1.
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
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Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic historical drama film, directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston as the title character. A remake of the 1925 silent film with the name, Ben-Hur was adapted from Lew Wallaces 1880 novel Ben-Hur. The screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, Ben-Hur had the largest budget as well as the largest sets built of any film produced at the time. Filming commenced on May 18,1958, and wrapped on January 7,1959, with shooting lasting for 12 to 14 hours a day, pre-production began in Italy at Cinecittà around October 1957, and post-production took six months. Under cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, MGM executives made the decision to film the picture in a widescreen format, more than 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used in the shooting of the film, with some 10,000 extras. The sea battle was filmed using miniatures in a tank on the back lot at the MGM Studios in Culver City. Following a $14.7 million marketing effort, Ben-Hur premiered at Loews State Theatre in New York City on November 18,1959. It was the fastest-grossing as well as the film of 1959. Ben-Hur also won three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd. In AD26, Judah Ben-Hur is a prince and merchant in Jerusalem. Esther loves Judah but is committed to another, Judahs childhood friend, the Roman citizen Messala, is now a tribune. After several years away from Jerusalem, Messala returns as the new commander of the Roman garrison, Messala believes in the glory of Rome and its imperial power, while Judah is devoted to his faith and the freedom of the Jewish people. This difference causes tension between the friends, and results in their split after Messala issues an ultimatum to Judah, during the parade for the new governor of Judea, Valerius Gratus, loose tiles fall from the roof of Judahs house. Gratus is thrown from his horse and nearly killed. Although Messala knows this was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Miriam, by punishing a known friend and prominent citizen, he hopes to intimidate the Jewish populace. After three years as a slave, Judah is assigned to the flagship of the Roman Consul Quintus Arrius. Arrius admires Judahs determination and self-discipline and offers to him as a gladiator or charioteer. Judah declines the offer, declaring that God will aid him in his quest for vengeance, when the Roman fleet encounters the Macedonians, Arrius orders all the rowers except Judah to be chained to their oars
2.
Marian-glas
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Marian-glas or Marianglas is a small village and post town in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It is situated between the villages of Moelfre and Benllech and just off the A5025. There is a caravan park on the edge of the village. However there is no church, pub or shop and it has a memorial to those killed in the two world wars, including a list of 17 seamen from the Merchant Navy. Marian-glas Hut Group is a hut circle. This Scheduled Ancient Monument is a settlement dating at least back to Roman times. It is also called Cae Marh Hut Group, there are several huts with thick walls, some standing up to 1. 4m high. Some of the walls are now obscured by a thicket. The location is indicated on the ground through a signboard by the Ministry of Public Building, academy Award-winning actor Hugh Griffith was born in Marian-glas in 1912
3.
Anglesey
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Anglesey or Ynys Môn is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. With an area of 276 square miles, Anglesey is by far the largest island of Wales, Anglesey is also the largest island in the Irish Sea by area, and the second most populous island in the Irish Sea. The population at the 2011 census was 69,751, two bridges span the Menai Strait, connecting the island to the mainland, the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge. A historic county of Wales and later administrated as part of Gwynedd, Anglesey today makes up the Isle of Anglesey County along with Holy Island and other smaller islands. The majority of Angleseys inhabitants are Welsh speakers and Ynys Môn, Anglesey is derived from Old Norse, originally either Ǫngullsey Hook Island or Ǫnglisey Ǫnglis Island. No record of any such Ǫngli survives, but the name was used by Viking raiders as early as the 10th century and was later adopted by the Normans during their invasions of Gwynedd. All of these derive from the proposed Proto-Indo-European root *ank-. It was also spelled as Anglesea. Ynys Môn, the islands Welsh name, was first recorded as Latin Mona by various Roman sources and it was likewise known to the Saxons as Monez. The Brittonic original was in the past taken to have meant Island of the Cow and this view is linguistically untenable, however, according to modern scientific philology. The etymology thus currently remains a mystery, poetic names for Anglesey include the Old Welsh Ynys Dywyll for its former groves and Ynys y Cedairn for its royal courts, Gerald of Wales Môn Mam Cymru for its productivity, and Y fêl Ynys. Numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs are present on Anglesey, testifying to the presence of humans in prehistory, Plas Newydd is near one of 28 cromlechs that remain on uplands overlooking the sea. The Welsh Triads claim that Anglesey was once part of the mainland, historically, Anglesey has long been associated with the druids. News of Boudicas revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating his conquest, the island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, in AD78. During the Roman occupation, the area was notable for the mining of copper, the foundations of Caer Gybi as well as a fort at Holyhead are Roman, and the present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was originally a Roman road. The island was grouped by Ptolemy with Ireland rather than with Britain, British Iron Age and Roman sites have been excavated and coins and ornaments discovered, especially by the 19th century antiquarian, William Owen Stanley. Following the Roman departure from Britain in the early 5th century, pirates from Ireland colonised Anglesey, in response to this, Cunedda ap Edern, a Gododdin warlord from Scotland, came to the area and began to drive the Irish out. This was continued by his son Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion, as an island, Anglesey was in a good defensive position, and so Aberffraw became the site of the court, or Llys, of the Kingdom of Gwynedd
4.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
5.
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
6.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Walter Brennan was the first winner of award for his role in Come. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 72 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards, Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, and Claude Rains were nominated on four occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Mahershala Ali is the most recent winner in category for his role as Juan in Moonlight. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-1-55002-574-3. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees
7.
Tom Jones (1963 film)
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Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure-comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fieldings classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards, the film was directed by Tony Richardson and the screenplay was adapted by playwright John Osborne. Tom Jones was a success critically and at the box-office. At the 36th Academy Awards, It was nominated for nine Oscars, winning four, Best Picture, Best Director for Richardson, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. It also won two Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and three BAFTA Awards including Best Film and Best British Film, in 1999 the British Film Institute named it the 51st greatest British film of the 20th Century. The story begins with a silent film sequence during which the good Squire Allworthy returns home after a stay in London. Tom grows up to be a young man whose good looks. However, he loves only one woman, the gentle Sophie Western. Sadly, Tom is stigmatized as a bastard and cannot wed a young lady of her high station. Sophie, too, must hide her feelings while her aunt and her father and this young man is Blifil, the son of the Squires widowed sister Bridget. Although he is of legitimate birth, he is a fellow with plenty of hypocritical virtue but none of Toms warmth, honesty. When Bridget dies unexpectedly, Blifil intercepts a letter, which his mother intended for her brothers eyes only, Allworthy gives Tom a small cash legacy and sorrowfully sends him out into the world to seek his fortune. In his road-travelling odyssey, Tom is knocked unconscious while defending the good name of his beloved Sophie and robbed of his legacy. In a celebrated scene, Tom and Mrs. Waters sit opposite each other in the room of the Upton Inn. Meanwhile, Sophie runs away from home soon after Toms banishment to escape the attentions of the loathed Blifil, after narrowly missing each other at the Upton Inn, Tom and Sophie arrive separately in London. There, Tom attracts the attention of Lady Bellaston, a promiscuous noblewoman over 40 years of age and she is rich, beautiful, and completely amoral, though it is worth noting that Tom goes to her bed willingly and is generously rewarded for his services. Eventually, Tom ends up at Tyburn Gaol, facing a boisterous hanging crowd after two agents of Blifil frame him for robbery and attempted murder. Allworthy learns the contents of the letter, Tom is not Jenny Joness child
8.
