1.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
2.
Singing
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Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
3.
EastEnders
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EastEnders is a long running British soap opera created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since 1985. Set in the East End of London in the fictional Bough of Walford the programme follows the stories of local residents, the series was initially screened as two 30-minute episodes per week however since 2001, episodes have been broadcast every day apart from Wednesdays and weekends. Same-day repeats and omnibus editions of the series were previously shown on BBC Three however as of 2016 these are broadcast on UK-based TV channel W. They gave the job of creating this new soap to script writer Tony Holland and producer Julia Smith and they created twenty-four original characters for the show, based upon Hollands own family, and people they remembered from their own experiences in the East End. Granada Television gave Smith unrestricted access to the Coronation Street production for a month so that she could get a sense how a continuing drama was produced and they cast actors for their characters, and began to film the show at BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Julia Smith thought Eastenders looked ugly written down, and capitalised the second e, the central focus of EastEnders is the fictional Victorian square Albert Square in the fictional London Borough of Walford. In the shows narrative, Albert Square is a 19th-century street, named after Prince Albert, thus, central to Albert Square is The Queen Victoria Public House. Fans have tried to establish the location Walford would have within London if it were real, Walford has the postal district of E20. The postcode district was selected as if it were part of the actual E postcode area covers much of east London although the next unused postcode district in the area was. In 1917 the current postal districts in London were assigned according to the name of the main sorting office for each district. If Walford had been assigned in this scheme it would have been given E17, in March 2011, Royal Mail allocated the E20 postal district to the 2012 Olympic Park. The postal district in EastEnders was entirely fictional up to that point, the shows creators opted for E20 instead of E19 as it was thought to sound better. In September 2011 the postal code for Albert Square was revealed in an episode as E20 6PQ, there is also a market close to Fassett Square at Ridley Road. The postcode for the area, E8, was one of the titles for the series. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where Tony Holland lived and a blend of Walthamstow and Stratford—the areas of Greater London where the creators were born, other parts of the Square and set interiors are based on other locations. The fictional local newspaper, the Walford Gazette, in local news events such as the arrests or murders of characters appear. EastEnders is built around the idea of relationships and strong families and this theme encompasses the whole Square, making the entire community a family of sorts, prey to upsets and conflict, but pulling together in times of trouble. Co-creator Tony Holland was from a large East End family, Pauline and Petes mother was the domineering Lou Beale, who lived with Pauline and her family
4.
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
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Samantha Margaret Priscilla Sam Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam enters as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, Westbrook quit in 1993, but Sam was reintroduced from 1995–1996 and from 1999–2000. In both her 1996 and 2000 exits, Sam was written out earlier than the producers intended due to controversies surrounding Westbrook. In 2002, the character was reintroduced for a fourth time, Medcalf left the role in 2005. In an interview with Paul OGrady, Medcalf said she would never say never to a comeback, however, when executive producer Diederick Santer decided to reintroduce the character for a brief stint in 2009, he opted to bring Westbrook back. Portrayed as headstrong, flirty and manipulative, early storylines featuring Sam concentrate on her teen elopement to the character Ricky Butcher and she goes on to feature in storylines about topless modelling, various family crises, relationships, feuds, and a short-lived marriage to Andy Hunter. Her exit storyline in 2005 is the culmination of a storyline that sees the character wrongly imprisoned for Den Watts murder. In the on-screen events, Sam is cleared of murder and released and her return in 2010 and 2016 sees her struggle with motherhood after giving birth to Jacks baby. Sam is the youngest child and only daughter of Peggy and Eric Mitchell, Eric died when Sam was ten and she was subsequently on the receiving end of her brothers, Phil and Grants, heavy-handed paternalism. Fifteen-year-old Sam follows her brothers to Walford in July 1990, unhappy at home because she dislikes her mothers boyfriend and she becomes friends with Hattie Tavernier and dates Ricky Butcher. Sams family disapproves of the relationship, so Ricky and Sam decide to elope to Gretna Green in 1991, Peggy admits defeat and attends their more formal blessing in Walford a month later. This causes problems in Ricky and Sams relationship, which is already under strain as Ricky is unable to provide Sam with the lifestyle she desires. After just a year of marriage, Sam grows bored and begins lusting after a playboy named Clive whom she meets at a New Years Eve party with her friend Mandy Salter. After having an affair, Sam thinks she has fallen in love with Clive. Realising that her marriage with Ricky is over, Sam leaves her husband, Sam returns in 1995, after her brothers, on a boys holiday in Spain, catch her in bed with David Wicks, and force her to return. Sam had tried to build herself a career as a model, back in Walford Sam tries to continue her fling with David and when this goes nowhere she tries to come between Ricky and his girlfriend, Bianca Jackson. Initially Ricky thinks he still has feelings for Sam, but eventually realises he is better off with Bianca, however Sam wont take no for an answer and purposefully kisses an innocent Ricky in front of Bianca, causing them to split. Despite this, Ricky will not reconsider getting back with Sam, Sam is forced to admit defeat
5.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
6.
Soap opera
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A soap opera, soap, or soapie, is a serial drama on television or radio that examines the lives of many characters, usually focusing on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama. The term soap opera originated from such dramas being typically sponsored by soap manufacturers in the past, the first serial considered to be a soap opera was Painted Dreams, which debuted on October 20,1930 on Chicago radio station WGN. The first nationally broadcast radio soap opera was Clara, Lu, and Em, a crucial element that defines the soap opera is the open-ended serial nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. One of the features that makes a television program a soap opera. While Spanish language telenovelas are sometimes called soap operas, telenovelas have conflicts that get resolved, but with soap operas each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode. You spend more time even with the characters, the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments, each episode may feature some of the shows current storylines, but not always all of them. Soap operas rarely bring all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time, when one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger, evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode, and to represent all current storylines in each episode. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger, the article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in a particular place, the storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, Due to the prominence of English-language television, most soap-operas are completely English. In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working class environments. Many of the soaps produced in two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare, UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting reality or purport to have a realistic style. Romance, secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines, in US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels. Crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story, Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the romantic quality of criminal and/or oligarch life, in soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series
7.
Barbara Windsor
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Dame Barbara Windsor, DBE is an English actress, known for her appearances in the Carry On films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. She joined the cast of EastEnders in 1994 and won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress and she left the show in 2010, before returning for three episodes between 2013 and 2015. Her characters final appearances were broadcast in May 2016, Windsor began her career on stage in 1950 at the age of 13 and made her film debut in The Belles of St Trinians. She received a BAFTA Award nomination for the film Sparrows Cant Sing, in 1972, she starred opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the West End production of The Threepenny Opera. Between 1964 and 1974, she appeared in nine Carry On films, including Carry On Spying, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping and she also co-presented the 1977 Carry On compilation Thats Carry On. Other film roles include A Study in Terror, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London, in 1937, the only child of John Deeks, a costermonger, and his wife, Rose, a dressmaker. Windsor is of English and Irish ancestry and she passed her 11-plus exams gaining a place at Our Lady’s Convent in Stamford Hill. She took the stage name Windsor in 1953, inspired by the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and her first film role was in The Belles of St Trinians released in 1954. She also appeared in the film comedy Crooks in Cloisters, the fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the sitcoms The Rag Trade, Windsor appeared as Saucy Nancy in the second series of the ITV childrens programme Worzel Gummidge, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Windsor came to prominence with her portrayals of a good time girl in nine Carry On films. Her first was Carry On Spying in 1964 and her final Carry On, film acting role was in Carry On Dick in 1974. She also appeared in several Carry On. television and compilation specials between 1964 and 1977, One of her most iconic scenes was in Carry On Camping in 1969, where her bikini top flew off during outdoor aerobic exercises. In classic Carry On style, exposure is implied but little is in fact seen, from 1973 to 1975 she appeared with several of the Carry On team in the West End revue Carry On London. During this time she had an affair with her co-star. She was strongly identified with the Carry On films for many years and she also starred on Broadway in the Theatre Workshops Oh, What a Lovely War. And received a 1965 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and she also appeared in Lionel Barts musical flop Twang. and in the musical Come Spy with Me with Danny La Rue. In 1970 she landed the role of music hall legend Marie Lloyd in the musical-biopic Sing A Rude Song, in 1972 she appeared in the West End in Tony Richardsons The Threepenny Opera with his then wife, Vanessa Redgrave. In 1975, she toured the UK, New Zealand and South Africa in her own show, and followed this with the role of Maria in Twelfth Night at the Chichester Festival Theatre
8.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
9.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
10.
