1.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
2.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
3.
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image – film, television and game in the United Kingdom. David Lean was the founding Chairman of the Academy, the first Film Awards ceremony took place in May 1949 and honouring the films The Best Years of Our Lives, Odd Man Out and The World Is Rich. In 2005, it placed a cap on worldwide voting membership which now stands at approximately 6,500. BAFTA has offices in Scotland and Wales in the UK, in Los Angeles and New York in the United States and runs events in Hong Kong, amanda Berry OBE has been chief executive of the organisation since December 2000. Many of these events are free to online at BAFTA Guru. BAFTA runs a number of programmes across the UK, US. Launched in 2012, the UK programme enables talented British citizens who are in need of support to take an industry-recognised course in film. Each BAFTA Scholar receives up to £12,000 towards their annual course fees, since 2013, three students every year have received one of the Prince William Scholarships in Film, Television and Games, supported by BAFTA and Warner Bros. These scholarships are awarded in the name of in his role as President of BAFTA, since 2015, BAFTA has been offering scholarships for British citizens to study in China, vice versa. BAFTA presents awards for film, television and games, including entertainment, at a number of annual ceremonies across the UK and in Los Angeles. The BAFTA award trophy is a mask, designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe. Todays BAFTA award – including the mask and marble base – weighs 3.7 kg and measures 27 cm x 14 cm x 8 cm. BAFTAs annual film awards ceremony is known as the British Academy Film Awards, or the BAFTAs, in 1949 the British Film Academy, as it was then known, presented the first awards for films made in 1947 and 1948. Since 2008 the ceremony has held at the Royal Opera House in Londons Covent Garden. It had been held in the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square since 2000, the ceremony had been performed during April or May of each year, but since 2002 it has been held in February to precede the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Awards, or Oscars. They have been awarded annually since 1954, the first ever ceremony consisted of six categories. Until 1958, they were awarded by the Guild of Television Producers and Directors, from 1968 until 1997, BAFTAs Film and Television Awards were presented together, but from 1998 onwards they were presented at two separate ceremonies. The Television Craft Awards celebrate the talent behind the programmes, such as working in visual effects, production
4.
Ian Paisley
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Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland. He became a Protestant evangelical minister in 1946 and remained one for the rest of his life, in 1951 he co-founded the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and was its leader until 2008. Paisley became known for his sermons and regularly preached and protested against Catholicism, ecumenism. He gained a group of followers who were referred to as Paisleyites. Paisley became involved in Ulster unionist/loyalist politics in the late 1950s, in the mid-late 1960s, he led and instigated loyalist opposition to the Catholic civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. This led to the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s, in 1970 he became Member of Parliament for North Antrim and the following year he founded the Democratic Unionist Party, which he would lead for almost forty years. In 1979 he became a Member of the European Parliament, throughout the Troubles, Paisley was seen as a firebrand and the face of hardline unionism. He opposed all attempts to resolve the conflict through power-sharing between unionists and Irish nationalists/republicans, and all attempts to involve the Republic of Ireland in Northern affairs and his efforts helped bring down the Sunningdale Agreement of 1974. He also opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, with less success and his attempts to create a paramilitary movement culminated in Ulster Resistance. Paisley and his party opposed the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2005, Paisleys DUP became the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, displacing the Ulster Unionist Party, in 2007, following the St Andrews Agreement, the DUP finally agreed to share power with republican party Sinn Féin and consent to all-Ireland governance in certain matters. Paisley and Sinn Féins Martin McGuinness became First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively in May 2007 and he stepped down as First Minister and DUP leader in mid-2008, and left politics in 2011. Paisley was made a peer in 2010 as Baron Bannside. Paisley married Eileen Cassells on 13 October 1956 and they had five children, daughters Sharon, Rhonda and Cherith and twin sons, Kyle and Ian. Three of their children followed their father into politics or religion, Kyle is a Free Presbyterian minister, Ian is a DUP MP, and Rhonda and he had a brother, Harold, who is also an evangelical fundamentalist. Paisley saw himself primarily as an Ulsterman, however, despite his hostility towards Irish nationalism and the Republic of Ireland, he also saw himself as an Irishman and said that you cannot be an Ulsterman without being an Irishman. When he was a teenager, Paisley decided to follow his father and he delivered his first sermon aged 16 in a mission hall in County Tyrone. In the late 1940s he undertook training at the Barry School of Evangelism
5.
Martin McGuinness
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James Martin Pacelli McGuinness was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician who was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from May 2007 to January 2017. A former Provisional Irish Republican Army leader, McGuinness was the MP for Mid Ulster from 1997 until his resignation in 2013, like all Sinn Féin MPs, McGuinness practised abstentionism in relation to the Westminster Parliament. On 5 June 2008 he was re-appointed as deputy First Minister to serve alongside Peter Robinson, McGuinness previously served as Minister of Education in the Northern Ireland Executive between 1999 and 2002. He was Sinn Féins candidate for President of Ireland in the 2011 election, working alongside US Special Envoy George Mitchell, McGuinness was also one of the main architects of the Good Friday Agreement which formally cemented the Northern Ireland peace process. On 9 January 2017, McGuinness resigned as deputy First Minister in a protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal and he announced on 19 January that he would not be standing for re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2 March 2017 election due to ill health. He reportedly suffered from amyloidosis, a condition that attacks the vital organs, McGuinness acknowledged that he was a former IRA member, but stated that he left the IRA in 1974. He originally joined the Official IRA, unaware of the split at the December 1969 Army Convention, switching to the Provisional IRA soon after. During the Saville Inquiry into the events of that day, Paddy Ward stated he had been the leader of the Fianna and he said that McGuinness and an anonymous IRA member gave him bomb parts that morning. He said that his intended to attack city centre premises in Derry on the same day. In response, McGuinness said the statements were fantasy, while Gearóid Ó hEára, McGuinness negotiated alongside Gerry Adams with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Willie Whitelaw, in 1972. In 1973, he was convicted by the Republic of Irelands Special Criminal Court, after being arrested near a car containing 250 pounds of explosives and he refused to recognise the court, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. In court, he declared his membership of the Provisional IRA without equivocation, I am a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann and very, very proud of it. After his release, and another conviction in the Republic of Ireland for IRA membership, he became prominent in Sinn Féin. He was in contact with British intelligence during the 1981 hunger strikes. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont in 1982 and he was the second candidate elected after John Hume. As with all elected members of Sinn Féin and the SDLP, on 9 December 1982, McGuinness, Gerry Adams and Danny Morrison were banned from entering Great Britain under the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw. In August 1993, he was the subject of a two-part special by The Cook Report and it accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegartys mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness, McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying I have never been in the IRA
6.
Colin Bateman
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Colin Bateman is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Born on 13 June 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 to join the County Down Spectator as a cub reporter, then columnist, a collection of his columns was published as Bar Stool Boy in 1989. Bateman has been producing novels since his debut, Divorcing Jack, Divorcing Jack won a Betty Trask Award in the same year and was adapted into a 1998 film starring David Thewlis. Several of Batemans novels featured the semi-autobiographical Belfast journalist, Dan Starkey and his book Murphys Law was adapted from the BBC television series Murphys Law, featuring James Nesbitt. Bateman explains on his website that Murphys Law was written specifically for James Nesbitt, the ninety-minute pilot for Murphys Law on BBC1 was seen by more than seven million people, and led to three TV series, on which I was the chief writer. Has just completed the 8 part series Scúp, Which he wrote in English but has translated into Irish. It is in production by Sterling Films & BBC Northern Ireland, a second series has since been commissioned His childrens book Titanic 2020 has been shortlisted for the 2008 Salford Childrens Book Award. Much of his work is produced under the name Bateman, his 2007 novel I Predict a Riot bears the dedication, For my Christian name, gone but not forgotten. Divorcing Jack Crossmaheart Wild About Harry Turbulent Priests Watermelon The Journey List of Northern Irish writers Official website Colin Bateman at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Timothy Spall
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Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter. He became a name in the UK after appearing in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen. Spall received critical acclaim for his performance in Secrets & Lies, Spall has also starred in the television documentary Timothy Spall. at Sea. In 2014, he won the Best Actor award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for portraying J. M. W. Turner in Mike Leighs biographical film Mr. Turner, Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. was a hairdresser, and his father and he trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year. He gained international recognition as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter film series, in 1991 he guest starred in the series 5 Red Dwarf episode Back to Reality. In 1993, Spall was in Rab C, in the 2000 New Year Honours, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Spall performed lead vocals on the song The Devil is an Englishman from the Ken Russell film Gothic, Spall played the starring role of Albert Pierrepoint in the 2005 film Pierrepoint, which was released as The Last Hangman in the United States. In the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto, Vice City Stories, Spall voiced Phil Collins manager, in 2007, he starred as Nathaniel in Disneys Enchanted and Beadle Bamford in Tim Burtons production of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He also starred as Georgie Godwin in a one off television drama The Fattest Man in Britain on ITV1 which aired on 20 December 2009, the drama also featured Bobby Ball, Frances Barber, Aisling Loftus and Jeremy Kyle. Spall reprised the role at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, in 2012, Spall filmed Wasteland, with actors Matthew Lewis and Vanessa Kirby. The Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, California, screened Wasteland in April 2013, also in 2012 Spall played Charlie Morgan in the edgy film Comes a Bright Day. In 2014, he won the Best Actor Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Mr. Turner, Timothy Spall plays various roles in Stanley A Man Of Variety, directed by Stephen Cookson and produced by Red Rock Entertainment. Timothy received the Edgeware Outstanding Achievement Award for his performance in Stanley A Man of Variety, Spall and his wife Shane have three children, Pascale, Rafe, who is also an actor and Mercedes. He lives in Forest Hill, south east London, in 1996, Spall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, but has since been in remission. He has said of his illness, I didnt know what made me ill but stress had something to do with it and it made me aware of things and become more selective. I am less worried about employment, I really do my homework so I am not getting stressed on the set because I dont know what Im doing. He is the owner of a Dutch barge that he and his wife have been sailing around the British Isles as part of a BBC Four TV series Timothy Spall, Back at Sea
8.