Llangefni
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Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. The United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded Llangefnis population as 5,116 people, the town is near the centre of Anglesey, and is on the River Cefni, after which it is named. Its attractions include the Oriel Ynys Môn museum, which details the history of Anglesey and houses the legacy collection of Charles Tunnicliffe. In the west of the town is a secondary school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni. The town was formerly named Llangyngar, Welsh for St Cyngars church, Llangefni is a commercial and farming town in Anglesey and in the past Llangefni hosted the largest cattle market on the island. There is a large industrial estate housing a large chicken processing plant - the largest single industrial operation in the town]. The town had a station on the Anglesey Central Railway line which opened in 1864 and it closed in 1964 although goods trains continued to pass through the town until 1993. Although no longer used, the tracks have not been removed, the nearest station is now at Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, five miles away as the crow flies. There are frequent buses to the settlements of Bangor and Holyhead as well as to the smaller towns of Amlwch. By road the town is just 2 kilometres from the major A55 and A5 roads, water for the town comes from Llyn Cefni, a reservoir 1.5 miles to the northwest. Llangefni hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1957 and 1983, and in 1999 gave its name to the Eisteddfod held at the village of Llanbedrgoch. It also hosted the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2004, the town also has a college, Coleg Menai. The local association football club, Llangefni Town, was promoted to the Welsh Premier League at the end of the 2006–07 season, the local rugby club is Llangefni RFC, which plays in the WRU leagues. The club recently gained promotion to Division 2 West, but the WRU then decided to demote the club back to Division 4 North Wales league. According to the 2011 Census, Llangefni is the community with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers on the Isle of Anglesey, and the 6th highest in Wales. 80. 7% of residents aged three and over reported being able to speak Welsh in the 2011 Census, as compared to 83. 8% reporting being able to do so in the 2001 Census. Of those born in Wales,91. 6% of the population could speak Welsh
9.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
10.
Royal Welch Fusiliers
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The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and to part in the imminent war with France. The Royal accolade was earned fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713 and it was one of the oldest infantry regiments in the British Army, hence the archaic spelling of the word Welch instead of Welsh.56. During those decades, the regiment itself unofficially used the Welch form, the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Regiment of Wales on 1 March 2006, to become the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh. The regiment primarily recruited from North Wales and it should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, which recruited from South and West Wales. The regiment was formed by Lord Henry Herbert at Ludlow in March 1689 to oppose James II, in the following year, it fought at the Siege of Athlone in June and the Battle of Aughrim in July. The regiment embarked for Flanders in 1694 for service in the Nine Years War and it fought at the Siege of Namur in July 1695. The regiment returned to Flanders in 1701 for service in the War of the Spanish Succession, it saw action at the Battle of Schellenberg in July 1704, the regiment returned to Flanders in 1742 for service in the War of the Austrian Succession. It was in action at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743, the regiment embarked for Germany in 1758 for service in the Seven Years War. It fought at Battle of Minden in August 1759, the Battle of Warburg in July 1760, the regiment was sent to North America for service in the American Revolutionary War in 1773. The light infantry and grenadier companies of the Fusiliers saw bloody action at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, All companies, except the grenadiers who were garrisoning New York City, fought at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781. The regiment participated in every campaign up to the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781. At the surrender of Yorktown, the Royal Welch Fusiliers was the only British regiment not to surrender its colours, the regiment embarked for the West Indies in 1794 for service in the French Revolutionary Wars. It took part in the capture of Port-au-Prince in Haiti in 1795 before returning home in 1796 and it also took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in August 1799 and fought at the Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799. It then went to Egypt for the Battle of Alexandria in March 1801, the regiment embarked for the Peninsula in 1810. It saw action at the Battle of Albuera in May 1811, the Siege of Badajoz also in May 1811 and the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812. It then pursued the French Army into France and fought at the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. It also took part in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 when it fought under Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Mitchell, in the nineteenth century, the regiment took part in the Crimean War, the Second Opium War, the Indian Mutiny and the Third Anglo-Burmese War
11.
Burma Campaign
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The Burmese Independence Army was trained by the Japanese and spearheaded the initial attacks against British Empire forces. The campaign had a number of notable features, the geographical characteristics of the region meant that factors like weather, disease and terrain had a major effect on operations. The lack of transport infrastructure placed an emphasis on engineering and air transport to move and supply troops. The campaign was politically complex, with the British, the United States. It was also the land campaign by the Western Allies in the Pacific Theatre which proceeded continuously from the start of hostilities to the end of the war. This was due to its geographical location, the climate of the region is dominated by the seasonal monsoon rains, which allowed effective campaigning for only just over half of each year. Japanese objectives in Burma were initially limited to the capture of Rangoon and this would close the overland supply line to China and provide a strategic bulwark to defend Japanese gains in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese successfully attacked over the Kawkareik Pass, and captured the port of Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River after overcoming stiff resistance and they then advanced northwards, outflanking successive British defensive positions. Troops of the 17th Indian Infantry Division tried to retreat over the Sittaung River, on 22 February, the bridge was demolished to prevent its capture, a decision that has since been extremely contentious. The loss of two brigades of 17th Indian Division meant that Rangoon could not be defended, although some units arrived, counterattacks failed and the new commander of Burma Army, ordered the city to be evacuated on 7 March after its port and oil refinery had been destroyed. The remnants of Burma Army broke out to the north, narrowly escaping encirclement, with the effective collapse of the entire defensive line, there was little choice left other than an overland retreat to India or to Yunnan. After the fall of Rangoon in March 1942, the Allies attempted to make a stand in the north of the country, having been reinforced by a Chinese Expeditionary Force. The Japanese had also reinforced by two divisions made available by the capture of Singapore, and defeated both the newly organised Burma Corps and the Chinese force. The Allies were also faced with growing numbers of Burmese insurgents, with their forces cut off from almost all sources of supply, the Allied commanders finally decided to evacuate their forces from Burma. The retreat was conducted in very difficult circumstances, starving refugees, disorganised stragglers, and the sick and wounded clogged the primitive roads and tracks leading to India. Burma Corps managed to make it most of the way to Imphal, in Manipur in India just before the monsoon broke in May 1942, having lost most of their equipment, there, they found themselves living out in the open under torrential rains in extremely unhealthy circumstances. The army and civil authorities in India were very slow to respond to the needs of the troops, due to lack of communication, when the British retreated from Burma, almost none of the Chinese knew about the retreat. After recuperating they were re-equipped and retrained by American instructors, the rest of the Chinese troops tried to return to Yunnan through remote mountainous forests and out of these, at least half died
12.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
13.
Stratford-upon-Avon
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Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, on the River Avon,101 miles north west of London,22 miles south east of Birmingham, and 8 miles south west of Warwick. The estimated population in 2007 was 25,505, increasing to 27,445 at the 2011 Census, Stratford was originally inhabited by Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a market in the town. As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion, the town is a popular tourist destination owing to its status as birthplace of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, and receives approximately 2.5 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratfords Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the street was a Roman road which connected Icknield Street in Alcester to the Fosse Way. The ford, which has used as a crossing since Roman times. A survey of 1251-52 uses the name Stratford for the first time to identify Old Stratford, the name was used after that time to describe the area specifically surrounding the Holy Trinity Church and the street of Old Town. The settlement which became known as Stratford was first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons following their 7th century invasion of what would become known as Warwickshire. The land was owned by the church of Worcester and it remained a village until the late 12th century when it was developed into a town by lord of the manor, John of Coutances. John laid out a new plan in 1196 based on a grid system to expand Stratford. Additionally, a charter was granted to Stratford by King Richard I in 1196 which allowed a market to be held in the town. These two charters, which formed the foundations of Stratfords transformation from a village to a town, johns plans to develop Stratford into a town meant Stratford became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. By 1252 the town had approximately 240 burgages, as well as shops, stalls, Stratfords new workers established a guild known as the Guild of the Holy Cross for their business and religious requirements. Many of the towns earliest and most important buildings are located along what is known as Stratfords Historic Spine, the route of the Historic Spine begins at Shakespeares Birthplace in Henley Street. It continues through Henley Street to the top end of Bridge Street and into High Street where many Elizabethan buildings are located, the route carries on through Chapel Street where Nashs House and New Place are sited. The Historic Spine continues along Church Street where Guild buildings are located dating back to the 15th century, the route then finishes in Old Town, which includes Halls Croft and the Holy Trinity Church. During Stratfords early expansion into a town, the access across the River Avon into and out of the town was over a wooden bridge. In 1480, a new masonry bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge
14.