Den Watts
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Dennis Alan Den Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his nickname, Dirty Den. Den was the landlord of The Queen Victoria. He perhaps is best remembered for his stormy relationship with his alcoholic first wife Angie. He was also known for his later involvement with the criminal gang known as The Firm that eventually led to an attempt on his life in 1989. For 14 years, it was believed that the Firms attempt on his life had been successful, seventeen months later, his character was killed off again, this time for good, at the hands of his manipulative second wife Chrissie. His character has described by EastEnders executive producer Louise Berridge as being arguably one of the most iconic soap characters ever. Den and his wife Angie Watts are landlords of The Queen Victoria pub in Albert Square, when 16-year-old Michelle falls pregnant, she refuses to name the father, fearing repercussions for Den and herself. When she gives birth to a daughter Vicki in 1986, Den is not allowed any contact with her, he is allowed to hold his daughter once, Den and Angies marriage continues to sour, despite their strong professional personas. However, Angie struggles to contain her jealousy regarding Dens mistress, she grows depressed, still, Den makes plans to leave Angie permanently, hoping to stop him, Angie claims that she is dying and has only six months to live in October that year. Den chooses to stay with her and tries to rebuild their relationship and he takes Angie to Venice for a second honeymoon, but liaises with Jan, who is also there. Feeling guilty about her lie, Angie gets drunk on the way home via the Orient Express and admits to a barman that she is not dying and he bides his time and gets revenge by serving her divorce papers on Christmas Day. The couples divorce is finalized in 1987 and Angie damages Den by demanding a divorce settlement. Den runs The Queen Vic alone, initially assisted by Jan, Den has a fling with the Vics caterer, Magda Czajkowski, but is scorned when she eventually opts to date Simon Wicks instead. When he discovers that they are seeing each other, he punches Simon, sacks him, whilst single again, Den begins to realise that The Vics trade is floundering without Angie. With some meddling from Sharon, Den and Angie decide to reunite as business partners, however, it is short-lived, because Angie falls in love with her friend, Sonny. Realising that Angie is planning to leave him, Den visits a solicitor, Angie leaves Walford for Spain in May 1988 with nothing, and they never see or hear anything of each other again. Having had an association with the criminal organisation known as The Firm
11.
Grant Mitchell (EastEnders)
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Grant Anthony Mitchell is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by Ross Kemp. Grant first appeared in 1990, introduced by producer Michael Ferguson to revamp the show, Kemp remained until 25 October 1999 when he opted to leave. He returned to the show on 24 October 2005 and then left the series on 9 June 2006, Kemp was persuaded to return to the role for brief stints during a period of heavy media criticism aimed at EastEnders. The return proved to be a ratings success, Kemp reprised the role of Grant for brief stints from 13 May to 9 September 2016. A popular character, prominent in the series, Grant is portrayed as a persona, known for his fiery temper. Family is important to him, particularly his relationship with his brother, Grant and Phil known as the Mitchell brothers have become household names in the United Kingdom. They have been parodied even in adverts where their gruff, tough talking, one of EastEnders most popular and highly rated storylines was Sharongate, where Grant discovers that his wife Sharon has been having an affair with his brother. Grant arrives in Albert Square with his brother Phil Mitchell, as the owners of the local garage, Grant had returned from being a paratrooper in the Army involved in the Falklands War. After a brief fling with Julie Cooper and getting involved in various deals, Grant starts wooing the local barmaid. Sharon is attracted to his machismo, and soon their flirting progresses into a relationship, fiercely protective of his girlfriend, most of Grants initial problems in the Square revolve around his over-possessive nature and jealousy. In the wake of this, Grant decides to re-enlist in the army, Grant marries Sharon and together they run The Queen Victoria. Their marriage is stormy and punctuated with violent rows and fights, Grant is desperate for a child, and when he discovers Sharon is still taking contraception, he smashes up the pub and then disappears. In his absence, Sharon is comforted by Phil and they begin an affair, although this comes to an end when Grant returns. He cannot live up to his promises however, and on Sharons birthday and he does not check to see if Sharon is out of the way, and she and her dog Roly nearly die in the blaze. The insurance money is insufficient, and Sharon reacts with fury when she discovers what Grant has done. She leaves Grant for a while, and when she attempts to seize control of the Vic, Grant turns violent, assaults Sharon. While he is in prison, Sharon and Phil rekindle their affair, but neither can confess to Grant, and it ends when he is released from prison. Sharon and Grant patch up their relationship, however, Grant discovers a tape on which Sharon talks about her affair with Phil, Grant batters Phil in revenge, leaving him with a ruptured spleen, and bullies Sharon until she fled to America
12.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
13.
The Penelopiad
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The Penelopiad is a novella by Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the Canongate Myth Series where contemporary authors rewrite ancient myths. In The Penelopiad, Penelope reminisces on the events during the Odyssey, life in Hades, Odysseus, Helen, a chorus of the twelve maids, whom Odysseus believed were disloyal and whom Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelopes narrative to express their view on events. The maids interludes use a new genre each time, including a jump-rope rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs. The novellas central themes include the effects of story-telling perspectives, double standards between the sexes and the classes, and the fairness of justice, V. Rieu and D. C. H. Rieus version of the Odyssey to prepare for this novella. The book was translated into 28 languages and released simultaneously around the world by 33 publishers, some critics found the writing to be typical of Atwood or even one of her finest works, while others found some aspects, like the chorus of maids, disagreeable. A theatrical version was co-produced by the Canadian National Arts Centre, publisher Jamie Byng of Canongate Books solicited author Margaret Atwood to write a novella re-telling a classic myth of her choice. Byng explained it would be published simultaneously in several languages as part of a project called the Canongate Myth Series. Atwood agreed to help the young publisher by participating in the project. From her home in Toronto, the 64-year-old author made attempts at writing the Norse creation myth, after speaking with her British literary agent about canceling her contract, Atwood began thinking about the Odyssey. She had first read it as a teenager and remembered finding the imagery of Penelopes twelve maids being hanged in the denouement disturbing. Atwood believed the roles of Penelope and her maids during Odysseus absence had been a largely neglected scholarly topic, the relationship with her parents was challenging, her father became overly affectionate after attempting to murder her, and her mother was absent-minded and negligent. At fifteen, Penelope married Odysseus, who had rigged the contest that decided which suitor would marry her, Penelope was happy with him, even though he was mocked behind his back by Helen and some maids for his short stature and lesser developed home, Ithaca. The couple broke with tradition by moving to the husbands kingdom, in Ithaca, neither Odysseus mother Anticleia, nor his nurse Eurycleia, liked Penelope but eventually Eurycleia helped Penelope settle into her new role and became friendly, but often patronising. Shortly after the birth of their son, Telemachus, Odysseus was called to war, leaving Penelope to run the kingdom, convinced the suitors were more interested in controlling her kingdom than loving her, she stalled them. The suitors pressured her by consuming and wasting much of the kingdoms resources and she feared violence if she outright denied their offer of marriage so she announced she would make her decision on which to marry once she finished her father-in-laws shroud. She enlisted twelve maids to help her unravel the shroud at night, Odysseus eventually returned but in disguise. Penelope recognised him immediately and instructed her maids not to reveal his identity, after the suitors were massacred, Odysseus instructed Telemachus to execute the maids who he believed were in league with them
14.