Colm Meaney
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Colm J. Meaney is an Irish actor known for playing Miles OBrien in Star Trek, The Next Generation and Star Trek, Deep Space Nine. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons and he began studying acting when he was 14 years old and entered the Abbey Theatre School of Acting after secondary school. He became a member of the Irish National Theatre and worked for the eight years in England. Meaneys first television appearance was in Z-Cars on BBC1, in 1978 and he guest-starred on shows such as Remington Steele and Moonlighting before embarking on a successful film career, he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in The Snapper. Meaney first appeared on Star Trek, The Next Generation in its 1987 pilot episode, Encounter at Farpoint and his character became a frequently recurring one, and was given the name of Miles OBrien as he became more prominent in the crew as Transporter Chief. In 1993, Meaney left The Next Generation for a prominent regular role in its spin-off Star Trek, Deep Space Nine and remained on that show until its final episode. With 225 total appearances on Star Trek, he has more appearances on the franchise than any other actor except Michael Dorn. Meaney played Colum OHara in the 1994 miniseries Scarlett, the sequel to Gone With the Wind and he was the only actor to appear in all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyles The Barrytown Trilogy, wherein he played the father of the Rabbitte family. Due to rights issues, the name was changed from film to film. His stage appearances include the Old Vic production of Eugene ONeills A Moon for the Misbegotten, Meaney starred in British comedy film Three and Out released in the UK on 25 April 2008. In July of the same year An Post issued a stamp showing Meaney as Joe Mullen in the film Kings. In 2009, Meaney co-starred with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen, in March 2009, Meaney guest-starred as an Irish bartender on the St. Patricks Day episode of The Simpsons, In the Name of the Grandfather. In the same month the film The Damned United was released, Meaney played the former Leeds manager Don Revie. He also co-starred in Soldiers of Fortune with Christian Slater and Ving Rhames, in 2013, Meaney co-starred with Steve Coogan in Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa. In 2014, he appeared as The Horse in the BBCs three-part crime story, Meaney married Irish actress Bairbre Dowling in 1977, with whom he had a daughter, Brenda, in 1984. He married French costume designer Ines Glorian in March 2007 and they have a daughter together, Ada, born in 2005. Colm Meaney at the Internet Movie Database
9.
Royal Shakespeare Company
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The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The companys home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has recently redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare, the theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week, performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre. The 2011-season began with performances of Macbeth and a re-imagined lost play The History of Cardenio, the fiftieth birthday season also featured The Merchant of Venice with Sir Patrick Stewart and revivals of some of the RSCs greatest plays, including a new staging of Marat/Sade. For the London 2012 Festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad, in 2013 the company began live screenings of its Shakespeare productions – called Live from Stratford-upon-Avon – which are screened around the world. In 2016, the company collaborated with Intel and The Imaginarium Studios to stage The Tempest, John Wards Birmingham-based company, the Warwickshire Company of Comedians, agreed to perform it. A surviving copy of the records that the company performed Othello. The first building erected to commemorate Shakespeare was David Garricks Jubilee Pavilion in 1769, the first permanent commemorative building to Shakespeares works in the town was a theatre built in 1827, in the gardens of New Place, but has long since been demolished. The RSCs history began with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, which was the brainchild of a local brewer and he donated a two-acre site by the River Avon and in 1875 launched an international campaign to build a theatre in the town of Shakespeares birth. The theatre, a Victorian-Gothic building seating just over 700 people, opened on 23 April 1879, with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, a title which gave ammunition to several critics. From 1919, under the direction of William Bridges-Adams and after a slow start, the theatre received a Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1925, which gave it status. On the afternoon of 6 March 1926, when a new season was about to commence rehearsals, fire broke out, and the mass of half-timbering chosen to ornament the interior provided dry tinder. By the following morning the theatre was a blackened shell, the company transferred its Shakespeare festivals to a converted local cinema. Fund-raising began for the rebuilding of the theatre, with generous donations arriving from philanthropists in America, george Bernard Shaw commented that her design was the only one that showed any theatre sense. Her modernist plans for an art deco structure came under fire from many directions, later it came under the direction of Sir Barry Jackson in 1945, Anthony Quayle from 1948 to 1956 and Glen Byam Shaw 1957–1959, with an impressive roll-call of actors. Scotts building, with minor adjustments to the stage, remained in constant use until 2007 when it was closed for a major refit of the interior. Timeline,1932 – new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens, abutting the remains of the old,1961 – chartered name of the corporation and the Stratford theatre becomes ‘Royal Shakespeare. ’1974 – The Other Place opened, created from a prefabricated former store/rehearsal room in Stratford. 1986 – the Swan Theatre opened, created from the shell of the 1879 Memorial Theatre,1991 – Purpose-built new Other Place, designed by Michael Reardon, opens
10.
Edward Bond
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Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved, edward Bond was born on 18 July 1934 into a lower-working-class family in Holloway, North London. As a child during World War II he was evacuated to the countryside but was present during the bombings on London in 1940 and 1944 and his first contact with theatre was music-hall, where his sister used to be sawn in two in a conjurors sideshow. At fourteen, with his class he saw a performance of Shakespeares Macbeth by Donald Wolfit which was revelatory and he later explained that this performance was the first time he had been presented with traumatic experiences comparable to his own in a way he could apprehend and give meaning to. At fifteen, he left school only a very basic education. Bond then educated himself, driven by an eagerness for knowledge. After various jobs in factories and offices, he did his national service in the British Army occupation forces in Vienna between 1953 and 1955, during his time in the army he discovered the naked violence hidden behind normal social behaviour, and decided to start writing. Back in London, he educated himself in theatre while working, saw everything he could on stage and he was especially impressed by the performances of the Berliner Ensemble in the summer of 1956. In June 1958, after submitting two plays to the Royal Court Theatre he was invited to join its newly formed writers group. This is a naturalistic drama set in contemporary Essex which shows, through a set of tragic circumstances. Bonds next play, Saved became one of the best known cause célèbres in 20th century British theatre history, among them, one character, Len, persistently tries to maintain links between people violently tearing each other to pieces. The play shows the causes of violence and opposes them with individual freedom. This would remain the major theme throughout Bonds work, the play was directed by William Gaskill, then artistic director of the Royal Court. The Theatres Act 1843 was still in force and required scripts to be submitted for approval by the Lord Chamberlains Office, Saved included a scene featuring the stoning to death of a baby in its pram. The Lord Chamberlain sought to censor it, but Bond refused to alter a word and he was firmly backed by Gaskill and the Royal Court although threatened with serious trouble. An active campaign sought to overturn the prosecution, with a passionate defence presented by Laurence Olivier, the court found the English Stage Society guilty and they were given a conditional discharge. Bond and the Royal Court continued to defy the censor, and in 1967 produced a new play, the Royal Court produced the play despite the imposition of a total ban and within a year the law was finally repealed. In 1969, when the Royal Court was finally able to perform Bonds work legally, it put on, the experience of prosecution and mutual support sealed a link between Bond and the Royal Court where all his plays would be premiered until 1976, most directed by Gaskill
11.
Arthur Miller
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Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright, essayist, and figure in twentieth-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and he also wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits. The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Long Days Journey into Night, Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, in 1980, Miller received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Prince of Asturias Award and the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2002, Miller was born on October 17,1915, in Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, the second of three children of Augusta and Isidore Miller. His father was born in Radomyśl Wielki, Galicia, and his mother was a native of New York whose parents arrived from that town. Isidore owned a clothing manufacturing business employing 400 people. He became a wealthy and respected man in the community, the family, including his younger sister Joan Copeland, lived on West 110th Street in Manhattan, owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens, and employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, as a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family. After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School, he worked at menial jobs to pay for his college tuition. At the University of Michigan, Miller first majored in journalism and worked for the student paper and it was during this time that he wrote his first play, No Villain. Miller switched his major to English, and subsequently won the Avery Hopwood Award for No Villain, the award brought him his first recognition and led him to begin to consider that he could have a career as a playwright. Rowe provided realistic feedback along with much-needed encouragement, and became a lifelong friend, in 1937, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn, which also received the Avery Hopwood Award. After his graduation in 1938, he joined the Federal Theater Project and he chose the theater project despite the more lucrative offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox. However, Congress, worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939, Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays, some of which were broadcast on CBS. In 1940, Miller married Mary Grace Slattery, the couple had two children, Jane and Robert. Miller was exempted from service during World War II because of a high-school football injury to his left kneecap. 1940 was also the year his first play was produced, The Man Who Had All the Luck won the Theatre Guilds National Award, the play closed after four performances with disastrous reviews
12.