Richard Burton
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Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor who was noted for his mellifluous baritone voice. Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and he was called the natural successor to Olivier by critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan. An alcoholic, Burtons failure to live up to those expectations disappointed critics and colleagues, Burton was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, but never won an Oscar. He was a recipient of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards for Best Actor, Burton remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. The couples turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news, Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr. on 10 November 1925 in a house at 2 Dan-y-bont in Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot. He was the twelfth of thirteen born to Richard Walter Jenkins Sr. Jenkins Sr. called Daddy Ni by the family, was a miner, while his mother worked as a bartender at a pub called the Miners Arms. He remembered his mother to be a strong woman and a religious soul with fair hair. Richard was barely two years old when his mother died on 31 October, six days after the birth of Graham, Ediths death was a result of postpartum infections, Richard believed it occurred due to hygiene neglect. According to biographer Michael Munn, Edith was fastidiously clean, following Ediths death, Richards elder sister Cecilia, whom he affectionately addressed as Cis, and her husband Elfed James, also a miner, took him under their care. I was immensely proud of her and she felt all tragedies except her own. Daddy Ni would occasionally visit the homes of his daughters but was otherwise absent. Another important figure in Richards early life was Ifor, his brother,19 years his senior, a miner and rugby union player, Ifor ruled the household with the proverbial firm hand. He was also responsible for nurturing a passion for Rugby in young Richard, although Richard also played cricket, tennis, and table tennis, biographer Bragg notes rugby union football to be his greatest interest. On rugby, Richard said he would rather have played for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at The Old Vic, the Welsh rugby union centre, Bleddyn Williams believed Richard had distinct possibilities as a player. From the age of five to eight, Richard was educated at the Eastern Primary School while he attended the Boys segment of the school from eight to twelve years old. He took an exam for admission into Port Talbot Secondary School in March 1937. Biographer Hollis Alpert notes that both Daddy Ni and Ifor considered Richards education to be of paramount importance and planned to send him to the University of Oxford, Richard became the first member of his family to go to secondary school
15.
Look Homeward, Angel (play)
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Look Homeward, Angel is a 1957 stage play by the playwright Ketti Frings. The play is based on Thomas Wolfes largely autobiographical novel of the same title, look Homeward, Angel opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on November 28,1957, and ran for a total of 564 performances, closing on April 4,1959. Directed by George Roy Hill, the cast starred Jo Van Fleet, Ketti Frings won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The production received Tony Award nominations for Best Play, Best Actor in a Play, Best Actress in a Play, Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design and he was replaced by Jonathan Bolt. Look Homeward, Angel traces the coming of age of Eugene Gant and it takes place in the town of Altamont, North Carolina. Eugenes mother, Eliza, runs a house, Dixieland. His father, William Oliver, runs a marble sculpture shop, where his prized possession, the play begins by showing life in the boarding house when a young women, Laura enters and requests to stay there. Gant enters drunk, but is helped by his daughter. The next scene sees Eugene and his brother, Ben, discussing life, Eugene meets Laura, and they appear to fall in love, though Eugene lies about his age, claiming to be older. Eliza and Gant fight over the matter of selling his shop, Eliza enters the boarding house and begins arguing with Ben, cumulating in her slapping him. The next scene, days later, sees Gant and Eugene working in his shop, Laura enters to confront Eugene about the truth—she has lied about her age and he has as well. Eliza enters, ready to sell Gants shop, until he at last announces that rather than use the money for Dixielands expenses, he would take the money, put Gene in college, Eliza rips up his check in a fit of fury and exits. He is then seen on his deathbed, where he dies, the third act opens with Eugene and Laura in their bedroom. This songwriting team had created the musicals Shenandoah and Purlie and penned the hit song Sealed With a Kiss, Angel was directed by Philip Rose and choreographed by Robert Tucker. The production featured costumes by Pearl Somner, lighting design by John Gleason, frances Sternhagen received a nomination for the 1978 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Additionally, Joel Higgins was nominated for a 1978 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, look Homeward, Angel at the Internet Broadway Database
16.
Anthony Perkins
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Anthony Perkins was an American actor and singer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his film, Friendly Persuasion but is best known for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. Perkins was born in New York City, son of stage and film actor Osgood Perkins and his wife and his paternal great-grandfather was wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony. He was five when his father died, Perkins was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, John Howland. He attended Brooks School, Browne & Nichols School, Columbia University and Rollins College, Perkins made his film debut in The Actress. He received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, the tall Perkins also portrayed the troubled former Boston Red Sox baseball player Jimmy Piersall in the 1957 biopic Fear Strikes Out. Following this, he released three pop albums in 1957 and 1958 on Epic and RCA Victor as Tony Perkins. His single Moon-Light Swim was a hit in the United States and he showcased his musical talents in The Matchmaker with Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine. A life member of the Actors Studio, Perkins also acted in theater, in 1958, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Look Homeward, Angel on Broadway. He played the role of Eugene Gant, Perkins in youth had a boyish, earnest quality, reminiscent of the young James Stewart, which Alfred Hitchcock exploited and subverted when the actor starred as Norman Bates in the 1960 film Psycho. The film was a critical and commercial success, and gained Perkins international fame for his performance as the owner of the Bates Motel. Perkins performance gained him the Best Actor Award from the International Board of Motion Picture Reviewers, the role and its multiple sequels affected the remainder of his career. After that came a career in Europe, including the role of Joseph K. in Orson Welles 1962 adaptation of Kafkas The Trial. In 1964 he starred in Une ravissante idiote, upon returning to America, he took the role of a disturbed young murderer in Pretty Poison opposite Tuesday Weld. He also played Chaplain Tappman in Catch-22, in 1972, he appeared in Play It as It Lays and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. Perkins was one of the stars featured in the 1974 hit Murder on the Orient Express. He also hosted televisions Saturday Night Live in 1976 and was featured in the box office-smash and space opus, Walt Disneys The Black Hole, Perkins reprised the role of Norman Bates in three sequels to Psycho. The first, Psycho II, was a box office success 23 years after the original film and he did play Bates in the following made-for-cable film Psycho IV, The Beginning in 1990, over which he had much creative control, although he was turned down for director
17.
Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at a ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre, several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Tony Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, the rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wings Tony Awards, which applies for that season only. It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards, the Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France. From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, in 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall, the 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12,2016 at the Beacon Theatre. The 71st Tony Awards will be held on June 11,2017, as of 2014, there are 24 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years, some examples, the category Best Book of a Musical was originally called Best Author. The category of Best Costume Design was one of the original awards, for two years, in 1960 and 1961, this category was split into Best Costume Designer and Best Costume Designer. It then went to a category, but in 2005 it was divided again. For the category of Best Director of a Play, a category was for directors of plays. A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian. The category of Best Special Theatrical Event was retired as of the 2009–2010 season, the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical were retired as of the 2014-2015 season. Performance categories Show and technical categories Special awards Retired awards The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of the American Theatre Wing headed by Brock Pemberton. The award is named after Antoinette Perry, nicknamed Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who died in 1946. As her official biography at the Tony Awards website states, At Jacob Wilks suggestion, proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting, at the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony
18.