Phyllida Lloyd
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Phyllida Lloyd, CBE is an English film director, best known for her work in theatre and as the director of Mamma Mia. and The Iron Lady. Lloyd grew up in Nempnett Thrubwell, after graduating from Birmingham University in 1979, she spent five years working in BBC Television Drama. In 1985 she was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary to be Trainee Director at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. She moved on to the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester where she directed The Winters Tale, The School for Scandal, Medea, and a production of Death. In 1991 she made her debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company with a production of a little-known play by Thomas Shadwell. Although she followed this in 1992 with a production of the rarely seen Artists and Admirers by Alexander Ostrovsky, she has, as of 2007. Also in 1992 came her first commercial success, her Royal Court Theatre production of John Guares Six Degrees of Separation transferred to the West End, in 1994 she made her debut at Royal National Theatre with a production of Pericles which divided the critics. There was general praise, however, for her productions of Hysteria by Terry Johnson at the Royal Court, by this time, Lloyds work had come to the attention of Nicholas Paine, then running Opera North. For her debut as a director he steered her to what was, at least in the UK. The production was a success, setting Lloyd on a significant. She received an International Emmy, a FIPA dOr and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and she directed an award-winning production of Boston Marriage at Londons Donmar Warehouse in 2001. In 1999 Lloyd was offered the chance to direct the ABBA musical Mamma Mia. which became a hit, not only in the West End and on Broadway and she directed the 2008 cinematic adaptation, which marked her feature debut. By the end of 2008, the film had been certified as the biggest grossing film at the UK box office ever and it was also certified as the UKs biggest-selling DVD. She was nominated as Best Director of a Play in the 2009 Tony Awards for her production of Mary Stuart, Lloyd directed The Iron Lady, a biopic of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with Meryl Streep as Thatcher. The film entered production in January 2011 and was released in December of that year, in 2014 she directed Henry IV in the West end. Oxford University named Phyllida Lloyd the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre in 2006 and she was named one of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain by The Independent newspaper in 2008, and in 2010 was ranked 22nd in the same list. Lloyd was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 New Year Honours, dLitt, Honorary Degree,2009 Birmingham University. Phyllida Lloyd at the Internet Movie Database Interview with Lloyd and Margaret Atwood in The Guardian Playbill biography British Film Magazine – Song and Dance, Lloyd Directs Mamma Film
15.
St James's Church, Piccadilly
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St Jamess Church, Piccadilly, also known as St Jamess Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, United Kingdom. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren, the church is built of red brick with Portland stone dressings. Its interior has galleries on three sides supported by pillars, and the nave has a barrel vault supported by Corinthian columns. The carved marble font and limewood reredos are both examples of the work of Grinling Gibbons. In 1662, Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, was granted land for development on what was then the outskirts of London. He set aside land for the building of a parish church, Christopher Wren was appointed the architect in 1672 and the church was consecrated on 13 July 1684 by Henry Compton, the Bishop of London. In 1685 the parish of St James was created for the church, samuel Clarke was rector from 1709 to 1729 and was one of the leading intellectual figures of eighteenth-century Britain. William Blake was baptised at the church in 1757, leopold Stokowski was choirmaster from 1902 until 1905 when he left for a similar position in New York. The church was damaged by enemy action in 1940, during the Second World War. Works of restoration were carried out by the architect Sir Albert Richardson, the church’s website carries a detailed history. George Thomas Smart, baptised 2 Jun 1776, Lord Chesterfield Lord Chatham Ince and Mayhew, founding partners of the furniture-makers, married sisters in a double wedding here in 1762. Frederick de Horn and Angelica Kauffman,1767, Horn was an imposter who was already married and Kauffman was a successful artist. George Bass, explorer of Australia and the Bass Strait, married Elizabeth Waterhouse in 1800, philip Hardwick, the architect, married Julia Shaw in 1819. General Sir Robert Arbuthnot, KCB, married Harriet Smith in 1826, prince Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanau, eldest son of Frederik William, Elector of Hesse-Kassel, married the actress Auguste Birnbaum in 1856. Also in 1856, George Augustus Hopley, the Belgian Consul to Charleston South Carolina, in the US, John Cyril Porte, an aviation pioneer and air racer, married Minnie Miller on 16 August 1916. The ceremony was conducted by John E T Evitt, Curate, Robert Graves, an author and poet, married Nancy Nicholson in the church in 1918. The best man was George Mallory, James Arbuthnot MP, married Emma Broadbent, daughter of Michael Broadbent, in 1984. John Seward Johnson I, the American heir and son of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson, married Ruth Dill, concerts have included performances by popular contemporary musicians such as R. E. M
16.
Children in Need
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BBC Children in Need is the BBCs UK charity. Since 1980 it has raised over £600 million for disabled children, One of the highlights is an annual telethon, held in November and televised on BBC One, BBC One HD, BBC Two, and BBC Two HD from 7,30 pm until 2 am. Pudsey Bear is BBC Children in Needs mascot, whilst Terry Wogan was a long-standing host, following the temporary closure of Television Centre, the telethon broadcasts now take place at the BBC Elstree Centre. BBC Children in Need will move back to its home of BBC Television Centre in 2017. The BBCs first broadcast charity appeal took place in 1927, in the form of a radio broadcast on Christmas Day. It raised about £1,143, which equates to about £27,150 by todays standards, the first televised appeal took place in 1955 and was called the Childrens Hour Christmas Appeal, with the yellow glove puppet Sooty Bear and Harry Corbett fronting it. The Christmas Day Appeals continued on TV and radio until 1979, during that time a total of £625,836 was raised. Terry Wogan first appeared during this five-minute appeal in 1978, sometimes cartoon characters such as Peter Pan and Tom and Jerry were used. In 1980, the first Children in Need telethon was broadcast and it was devoted to raising money exclusively destined for charities working with children in the United Kingdom. The new format, presented by Terry Wogan, Sue Lawley and Esther Rantzen, saw an increase in public donations. This format has grown in scope to incorporate further events broadcast on radio, as a regular presenter, Wogan has become firmly associated with the annual event, continuing to front the event until 2014 stepping down due to ill health. In 1988, BBC Children in Need became a charity in England and Wales. An award called the Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year has been presented since 2016 to someone who has gone above and beyond to help raise money for Children in Need. The award was set up by Terrys family and was presented by Terrys son, Mark, featured celebrities often include those from programmes on rival network ITV, including some appearing in-character, and/or from the sets of their own programmes. A performance by BBC newsreaders became an annual fixture, stars of newly opened West End musicals regularly perform a number from their show later in the evening after curtain call in their respective theatres. Unlike the other BBC charity telethon Comic Relief, Children in Need relies a lot on the BBC regions for input into the telethon night, the BBC English regions all have around 5–8-minute round-ups every hour during the telethon. This does not interrupt the schedule of items shown from BBC Television Centre as presenter Terry Wogan usually hands over to the regions, giving those in the main network studio a short break. However BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland opted out of the schedule with a lot of local fundraising news
17.
South Pacific (musical)
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South Pacific is a musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The work premiered in 1949 on Broadway and was an immediate hit, the plot of the musical is based on James A. Micheners Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific and combines elements of several of those stories. Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical based on Micheners work that would be successful and, at the same time. A secondary romance, between a U. S. lieutenant and a young Tonkinese woman, explores his fears of the consequences should he marry his Asian sweetheart. The issue of prejudice is candidly explored throughout the musical, most controversially in the lieutenants song. Supporting characters, including a comic petty officer and the Tonkinese girls mother, the original Broadway production enjoyed immense critical and box-office success, became the second-longest running Broadway musical to that point, and has remained popular ever since. After they signed Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin as the leads, Rodgers, the piece won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. Especially in the Southern U. S. its racial theme provoked controversy, the production won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Libretto, and it is the only musical production to win Tony Awards in all four acting categories. Its original cast album was the record of the 1940s. The show has enjoyed many revivals and tours, spawning a 1958 film. The 2008 Broadway revival, a success, ran for 996 performances and won seven Tonys. Although book editor and university instructor James Michener could have avoided military service in World War II as a birthright Quaker, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy in October 1942. He was not sent to the South Pacific theater until April 1944 and he survived a plane crash in New Caledonia, the near-death experience motivated him to write fiction, and he began listening to the stories told by soldiers. One journey took him to the Treasury Islands, where he discovered an unpleasant village, called Bali-hai, populated by scrawny residents, struck by the name, Michener wrote it down and soon began to record, on a battered typewriter, his version of the tales. On a plantation on the island of Espiritu Santo, he met a woman named Bloody Mary, she was small, almost toothless and she told him also of her plans to oppose colonialism in French Indochina. These stories, collected into Tales of the South Pacific, won Michener the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Tales of the South Pacific comprises nineteen stories. Each stands independently but revolves around the preparation for an American military operation to dislodge the Japanese from a nearby island and this operation, dubbed Alligator, occurs in the penultimate story, The Landing at Kuralei. Many of the die in that battle, and the last story is titled The Cemetery at Huga Point
18.