Dustin Hoffman
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Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor and a director, with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. Hoffman has been known for his portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer, and in 1989 for Rain Man. Widely considered one of the finest actors in history, Hoffman first drew praise for starring in the play, Eh. for which he won a Theatre World Award. This achievement was followed by his breakthrough 1967 film role as Benjamin Braddock. Since that time, Hoffmans career has largely focused on the cinema, with sporadic returns to television. Hoffmans notable films include, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Straw Dogs, Papillon, Lenny, Marathon Man, All the Presidents Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Hook and he made his directorial debut in 2012, with Quartet. Along with 2 Academy Award wins, Hoffman has been nominated for 5 additional Academy Awards and he has won 4 BAFTAs,3 Drama Desk Awards,2 Emmy Awards, and a Genie Award. Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012, Dustin Lee Hoffman was born on August 8,1937 in Los Angeles, California, the second son of Lillian and Harry Hoffman. His father worked as a supervisor at Columbia Pictures before becoming a furniture salesman. Hoffman was named after stage and silent screen actor, Dustin Farnum and his older brother, Ronald, is a lawyer and economist. Hoffman is Jewish, from an Ashkenazi family of immigrants from Ukraine, Poland and his upbringing was non-religious, and he has said, I don’t have any memory of celebrating holidays growing up that were Jewish, and that he had realized he was Jewish at around age 10. Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955 and enrolled at Santa Monica College with the intention of studying medicine. He left after a year to join the Pasadena Playhouse, although when he told his family about his career goal and he also took classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Hoffman initially hoped to become a classical pianist, having studied piano during much of his youth, while at Santa Monica College, he also took an acting class, which he assumed would be easy, and caught the acting bug. He recalls, I just was not gifted in music, now an aspiring actor, he spent the next ten years doing odd jobs, being unemployed, and struggling to get any available acting roles. He composed a song called Shooting the Breeze and Bette Midler wrote the words and his first acting role was at the Pasadena Playhouse, alongside future Academy Award-winner, Gene Hackman. After two years there, Hackman headed for New York City, with Hoffman soon following, Hoffman, Hackman and Robert Duvall lived together in the 1960s, all three of them focused on finding acting jobs
13.
Talk of Angels
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Talk Of Angels is a film directed in 1996 by Nick Hamm, but not released by its production company, Miramax, until 1998. The film received mostly unfavorable comparisons to Casablanca, Dr. Zhivago, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Jane Eyre, Gone With the Wind, entertainment Weekly described it as Casablanca-derived but called the main characters blandly pretty and pretty bland. The LA Times argued that Walker remains the primary distraction and that the sum, and Talk of Angels unfortunately exists in that romance-novel realm in which political concerns are mere adornments for the treacle-dripping issues of the heart. The New York Daily News was favorable, calling it a romantic, intelligent Jane Eyre-like story and said that director Nick Hamm makes a feature debut. Film4s summary was that it was elevated above the ordinary by strong performances, polly Walker – Mary Lavelle Vincent Perez – Francisco Areavaga Franco Nero – Dr. com
14.
Miramax
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Miramax is an American entertainment company known for producing and distributing films and television shows. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, shortly thereafter, Pulp Fiction was released. Miramax was sold by Disney to Filmyard Holdings, a joint venture of Colony Capital, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, in 2016, ownership was transferred to beIN Media Group. The company was founded by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York in 1979 and it was created to distribute independent films deemed commercially unfeasible by the major studios. The Weinsteins worked with Lewis to distill the two films into one film for the US marketplace, the resulting film The Secret Policemans Other Ball was a successful release for Miramax in the summer of 1982. This release presaged a modus operandi that the company would later in the 1980s of acquiring films from international filmmakers. Among the companys other breakthrough films as distributors in the late 1980s and early 1990s were Scandal, Sex, Lies, the Crying Game, Pulp Fiction and Clerks. The company also made such as Flirting with Disaster, Heavenly Creatures. Miramax acquired and/or produced many films that did extraordinarily well financially. The company became one of the leaders of the independent film boom of the 1990s, Miramax produced or distributed seven films with box office grosses totaling more than $100 million, its most successful title, Chicago, earned more than $300 million worldwide. The company was also successful in securing Academy Award nominations for its releases. In 1992, Miramax began a deal with Paramount Pictures for VHS, Paramount would also distribute theatrically certain releases that might have commercial appeal. On June 30,1993, Miramax was purchased for $60 million by The Walt Disney Company, Harvey and Bob Weinstein continued to operate Miramax until they left the company on September 30,2005. During their tenure, the Weinstein brothers ran Miramax independently of other Disney subsidiaries, Disney, however, had the final say on what Miramax could release. Disneys Buena Vista Home Entertainment division released Miramax output, Miramax operated, until September 30,2005, the label Dimension Films, specializing in genre films and created the Scream and Scary Movie film franchises. The primary source of dispute was over distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore, Disneys film studio consortium, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group assumed control of Miramax, which was projected to have a smaller annual production budget. The Weinsteins started a new production company called The Weinstein Company. The Miramax name remained with the studio owned by Disney
15.
Spanish Civil War
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Ultimately, the Nationalists won, and Franco then ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from April 1939 until his death in November 1975. Sanjurjo was killed in an accident while attempting to return from exile in Portugal. The coup was supported by units in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, Pamplona, Burgos, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Cádiz, Córdoba. However, rebelling units in some important cities—such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Málaga—did not gain control, Spain was thus left militarily and politically divided. The Nationalists and the Republican government fought for control of the country, the Nationalist forces received munitions and soldiers from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while the Republican side received support from the Communist Soviet Union and leftist populist Mexico. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, operated a policy of non-intervention. The Nationalists advanced from their strongholds in the south and west and they also besieged Madrid and the area to its south and west for much of the war. Those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists, with the establishment of a dictatorship led by General Franco in the aftermath of the war, all right-wing parties were fused into the structure of the Franco regime. The war became notable for the passion and political division it inspired, organized purges occurred in territory captured by Francos forces to consolidate the future regime. A significant number of killings took place in areas controlled by the Republicans, the extent to which Republican authorities took part in killings in Republican territory varied. The 19th century was a turbulent time for Spain and those in favour of reforming Spains government vied for political power with conservatives, who tried to prevent reforms from taking place. Some liberals, in a tradition that had started with the Spanish Constitution of 1812, sought to limit the power of the monarchy of Spain, the reforms of 1812 did not last after King Ferdinand VII dissolved the Constitution and ended the Trienio Liberal government. Twelve successful coups were carried out between 1814 and 1874, until the 1850s, the economy of Spain was primarily based on agriculture. There was little development of an industrial or commercial class. The land-based oligarchy remained powerful, a number of people held large estates called latifundia as well as all the important government positions. In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon, two distinct factors led to the uprisings, a series of urban riots and a liberal movement within the middle classes and the military concerned with the ultra-conservatism of the monarchy. In 1873 Isabellas replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated owing to increasing pressure. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and Anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy, alejandro Lerroux, Spanish politician and leader of the Radical Republican Party, helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute
16.
Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence
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Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence is a 1998 British romantic comedy directed by Nick Hamm. The screenplay by Peter Morgan focuses on the meeting each of three childhood friends now living in London has with an American tourist. At the airport, she meets Daniel, a music label executive. Before landing in London, he offers her the use of a suite in a luxury hotel at his companys expense in exchange for a lunch date the following day. Instead, he runs into Martha, who hits him with a luggage cart while searching for the exit. She coerces him into taking her into the city and invites him to the suite for dinner, while she is in the bathroom, a bouquet of flowers from Daniel is delivered to the suite, and when Laurence sees the attached card, he departs without explanation. The following day, Martha meets struggling actor Frank, who has fled an audition in a panic and has gone to the park to console himself with a half-bottle of whiskey. Having heard about her from Daniel, he realizes who she is and he takes her to a nearby art gallery. Martha slips away and heads for the exit, where she reunites with Laurence and he invites her back to his flat and she accepts. Torn between loyalty to Daniel and love for Martha, Laurence seeks advice from Pederson, a neighbour he mistakenly believes is a psychiatrist, in the interim, Martha awakens and seeing a photograph of the three friends, assumes she has been the target of an elaborate practical joke. To get even, she separately invites each of the men to meet her for breakfast, Laurence sees Martha running off in the distance but is unable to catch her. Despondent, he goes to an agency to purchase a ticket anywhere he can go for £99. At the airport gate, he is told he is being seated in First Class and she reveals she was responsible for the upgrade, a trick she learned from Daniel. The film holds a 33% approval rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 4. 8/10. He added, To maintain its fizz, a comedy like The Very Thought of You requires the spicy contemporary equivalent of Noël Coward banter, but if the story is a clever sitcomy contraption, the dialogue is pedestrian. Among the contestants for Marthas love, the character with a distinctive personality is Hollanders vain, petulant Daniel. As the shy, tongue-tied Laurence, who needs lessons in self-assertion, Fiennes lacks the debonair twinkle and the timing of Hugh Grant. As for Ms. Potters Martha, the character is a fabrication that not even Ms. Roberts with all her wiles could have made believable
17.