Cinema of the United States
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The cinema of the United States, often metonymously referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. The dominant style of American cinema is Classical Hollywood Cinema, which developed from 1917-1960, while the French Lumière Brothers are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema, it is American cinema that soon became the most dominant force in an emerging industry. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year than that of any other country, in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. In 1894, the worlds first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City, the United States was in the forefront of sound film development in the following decades. Since the early 20th century, the U. S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles, director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar. Orson Welless Citizen Kane is frequently cited in critics polls as the greatest film of all time. T, the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Titanic, Avatar, The Avengers, Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Star Wars, The Force Awakens. Today, American film studios collectively generate several hundred movies every year, muybridges accomplishment led inventors everywhere to attempt to make similar devices that would capture such motion. In the United States, Thomas Edison was among the first to produce such a device, the history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast where, at one time, Fort Lee, New Jersey was the motion picture capital of America. The industry got its start at the end of the 19th century with the construction of Thomas Edisons Black Maria, in 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios, the Champion Film Company, built the first studio. They were quickly followed by others who either built new studios or who leased facilities in Fort Lee, such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios. In New York, the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, was built during the silent film era, was used by the Marx Brothers, the Edison Studios were located in the Bronx. Chelsea, Manhattan was also frequently used, other major centers of film production also included Chicago, Florida, Texas, California, and Cuba. The film patents wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U. S and they started filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood. Griffith then filmed the first movie shot in Hollywood, In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about California in the 19th century. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York, after hearing about Griffiths success in Hollywood, in 1913, many movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Thomas Edison, who owned patents on the movie-making process. Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey, built the first studio in Hollywood in 1911, Californias more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s. In Los Angeles, the studios and Hollywood grew, before World War I, movies were made in several U. S. cities, but filmmakers gravitated to southern California as the industry developed
19.
Oliver! (film)
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Oliver. is a 1968 British musical drama film directed by Carol Reed and based on the stage musical of the same name, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris, both the film and play are based on Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. The film includes musical numbers as Food, Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, As Long as He Needs Me, Youve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two. Filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey, the film was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. At the 41st Academy Awards for 1968, Oliver. was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Reed and an Honorary Award for choreographer Onna White. At the 26th Golden Globe Awards the film won two Golden Globes for Best Film - Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor - Musical or Comedy for Ron Moody, a workhouse in Dunstable, England is visited by the wealthy governors who fund it. While a sumptuous banquet is held for them, the orphan boys who work there are being served their daily gruel. They dream of enjoying the same Food, Glorious Food as their masters, while eating, some boys draw straws to see who will ask for more to eat, and the job falls to a boy named Oliver Twist. He goes up to Bumble and Widow Corney, who run the workhouse and serve the gruel, enraged, Bumble takes Oliver to the governors to see what to do with him. A decision is made to have Oliver sold into service, Bumble parades Oliver through the snow, trying to sell him to the highest bidder. Oliver is sold to an undertaker named Mr. Sowerberry, who intends to use him as a mourner for childrens funerals, after his first funeral, Noah Claypole, Sowerberrys apprentice, insults Olivers mother. Oliver attacks Noah in fury and Mrs. Sowerberry forces him into a coffin while Noah fetches Bumble, Oliver is too angry to be intimidated by Bumble, who places the blame on not keeping Oliver on a diet of gruel, instead of meat, which made him strong. Oliver is thrown into the cellar as further punishment, alone in the dark with a roomful of empty coffins, Oliver wonders. While clutching the window grate, Oliver pushes it open and escapes, after a week on the road, Oliver reaches London. Soon, he crosses paths with the Artful Dodger, who decides to take Oliver under his wing, Dodger leads Oliver to his home, a hideout for a group of young boys housed by the elderly Fagin. Oliver naively believes the items they had actually stolen are made by them and Fagin, after a laugh, they subtly explain to Oliver they are actually a pickpocket gang. At the same time, Fagin helps the boys practice their stealing while proclaiming his belief that to get by. Once the boys go to sleep, Fagin sneaks off to meet with a thief with whom he does business, Bill Sikes
20.
Quatermass II
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Quatermass II is a British science-fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, the serial sees Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange meteorite showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering a conspiracy involving alien infiltration at the highest levels of the British Government and it is described on the British Film Institutes Screenonline website as compulsive viewing. On 22 September 1955 the ITV network was launched in the UK, bringing television to Britain for the first time. The new networks creation had been established by the Television Act 1954, and we are going to need many more Quatermass Experiment programmes. As with The Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass II was produced and directed by Rudolph Cartier, he, since the first Quatermass serial, the two men had collaborated on the literary adaptations Wuthering Heights and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and on Kneales abominable snowman play The Creature. Quatermass II comprised six episodes, transmitted live from Studio G at the BBCs Lime Grove Studios in London. Each episode was rehearsed on the Monday to Friday before transmission at Mansergh Woodall Boys Club in St Johns Wood, London, and then camera rehearsed in studio for most of the day on the Saturday. Most of the material was shot on location at the Shell Haven oil refinery in Stanford-le-Hope. The location film sequences were the most ambitious that had then been attempted in British television drama, each episode of Quatermass II was telerecorded onto 35 mm film during its live transmission, for a scheduled repeat the following Monday night at 10,15 p. m. All six episodes survive intact in the BBCs archives, although the telerecording copies in some cases suffer from poor quality sound, episode three, The Food, was repeated in a slightly edited form on BBC2 on 26 August 1991 as part of The Lime Grove Story. This was a day of programming to commemorate the closure of the studios after forty years of use by the BBC, meteorites are falling over Northern England, one of which is observed by an Army radar unit. After a farmer finds one of the objects in a field, the soldiers directly involved. Paulas father is Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group — the rocket man, as one of Dillons troops puts it. At a pub, they find out that the village of Winnerden Flats has been leveled to build an enormous industrial plant protected by armed guards. Upon investigating a newly fallen meteorite, Dillon is sprayed from it with gas. Similarly marked armed guards arrive from the plant and take Dillon away, whilst being taken Dillon threateningly tells Quatermass not to follow. At the prefab town, Quatermass sees that the mark and strange behaviour are associated with those who find the fallen meteorites, but before he can find out more the community police order him away
21.
A. J. Cronin
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Archibald Joseph Cronin, MBChB, MD, DPH, MRCP was a Scottish novelist and physician. His best-known novel was The Citadel, about a doctor in a Welsh mining village who quickly moves up the ladder in London. Cronin had observed this scene closely as a Medical Inspector of Mines and this book promoted controversial new ideas about medical ethics which largely inspired the launch of the National Health Service. Another popular mining novel, set in the North East of England, was The Stars Look Down, both these novels were adapted for film, as were Hatters Castle, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years. His novella Country Doctor was adapted for a long-running BBC radio and TV series Dr Finlays Casebook and his paternal grandparents emigrated from County Armagh, Ireland and were glass and china merchants in Alexandria. Owen Cronin, his grandfather, had his surname changed from Cronague in 1870 and his maternal grandfather, Archibald Montgomerie, was a hatter who owned a shop in Dumbarton. After their marriage, Cronins parents moved to Helensburgh, where he attended Grant Street School, when he was seven years old, his father, an insurance agent and commercial traveler, died from tuberculosis. From an early age, he was a golfer, a sport he enjoyed throughout his life. The family later moved to Yorkhill, Glasgow, where he attended St Aloysius College in the Garnethill area of the city and he played football for the First XI there, an experience he included in one of his last novels, The Minstrel Boy. A family decision that he should study for either the church or medicine was settled by Cronin himself and he won a Carnegie scholarship to study medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1914. He was absent during the 1916–1917 session for naval service, in 1919 he graduated with highest honours, with the degree of MBChB. Later that year he made a trip to India as ships surgeon on a liner, Cronin went on to earn additional degrees, including a Diploma in Public Health and his MRCP. In 1925, he was awarded an M. D. from the University of Glasgow for his dissertation, during World War I, Cronin served as a Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve before graduating from medical school. After the war, he trained at various hospitals including Bellahouston and Lightburn Hospitals in Glasgow and he undertook general practice work in a small village on the Clyde, Garelochhead, as well as in Tredegar, a mining town in South Wales. He was involved in the disaster at Ystfad Colliery in Pengelly, where miners were drowned. He subsequently moved to London, where he practised in Harley Street before opening his own thriving medical practice in Notting Hill, Cronin was also the medical officer for Whiteleys at this time and was becoming increasingly interested in ophthalmology. In 1930, after being diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer. At Dalchenna Farm by Loch Fyne, he was able to indulge his lifelong desire to write a novel, having previously written nothing but prescriptions
22.