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
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Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by the Queen in June 1991, although had been opened on April 15,1991 and it is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hosts around 270 events a year. It was completed at a cost of £30 million, the halls interior is modelled upon the Musikverein in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. A particularly innovative feature is the halls acoustic flexibility and it has a reverberation chamber behind the stage and extending high along the sides, adding 50% to the halls volume, the doors to which can be remotely opened or closed. The U-shaped reverberation chamber area has a volume of 12,700 cubic metres, there is an acoustic canopy which can be raised or lowered above the stage. Dampening panels can be extended or retracted to ensure that the sound of the space is perfectly matched to the scale and style of the music to be performed, there are also reverse fan walls at the rear of the hall which provide further reflections of sound. All the walls and the ceiling are 200 millimetres thick and are made of concrete, the hall is built only 30 metres from a covered railway line. To prevent the transmission of vibrations, the hall is mounted on rubber cushions, the hall is also shielded from heavy traffic on Broad Street by double skins of concrete. Large, low-speed air ducting cuts the ventilation noise, in 2001, a 6000-pipe symphony organ was installed, designed and built by Johannes Klais Orgelbau in Bonn and specially tailored to the halls reverberation chambers. This is now the largest mechanical organ in the UK. List of concert halls Official website Klais pipe organ
19.
Play (theatre)
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A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to Community theatre, there are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference as to whether their plays were performed or read. The term play can refer to both the works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance. Comedies are plays which are designed to be humorous, comedies are often filled with witty remarks, unusual characters, and strange circumstances. Certain comedies are geared toward different age groups, comedies were one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece, along with tragedies. An example of a comedy would be William Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream, a generally nonsensical genre of play, farces are often overacted and often involve slapstick humor. An example of a farce includes William Shakespeares play The Comedy of Errors, a satire play takes a comic look at current events people while at the same time attempting to make a political or social statement, for example pointing out corruption. An example of a satire would be Nikolai Gogols The Government Inspector, satire plays are generally one of the most popular forms of comedy, and often considered to be their own genre entirely. This is a genre that explored relationships between men and women, and was considered risqué in its time, however, since restoration comedy dealt with unspoken aspects of relationships, it created a type of connection between audience and performance that was more informal and private. It is commonly agreed that restoration comedy has origins in Molière’s theories of comedy, the inconsistency between restoration comedy’s morals and the morals of the era is something that often arises during the study of this genre. This may give clues as to why, despite its original success, however, in recent years, it has become a topic of interest for theatre theorists, who have been looking into theatre styles that have their own conventions of performance. These plays contain darker themes such as death and disaster, often the protagonist of the play has a tragic flaw, a trait which leads to their downfall. Tragic plays convey all emotions and have extremely dramatic conflicts, tragedy was one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece. Some examples of tragedies include William Shakespeares Hamlet, and also John Websters play The Duchess of Malfi and these plays focus on actual historical events. They can be tragedies or comedies, but are neither of these. History as a genre was popularized by William Shakespeare. Examples of historical plays include Friedrich Schillers Demetrius and William Shakespeares King John, ballad opera, a popular theatre style at the time, was the first style of musical to be performed in the American colonies. The first musical of American origin was premiered in Philadelphia in 1767, and was called “The Disappointment”, however, around the 1920s, theatre styles were beginning to be defined more clearly
20.
Hay Fever (play)
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Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a row that they do not notice their guests furtive departure. Some writers have seen elements of Mrs Astley Cooper and her set in the characters of the Bliss family, Coward said that the actress Laurette Taylor was the main model. In 1921, Coward first visited New York City, hoping that American producers would embrace his plays, during that summer, he befriended the playwright Hartley Manners and his wife, the eccentric actress Laurette Taylor. Their over-the-top theatrical lifestyle later inspired him in writing Hay Fever, Coward wrote the play in three days in 1924, intending the lead role of Judith Bliss for the actress Marie Tempest, whom I revered and adored. Though she found it amusing, she thought it not substantial enough for a whole evening, Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on 8 June 1925 and transferred to the larger Criterion Theatre on 7 September 1925 and ran for 337 performances. Coward remembered in 1964 that the notices were amiable and well-disposed although far from effusive and it was noted, as indeed it has been today, that the play had no plot and that there were few if any witty lines. It opened the year at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York. A Saturday afternoon in June Sorel and Simon Bliss, a brother and sister, exchange artistic, Judith, their mother, displays the absent-minded theatricality of a retired star actress, and David, their father, a novelist, is concentrating on finishing his latest book. Each of the four members of the Bliss family, without consulting the others, has invited a guest for the weekend, Judith announces that she has decided to return to the stage in one of her old hits, Loves Whirlwind. She and Sorel and Simon amuse themselves acting out a passage from the play beginning. Yes, and a game that must be played to the finish and they are interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Clara, Judiths former dresser and now her housekeeper, opens the door to the first of the four guests, Sandy Tyrell, the next arrival is the vampish Myra Arundel, whom Simon has invited. The other two arrive together, Richard Greatham, a diplomat, and Jackie Coryton, a brainless. Conversation is stilted and eventually grinds to a halt, the scene ends in total and awkward silence. After dinner that night The family insists that everyone should join in a parlour game, the Blisses are in their element, but the guests flounder and the game breaks up. Simon and Jackie exit to the garden, Sorel drags Sandy into the library, left alone with Richard, Judith flirts with him, and when he chastely kisses her she theatrically over-reacts as though they were conducting a serious affair. She nonplusses Richard by talking of breaking the news to David and she in turn is nonplussed to discover Sandy and Sorel kissing in the library
21.
Theatre Royal Haymarket
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The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote acquired the lease in 1747, and in 1766 he gained a patent to play legitimate drama in the summer months. The original building was a further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash and it is a Grade I listed building, with a seating capacity of 888. The freehold of the theatre is owned by the Crown Estate, the Haymarket has been the site of a significant innovation in theatre. In 1873, it was the venue for the first scheduled matinée performance, famous actors who débuted at the theatre included Robert William Elliston and John Liston. It was the public theatre opened in the West End. The theatre cost £1000 to build, with a further £500 expended on decorations, scenery and costumes. It opened on 29 December 1720, with a French play La Fille a la Morte, potters speculation was known as The New French Theatre. In 1730, the theatre was taken over by an English company, among the actors who appeared there before 1737 when the theatre was closed under the Licensing Act 1737 were Aaron Hill, Theophilus Cibber, and Henry Fielding. In the eight to ten years before the Act was passed, the Haymarket was an alternative to John Richs Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and the opera-dominated Drury Lane Theatre. Fielding himself was responsible for the instigation of the Act, having produced a play called The Historical Register that parodied prime minister Robert Walpole, as the caricature, in particular, it was an alternative to the pantomime and special-effects dominated stages, and it presented opposition satire. Henry Fielding staged his plays at the Haymarket, and so did Henry Carey, hurlothrumbo was just one of his plays in that series of anti-Walpolean satires, followed by Tom Thumb. Another, in 1734, was his mock-opera, The Dragon of Wantley and this work punctured the vacuous operatic conventions and pointed a satirical barb at Walpole and his taxation policies. The piece was a success, with a record-setting run of 69 performances in its first season. The burlesque itself is very brief on the page, as it relied extensively on absurd theatrics, dances, the Musical Entertainer from 1739 contains engravings showing how the staging was performed. Carey continued with Pasquin and others, the Theatrical Licensing Act, however, put an end to the anti-ministry satires, and it all but entirely shut down the theatre. In 1749 a hoaxer billed as The Bottle Conjuror was advertised to appear at the theatre, the conjurors publicity claimed that, while on stage, he would place his body inside an empty wine bottle, in full view of the audience
22.