Film4
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Film4 is a British digital television channel available in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, that screens films. It offers films in standard definition free of charge, to access the high definition version of the channel, viewers must have a paid subscription with Virgin Media or Sky. The channel is available in the Republic of Ireland on Virgin Media, Sky and Eir Vision. The companys first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, in 1998, the outfit was re-branded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new Digital TV channel of the same name. Film4 was originally known as FilmFour and became Channel 4s second channel and it was a subscription-only service available on satellite television via the Sky platform, digital terrestrial via ITV Digital, and most UK cable services. It cost £5.99 a month, eventually rising to £7, the launch night, which was also broadcast on Channel 4, was hosted by Johnny Vaughan and the first film to be shown was Whats Eating Gilbert Grape. Channel 4 cut its budget from £30 to £10 million and 50 staff in 2002, due to mounting losses, the cuts were a consequence of FilmFours unsuccessful attempts to compete with Hollywood. David Thompson, head of BBC Films, described it as a sad day for the British film industry. The British film industry needs right now and this doesnt inspire confidence, In 2004. The name Film4 Productions was introduced in 2006 to tie in with the relaunch of the FilmFour broadcast channel as Film4, FilmFour Weekly ceased broadcasting on 19 July 2006 when the subscription service ended. The subscription service ended on 19 July 2006 and the channel re-launched as a free-to-air service a few days later on 23 July, when the channel became free, it also returned to digital terrestrial as part of the Freeview brand, and became completely free-to-air on satellite television. Due to the change, the channels availability increased from 300,000 to 18 million households and it also changed its broadcasting hours to 12,45 -08,45, and commercial breaks were included during films for the first time. The first film broadcast under the new format was the British non-subscription television premiere of Lost in Translation, prior to the arrivals of Movie Mix and movies4men on the Freeview platform, Film4 was the only free film channel available on digital terrestrial television. From 23 May 2009, the hours were changed to 11, 00am -04, 00am. On 1 November 2010, Film4 partnered with FilmFlex to launch Film4oD, on 2 September 2014, Film 4 debuted a new on-air look, designed by Man vs. Machine. There are 15 new idents in the series run alongside a new on-screen presentation. On 6 July 2017, Film4 will have been end-of-part programmes going in to, Film4 did not originally broadcast many blockbusters, but nowadays broadcasts many mainstream Hollywood films. The channel frequently has themed nights or seasons in which a number of films centred on one genre, as Channel 4 also owns a film production company, Film4 Productions, it shows many of its in-house productions
18.
Peter Morgan
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Peter Julian Robin Morgan CBE is a British film writer and playwright. Morgan is best known for writing the films and plays The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Damned United. He is the creator of Netflixs drama series The Crown, in 2008, Morgan was ranked number 28 in The Telegraphs list of The 100 most powerful people in British culture. In February 2017, he was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship, Morgan was born in Wimbledon, London. His mother, Inga, was a Catholic Pole who fled the Soviets and his father died when Morgan was nine years old. Morgan attended boarding school at Downside School, Somerset, and gained a degree in Fine Art from the University of Leeds, Morgan wrote television scripts during the 1990s, including an episode of Rik Mayall Presents. and the Comedy Premiere The Chest. He wrote the screenplay to the romantic comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel, in 2003, Morgan broke through with The Deal, a television drama about the power-sharing deal between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that was struck in the Granita restaurant in London in 1994. In 2006, Morgan received his Academy Award-nomination for The Deals follow-up, The Queen, that showed how the death of Princess Diana impacted Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Royal Family. His work on the film eventually awarded him a Golden Globe from the Hollywood Foreign Press,2006 also saw the release of The Last King of Scotland, the screenplay of which Morgan adapted with Jeremy Brock. In 2007 they jointly won a BAFTA Film Award for their work on the film, also in 2006, Morgans first play, Frost/Nixon, was staged at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. Starring Michael Sheen as David Frost and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon and these ended with his tacit admission of guilt regarding his role in the Watergate scandal. The play was directed by Michael Grandage and opened to enthusiastic reviews, in May 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honoured Morgan with the years Kanbar Award for Excellence in Screenwriting. In July 2009, filming began on The Special Relationship, the film of Morgans Blair trilogy. The film focuses on Blairs relationship with US president Bill Clinton between 1997 and 2000, Morgan was originally scheduled to direct the film but pulled out a month before filming began. He was replaced by Richard Loncraine, Morgan was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the film. In 2008 Morgan adapted John le Carrés Tinker, Tailor, Soldier and he has since finished the script for Hereafter, a supernatural thriller in the vein of The Sixth Sense. DreamWorks bought the screenplay on spec in March 2008, the development was later transferred to Warner Bros. and filming began in October 2009 under the direction of Clint Eastwood. In 2008 the film Frost/Nixon, with Sheen and Langella playing the parts they had on stage, opened in the UK, Morgan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on the film
19.
Joseph Fiennes
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Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. Fiennes was born in 1970 in Salisbury, England, the son of Mark Fiennes, a farmer and photographer, and Jennifer Lash and he has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His surname comes from the French village of Fiennes, Pas-de-Calais and his grandfathers were industrialist Sir Maurice Fiennes and Brigadier Henry Alleyne Lash. Fiennes is a cousin of Charles, Prince of Wales. His siblings are actor Ralph Fiennes, director Martha Fiennes, composer Magnus Fiennes, film director Sophie Fiennes and his foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist. His nephew Hero Fiennes-Tiffin played Tom Riddle, young Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and he then attended art school in Suffolk for a year, before joining the Young Vic Youth Theatre. Fiennes subsequently trained for three years at Londons Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1993 and his first professional stage appearance was in the West End in The Woman in Black, followed by A Month in the Country opposite Helen Mirren. Fiennes then became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for two seasons and he made his television debut as Willy in The Vacillations of Poppy Carew. His first feature film was 1996s Stealing Beauty, co-starring Liv Tyler and he and Paltrow were reunited onscreen in Running with Scissors. In 2001 he appeared in the film Enemy at the Gates, in 2002 he starred in the independent film, Killing Me Softly. In 2003 he lent his voice as Proteus in the DreamWorks animated film Sinbad, the same year he starred in the limited-release film Luther, playing Martin Luther, and he also appeared in The Merchant of Venice, in which he portrayed Bassanio. Fiennes returned to the theatre in 2006 to perform in the one-man play Unicorns, in 2006, he appeared in the films The Darwin Awards and Goodbye Bafana. Goodbye Bafana was filmed by director Bille August in South Africa, Fiennes portrayed James Gregory, author of the book Goodbye Bafana, Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend. Fiennes starred in the ABC science fiction series FlashForward, which debuted on 24 September 2009 and ran through 27 May 2010, Fiennes stars in Starzs 10-part series, Camelot, as the wizard Merlin. In the second season of American Horror Story, which premiered in October 2012, Fiennes married María Dolores Diéguez, a Swiss model, in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Tuscany in August 2009. Fiennes was one of the celebrities, including Tom Hiddleston, Jo Brand, E. L. James and Rachel Riley, the cards were auctioned off on eBay during May 2014
20.
The Hole (2001 film)
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The Hole is a 2001 psychological horror film directed by Nick Hamm, based on the novel After the Hole by Guy Burt. The film stars Thora Birch, whose headlining credit and highly publicized seven figure salary was attributed to her appearance in American Beauty and it also features Keira Knightley, in her first significant role in a feature film. The film premiered in the United Kingdom in April 2001, the film was shot at Bray Studios and various locations around southern England, including Downside School in Somerset. The film opens with the appearance of a dishevelled, blood-soaked Liz, one of four private school pupils, also including Mike, Geoff, and Frankie, Liz is interviewed by a psychiatrist, Dr. Philippa Horwood, and describes what has happened to the four. Liz describes how she told Martyn about her love for Mike, Martyn promised to help, as he. The four students climbed into the shelter, Mike reluctantly, when Martyn was due to release them, the locked-in students belatedly realized they were trapped and began to turn on each other. Then they discovered that Martyn had hidden microphones in the shelter, voice-acting, Frankie pretended to be sick, while Mike and Liz pretended to hate each other because Liz had said that this was what Martyn wanted – he had been in love with Liz since we were eleven. The plan apparently worked, as one morning they woke up and they all climbed out, and Liz described how Mike hugged her, thanking her for saving them. However, soon after Liz finishes her story, the psychiatrist tells someone on the phone that she does not believe Lizs story, Martyn has been taken into custody for questioning in regards to Lizs story and the psychiatrist brings Liz back to her home. Martyn begins telling the police a different story, claiming that Liz and Frankie orchestrated the scheme, to allow Liz to get close to Mike. The police are forced to release Martyn, despite their belief he is guilty, in the meantime, Liz is experiencing flashbacks of the true events in the hole. Martyn comes to see her, angry and distraught that she has framed him and she runs from him through the garden and approaches a weir. Martyn cries, and Liz hysterically says that she knew they would let him go because they could not prove anything and she strokes his neck, but what happens next is not revealed. At their next meeting, Liz tells the psychiatrist that she cannot remember what happened, the psychiatrist is persuaded to take Liz back to the hole. Her obsession with Mike led Liz to believe that, with time, she could win him over, and that locking the door bought her time. Their sojourn in the bunker was initially meant to be a booze and drug party, but when realized that they could not get out anymore. Frankie soon ended up dead from side effects of her bulimia, the remaining three gradually ran out of food and water. Reduced to two, Liz suggested a suicide pact, whereupon Mike professed his love for Liz, prompting Liz to climb the ladder towards the shelters entrance and unlock the door
21.
