later, his wife Nina goes mad and is placed in an insane asylum, prompting the composer to call his Sixth Symphony the Pathétique, when in reality she wasnt institutionalised until after his death. Glenda Jackson and Andrew Faulds later served together as Labour Party MPs in the British House of Commons from 1992 to 1997. Shirley Ann Russell The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn, performs excerpts from the following pieces, on July 28,1991 it aired on the BBC cult film TV series Moviedrome. Time said, Seventy-seven years have passed since Tchaikovskys death, in this epoch of emancipated morality, it would be reasonable to expect that his life would be reviewed with fresh empathy. But no, the same malignant attitudinizing that might have been applied decades ago is still at work, arch tableaux, its unstable amalgam of life and art, make it a directors picture. Attempting to reveal psychology through music, Russell makes every character grotesque, variety opined, By unduly emphasizing the mad and the perverse in their biopic. Producer-director Ken Russell and scripter Melvyn Bragg lose their audience, the result is a motion picture that is frequently dramatically and visually stunning but more often tedious and grotesque. Instead of a Russian tragedy, Russell seems more concerned with haunting the viewers memory with shocking scenes and images, the opportunity to create a memorable and fluid portrait of the composer has been sacrificed for a musical Grand Guignol. In the Cleveland Press, Toni Mastroianni said, The movies have treated composers notoriously badly, TV Guide calls it a spurious biography of a great composer that is so filled with wretched excesses that one hardly knows where to begin. All the attendant surrealistic touches director Ken Russell has added take this out of the realm of plausibility, time Out New York calls it vulgar, excessive, melodramatic and self-indulgent. The drama is at fever pitch throughout, chamberlain doesnt quite have the range required in the central role, though his keyboard skills are impressive
39.
United Artists
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United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. On December 14 of the year, however, MGM acquired the 48% stake of UAMG it did not own. UA was incorporated as a joint venture on February 5,1919, by Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work. They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over salaries and creative decisions. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized, when he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, The inmates are taking over the asylum. The four partners, with advice from McAdoo, formed their distribution company and its headquarters was established at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. The original terms called for each of the stars to produce five pictures each year, UAs first film was a success. Without selling stock to the public, following the other studios, as a result, production was slow and the company distributed an annual average of five films during its first five years. By 1924 Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis, veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. He had been producing pictures for a decade, and he brought commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, contracts were signed with independent producers, most notably Samuel Goldwyn, and Howard Hughes. In 1933, Schenck organized a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, called Twentieth Century Pictures, Schenck formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. They began international operations, first in Canada and then in Mexico, by the end of the 1930s, United Artists was represented in over 40 countries. When he was denied a share in 1935, Schenck resigned. He set up 20th Century Pictures merger with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox, al Lichtman succeeded Schenck as company president. Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including, Walt Disney Productions, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach, David O. Selznick, as the years passed, and the dynamics of the business changed, these producing partners drifted away. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Disney went to RKO, and Wanger to Universal Pictures, in the late 1930s, UA turned a profit
40.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
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He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. Tchaikovsky was honored in 1884, by Emperor Alexander III, although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a career in Russia at that time. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Tchaikovskys training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From this reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style—a task that did not prove easy, Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. This resulted in uncertainty among the intelligentsia about the countrys national identity—an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovskys career, despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovskys life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. His homosexuality, which he kept private, has also been considered a major factor. Tchaikovskys sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, there is a debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause of death. While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed, some Russians did not feel it was sufficiently representative of native musical values and expressed suspicion that Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. Others dismissed Tchaikovskys music as lacking in elevated thought, according to longtime New York Times music critic Harold C, schonberg, and derided its formal workings as deficient because they did not stringently follow Western principles. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, a town in Vyatka Governorate in the Russian Empire. His father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, had served as a lieutenant colonel and engineer in the Department of Mines and his grandfather, Pyotr Fedorovich Tchaikovsky, served first as a physicians assistant in the army and later as city governor of Glazov in Viatka. His great-grandfather, a Ukrainian Cossack named Fyodor Chaika, distinguished himself under Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Tchaikovskys mother, Alexandra Andreyevna, was the second of Ilyas three wives,18 years her husbands junior and French on her fathers side. Both Ilya and Alexandra were trained in the arts, including music—a necessity as a posting to an area of Russia also meant a need for entertainment. Of Tchaikovskys six siblings, he was close to his sister Alexandra and twin brothers Anatoly, alexandras marriage to Lev Davydov would produce seven children and lend Tchaikovsky the only real family life he would know as an adult, especially during his years of wandering. One of those children, Vladimir Davydov, whom the composer would nickname Bob, in 1844, the family hired Fanny Dürbach, a 22-year-old French governess. Four-and-a-half-year-old Tchaikovsky was initially too young to study alongside his older brother Nikolai. By the age of six, he had become fluent in French, Dürbach saved much of Tchaikovskys work from this period, which includes his earliest known compositions, and became a source of several childhood anecdotes
41.