Judi Dench
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Dame Judith Olivia Dench CH DBE FRSA, known as Judi Dench, is an English actress and author. Dench made her debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she performed in several of Shakespeares plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Although most of her work during this period was in theatre, she branched into film work. She drew strong reviews for her role in the musical Cabaret in 1968. Over the next two decades, Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She achieved success in television during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and she has also received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Special Olivier Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute, Dench is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Dench was born in Heworth, North Riding of Yorkshire and her mother, Eleanora Olive, was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, was born in Dorset, England, and later moved to Dublin and he met Denchs mother while he was studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Dench attended The Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York and her brothers, one of whom was actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley, Lancashire. Her niece, Emma Dench, is a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University. In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the period, primarily through her work in theatre. She has more than once been named one in polls for Britains best actor. Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre and her father, a physician, was also the GP for the York theatre, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress. Actors often stayed in the Dench household, during these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in the 1950s. In 1957, in one of the last productions in which she appeared during this period, she played the role of the Virgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens. Though she initially trained as a set designer, she became interested in school as her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech
23.
Gold (UK TV channel)
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Gold is a classic comedy channel from the UKTV network, broadcasting to the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is available as subscription-only on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, BT TV. It shows repeats of classic programming from the BBC and other broadcasters, the channels main rival is the ITV plc owned ITV3, which mainly airs the archive ITV programmes, and has a higher audience share than Gold. Another rival is More4 which also has an audience share than Gold. This is because they are free-to-air channels whereas Gold is a pay TV channel, the channel launched on 1 November 1992 as a joint venture between the BBC, through commercial arm BBC Enterprises, and outgoing ITV London weekday franchisee Thames Television. The channel, named UK Gold, was to show repeats of the classic programming from the two broadcasters. The rights to the BBC programmes previously were held by the BSB entertainment channel Galaxy, the channel was initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from an SES satellite at 19. 2°E which was less well suited for UK reception. As a result, the used to be notorious for being marred with interference, known as sparklies. Another initial drawback was the cutting of programming down to fit time slots. Reception improved however with the added to BSkyBs basic subscription package in 1993. In 1993, Flextech gain its first stake in the station after acquiring Tele-Communications TV interest in Europe, in 1996, it started discussions about increasing its stake, to gain full control. At that point, Flextech held 27% with Cox, BBC, by the Autumn, Flextech held 80% of UK Gold. Flextechs main reason for increasing its stake in UK Gold was in participation of new talks with the BBC, the UKTV network would expand to include numerous more channels as the years progressed. In 2003 however, UK Gold 2 was rebranded and repositioned as UK G2, on 8 March 2004, the channel was rebranded as UKTV Gold in line with the other channels in the UKTV network. At approximately the time, Granada-run archive channel Granada Plus closed to make way for ITV3. In late 2004, to films produced in Hollywood in a marathon. The channels had always been the main rivals to Gold due to the mix of archive BBC. ITV3 currently has a higher share, often put down to the fact that the terrestrial platform Freeview shows ITV3
24.
The Play What I Wrote
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The show is a celebration of the British double act Morecambe and Wise, and an irreverent and farcical exploration of the nature of double acts in general. Its title is drawn from one of Morecambe and Wises catchphrases, as is A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple, the play within a play which formed the plays second half. It is named after the play wot I wrote, the inept play supposedly written by Wise and featuring a celebrity guest which formed the finale to each Morecambe and Wise show. In the The Play What I Wrote, Sean writes a similarly inept play and is humoured by Hamish in the first half by having it performed. As in the Morecambe and Wise antecedent, the celebrity would play him or herself set up to appear, rather foolishly, celebrities who appeared as the mystery guest during the shows London run included Ralph Fiennes, Ewan McGregor, Cilla Black and Sue Johnston. Kevin Kline, Roger Moore, Alan Alda, Jeff Goldblum, in 2003, the play opened on Broadway where it was nominated for the Tony award. It failed to win and closed shortly afterwards, the script was only slightly rewritten for the benefit of American audiences who were unlikely to have been familiar with Morecambe and Wise
25.
Cabaret (musical)
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Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit, inspiring numerous subsequent productions in London and New York and it is based on John Van Drutens 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was adapted from the short novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. A sub-plot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor, overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub. The club serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany, Prince commissioned Joe Masteroff to work on the book. When Prince and Masteroff agreed that Wilsons score failed to capture the essence of late-1920s Berlin, John Kander, the new version was initially a dramatic play preceded by a prologue of songs describing the Berlin atmosphere from various points of view. Isherwoods original characters were changed as well, the musical ultimately expressed two stories in one, the first a revue centered on the decadence of the seedy Kit Kat Klub, the second a story set in the society of the club. After seeing one of the last rehearsals before the company headed to Boston for the pre-Broadway run, in Boston, Jill Haworth struggled with her characterization of cabaret performer Sally Bowles. Critics thought the blonde dressed in a white dress suggested senior prom more than tawdry nightclub, princes staging was unusual for the time. As the audience filled the theater, the curtain was already up, revealing a stage containing nothing, There was no overture, instead, a drum roll and cymbal crash led into the opening number. Replacements later in the run included Anita Gillette and Melissa Hart as Sally, Ken Kercheval and Larry Kert as Cliff, in addition, John Serry Sr. performed as the orchestral accordionist. The 1967-1968 US national tour featured Melissa Hart, Signe Hasso, the tour included the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in December 1967, the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Ohio, Baltimore, Maryland, and Atlanta, Georgia. In 1986, the show was revived in London at the Strand Theatre starring Kelly Hunter as Sally, Peter Land as Cliff and Wayne Sleep as the Emcee, the first Broadway revival opened on October 22,1987, with direction and choreography by Prince and Field. The revival opened at the Imperial Theatre, eventually transferring to the Minskoff to complete its 261-performance run, the song Dont Go was added for Cliffs character. In 1993, Sam Mendes directed a new production of the show for the Donmar Warehouse in Londons West End and it starred Jane Horrocks as Sally, Adam Godley as Cliff, Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Sara Kestelman as Fräulein Schneider. Cumming received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance and Kestelman won the Olivier for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical, Mendes conception was very different from either the original production or the conventional first revival. The most significant change was the character of the Emcee, the role, as played by Joel Grey in both prior incarnations, was an asexual, edgy character dressed in a tuxedo with rouged cheeks. Alan Cummings portrayal was highly sexualized, as he wore suspenders around his crotch, staging details differed as well, instead of Tomorrow Belongs To Me being performed by a male choir, the Emcee plays a recording of a boy soprano singing it. In the final scene, the Emcee removes his clothes to reveal a striped suit of the type worn by the internees in concentration camps, on it are pinned a yellow badge
26.
Lyric Theatre, London
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The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was the theatre to be constructed on this stretch of Shaftesbury Avenue and is now the oldest in the street. The foyer and bars were refurbished in 1932–33, and the facade was restored in 1994, at present it seats 967 on four levels, although it originally was designed with a seating capacity of 1,306. The theatre still uses a pump to operate its iron curtain. Early in the history, it staged mostly comic operas. The theatre retains many of its features and the theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in September 1960. The Lyric Theatre still uses water to operate its iron curtain, the water was originally pumped from the river Thames to all West End theatres and hotels and used to hydraulically operate heavy machinery lilke lifts. Curtain in The Lyrics Theatre is now operated via electric pump, the Lyric Theatre is owned by Nimax Theatres from 2005 when Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased it. In 2005 they established Nimax Theatres, 124–5 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3Whos Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London,1947, pps, 477–478. Lyric Theatre history with archive programmes and many images Lyric Theatre website
27.
West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
28.