Thora Birch
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Thora Birch is an American actress. She had early roles in the short-lived sitcom Day by Day and in Purple People Eater and she also starred in other films, such as All I Want for Christmas, Patriot Games, Hocus Pocus, Monkey Trouble, Now and Then and Alaska. Her breakthrough role came in 1999 with the Academy Award winning film American Beauty and her performance was well received by both critics and audiences and brought Birch to international recognition. She later played the role in Ghost World for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She appeared in independent films, such as Dark Corners, Train, Birch was born in Los Angeles, the eldest child of Jack Birch and Carol Connors. Her parents, who have been her business managers throughout her career, are former adult film actors. Birch is of German Jewish, Scandinavian and Italian ancestry, the familys original surname was Biersch. Her name, Thora, is derived from the name of the Norse god of thunder and lightning, Thor, Birch appeared in commercials in the late 1980s for Burger King, California Raisins, Quaker Oats and Vlasic Pickles. Also in 1988, she guest-starred in an episode of Doogie Howser, M. D. and was cast as Molly in the NBC television series Day By Day, the show aired for two seasons on NBC and earned her two Young Artist Award nominations. In 1990, Birch had one of the roles in the sitcom Parenthood. It aired on NBC and was cancalled after one season, in the next year, she starred in the drama Paradise, with Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith and Elijah Wood. She won her role more than 4,000 other young hopefuls who auditioned for it. Roger Ebert felt she played her part with strong, simple charm, for the rest of the 1990s, Birch continued to find steady recognition as a child and teen actress through leading parts in numerous comedy and family feature films. She starred in the romantic comedy All I Want for Christmas, as a girl who plans to get her parents back together for Christmas. The film received reviews and moderate attention from audiences upon its theatrical premiere. In 1992, she played the daughter of Jack Ryan in the spy thriller Patriot Games, Birch appeared in the fantasy comedy Hocus Pocus, opposite Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker. The film saw her play the younger sister of a boy who inadvertently ressurects a villainous trio of witches. Hocus Pocus rated average with reviewers and made a modest US$39 million in the US, in the 1994 comedy Monkey Trouble, Birch portrayed a girl who adopts a Capuchin monkey trained to pick pockets and burglarize houses
22.
Keira Knightley
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Keira Christina Knightley is an English actress. She began acting as a child on television and made her debut in 1995. She had a role as Sabé in Star Wars, Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In 2014, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, a SAG, a BAFTA Award, in October 2015, Knightley made her Broadway debut in the title role of Thérèse Raquin. Knightley was born in Teddington, London, England, the daughter of Sharman Macdonald, an actress turned playwright, and Will Knightley and her Scottish-born mother is of Scottish and Welsh descent, while her father is English. She was meant to be named Kiera, after the Russian ice skater, Kira Ivanova and she has an older brother, Caleb. Knightley lived in Richmond, attending Stanley Junior School, Teddington School and she requested an agent at the age of three. Knightley has noted that she was single-minded about acting during her childhood and she performed in a number of local amateur productions, which included After Juliet, written by her mother, and United States, written by her drama teacher, Ian McShane. She focused on art, history, and English literature while at Esher, after getting an agent at six, Knightley worked mostly in commercials and small TV roles. Her first role was Little Girl in Royal Celebration, a 1993 TV film, a year later, she had a small role in the film A Village Affair. She later starred in 1995s Innocent Lies and 1998s Coming Home and she was a princess in the 1996 film The Treasure Seekers. Later in 1999, she appeared as Rose in Oliver Twist, sabés dialogue was dubbed over with Natalie Portmans voice. This was to hide the fact that the handmaiden Padmé was actually disclosed as the real Queen Amidala at the end of the film. Knightley was cast in the role because of her resemblance to Portman. Knightleys first starring role was in 2001, when she played the daughter of Robin Hood in the made-for-television Walt Disney Productions feature Princess of Thieves and she trained for several weeks in archery, fencing and horse riding. During this time, Knightley also appeared in The Hole, a thriller that received a release in the United States. Its director Nick Hamm described her as a version of Julie Christie. She appeared in the adaptation of Doctor Zhivago as Lara, alongside Scottish actor Hans Matheson in the title role
23.
Lionsgate Films
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Lionsgate Films is an American film production/distribution studio and a division of Lions Gate Entertainment. It is the largest and most successful film studio in North America. Cinépix was founded in 1962 by John Dunning and Andre Link and was based in Montreal, Cinépix was a leading Canadian independent motion picture company, releasing both English- and French-language films and making ten to 12 modestly budgeted titles annually. Initially a distribution company, Cinépixs first production was the 1969 erotic drama Valérie, the company was also responsible for launching the careers of, among others, David Cronenberg and Ivan Reitman. The company also distributed films like grunge rock documentary Hype, Vincent Gallos Buffalo 66. From 1989 to 1994, Cinépix was partners with Famous Players in C/FP Distribution, by 1997, Cinépix had a New York-based U. S. distribution arm and 56 percent of Ciné-Groupe, an animated film production company. Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation was formed in the summer of 1997 by Frank Giustra, LGE purchased Cinépix and kept its leadership. Cinépix Film Properties was renamed Lions Gate Films on January 12,1998, LGE also purchased the Vancouver-based North Shore Studios, which became Lions Gate Studios. In June 1998, LGE purchased International Movie Group, whose film library included Jean-Claude Van Dammes Kickboxer and its first major box office success was American Psycho in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for the major American studios, including Lolita. In 2000, Giustra left the firm and it was taken over by Jon Feltheimer and they decided to focus on the profits of videos and DVDs and began buying struggling firms that controlled large libraries. The two most notable acquisitions were Trimark Holdings in 2000 and Artisan Entertainment in 2003, the Trimark purchase also included CinemaNow, a broadband streaming website, where Lionsgate could feature its own movies. Lions Gate occasionally co-produces films with major studios, for example, Lions Gate teamed with Miramax Films for the 2004 sequel Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights and with Paramount Pictures for 2002s Narc and 2004s The Prince & Me. Lions Gate was also a silent partner in 20th Century Foxs 2004 sci-fi film The Day After Tomorrow, and also in 2004, for the first time ever, Lions Gate joined forces with independent rival United Artists in producing Hotel Rwanda. On August 1,2005, Lions Gate Entertainment acquired the library of Modern Entertainment. On October 17,2005, Lions Gate Entertainment acquired Redbus Film Distribution for $35 million, following this, Zygi Kamasa, who co-founded Redbus with Simon Franks, became CEO of Lionsgate UK and Europe. Lionsgate cut back its production by four in February 2009. The Lionsgate film The Hunger Games grossed $68.3 million when it premiered at the U. S. box office on March 23,2012 and it was the best opening day ever for a non-sequel and the fifth highest of all time. Of that total, $19.7 million was earned via Thursday midnight screenings, in its first weekend, The Hunger Games grossed $152.5 million, making it Lionsgates highest grossing film after just three days
24.
Robert De Niro
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Robert Anthony De Niro is an American actor, producer and director who has both Italian and American citizenship. He was cast as the young Vito Corleone in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II and his longtime collaboration with director Martin Scorsese earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake La Motta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Golden Globe Cecil B, deMille Award in 2010, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016. De Niros first major roles were in the sports drama, Bang the Drum Slowly. He earned Academy Award nominations for the psychological thrillers Taxi Driver and Cape Fear, De Niro received additional nominations for Michael Ciminos Vietnam war drama, The Deer Hunter, Penny Marshalls drama Awakenings, and David O. Russells romantic comedy-drama, Silver Linings Playbook. His portrayal of gangster Jimmy Conway in Scorseses crime film, Goodfellas, other notable performances include roles in Once Upon a Time in America, Brazil, The Untouchables, Heat, and Casino. He has directed and starred in such as the crime drama A Bronx Tale. Robert Anthony De Niro was born in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, New York, the son of Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr. Both of his parents were painters, his father was of half Italian and half Irish descent, while his mother was of half German ancestry, with her other roots being French, English and Dutch. De Niros parents, who had met at the classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts. De Niro was raised by his mother in the Greenwich Village and his father lived within walking distance and De Niro spent much time with him as he grew up. His mother was raised Presbyterian but became an atheist as an adult, against his parents wishes, his grandparents had him secretly baptized into the Catholic Church while he was staying with them during his parents divorce. De Niro attended PS41, an elementary school in Manhattan. He then went to Elisabeth Irwin High School, the upper school of the Little Red School House. He was accepted into the High School of Music and Art for the ninth grade, De Niro began high school at the private McBurney School and later attended the private Rhodes Preparatory School, although he never graduated from either. Nicknamed Bobby Milk for his pallor, De Niro hung out with a group of kids as a youth in Little Italy. The direction of his future had already been foreshadowed by his debut at age 10. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, he was also fixated by cinema and he studied acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory, as well as Lee Strasbergs Actors Studio
25.