The Citadel (novel)
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The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, which was groundbreaking with its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It has been credited with laying the foundation in Great Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later, in the United States, it won the National Book Award for 1937 novels, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. For his fifth book, Dr. Cronin drew on his experiences practising medicine in the mining communities of the South Wales Valleys. Specifically, he had researched and reported on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and lung disease in the town of Tredegar and he had also worked as a doctor for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society at the Cottage Hospital, which served as the model for the National Health Service. Cronin once stated in an interview, I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness. The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed and this is not an attack against individuals, but against a system. In October 1924, Andrew Manson, an idealistic, newly qualified doctor and he quickly realises that Page is invalid and that he has to do all the work for a meagre wage. Resigning, he obtains a post as assistant in a medical aid scheme in Aberalaw. On the strength of this job, he marries Christine Barlow, Christine helps her husband with his silicosis research. Eager to improve the lives of his patients, mainly coal miners and he studies for, and is granted, the MRCP, and when his research is published, an MD. The research gains him a post with the Mines Fatigue Board in London, a patient dies because of a surgeons ineptitude, and the incident causes Manson to abandon his practice and return to his former ways. He and his wife repair their relationship, but then she is run over by a bus. Stillmans treatment, that of pneumothorax involved collapsing an affected lung with nitrogen, despite his lawyers gloomy prognosis, Manson forcefully justifies his actions during the hearing and is not struck off the medical register. There are also three film adaptations of the novel in Indian languages, Tere Mere Sapne in Hindi, Jiban Saikate in Bengali and Madhura Swapnam in Telugu
23.
Clochemerle
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Clochemerle is a French satirical novel by Gabriel Chevallier which was first published in 1934. The book is set in a fictional French village called Clochemerle, inspired by Vaux-en-Beaujolais, the book is a comic work, satirising the conflicts between Catholics and Republicans in the French Third Republic by telling the story of the installation of a urinal in Clochemerles village square. The work has been translated in various editions and adapted into film and television series, Clochemerle 1923 book review of The Scandals of Clochemerle by Time Vaux en Beaujolais website
24.
Bangor University
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Bangor University is a Welsh university in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales. It received its Royal Charter in 1885 and was one of the member institutions of the former federal University of Wales. It was officially known for most of its history as the University College of North Wales, from September 2007 it became known as Bangor University, having become independent from the federal University of Wales. In 2012 Bangor was ranked 251st among the top universities. According to the Sunday Times University Guide 2012, it is rated top in Wales for teaching excellence and is among the top 15 universities in the UK in this category. The university was founded as the University College of North Wales on 18 October 1884, with an address by the Earl of Powis. There was then a procession to the college including 3,000 quarrymen, the college was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1885. Its students received degrees from the University of London until 1893, during the Second World War paintings from national art galleries were stored in the Prichard-Jones Hall at UCNW to protect them from enemy bombing. They were later moved to mines at Blaenau Ffestiniog. Students from University College, London, were evacuated to continue their studies in an environment at Bangor. During the 1960s the university shared in the expansion of higher education in the UK following the Robbins Report, with a number of new departments. On 22 November 1965, during construction of an extension to the Department of Electronic Engineering in Dean Street, the three-ton counterweight hit the second-floor lecture theatre in the original building about thirty minutes before it would have been occupied by about 80 first-year students. The counterweight went through to the ground floor, Student protests at UCNW in the 1970s focused mainly on calls to expand the role of the Welsh language. The merger of St Marys into UCNW was concluded in 1977, the university occupies a substantial proportion of Bangor and also has some departments in Wrexham. The university was based in an old coaching inn, the Penrhyn Arms Hotel. In 1911 it moved to a larger new building, which is now the old part of the Main Arts Building. This building, designed by Henry Hare, had its foundation laid by King Edward VII on 9 July 1907. The iconic building, which occupies a highly visible position overlooking Bangor, the building became a Grade I listed building in 1949
25.
Bangor, Gwynedd
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Bangor is a city in Gwynedd unitary authority, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest city in Wales, historically in Caernarfonshire, it is a university city with a population of 18,808 at the 2011 census, including around 10,500 students at Bangor University and including Pentir community. It is one of six places classed as a city in Wales. According to the 2001 census,46. 6% of the non-student resident population speak Welsh, which is low for Gwynedd but despite this, the language keeps a high profile in the city. The origins of the city back to the founding of a monastic establishment on the site of Bangor Cathedral by the Celtic saint Deiniol in the early 6th century AD. Bangor itself is an old Welsh word for a wattled enclosure, the present cathedral is a somewhat more recent building and has been extensively modified throughout the centuries. While the building itself is not the oldest, and certainly not the biggest, another claim to fame is that Bangor allegedly has the longest High Street in Wales and the United Kingdom. Friars School was founded as a grammar school in 1557. In 1877, the former HMS Clio became a ship, moored on the Menai Strait at Bangor. Closed after the end of hostilities of World War I, she was sold for scrap, during World War II, parts of the BBC evacuated to Bangor during the worst of the Blitz. Bangor lies on the coast of North Wales near the Menai Strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd unitary authority, the combined population of the two amounts to 22,184 people. Bangor Mountain lies to the east of the part of the city. Bangor Mountain casts a shadow across the High Street, Glan Adda and Hirael areas, another ridge rises to the north of the High Street, dividing the city centre from the south shore of the Menai Strait, this area is known as Upper Bangor. Bangor has two rivers within its boundaries, Port Penrhyn was an important port in the 19th century, exporting the slates produced at the Penrhyn Quarry. Bangor lies at the end of the North Wales Path. It is also on routes 5,8 and 85 of the National Cycle Network, Bangor railway station, which serves the city, is located on the North Wales Coast Line from Crewe and Chester to Holyhead. The A55 runs immediately to the south of Bangor, providing transport to Holyhead in the west. The nearest airport with international flights is Liverpool John Lennon Airport,83 miles away by road, classical music is performed regularly in Bangor, with concerts given in the Powis and Prichard-Jones Halls as part of the universitys Music at Bangor concert series
26.