Richard Chamberlain
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George Richard Chamberlain is an American stage and screen actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare. Since then, he has appeared in several such as Shōgun and The Thorn Birds, and many successful films. Chamberlain was born in 1934 in Beverly Hills, California, the son of Elsa Winnifred and Charles Axiom Chamberlain, in 1952, Chamberlain graduated from Beverly Hills High School and later attended Pomona College. Chamberlain co-founded a Los Angeles–based theatre group, Company of Angels and he was cast as Lt. Dave Winslow in Chicota Landing, a 1960 episode of the NBC western series, Riverboat. In the story line, Juan Cortilla, a Mexican bandit played by Joe De Santis, is stormed from jail, Chamberlain, as United States Army Lieutenant Winslow, asks Grey Holden to transport Cortilla and his men to a military garrison. Instead, Cortilla takes over Holdens vessel, the Enterprise, connie Hines appears with Chamberlain as Lucy Bridges, and Ted de Corsia is cast as another bandit. Less than a later, in 1961, Chamberlain gained widespread fame as the young intern, Dr. Kildare, in the NBC/MGM television series of the same name. Dr. Kildare ended in 1966, after which Chamberlain began performing on the theatre circuit, decades later he returned to Broadway in revivals of My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. At the end of the 1960s, Chamberlain spent a period of time in England where he played in theatre and in the BBCs Portrait of a Lady adaptation. In 1969, he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn in the film The Madwoman of Chaillot and he received excellent notices and reprised the role for television in 1970 for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. In The Slipper and the Rose, a version of the Cinderella story, co-starring Gemma Craven. A television film, William Basts The Man in the Iron Mask and that same year, he starred in Peter Weirs film The Last Wave. In the 1980s, he appeared as leading man with King Solomons Mines opposite newcomer Sharon Stone, since the 1990s, Chamberlain has appeared mainly in television movies, on stage, and as a guest star on such series as ABCs The Drew Carey Show and Will & Grace. He starred as Henry Higgins in the 1993–1994 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady, in the fall of 2005, Chamberlain appeared in the title role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Broadway National Tour of Scrooge, The Musical. In 2006, Chamberlain guest-starred in an episode of the British drama series Hustle as well as season 4 of Nip/Tuck, in 2007, Chamberlain guest-starred in episode 80 of Desperate Housewives as Glen Wingfield, Lynette Scavos stepfather. In 2008 and 2009, he appeared as King Arthur in the tour of Monty Pythons Spamalot. In 2010, he appeared as Archie Leach in season 3, episode 3 of the series Leverage, Chamberlain has also appeared in several episodes of Brothers & Sisters, playing an old friend and love-interest of Sauls. He also appeared in the independent film We Are the Hartmans in 2011, in 2012, Chamberlain appeared on stage in the Pasadena Playhouse as Dr. Sloper in the play, The Heiress
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Antonina Miliukova
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Antonina Ivanovna Miliukova was the wife, and after 1893, the widow, of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. After marriage she was known as Antonina Tchaikovskaya, little is known of Antonina before she met Tchaikovsky. Her family resided in the Moscow area and they belonged to the local gentry but lived in poverty. The family was also a highly fractious one, in a separate letter to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck he added that, in the company of his in-laws, all nearly at daggers drawn with one another. I find it difficult to express, what a terrible degree my moral agonies were reaching. Antonina first met Tchaikovsky in 1865 at the Moscow home of a friend, Anastasia Khvostova. His close friend Alexei Apukhtin was staying with her, and Anastasias brother Nikolai had been a classmate of Tchaikovskys brother Modest at the School of Jurisprudence, Antonina was 16 at the time, Tchaikovsky was 25. He did not remember her from this meeting and she, on the other hand, reportedly held a torch for him from that time forward. She reportedly gave up work as a seamstress to study music at the Moscow Music Conservatory. Tchaikovsky was one of her professors, eventually she had to abandon her studies at that institution, probably as a result of financial troubles. She wrote to Tchaikovsky on at least two occasions in 1877, two years after she had left school, at that time she was 28, far past the age at which women of that time generally married. By June 1877, Tchaikovsky proposed marriage, in order to please his family, a woman with whom I am not the least in love. They were married at the Church of Saint George in Moscow on 18 July 1877, a permanent separation followed after only six weeks of them being together. This has traditionally been blamed in part on Antoninas character. Modest describes her as a crazed half-wit and she may have been a simpleton, a woman of common ideas and tastes, as she has been described dismissively. Or maybe just a naive and inexperienced girl, responsibility for the failure of the marriage may actually lie more with Tchaikovsky than with her. In truth, Tchaikovskys biographer Anthony Holden suggests, Antonina was as much the right woman for Tchaikovsky as any other and it was marriage which was the wrong institution. Moreover, Tchaikovsky and Antonina did not come to a mutual understanding before their marriage regarding Tchaikovskys homosexuality and he might not have told Antonina that he preferred men to women