Rebecca Romijn
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Rebecca Alie Romijn-Stamos is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the first trilogy of the X-Men film series and she also had a recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty. She is currently starring as Eve Baird in The Librarians, Romijn was born on November 6,1972, in Berkeley, California. Her mother, Elizabeth Romijn, is a Community College instructor of English as a Second Language, Rebeccas father, Jaap Romijn, is a custom furniture maker. Her father is a native of Barneveld, the Netherlands, while her mother is an American of Dutch and her mother met Rebeccas father as a teenager while living in the Netherlands on a student exchange program. Romijns maternal grandfather, Dr. Henry Bernard Kuizenga, was a Presbyterian minister, many sources say that she was once nicknamed the Jolly Blonde Giant because of her 5 feet 11 inches height, but she has admitted to making that up for a laugh. While studying Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she became involved with modeling and eventually moved to Paris. Among other jobs, Romijn started her career in 1991. She has appeared in advertising campaigns for Escada, Christian Dior, La Perla, Tommy Hilfiger, Furla, Liz Claiborne, J. Crew, Victorias Secret, bebe, La Senza, Dillards, Pantene, Got Milk. She has also walked for Giorgio Armani, Sonia Rykiel, and Anna Molinari along with the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and she also was the host of MTVs House of Style from 1998 to 2000. Romijn has been featured numerous times in lists of the worlds most beautiful women by publications such as Maxim, AskMen. com. She also appeared as a guest in the talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode Chinatown. In 2000s X-Men Romijn had her first major role as Mystique, she returned to the role in 2003s sequel X2. In these films, her costume consisted of blue makeup and some strategically placed prosthetics on her nude body. In X2 she shows up in a bar in one scene in her normal look, the role has since been recast with Jennifer Lawrence playing the younger version of the character. She had her first leading role in Brian De Palmas Femme Fatale and she also has starred in movies such as Rollerball, The Punisher playing a woman named Joan and Godsend. She played the role in Pepper Dennis, a short-lived TV series on The WB Television Network. In January 2007, Romijn made her first appearance on the ABC series Ugly Betty as a regular cast member
26.
Greg Kinnear
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Gregory Buck Greg Kinnear is an American actor and television personality. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets, Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, to Suzanne, a homemaker, and Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat who worked for the US State Department. He has two brothers, James and Steven and he grew up a Foreign Service brat, having moved around frequently, from Beirut to Athens. While a student at the American Community Schools in Athens, Kinnear first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear. Returning to the United States for an education, he attended the University of Arizona. While there, he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, Kinnear hosted a short-lived game show, College Mad House, which was spun off from the kids show Fun House. He became the creator, co-executive producer and host of Best of the Worst, the show was canceled thanks to Rooster Teeths Burnie Burns. In 1991, Kinnear became the first host of Talk Soup, which he hosted until 1995, after his film debut, Blankman, Kinnear won the part of David Larrabee in Sydney Pollacks 1995 remake of Billy Wilders 1954 classic Sabrina. He played the role in the 1996 comedy Dear God. In 1997, he was cast in James L. Brooks comedy-drama, As Good as It Gets and he also starred in, A Smile Like Yours with Lauren Holly, as part of a couple trying to have a baby. His next film was the popular Youve Got Mail, as Kathleens significant other, other films are Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Loser, The Gift and Someone Like You. Kinnear starred in Auto Focus about the life and murder of actor Bob Crane in 2002, in 2005, he starred in the black comedy The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and voiced Phineas T. Ratchet in the computer-animated film Robots. He also appeared in Fast Food Nation, playing a fast food executive who discovers secrets about his company, in 2008, he starred in Flash of Genius, a docudrama about Robert Kearns who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. His portrayal of then-Major Bruce P. Crandall in 2002s We Were Soldiers brought public attention to Crandalls heroism during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang, in Baby Mama Kinnear played Rob, a local smoothie shop owner and the romantic interest of Kate. In 2010, he starred as the father of Miley Cyrus character in The Last Song. In 2011, Kinnear starred in the miniseries The Kennedys playing the role as John F. Kennedy. It was originally planned to air on the History Channel, however and it was subsequently picked up by ReelzChannel and then first aired on April 3,2011. Kinnear played a famous novelist in the Josh Boones directorial debut film, Stuck in Love, Kinnear married British glamour model Helen Labdon on May 1,1999
27.
Northern Ireland Screen
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Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agencys purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, Northern Ireland Screen was established as the Northern Ireland Film & Television Commission in 1997. The agency is funded jointly by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Invest Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland have delegated the administration of Lottery funding for film in Northern Ireland to Northern Ireland Screen. Northern Ireland Screen is responsible for the £12 million Irish Language Broadcast Fund, the funds purpose is to provide for an increase in Irish-language broadcasting in Northern Ireland by the BBC and TG4. It was once the main Harland and Wolff painting hall and includes an indoor space. Now a film studio, originally created by film producer Jo Gilbert, the building is currently on licence to Northern Ireland Screen who have plans to offer it rent free to film makers. The Paint Hall was the location of the City of Ember in the 2008 film of the same name, starting in 2010 it was used as the main studio for the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, which debuted in April 2011. Irish Film Board Scottish Screen UK Film Council Official website NI Digital Film Archive
28.
Killing Bono
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Killing Bono is a 2011 British-Irish comedy film directed by Nick Hamm, based on Neil McCormicks 2003 memoir Killing Bono, I Was Bonos Doppelgänger. The film stars Ben Barnes as Neil McCormick, Robert Sheehan as Ivan McCormick and it marked Pete Postlethwaites final film role. In the movie the 3rd Croke Park concert 1987 is referenced when on the morning of 27 June 1987, sony Music Entertainment released the movies soundtrack worldwide. The European premiere was held in the Savoy Cinema in Dublin, Killing Bono at the Internet Movie Database Killing Bono Film Set Photos
29.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
30.
Ben Barnes (actor)
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Benjamin Thomas Ben Barnes is an English actor. Barnes was born in London, to Tricia, a relationship therapist, and Thomas Barnes and he has a younger brother, Jack. His mother, who is Jewish, is originally from South Africa, Barnes began his career in musical theatre. As a teenager, he spent a few years as part of the National Youth Music Theatre, whose alumni include actors Jude Law. At fifteen, Barnes landed his first professional job as a drummer in the West End musical adaptation of Bugsy Malone, Barnes began working in television in 2006, including a guest appearance on the UK series Doctors. Barnes made his film debut as Young Dunstan in 2007s Stardust, directed by Matthew Vaughn. Barnes then starred as a Russian hoodlum named Cobakka in Suzie Halewoods Bigga Than Ben, in February 2007, it was announced that Barnes would play the role of Caspian in the film adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, directed by Andrew Adamson. Adamson said Caspian is a coming of age and, to some degree, while many readers interpret Caspian as a child, a passage in the novel mentions his age to be near that of Peters, so an older actor was sought to match William Moseley. Barnes had read the novel as a child, and was cast in two-and-a-half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers and he spent two months in New Zealand horse riding and stunt training to prepare for shooting. Barnes says his Mediterranean accent in the movie was inspired in part by Mandy Patinkins performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fit well into the family of Adamson. In the spring of 2008, Barnes finished filming the role of John Whittaker for Noël Cowards romantic comedy, written and directed by Australian Stephan Elliott, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2008. The film has screened at the Rio, Rome, Abu Dhabi, London and it also screened at the Tribeca Film Festival prior to its U. S. release on 22 May 2009. The score contains many Coward and jazz-age songs, some of which are sung by Barnes, in the United States, the film enjoyed some commercial success. Sony Pictures Classics paid an estimated million to acquire the films distribution rights in the United States, Latin America. Barnes next starred in the role in a film adaptation of Oscar Wildes Dorian Gray. The film was released on 9 September 2009 in the United Kingdom and had its premiere that month at the Toronto International Film Festival. In May 2009, Barnes was nominated for MTV Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Male for his performance in Prince Caspian, in June 2009, Barnes filmed the psychological thriller Locked In, directed by Suri Krishnamma, on location in Boston
31.