Night Train to Munich
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Night Train to Munich is a 1940 British thriller film directed by Carol Reed and starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison. A British secret service agent follows them, disguised as a senior German army officer pretending to woo the daughter over to the Nazi cause. As German forces take over Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Axel Bomasch, bomaschs daughter, Anna, is arrested before she can reach the airport and sent to a concentration camp, where she is interrogated by Nazis who are after her father. Soon she is befriended by a prisoner named Karl Marsen. Together they are able to escape and make their way to London, Anna does not know that Marsen is in fact a Gestapo agent assigned to gain her trust and locate her father. Following Marsens suggestion, Anna places a cryptic newspaper advertisement to let her know she is in the country. Soon after, she gets a phone call with instructions to go to the town of Brightbourne. There, Anna contacts Dickie Randall, a British intelligence officer working undercover as an entertainer named Gus Bennett, Randall takes Anna to her father, who is now working for the Royal Navy at the Dartford naval base. Anna argues with Randall over her attempt to post a letter to Marsen and it does not matter, as Dr. John Fredericks, Marsens undercover superior in London, had tailed her to Brightbourne. Soon after, Marsen arranges the kidnapping of Anna and her father and their captors threaten to put her in a concentration camp if Bomasch refuses to work for the Nazis. Meanwhile, Randalls proposal to rescue the Bomasches is accepted and he travels to Berlin and infiltrates the building where the Bomasches are being held, posing as Major Ulrich Herzog of the Corps of Engineers. He dupes Captain Prada and Admiral Hassinger into believing he was Annas lover years ago, Randall spends the night with Anna in her hotel room to maintain the pretense. When the Bomasches are ordered sent to Munich, he plans to accompany them, however, Marsen shows up just as they are about to leave the hotel, he has been assigned to escort them to Munich. Randalls situation is complicated at the railway station, where he is recognised by a former classmate named Caldicott. Randall denies knowing Caldicott, but Marsens suspicions are aroused, when Marsens superiors call back to confirm there is no Major Herzog, Charters, attempting to use another telephone, overhears that Randall will be arrested when they reach Munich. The two Englishmen barely manage to reboard the train as it resumes its journey, Caldicott slips a warning to Randall, who is thus prepared when Marsen pulls out a gun as they near Munich. Charters and Caldicott overpower first the two guards, then Marsen, after swapping uniforms with Marsen, Randall commandeers a car. They speed up a road, with Marsen in hot pursuit
27.
The Three Weird Sisters
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The Three Weird Sisters is a 1948 British melodrama with Gothic influences, directed by Daniel Birt and starring Nancy Price, Mary Clare, Mary Merrall and Raymond Lovell. The screenplay was adapted by Dylan Thomas and Louise Birt from the novel The Case of the Weird Sisters by Charlotte Armstrong, the film was Birts directorial debut, while marking the last screen appearance of Nova Pilbeam who retired from the acting profession after it was completed. The elderly Morgan-Vaughan sisters Gertrude, Maude and Isobel live in a decaying, Gertrude is blind, Maude almost deaf and Isobel crippled by arthritis. The local coal mine out of which the family made their fortune is almost worked-out and its tunnels and she tries to alert members of the local community to her suspicions, but at first is not taken seriously
28.
So Evil My Love
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So Evil My Love is a 1948 British and American Gothic psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd and Geraldine Fitzgerald. So Evil My Love is a drama set in the Victorian era. The film is based on the novel by Marjorie Bowen. Elements of the plot are based on the death of barrister Charles Bravo in 1876. The conclusion may also be based on the death of Cesar Young by Nan Patterson, on board a ship returning to England from the West Indies, Anglican missionarys widow Olivia Harwood is prevailed on to help nurse malarial patients on the lower decks. There she meets the suavely handsome Mark Bellis, who has taken ill. Despite Marks vagueness about his life and past, the strike up a friendship. Fully recovered by the time the docks, Mark persuades Olivia to allow him to take up residence in the lodging house she has inherited from her late husband. He proceeds to work a smooth line of seduction on her, while still finding time to use his charms on the more worldly. Marks past as an art thief and forger is revealed as he reunites with former partner-in-crime Edgar Bellamy, things go awry, and they are forced into a rooftop flight, narrowly avoiding police bullets. Returning to Olivia, he tells her he intends to leave London to try to make good elsewhere, however, she has now fallen under his romantic spell and is prepared to do anything to keep him with her. The couple are in dire need of money, and Olivia is persuaded to insinuate herself into the home of her wealthy former schoolfriend Susan Courtney and her older husband Henry. She finds Susan in a state of neurosis and barely suppressed hysteria, worn down by the criticisms of the cold and sneering Henry, who agrees to employ her as Susans live-in companion. Under Marks urging, she begins to pilfer stocks and bonds and small valuables from the Courtney household. Mark meanwhile has discovered an old bundle of letters from Susan to Olivia, containing youthfully indiscreet descriptions of romantic dalliances, realising that making public the contents of the letters would ruin the Courtneys social reputation, he believes that he has hit the financial jackpot. As low as she has already sunk under his influence however, Olivia finds the notion of blackmail repugnant and she flees from the Courtneys and looks into the possibility of a return to overseas missionary work, only to find that a lone woman is not wanted. She finds herself sheltering in a church, where Mark somehow manages to track her down. In despair, she falls for his blandishments and submits herself again to his control and instructions, blackmail and all
29.
London Belongs to Me
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London Belongs to Me is a British film released in 1948, directed by Sidney Gilliat, and starring Richard Attenborough and Alastair Sim. It was based on the novel London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins, the film concerns the residents of a large terrace house in London between Christmas 1938 and September 1939. Percy is in love with the Jossers daughter and turns to crime to raise money to impress her with, Mr Josser digs into his retirement fund to hire the boy a lawyer. Mr Squales testifies against Percy, but in the process exposes to his fiancée Mrs Vizzard the fakeness of his claims to be able to contact the dead, Percy is found guilty, but his neighbours rally to his defence. With the assistance of Mr Jossers staunchly socialist Uncle Henry they gather thousands of signatures on a petition to him a reprieve. At the end of the film Percys supporters march through the rain to Parliament, the film was shot at Pinewood Studios. The main street was a set, but additional location filming took place around London. The film includes the first screen appearance of Arthur Lowe, who makes a brief, Patricia Roc was originally cast in the female lead, but pulled out because she did not want to keep playing cockney roles. She was replaced by Susan Shaw, trade papers called the film a notable box office attraction in British cinemas in 1948. The novel was adapted for Thames Television as a series. The cast included Derek Farr as Mr Josser, Madge Ryan as Mrs Vizzard, London Belongs to Me at the Internet Movie Database BFI article and resources on the film Seamas Duffys article on the London Fictions site about the novel on which the film was based
30.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
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Kind Hearts and Coronets is a British black comedy film of 1949. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness, Guinness plays nine characters, the plot is loosely based on the novel Israel Rank, The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman. It concerns Louis DAscoyne Mazzini, the son of a woman disowned by her family for marrying out of her social class. After her death Louis decides to revenge on the family. Michael Balcon, the head of Ealing Studios and the producer of Kind Hearts and Coronets, Hamer was interested in the film, and thought it an interesting project with possibilities of using the English language in a unique way in the film. Filming took place from September 1943 at Leeds Castle and other locations in Kent, the themes of class and sexual repression run through the film, particularly love between classes. Kind Hearts and Coronets was released in 1949 and was received by the critics. Its reputation has lasted well, and in 1999 is was voted at number six in the British Film Institutes rating of the Top 100 British films. In 2005 it was listed in Times top 100, In Edwardian England, Louis DAscoyne Mazzini, 10th Duke of Chalfont, is in prison, as he writes his memoirs, the events of his life are shown in flashback. His mother, the youngest daughter of the 7th Duke of Chalfont, the Mazzinis were poor but happy until Mazzini died upon seeing Louis, his newborn son, for the first time. In the aftermath, Louiss widowed mother raises him on the history of her family and tells him how, unlike other aristocratic titles, Louiss only childhood friends are Sibella and her brother, the children of a local doctor. When Louis leaves school, his mother writes to her kinsman Lord Ascoyne DAscoyne, a banker, for assistance in launching her sons career. Louis is forced to work as an assistant in a drapers shop, when his mother dies, her last request, to be interred in the family vault at Chalfont Castle, is denied. Then Sibella ridicules Louiss marriage proposal, instead, she marries Lionel Holland, a former schoolmate with a rich father. Soon after, Louis quarrels with customer Ascoyne DAscoyne, the only child. Louis resolves to kill Ascoyne DAscoyne and the seven people ahead of him in succession to the dukedom. After arranging a fatal boating accident for Ascoyne DAscoyne and his mistress, Louis writes a letter of condolence to his victims father, Lord Ascoyne DAscoyne, upon his later promotion, Louis takes a bachelor flat in St Jamess, London, for assignations with Sibella. Louis then targets Henry DAscoyne, an amateur photographer
31.