New Victoria Theatre
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For other theatres with a similar name, see Victoria Theatre The New Victoria Theatre in Woking, England opened in June 1992. The main theatre seats approximately 1,300 people, making it one of the largest receiving house theatres outside London, in addition to the main theatre the complex also contains the smaller Rhoda McGaw Theatre and a six-screen cinema. The theatre is split into three levels, Stalls, Royal Circle and Upper Circle, with the Royal Circle and Stalls having disabled seating available, the first three rows of the stalls are removed if space is needed for an orchestra pit. The theatre seats 228 in 9 rows of raked seating and has reported to have excellent acoustics. The stage is flat, 58’ wide from wall to wall, from the main tabs it is 19’ back to the cyclorama and 8’ forward to the front of the stage. The Centre Halls also included a Concert Hall for large functions, a library, a pool, work was completed on the complex in 1975 and the theatre was officially opened to the public under the management of Mike ‘wait-a-minute’ Kelly, who remained the Theatre Manager for many years. It got worse when I told them the stage, which was a polished, pale golden wood surface, was very beautiful. When I enquired about a stage cloth to cover the stage’s wings I received totally blank looks, before being told there was no budget for one of them, not to mention the state-of-the-art air-conditioning unit, which was so loud we couldn’t use it during performances. But these hiccups were soon sorted out and the theatre was a place to perform. Bill Payne, Woking Festival Director from 1979 to 1998, recounts one of his favorite Rhoda memories from its early days, the theatre’s dressing rooms were in a block between the Rhoda and the Concert Hall, where there was wrestling being televised. The Rhoda closed in 1988 as the Centre Halls were demolished, in 1997, the commercial side of the theatre became the Ambassadors Theatre Group, and over the years since then the Rhoda has had constant improvements. In 2002 the WDA raised £5,000, and together with matching funds from ATG, more lights, lighting desk
29.
Woking
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Woking is a town that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the northwest of Surrey, England. It is at the edge of the Greater London Urban Area and is a part of the London commuter belt, with frequent trains. Woking is 23 miles southwest of Charing Cross in central London, Woking town itself, excluding the surrounding district, has a population of 62,796, with the whole local government district having a population of 99,500. Woking has been a Conservative area since the constituency was created in 1950, though Wokings earliest written appearance is in the Domesday Book, it is mentioned as the site of a monastery in an 8th-century context, as Wochingas. As a result, the original settlement 1 mile to the south-east, on the River Wey, later, Woking Crematorium at St Johns became the first crematorium in the United Kingdom. This site was then the home of the engineering firm James Walker & Company for many years, known as The Lion Works, this area was finally redeveloped in the 1990s into todays Lion Retail Park. This was a £40 million project to take hundreds of Woking homes away from the plain of the Hoe Stream. It has also provided new community facilities and roads, Woking Borough Council had been planning this scheme, which was approved in September 2010, for over 20 years. It was being run in conjunction with the Environment Agency, the Council has received finance from, the Public Works Loan Board, a number of grants, including £3.7 million from the Environment Agency, proceeds from the sale of new homes and of other assets. The Council expects the scheme to be funded by 2014 with no ongoing costs incurred by the Council. The scheme was completed on schedule in 2012, the constituency of Woking has historically been a Conservative safe seat, with the Liberal Democrats being the principal opposition in the last five general elections. Its current Member of Parliament is Jonathan Lord, elections to the borough council take place in three out of every four years, with one-third elected in each election. The election in 2011 gave the Conservatives an overall majority of seats for the first time in 20 years, the current Mayor of the borough is councillor Derek McCrum. In 2010 the council elected councillor Mohammed Iqbal as the first Asian Mayor of Woking and these are linked via an innovative private electricity distribution system operating completely off the public power grid. In order to do this, the government laid new power lines to all locations on the Woking sustainable community energy system. Should the public power grid fail, central Woking would continue to have an energy supply, the cost for providing this is approximately UK£0. 01/kWh less than for public electricity. It has been reported that the borough saves UK£974,000 a year in energy costs if the costs are ignored. By March 2004 the initiatives had also cut the boroughs carbon emissions by 17. 24%, Albion Square canopy was built in 2007, following local council approval three years earlier
30.
Sue Holderness
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Susan J P Holderness is an English actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, after taking her A-levels, she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She began her career with Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peer Gynt. She has worked consistently in theatre, radio, film and television, west End plays include The Female Odd Couple, Why Not Stay for Breakfast, The Male of the Species and the highly acclaimed one-woman play Our Kid. Sue regularly appears in The Vagina Monologues and she is part of the cast of the touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners and she has toured the country in numerous plays and worked in several repertory companies. Much of Sue’s career has been spent doing Alan Ayckbourn plays, the Green, Green Grass ran from 2005 -2009. A total of four series and two Christmas Specials were created, sue played the role of Annie in the 2010 UK Tour of Calendar Girls. She played Annie again in 2011She played Celia in the 2012 tour and she played Rowan Atkinsons love interest, Lorraine, in Canned Laughter, and did numerous impersonations in two series of End of Part One. She played Maggie in Dear John, by John Sullivan, Joan Forrester in Heartbeat for YTV, Joan Travis in Revelations, films include Thatll Be the Day and It Could Happen to You. Sue also appeared in the low budget feature Meat Draw and Out of Sight for Granada, sue regularly appears in pantomime. and has appeared in productions across the UK. In 2014, Holderness appeared in the BBC One medical drama Casualty as Alice Sweeney, sue Holderness at the Internet Movie Database
31.
Shobna Gulati
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Shobna Gulati is a British actress, writer, and dancer. From 13 March 2013 to 30 May 2014, Gulati appeared as a panellist on the lunchtime chatshow Loose Women, Gulati is also one of very few actors to have appeared in both Coronation Street and its rival series EastEnders. Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire to parents of Hindu Indian descent and she has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester. One of Gulatis earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for Boy Georges 1991 single Bow Down Mister. In the late 1990s, she received excellent reviews for her work in Victoria Woods BBC sitcom Dinnerladies as a main character, this finished in 2000 after two years and she appeared in both series. Gulati has also appeared on the TV quiz shows Call My Bluff, Have I Got News for You, The Weakest Link, Russian Roulette, in early 2006, Gulati took part in the Reality TV series Soapstar Superstar. In October 2006, Gulati appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a short skit featured in The Secret Policemans Ball, in the sketch, Gulati and co-star Nitin Ganatra play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay is a holiday resort. The sketch also starred American actors Chevy Chase and Seth Green, Gulati has recently been seen as one of many storytellers in the CBBC revival of Jackanory and in the UK tour of the hit play Girls Night by Louise Roche. She also appeared on the Channel 4 special Empires Children, tracing her familys history during the partition of India, in summer 2007, she appeared in Pretend You Have Big Buildings at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. In 2008, Gulati made her debut as a filmmaker, producing the short film Akshay for the motirotis 60x60 Secs and this was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray, short film awards. During this same period, the returned to her Coronation Street role as Sunita Alahan. On 11 June 2009, Gulati appeared in the BBC1 programme Celebrity MasterChef and she did the first stage tour of Dinnerladies in early 2009 and she has appeared as a guest story teller for. Upon announcing her departure from Coronation Street, the actress expressed her desire to write, in 2016, she appeared in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid. Gulati also made a guest appearance on Casualty on 29th October 2016, in 2017, she will appear as Saba in the British romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah. Gulati made her Loose Women debut on the 18 November 2010 to celebrate 50 years of Coronation Street, appearing alongside regulars Kate Thornton, Sherrie Hewson, Gulati returned to the show on 11 April 2012 appearing alongside regulars Andrea McLean, Jane McDonald and Janet Street-Porter during soap week. Gulati made 17 appearances in Series 17 and 12 appearances during Series 18, Gulati is the daughter of Dr K. A. Gulati who arrived in Oldham from Bombay, India in 1960 and she has a younger brother, Rajesh and older sisters Sushma and Hema. Gulati married the architect Anshu Srivastava in a Hindu ceremony on 10 November 1990 and she lived separately from her husband and became pregnant with Akshay
32.
The Fixer (TV series)
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The Fixer is a British drama television series, produced by Kudos for ITV. The first episode received an audience of 6.65 million viewers, a 26. 5% share, the next three episodes managed ratings of 4.75 million,4.81 million and 4.80 million respectively. Series One of The Fixer received a Royal Television Society award for Best Series, due to the critical acclaim and good ratings that the first series received, a second series was commissioned, which launched to 4.22 million viewers in September 2009. Series Two had disappointing ratings, dropping to as low as 2.82 million viewers by the end. Series One was released on DVD in the UK on 21 April 2008 and it contains all six episodes and a behind-the-scenes documentary. Series Two was released on 12 October 2009, the Fixer at itv. com The Fixer at the Internet Movie Database
33.