Robert Sheehan
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Robert Michael Sheehan is an Irish actor. He is best known for roles such as Nathan Young in Misfits and Darren in Love/Hate. He also co-starred in the film Killing Bono as Ivan McCormick, in late 2011 he starred in John Crowleys production of J. M. Synges comic play The Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Sheehan has three IFTA nominations and one BAFTA nomination and he also shared a BAFTA award with the cast of Misfits. In 2013 he portrayed Simon Lewis in the adaption of The Mortal Instruments book City of Bones. Sheehan was born in County Laois, Ireland, the son of Maria and Joe Sheehan and he was born Robert Michael Sheehan, and added Adam as his confirmation name, becoming known as Robert Michael Adam Sheehan. He is the youngest of three children and he played the banjo, the bodhrán, and the spoons at school, having joked that he was like Footloose with spoons, and participated in Fleadh Cheoil while at school. He first became interested in acting in school, in St. Pauls in Portlaoise. Robert first considered acting when his mother took him to an audition for Song for a Raggy Boy when he was fourteen and he was chosen for the film, which was shot for three months in West Cork. He stated that he keeps in touch with some of the boys from the film. When he was sixteen, he played the boy in Cripple of Innishmaan with Open Door productions. He has been quoted as saying, Im not sure if I want to be an actor, I want to go to college but not to study acting. But Id like to do it to see where it takes me, I never really made any plans of any sort. As long as I can keep getting a few jobs, I will be grateful and it is great fun and wonderfully rewarding for a young fella. I will continue as long as I keep getting work, since then he has appeared in a number of feature films including A Dublin Story, Ghostwood, An Créatúr, Summer of the Flying Saucer and Season of the Witch. On television, he appeared in 15 episodes of Foreign Exchange as Cormac MacNamara, more recently, Robert has appeared in The Clinic, Bels Boys and in Season 2 of The Tudors. In March and April 2008, he appeared in the role of Addison Teller in the short-lived series Rock Rivals produced by Shed Productions for ITV. In July 2008, he appeared in the role of Liam in Bitter Sweet, in March 2009, he appeared in the role of BJ in the dark Channel 4 trilogy, Red Riding
32.
U2
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U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, initially rooted in post-punk, U2s sound grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music, yet has maintained an anthemic sound. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes, popular for their live performances, the group has staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career. The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency, within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album War, by the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The groups fifth album, The Joshua Tree, made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US, With or Without You, facing a backlash and creative stagnation, U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. This experimentation continued through their album, Pop, and the PopMart Tour. U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Cant Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history. The groups thirteenth album, Songs of Innocence, was released at no cost through the iTunes Store, U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the worlds best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976, Larry Mullen Jr. then a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, posted a note on the schools notice board in search of musicians for a new band—six people responded. Mullen later described it as The Larry Mullen Band for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge. Martin, who had brought his guitar and amplifier to the first practice but could not play, did not remain with the group, the group settled on the name Feedback because it was one of the few technical terms they knew. Most of their material consisted of cover songs, which the band admitted was not their forte. Some of the earliest influences on the band were emerging punk rock acts, such as the Jam, the Clash, Buzzcocks, the popularity of punk rock convinced the group that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to being successful. In April 1977, Feedback played their first gig for an audience at St. Fintans High School. Shortly after, the changed their name to The Hype
33.
Martin McGuiness
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James Martin Pacelli McGuinness was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician who was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from May 2007 to January 2017. A former Provisional Irish Republican Army leader, McGuinness was the MP for Mid Ulster from 1997 until his resignation in 2013, like all Sinn Féin MPs, McGuinness practised abstentionism in relation to the Westminster Parliament. On 5 June 2008 he was re-appointed as deputy First Minister to serve alongside Peter Robinson, McGuinness previously served as Minister of Education in the Northern Ireland Executive between 1999 and 2002. He was Sinn Féins candidate for President of Ireland in the 2011 election, working alongside US Special Envoy George Mitchell, McGuinness was also one of the main architects of the Good Friday Agreement which formally cemented the Northern Ireland peace process. On 9 January 2017, McGuinness resigned as deputy First Minister in a protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal and he announced on 19 January that he would not be standing for re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2 March 2017 election due to ill health. He reportedly suffered from amyloidosis, a condition that attacks the vital organs, McGuinness acknowledged that he was a former IRA member, but stated that he left the IRA in 1974. He originally joined the Official IRA, unaware of the split at the December 1969 Army Convention, switching to the Provisional IRA soon after. During the Saville Inquiry into the events of that day, Paddy Ward stated he had been the leader of the Fianna and he said that McGuinness and an anonymous IRA member gave him bomb parts that morning. He said that his intended to attack city centre premises in Derry on the same day. In response, McGuinness said the statements were fantasy, while Gearóid Ó hEára, McGuinness negotiated alongside Gerry Adams with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Willie Whitelaw, in 1972. In 1973, he was convicted by the Republic of Irelands Special Criminal Court, after being arrested near a car containing 250 pounds of explosives and he refused to recognise the court, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. In court, he declared his membership of the Provisional IRA without equivocation, I am a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann and very, very proud of it. After his release, and another conviction in the Republic of Ireland for IRA membership, he became prominent in Sinn Féin. He was in contact with British intelligence during the 1981 hunger strikes. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont in 1982 and he was the second candidate elected after John Hume. As with all elected members of Sinn Féin and the SDLP, on 9 December 1982, McGuinness, Gerry Adams and Danny Morrison were banned from entering Great Britain under the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw. In August 1993, he was the subject of a two-part special by The Cook Report and it accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegartys mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness, McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying I have never been in the IRA
34.
St Andrews Agreement
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The St Andrews Agreement was an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Irelands political parties in relation to the devolution of power in the region. The governments plan envisaged the devolution of policing and justice powers within two years from the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the parties were given until 10 November 2006 to respond to the draft agreement. The first and deputy first minister would be appointed on 24 November 2006, there was a target date of 26 March 2007 for a new executive to be up and running, after a general election on 7 March 2007. The Northern Ireland Act 2006, which implemented the agreement, received Royal Assent on 22 November 2006, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain called the agreement an astonishing breakthrough on BBC Radio Five Live. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that if the set by the two governments were not met, the plan falters and there will be a move to plan B with no more discussions. Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley said, Unionists can have confidence that its interests are being advanced and he also said, Delivering on the pivotal issue of policing and the rule of law starts now. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that the plans needed to be consulted on, ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey described the agreement as the Belfast Agreement for slow learners. Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan said welcome progress had made towards restoring the power sharing institutions. Alliance Party leader David Ford said the outcome was a mix of challenges and opportunities, the Joint Statement of 13 October stated that the governments had asked parties, having consulted their members, to confirm their acceptance by 10 November. Although neither statement constituted acceptance of the agreement, both maintained that there was sufficient endorsement from all parties to continue the process. The Joint Statement stated that the Assembly will meet to nominate the First, in the days preceding the Assembly meeting the two governments said that it would be sufficient for the parties to indicate who their nominations for First and Deputy First Minister would be. Gerry Adams nominated Martin McGuinness for the post of Deputy First Minister, both governments maintained that this was sufficient indication for the process to continue. Or if this does not happen within the St Andrews time frame, the DUP gave a cautious welcome to the move, but without making any overt commitment on the devolution of policing and justice by May 2008. On 30 January, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach confirmed that Assembly elections would go ahead as planned on 7 March, in the Assembly elections, the DUP and Sinn Féin both gained seats, thus consolidating their position as the two largest parties in the Assembly. Peter Hain signed the order to restore the institutions on 25 March, warning that if the parties failed to reach agreement by midnight the following day, the agreement was welcomed by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. On 27 March emergency legislation was introduced into the British Parliament to facilitate the six-week delay, the Northern Ireland Bill was passed without a vote in both the Commons and the Lords and received Royal Assent, as the Northern Ireland Act 2007, the same evening. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as First Minister and it also ratified the ten ministers as nominated by their parties. On 12 May the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to take up three places on the Policing Board, and nominated three MLAs to take them and this shows we are set for a new course
35.
Freddie Highmore
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Alfred Thomas Freddie Highmore is an English actor. He won the Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer in two consecutive years, in 2017, he won a Peoples Choice Award for his work on the fourth season. Highmore was born on 14 February 1992 in Camden Town, London, England and his mother, Sue Latimer, is a talent agent whose clients include actors Daniel Radcliffe and Imelda Staunton, and his father, Edward Highmore, is an actor. He has a brother named Albert Bertie Highmore, born in 1995. Highmores home is in Highgate, an area of North London, Highmore began his acting career with small roles on television at the age of 7. He made his debut in Coky Giedroycs comedy Women Talking Dirty. In 2004, Highmore returned to the big screen for the adventure film Two Brothers. He played the son of a French administrator who refuses to believe that his new friend and he next had a major role alongside Kenneth Branagh, Zoë Wanamaker and Eddie Izzard in the fantasy film Five Children and It. That same year, Highmore made his breakthrough with an acclaimed performance as troubled Peter Llewelyn Davies in Marc Forsters semi-biographical film Finding Neverland. In 2005, he portrayed the role of Charlie Bucket in the musical fantasy film Charlie. Highmore had not seen the original 1971 version of the film, for his role, he again won the Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and was awarded the Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent. Highmore also lent his voice to the accompanying video game of the same name. He next appeared as a young Max Skinner in the comedy-drama film A Good Year, also in 2006, he began portraying protagonist Arthur Montgomery in the live-action/animated fantasy adventure film Arthur and the Invisibles, released on 13 December 2006. Two sequels followed, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard and Arthur 3, for the third film and the trilogys accompanying video game, Highmore provided voice acting. In 2007, he lent his voice to the fantasy film The Golden Compass. He then portrayed the character in the drama film August Rush, alongside Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The story follows a musical prodigy as he searches for his birth parents and this film received a wide release on 21 November 2007. The film also had a game, The Spiderwick Chronicles, in which Highmore reprised the characters of Simon
36.