A Run for Your Money
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A Run for Your Money is a 1949 Ealing Studios comedy film starring Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards as two Welshmen visiting London for the first time. The supporting cast includes Alec Guinness, Moira Lister and Hugh Griffith, two Welsh coal miners from Hafoduwchbenceubwllymarchogcoch, David Dai Number 9 Jones and Thomas Twm Jones, win a contest run by the Echo newspaper. The prize is 100 pounds each, plus the best seats for an important rugby union match between England and Wales at Twickenham, for the naive Welshmen, this is their first trip to England. They are supposed to be met at Paddington station by Whimple, a gardening columnist on the paper, instead, the two miners become separated when Dai is picked up by attractive con artist Jo after she overhears them talking about the prize money. At Jos suggestion, she and Dai go to the newspaper to collect the money, the editor makes Whimple responsible for showing Dai around, but Jo soon manages to lose him. Whimple gets details of Jos criminal methods from a fellow reporter, as they spend time together, Dai begins to fall in love with Jo, though he already has a girlfriend back in Wales, Bronwen, the bosss secretary. Meanwhile, Twm recognizes a familiar face, Huw Price, a down-on-his-luck harpist, by the time they arrive at the Echo to collect Twms share of the prize, theyre sopping drunk. Not knowing who Twm is, the editor has the pair kicked out, eventually, Twm and Huw give up and go to the rugby match, getting there just as it ends. There, they meet up with Whimple, Jo takes Dai shopping for a diamond ring for Bronwen, her confederate Barney tries to cheat him, but Dai changes his mind about which ring he wants and ends up getting a fair deal. Jo takes him back to her flat so Barney can sneak in, Dai proposes that she move to Wales and offers to give her money to pay for the fare, but then he remembers Bronwen and changes his mind. Disappointed more than she expected, she steals his money, just then, Whimple shows up and tells Dai the truth about the woman. Dai gets Jos purse, with the money in it, and runs to catch the train back to Wales, Jo and Barney bring a policeman and accuse Dai of being a thief, to avoid trouble, Dai gives back the purse. As the train pulls out though, Jo throws him back his money, all the music in this film is based on traditional Welsh songs. Much of it was filmed on location in London, there are a number of joking references to the deprivations and regulations of postwar England. Hafoduwchbenceubwllymarchogcoch, Hafod uwchben ceubwll y marchog coch translates roughly as Shed over the cess-pit of the red knight, according to The Independent, most Welsh filmgoers didnt like it, believing it played to stereotypes. However, it was very popular with British audiences and was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1950. A Run for Your Money at the Internet Movie Database
32.
Gone to Earth (film)
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Gone to Earth is a British Technicolor film by the director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Jennifer Jones, David Farrar and Cyril Cusack and features Esmond Knight, the film was significantly changed for the American market by David O. Selznick and retitled The Wild Heart in 1952. Gone to Earth is based on the 1917 novel of the name by author Mary Webb. Hazel Woodus is a child of nature in the Shropshire countryside in 1897 and she loves and understands all the wild animals more than the people around her. Whenever she has problems, she turns to the book of spells, local squire Jack Reddin sees Hazel and wants her, but she has already promised herself to the Baptist minister, Edward Marston. A struggle for her body and soul ensues, studio filming took place at Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, Surrey, while most of the film was shot on location at many sites around Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England. Many local people were recruited as extras, for instance, the choir from the local Methodist church appears in the film. When director Michael Powell heard them sing, he thought they werent ragged enough to portray a choir of country folk, only to be told But we are country folk, the film was a co-production with American producer David O. Selznick. Powell summed up the relationship this way, We decided to go ahead with David O. the way hedgehogs make love and he lost the court case, but discovered that he had the right to have the film changed for its American release. Consequently, Selznick had the film re-edited and some scenes shot in Hollywood under director Rouben Mamoulian to make the version known as The Wild Heart. Selznicks changes were mostly additions to the film, a prologue, scenes explaining things, often literally, by putting labels or inscriptions on them, and more close-ups of his wife, Jennifer Jones. The most infamous of the alterations are the scenes at the end when Jones is supposedly carrying a tame fox—in the additional scenes, she is carrying what is obviously a stuffed toy fox. Selznick also deleted a few scenes that he felt werent dramatic enough, some of which were major plot points, in his autobiographies, Powell claimed that Selznick only left about 35 minutes of the original film, but, in fact, about two-thirds remains intact. Overall, Selznick cut the length by 28 minutes, from the original 110 minutes to 82 minutes. The original version of Gone to Earth was fully restored by the British Film Institutes National Archive in 1985, reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
33.
The Galloping Major (film)
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The Galloping Major is a 1951 British comedy sports film starring Basil Radford, Jimmy Hanley and Janette Scott. It also featured Sid James, Charles Hawtrey and Joyce Grenfell in supporting roles and it was directed by Henry Cornelius and made at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. The films sets were designed by Norman Arnold, the title is taken from the song The Galloping Major, and the plot was centred on gambling at the horse racing track. A syndicate in a London suburb club together to buy a horse to run in the Grand National. The film was made as an independent production, backed by the Woolf Brothers and it proved profitable at the box office, although producer Monja Danischewsky quit independent production afterwards to return to work at Ealing Studios. It has been noted as being similar in style to the Ealing comedies of the same era and it features appearances from several well-known figures including the jockey Charlie Smirke and the commentators Raymond Glendenning and Bruce Belfrage. The cafe is now a Greengrocers, but the area is easily recognisable. The race track was filmed at Alexandra Palace, which can be seen briefly in the background, British Cinema of the 1950s, The Decline of Deference. Directors in British and Irish Cinema, A Reference Companion, the Galloping Major at the Internet Movie Database
34.