ITV (TV channel)
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ITV is a commercial television channel in the United Kingdom. Previously a network of regional television channels, ITV currently operates in England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man. From 2001 until 2013, the channel was called ITV1, in 2004, Granada Television acquired Carlton Communications to form ITV plc. ITV is the biggest and most popular television channel in the United Kingdom. ITV and its channels have contended with BBC One for the status of the UKs most watched television channel since the 1950s. However, in line with other channels, ITVs audience share has fallen in the era of multi-channel television. Following the creation of the Television Act 1954, the establishment of a television service in the UK began. The Independent Television service, or ITV, was made up of regions, the three largest regions were subdivided into weekday and weekend services, with a different company running each. ITV existed in a form from its inception to the 2000s. ITV1 became the generic brand name used by the twelve franchises of the ITV Network in the United Kingdom. The brand was introduced in 2001 by Carlton- and Granada-owned franchises, however, it became the sole on-air identity in 2002 when the two companies decided to create a single unified playout of the channel, with regional references only used prior to regional programming. Carlton and Granada went on to merge in 2004, creating ITV plc which now owns thirteen of the fifteen regional ITV licences. The ITV1 name was used in England, Wales, Southern Scotland and Isle of Man until Channel Television adopted the name in January 2006. It should be noted, however, that as national continuity is used on Channel Television. ITV Wales & West was the exception, using the name ITV1 Wales at all times for the Welsh part of its broadcast area as it has a higher regional commitment. Latterly the ITV1 Wales name was used on breakbumpers and regionally advertised programmes till 2013. Non ITV plc-owned licencees on the network generally did not refer to the ITV name, the network production arms of the ITV-plc owned licencees have been gradually combined since 1993 to eventually form ITV Studios. ITV was formed by the unification of eleven of the ITV licences, the Broadcasting Act 1990 changed many of the rules regulating the ITV Network, which most notably relaxed franchise ownership and hours of production
34.
Nottingham
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Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, located 128 miles north of London, in the East Midlands. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle and it was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination, in 2011, visitors spent over £1.5 billion - the thirteenth highest amount in Englands 111 statistical territories. In 2015, Nottingham had an population of 321,550 with the wider urban area. Its urban area is the largest in the east Midlands and the second largest in the Midlands, the population of the Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. Its metropolitan economy is the seventh largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50. 9bn, the city is also ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It is also a sporting centre, and in October 2015 was named Home of English Sport. The city also has rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams, and the Aegon Nottingham Open. This accolade came just over a year after Nottingham was named as the UKs first City of Football, on 11 December 2015, Nottingham was named a Unesco City of Literature, joining Norwich, Melbourne, Prague and Barcelona as one of only a handful in the world. The title reflects Nottinghams literary heritage, with Lord Byron, DH Lawrence and it has two universities, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, which are attended by over 70,610 students. In modern Welsh it is known poetically as Y Ty Ogofog, when it fell under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot it became known as Snotingaham, the homestead of Snots people. Some authors derive Nottingham from Snottenga, caves, and ham, Nottingham Castle was constructed in 1068 on a sandstone outcrop by the River Leen. Following the Norman Conquest the Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall, a settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later, defences, consisted initially of a ditch and bank in the early 12th century. The ditch was later widened, in the mid 13th century, a short length of the wall survives, and is visible at the northern end of Maid Marian Way, and is protected as a Scheduled Monument. On the return of Richard the Lionheart from the Crusades, the Castle was occupied by supporters of Prince John and it was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured. In the legends of Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the showdown between the Sheriff and the hero outlaw. By the 15th century Nottingham had established itself as a centre of an export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham Alabaster
35.
BBC One
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BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
36.
BBC Two
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BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It covers a range of subject matter, but tending towards more highbrow programmes than the more mainstream. Like the BBCs other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence and it is a comparatively well-funded public service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public service networks worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched, a high-definition version of the channel launched on 26 March 2013, replacing BBC HD. British television at the time of BBC2s launch consisted of two channels, the BBC Television Service and the ITV network made up of regional companies. Both channels had existed in a state of competition since ITVs launch in 1955, the 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any serious programming. It therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC, prior to its launch, the new BBC2 was promoted on the BBC Television Service, the soon to be renamed BBC1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots Hullabaloo, a mother kangaroo, however, at around 18,45 a huge power failure, originating from a fire at Battersea Power Station, caused Television Centre, and indeed much of west London, to lose all power. BBC1 was able to continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra Palace, associated-Rediffusion, the London weekday ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on the BBCs behalf, but their gesture was rejected. At 22,00 programming was officially postponed until the following morning, there was believed to be no recording made of this bulletin, but a videotape was discovered in early 2003. By 11,00 on 21 April, power had restored to the studios and programming began. The launch schedule, postponed from the night before, was successfully shown that evening. In reference to the cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter Denis Tuohy. To establish the new identity and draw viewers to it. The production chosen was The Forsyte Saga, a adaptation of the novels by John Galsworthy, featuring well-established actors Kenneth More. Unlike BBC1 and ITV, BBC2 was broadcast only on the 625 line UHF system and this created a market for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two systems. On 1 July 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, BBC2 became the first channel in Europe to begin broadcasts in colour. The thirteen part series Civilisation was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and culture to showpiece the new colour technology, BBC1 and ITV later joined BBC2 on 625-line UHF band, but continued to simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985
37.
Mezzo-soprano
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A mezzo-soprano or mezzo is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-sopranos vocal range extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above. In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C, the mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano. Mezzo-sopranos are well represented in music, early music. Some roles designated for lighter soubrette sopranos are sung by mezzo-sopranos, such roles include Despina in Mozarts Così fan tutte and Zerlina in his Don Giovanni. Mezzos sometimes play dramatic soprano roles such as Santuzza in Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana, Lady Macbeth in Verdis Macbeth, the vocal range of the mezzo-sopranos lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a heavier, darker tone than sopranos, the mezzo-soprano voice resonates in a higher range than that of a contralto. The terms Dugazon and Galli-Marié are sometimes used to refer to light mezzo-sopranos, usually men singing within the female range are called countertenors since there is a lighter more breathy tonal quality difference. Within the mezzo-soprano voice type category are three generally recognized subcategories, coloratura mezzo-soprano, lyric mezzo-soprano, and dramatic mezzo-soprano, a coloratura mezzo-soprano has a warm lower register and an agile high register. The roles they sing often demand not only the use of the register but also leaps into the upper tessitura with highly ornamented. They have a range from approximately the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C, some coloratura mezzo-sopranos can sing up to high C or high D, but this is very rare. What distinguishes these voices from being called sopranos is their extension into the register and warmer vocal quality. Although coloratura mezzo-sopranos have impressive and at times thrilling high notes, they are most comfortable singing in the middle of their range, many of the hero roles in the operas of Handel and Monteverdi, originally sung by male castrati, can be successfully sung today by coloratura mezzo-sopranos. Rossini demanded similar qualities for his heroines, and Vivaldi wrote roles frequently for this voice as well. Coloratura mezzo-sopranos also often sing lyric-mezzo-soprano roles or soubrette roles, coloratura mezzo-soprano roles in operas, The lyric mezzo-soprano has a range from approximately the G below middle C to the A two octaves above middle C. This voice has a smooth, sensitive and at times lachrymose quality. Lyric mezzo-sopranos do not have the agility of the coloratura mezzo-soprano or the size of the dramatic mezzo-soprano. The lyric mezzo-soprano is ideal for most trouser roles and this voice has less vocal facility than the coloratura mezzo-soprano
38.
All I Want for Christmas Is You
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All I Want for Christmas Is You is a Christmas song performed by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey. She wrote and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff, Columbia Records released it on November 1,1994, as the lead single from her first holiday album and fourth studio album, Merry Christmas. Christmas is a love song that includes bell chimes and heavy back-up vocals. The songs lyrics declare that the narrator does not care about Christmas presents or lights, Careys then-husband Tommy Mottola makes a cameo appearance as Santa Claus, bringing Carey a gift and leaving on a red sleigh. The second video was filmed in black and white format, and features Carey dressed in 1960s style in homage to The Ronettes, alongside back up singers, Carey has performed All I Want for Christmas Is You in a slew of live television appearances and tours throughout her career. In 2010, Carey re-recorded the song for her holiday album, Merry Christmas II You. Carey also re-recorded the song as a duet with Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his 2011 album Under the Mistletoe, the song has also been covered by many artists over the years. The Daily Telegraph hailed All I Want for Christmas Is You as the most popular, Rolling Stone ranked it fourth on its Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs list, calling it a holiday standard. In December 2015, the peaked at 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. With global sales of over 14 million copies, the song remains Careys biggest international success, as of 2013, the song was reported to have earned $50 million in royalties. Following the success of the singers 1993 career best-selling album Music Box, Carey and her management at Columbia Records began devising ideas and strategies for subsequent projects. Careys then-husband, Tommy Mottola, head of Columbias parent label Sony Music Entertainment, Afanasieff recalled his sentiments during initial discussions for a holiday record, Back then, you didnt have a lot of artists with Christmas albums. It wasnt a known science at all back then, and there was nobody who did new, so we were going to release it as kind of an everyday, Hey, you know, were putting out a Christmas album. Ultimately, with Mottolas persistence and Careys initiative to be a risk-taker as Afanasieff put it, Recording for the album began in June, while the Carey-Afanasieff songwriting duo penned All I Want for Christmas Is You in late August. In doing so, Carey felt she could capture the essence and spirit of what she was singing and make her performance and delivery more emotive. The songwriting pair carved out the chords, structure and melody for the song in just a quarter of an hour, Its definitely not Swan Lake, but thats why its so popular — because its so simple and palatable. At first, Afanasieff admitted that he was puzzled and blanched as to where Carey wanted to take the melody and vocal scales and we would write the nucleus of the song, the melody primary music, and then some of the words were there as we finished writing it. I started playing rock n roll piano and started boogie woogie-ing my left hand
39.
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
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Comic Relief Does Fame Academy is a spin-off of the original Fame Academy show where celebrities students sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the supported by Comic Relief. Coverage of the show was shown on BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Prime. The series returned in 2005 and again in March 2007 and it was announced by the BBC that Cat Deeley would not return because she was hosting So You Think You Can Dance. However, Patrick Kielty returned with co-host and host of the former spin-off show Claudia Winkleman, the judges then gave their comments on each performance. After all of the students have sung their songs the voting lines opened for two hours. In the results show, the students are told who is safe from the sing-off for that day, after this the judging panel choose which student they wish to save and return to the Academy. Of the remaining two left, the students then vote who they want to stay with them in the Academy, during their time at the Academy the students are given vocal lessons by Carrie Grant and husband David Grant, whilst Kevin Adams leads the dance classes. The first live show took place on 7 March 2003 and lasted until Red Nose Day on 14 March, where the show was presented. Nine British celebrities moved into the Fame Academy, David Grant was a newcomer, as a second voice coach. The same elimination mechanism as the 2002 series, with the teachers putting three on each night, with the public saving one and the students the second. However, in the semi-final with only three left the producers decided to change the student vote to include all expelled students as well as the contestant saved by the public. Will, who was saved by the public, voted to save Kwame, while all six of the students voted to save Ruby. Will was the winner of the show. On 26 February 2005, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy returned for a live airing. Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood and opera star Lesley Garrett were brought in as judges, singing coaches Carrie and David Grant were no longer on the judging panel, but were present during the live shows and were invited to give their views when necessary. The elimination mechanism was the same as the series proper, however Park no longer had a casting vote in the event of the Judges vote being tied. The five remaining students were given a masterclass courtesy of McFly, the series had its fair share of drama and conflict
40.
Don't Know Why
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Dont Know Why is a song written by Jesse Harris which originally appeared on his 1999 album, Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos. It was the single by American singer Norah Jones from her debut studio album Come Away with Me. Joness version peaked at No.30 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 and was a success, helping establish her as a respected new artist. The single went on to win three Grammy Awards in 2003 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and it remains Joness biggest hit single in the United States to date, and her only one to reach the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. The single was also a hit internationally and reached top 10 in several countries, the song charted at 459 in Blender magazines 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born. A music video directed by Anastasia Simone and Ian Spencer was released in 2002, Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny played Dont Know Why on his 2003 solo album One Quiet Night. Smokey Robinson covered the song on his 2009 solo album Time Flies When Youre Having Fun, aya Matsuura covered the song for her album Naked Songs. Ken Hirai, Japanese R&B singer performed the song on his album of covers entitled Kens Bar, the Japanese soul singer Juju included the cover on her single Donna ni tokutemo as a B-side. Vania Borges covered the song on the compilation album Rhythms del Mundo, aliya Parcs covered the song on the compilation album Jam and Jive. It was featured on the video game Karaoke Revolution as a cover, the childrens television show Sesame Street parodied the song with Jones playing the song at a piano about the letter Y being missing and Elmo appears later with her, joining in singing the song. The sketch comedy show MADtv parodied the song in a commercial for the fictitious album Monotonous, the joke of the sketch is that the song sets the mood for wild parties despite its slow pace. Jazz fusion pianist David Benoit covered the song from his 2003 album Right Here, Kenny G also covered his version together with American jazz pianist David Benoit on Kenny Gs 2004 album At Last. The Duets Album. British soul singer Kenny Thomas covered the song on his 2006 album Crazy World, saxophonist Jimmy Sommers covered the song on his 2007 release Time Stands Still. Asaro and Wolcott covered the song on their 2010 EP Goodbye Note, martin Taylor included this song on his album The Valley, and in a number of concerts including his performance at The Stables on the day John Dankworth died. George Benson included this song on his 2011 album Guitar Man, go West included this song during their joint tour with Tony Hadley in 2004. Korean jazz duo Winterplay covered the song for their 2010 album Touche Mon Amour, adrienne Hindmarsh covered the song for her 2012 album Jazz Moods. Korin Bukowski covered the instant save song selection on The Voice.5 Music Awards, WYEP Live and Direct, Volume 4 – On Air Performances Dont Know Why reviewed by Ted Gioia Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
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Perfection
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Perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. The term perfection is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred and these concepts have historically been addressed in a number of discrete disciplines, notably mathematics, physics, chemistry, ethics, aesthetics, ontology, and theology. The form of the word long fluctuated in various languages, the English language had the alternates, perfection and the Biblical perfectness. The word perfection derives from the Latin perfectio, and perfect — from perfectus and these expressions in turn come from perficio — to finish, to bring to an end. Perfectio thus literally means a finishing, and perfect — finished, the genealogy of the concept of perfection reaches back beyond Latin, to Greek. The Greek equivalent of the Latin perfectus was teleos, the latter Greek expression generally had concrete referents, such as a perfect physician or flutist, a perfect comedy or a perfect social system. Hence the Greek teleiotes was not yet so fraught with abstract, to avoid the latter associations, the Greek term has generally been translated as completeness rather than perfection. The oldest definition of perfection, fairly precise and distinguishing the shades of the concept, in Book Delta of the Metaphysics, he distinguishes three meanings of the term, or rather three shades of one meaning, but in any case three different concepts. Which is complete — which contains all the parts,2. Which is so good that nothing of the kind could be better,3, the first of these concepts is fairly well subsumed within the second. Between those two and the third, however, there arises a duality in concept, the variants on the concept of perfection would have been quite of a piece for two thousand years, had they not been confused with other, kindred concepts. The chief of these was the concept of that which is the best, in Latin, in antiquity, excellentia and perfectio made a pair, thus, for example, dignitaries were called perfectissime, just as they are now called excellency. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who thought much about perfection and held the world to be the best of possible worlds and this was formulated by Lucilio Vanini, who had a precursor in the 16th-century writer Joseph Juste Scaliger, and they in turn referred to the ancient philosopher Empedocles. Their argument, as given by the first two, was if the world were perfect, it could not improve and so would lack true perfection. To Empedocles, according to Vanini, perfection depends on incompleteness, since the latter possesses a potential for development, the paradox of perfection—that imperfection is perfect—applies not only to human affairs, but to technology. Thus, irregularity in semiconductor crystals is requisite for the production of semiconductors, the solution to the apparent paradox lies in a distinction between two concepts of perfection, that of regularity, and that of utility. Imperfection is perfect in technology, in the sense that irregularity is useful, perfect numbers have been distinguished ever since the ancient Greeks called them teleioi. There was, however, no consensus among the Greeks as to which numbers were perfect or why, a view that was shared by Plato held that 10 was a perfect number