Laughter in Paradise
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Laughter in Paradise is a British comedy film released in 1951. The film stars Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, George Cole, the film was remade in 1970 as Some Will, Some Wont. When wealthy, well-known practical joker Henry Russell dies, four relatives find out that they stand to each inherit £50,000, provided that they commit acts that are completely contrary to their natures. Law-abiding Deniston Russell, a army officer who writes lurid novels under several fictional names, has to get himself arrested and jailed for exactly 28 days within a week. Difficult, snobbish Agnes Russell has to find employment as a servant in a middle-class home, again within a week. Simon Russell is a cad, his task is to marry the first single woman he speaks to. Timid Herbert Russell is assigned to hold up the manager he works for in his office, using a mask and a toy pistol. Deniston is thwarted repeatedly in his attempts, but finally manages to complete his task and it costs him his fiancée Elizabeth Robson when he is brought up before the magistrate, Elizabeths father, but is surprised to discover it is a cost he is quite willing to pay. Agnes ends up working for irascible Gordon Webb, when he sacks her, she offers him a large sum to keep her on. He engages private detective Roger Godfrey to find out what she is up to, Roger falls in love with Gordons long-suffering daughter Joan, but she is unwilling to marry him as her father depends on her. After Agnes persuades her to change her mind, Gordon sacks her, when Herbert finally gathers the nerve to go through with his assignment, he inadvertently foils an actual robbery and becomes a hero and is rewarded with a branch managership. Simon speaks first to Frieda, a girl he knows. After he accomplishes his task, he discovers that he has married a woman as unscrupulous as himself, when the executor gathers the four heirs together, he informs them that there is no money, it was Henrys last practical joke. Agnes, Deniston and Herbert burst into laughter, simon is annoyed at first, until he happens to look outside at his conniving wife, waiting with a bottle of champagne. Then he too joins in the merriment and this was Hepburns first professional appearance on film. The filming of the scene in which Hepburn appears was later recreated in the 2000 biopic The Audrey Hepburn Story starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Audrey has two scenes as a cigarette girl, totalling 43 seconds. While Britmovie called the film a sure-fire British comedy thats sprightly execution doesn’t leave many dull moments, laughter in Paradise at the Internet Movie Database screenonline review
35.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
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The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line operating after British Railways decided to close it. The film was written by T. E. B, clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales, the worlds first heritage railway run by volunteers. It starred Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relph and John Gregson, the film was produced by Ealing Studios. It was the first Ealing comedy shot in Technicolor and one of the first colour comedies made in the UK, there was considerable inspiration from the book Railway Adventure by established railway book author L. T. C. Rolt had acted as manager for the volunteer enthusiasts running the Talyllyn Railway for the two years 1951-52. The local vicar, railway enthusiast Sam Weech, suggests that it should be run locally. They are bitterly opposed by bus operators Alec Pearce and Vernon Crump, Dan Taylor, a retired track layer, knows how to run an engine and joins the venture. The next day, Crump and Pearce persuade an irate Hawkins to shoot holes in the water tower, but the passengers form a bucket brigade and refill the engine from a nearby river. The night before the inspection, Hawkins, Crump and Pearce sabotage the line by using the steamroller to tow the unguarded engine and coach down the gradient, the village solicitor, Blakeworth, is mistakenly blamed and arrested. Now with no engine, Weech decides to get the antique Thunderbolt from the museum. They also commandeer Dan Taylors home, an old railway carriage body, the impromptu train is completed by a brake van for the guard to use. With Taylors arrest, Weech is left without a fireman, fortunately, Weechs friend and fellow railway devotee, Ollie Matthews, the Bishop of Welchester, comes to visit and willingly steps in to lend a hand. As the train is about to start its run, the demand to be carried to Mallingford with their four prisoners. The Ministry inspector refuses to adjust the time for the delay. Weech and Chesterford had improvised a means of connecting the engine to the rest of the using a length of rope, but during a braking test down the line. The Thunderbolt leaves the rest of the train behind, but several villagers manage to push the carriages to meet up again with the engine at the water tower. Then Joan Hampton promises to marry Hawkins to get him to them the chain from his rollers steering mechanism to replace the broken rope. After so many delays, the train pulls into Mallingford station nearly ten minutes late, the villagers think that this will prove their downfall, but it turns out that if they had been faster, they would have exceeded the speed limit for light railways
36.
The Million Pound Note
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The Million Pound Note is a 1954 British comedy, directed by Ronald Neame and starring Gregory Peck. It is based on the Mark Twain short story, The Million Pound Bank Note, in 1903, American seaman Henry Adams is stranded penniless in England and gets caught up in an unusual wager between two wealthy, eccentric brothers, Oliver and Roderick Montpelier. They persuade the Bank of England to issue a one million pound banknote, once Adams gets over the shock of discovering how much the note is worth, he tries to return it to the brothers but is told that they have left for a month. He then finds a letter in the envelope, explaining the wager, at first, everything goes as Oliver had predicted. Adams is mistaken for a millionaire and has no trouble getting food, clothes. The story of the note is reported in the newspapers, Adams is welcomed into exclusive social circles, meeting the American ambassador and English aristocracy. He becomes very friendly with Portia Lansdowne, the niece of the Duchess of Cromarty, then, fellow American Lloyd Hastings asks him to back a business venture. Hastings tells Adams that he not have to put up any money himself. Trouble arises when the Duke of Frognal, who had been evicted from the suite Adams now occupies, hides the note as a joke. When Adams is unable to produce the note, panic breaks out amongst the shareholders, all is straightened out in the end, and Adams is able to return the note to the Montpelier brothers at the end of the month. The Million Pound Note at the Internet Movie Database The Million Pound Note at the TCM Movie Database The Million Pound Note at AllMovie
37.
The Sleeping Tiger
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The Sleeping Tiger is a 1954 film noir starring Alexis Smith and Dirk Bogarde. It was Joseph Loseys first British feature, which he directed under the pseudonym of Victor Hanbury due to being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era, two criminals are stalking the streets of London one dark night. Frank Clemmons, a young man, holds psychiatrist Dr. Clive Esmond up at gunpoint. Frank has two options, he can go to prison or he can be a guest at Dr. Esmond’s house where he’ll be a guinea pig subjected to Dr. Esmond’s scrutiny. Arriving home from a holiday in Paris, Dr. Esmond’s wife Glenda is taken aback when she sees the new household guest, Glenda has her reservations about Frank and behaves in a cold, aloof manner towards him. Frank is regularly analysed by Dr. Esmond, who is determined to get to the root of his criminality, in between these sessions, he also goes horse riding with Glenda. Although at first indifferent to him, Glenda soon finds herself growing attracted to Frank, with a co-conspirator in tow, Frank leaves the house one night and steals some jewellery. An inspector later asks him about the crime, but he denies having committed it, some time after, Frank ushers Glenda into the Metro, a seedy Soho nightclub where her conflicted attraction to him deepens. They soon begin an affair, which occurs the day after Glenda’s attempt to chastise Frank for his violent behaviour towards the maid, Sally. Frank and Glenda carry on with their affair, Dr. Esmond eventually finds them in a compromising position. While at the Metro with Frank, the two have an argument that overwhelms her. She begins her journey home, driving recklessly and out of control, sally’s fiancé pays Dr. Esmond a visit to complain about the abuse she has had to endure from Frank. Her fiancé threatens to tell the police, no charges are pressed and Frank finds out that this is due to Dr. Esmond buying the man off with £100. Frank reacts and carries out another robbery, when questioned by the police, Dr. Esmond ends up lying on Frank’s behalf. A cunning ploy, this results in Frank giving an account of his tyrannical father. As a youngster, Frank stole and his father turned him in to the authorities. Frank vowed revenge on his Father when he was released, but was given a beating. His father shortly died and he was blamed and this is what caused Franks life of crime
38.
Passage Home
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Passage Home is a 1955 British drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker. Captain Lucky Ryland is about to retire, there is a flashback of several years to a voyage on a ship he was captaining from South America. He is forced to give a lift to a British governess, Ruth Elton, both Ryland and his first mate, Vosper, fall for Ruth. Ryland proposes to Ruth but when she turns down his offer he tries to rape her, there is a subplot about the dissatisfaction of the ships crew with the supply of potatoes. The potatoes are dumped overboard and Ryland is determined to find out who is responsible and it turns out this was done by Ike the bosun, who later dies at sea. Passage Home at the Internet Movie Database Passage Home at Britmovie
39.
Lucky Jim (1957 film)
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Lucky Jim is a 1957 British comedy film directed by John Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith. It is an adaptation of the 1954 novel Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, Jim Dixon is a young lecturer in history at a redbrick university, who manages to offend his head of department and create various disastrous incidents. When he eventually delivers a lecture drunk, he forced to resign. But just as his career seems over, he is offered a job in London, the professors whole family chases after, and arrives at the station just in time to see Jim and the girl disappear on the train to London. In its 2010 obituary over Ian Carmichael, The Guardian wrote, One of his most characteristic, the Bowers-Horwitz song Ah, lucky Jim inspired the books title. Lucky Jim in the British Film Institutes Explore film, Database Lucky Jim at the British Film Institutes Screenonline Lucky Jim at the Internet Movie Database
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