John Hurt
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Sir John Vincent Hurt, CBE was an English actor whose screen and stage career spanned more than 50 years. Hurt was regarded as one of Britains finest thespians, director David Lynch described him as simply the greatest actor in the world and he was also visible as Caligula in BBC TV series I, Claudius. Hurts performance in prison drama Midnight Express brought him international renown, Hurt earned his third competitive BAFTA, along with his second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as Joseph Merrick in David Lynchs biopic The Elephant Man. Hurt was again BAFTA-nominated for his work in Irish drama The Field, Hurt reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in TV film An Englishman in New York, which brought his seventh BAFTA nomination, and also portrayed the War Doctor in BBC TV series Doctor Who in 2013. His last performance will be in Darkest Hour, as former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in 2012, he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema. He was knighted in 2015 for his services to drama, Hurts father was also Vicar of St Johns parish in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. In 1937, he moved his family to Derbyshire, where he became Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity Church, when Hurt was five, his father became the vicar of St Stephens Church in Woodville, Derbyshire, and remained there until 1952. Hurt had an upbringing, the family lived opposite a cinema. He was also not permitted to mix with local children because his parents saw them as too common, at the age of eight, Hurt was sent to the Anglican St Michaels Preparatory School in Otford, Kent, where he eventually developed his passion for acting. He decided he wanted to become an actor, and his first role was that of a girl in a production of The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck. He has stated that while he was a pupil at the school, he was abused by Donald Cormack, then Senior Master of the school and later Headmaster until his retirement in 1981. Hurt said that Cormack would remove his two front teeth and put his tongue in the boys mouths, and would rub their faces with his stubble. Hurt often went with his mother to Cleethorpes Repertory Theatre, but his parents disliked his acting ambitions and his headmaster, Mr Franklin, laughed when Hurt told him he wanted to be an actor, telling him that he wouldnt stand a chance in the profession. Aged 17, Hurt enrolled in Grimsby Art School, where he studied art, in 1959, he won a scholarship allowing him to study for an Art Teachers Diploma at Saint Martins School of Art in London. Despite the scholarship, paying his tuition fees and living expenses was difficult, so he persuaded some of his friends to pose naked, in 1960, he won a scholarship to RADA, where he trained for two years. Hurts first film was The Wild and the Willing, but his first major role was as Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons. He played Timothy Evans, who was hanged for murders committed by his landlord John Christie, in 10 Rillington Place and his portrayal of Quentin Crisp in the TV play The Naked Civil Servant gave him prominence and earned him the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. The following year, Hurt won further acclaim for his performance as the Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC drama serial, I
37.
Toby Stephens
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Toby Stephens is an English stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. Stephens, the son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, was born in London. He was educated at Aldro and Seaford College and he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Stephens began his career with the role of Othello in 1992s Orlando. He has since made appearances on television and on stage. He played the role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus shortly after graduation from LAMDA. He also played Stanley Kowalski in a West End production of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire and he has appeared on Broadway in Ring Round the Moon. He played the lead in the film Photographing Fairies and played Orsino in Trevor Nunns 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeares Twelfth Night, in 2002 he took on the role for which he is most widely known, that of Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day. Aged 33 at the time of release, he remains the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain. In 2005 he played the role of a British Army captain in the Indian film, The Rising, Ballad of Mangal Pandey, the following year he returned to India to play a renegade British East India Company officer in Sharpes Challenge. During mid-2007, Stephens played the role of Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinters Betrayal under the direction of Roger Michell, later that year, Stephens also starred as Horner in Jonathan Kents revival of William Wycherleys The Country Wife. Various members of the company are expected to star in upcoming productions at the Haymarket Theatre with various artistic directors, the formation of the company is considered by many London theatre critics to be a bold move for West End theatre. In February 2008, the Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a one hour, prime time US television show, Inseparable. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralysed forensic psychologist whose other personality is a charming criminal, Stephens casting was highly unusual, because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the show. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that y the time the network picked up the pilot. In May 2008, Stephens performed the role of James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Flemings Dr. No, as part of the centenary celebration of Flemings birth. The production was reportedly the first BBC radio dramatisation of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, also in May 2008, Stock-pot Productions announced that Stephens will have the lead role in a feature-length film entitled Fly Me, co-starring Tim McInnerny. Stock-pot was also the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film shown at film festivals
38.
Toronto International Film Festival
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The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Year-round, TIFF Bell Lightbox offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals, workshops, industry support, TIFF Bell Lightbox is located on the north west corner of King Street and John Street in downtown Toronto. In 2015,397 films from 71 countries were screened at 28 screens in downtown Toronto venues, welcoming an estimated 480,000 attendees, TIFF starts the Thursday night after Labour Day and lasts for eleven days. Founded in 1976, TIFF is now one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world, in 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that TIFF is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity. In 2007, TIME noted that TIFF had grown from its place as the most influential film festival to the most influential film festival. This is partially the result of TIFFs ability and reputation for generating Oscar buzz, the Toronto International Festival’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award — which is based on popular vote by Festival filmgoers — has emerged as a beacon of awards-season success. Founded by Bill Marshall, Dusty Cohl and Henk Van der Kolk and that first year,35,000 filmgoers watched 127 films from 30 countries presented in ten programmes. Piers Handling has been the director and CEO since 1994. TIFF was once centred on the Yorkville neighbourhood, but the Toronto Entertainment District later gained a level of prominence. TIFF is known for the celebrity buzz it brings to the area with international media setting up near its restaurants and stores for photos and interviews with the stars. In 2010, TIFF opened its permanent headquarters, TIFF Bell Lightbox, TIFF has grown, steadily adding initiatives throughout the years. TIFF Cinematheque and the Film Reference Library opened in 1990, the TIFF Kids International Film Festival launched in 1998. Film Circuit began exhibiting independent and Canadian films in under-serviced cities across Canada in 1994, the festival was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel by Bill Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl. Beginning as a collection of the films from film festivals around the world. Ironically, however, Hollywood studios withdrew their submissions from TIFF due to concerns that Toronto audiences would be too parochial for their products, in 1994, the decision was made to replace the name Festival of Festivals with Toronto International Film Festival. From 1994 to 2009, the organization running TIFF was named Toronto International Film Festival Group. In 2009, the umbrella organization TIFFG was renamed to TIFF, in 2001, Perspective Canada, the programme that had focused on Canadian films since 1984, was replaced by two programmes, Canada First. A forum for Canadian filmmakers presenting their first feature-length work, featuring eight to 15 films, and Short Cuts Canada, in 2004, TIFF was featured as the site of murder mystery in the film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, a comedy film starring Martin Short
39.
Catherine Zeta-Jones
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Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE is a Welsh actress. Born and raised in Swansea, Zeta-Jones aspired to be an actress from a young age, in her early teens, she played roles in the West End productions of the musicals Annie and Bugsy Malone. She studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London and her screen debut came in the unsuccessful French-Italian film 1001 Nights, and she went on to find greater success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May. Dismayed at being typecast as the pretty girl in British films. Zeta-Jones initially established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro, critics praised her portrayal of a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago. The latter won her Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress, parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to stage and portrayed an ageing actress in A Little Night Music, winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, starring in the psychological thriller Side Effects and she supports various charities and causes, and is a prominent celebrity endorser of brands. Her struggle with depression and bipolar II disorder has been well-documented by the media and she is married to the actor Michael Douglas with whom she has two children. Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, on 25 September 1969 to David Jones, the owner of a factory, and his wife Patricia. Her father is Welsh and her mother is of Irish Catholic descent and she was named after her grandmothers, Zeta Jones and Catherine Fair. She has a brother, David, and a younger brother, Lyndon. Zeta-Jones was raised in the area of Mumbles. Because Zeta-Jones was a child, her mother sent her to the Hazel Johnson School of Dance when she was four years old. She was educated at the Dumbarton House School, a school in Swansea. The family came from a modest background, but their fortunes improved when they won £100,000 in a competition, allowing them to pay for Zeta-Jones dance. Zeta-Jones participated in stage shows from a young age and gained local media attention when her rendition of a Shirley Bassey song won a Junior Star Trail talent competition. As part of a troupe, she routinely took trips to London. At the age of nine, she was selected to one of the orphan girls in a West End production of the musical Annie
40.
Colin Firth
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Colin Andrew Firth, CBE is an English actor. His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide, Firth has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup. Firths most notable and acclaimed role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI in The Kings Speech and this led to roles in films such as The English Patient, Bridget Joness Diary, Shakespeare in Love, and Love Actually. In 2009, Firth received widespread acclaim for his leading role in A Single Man, for which Firth gained his first Academy Award nomination. Firth starred in the spy movie Kingsman, The Secret Service in 2014. In 2011, Firth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Winchester in 2007, and was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2012. He has campaigned for the rights of tribal peoples, and is a member of Survival International. Firth has also campaigned on issues of asylum seekers, refugees rights, and he commissioned and is credited as a co-author on a scientific paper on a study into the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations. Firth was born in the village of Grayshott, Hampshire, to parents who were both academics and teachers, Firth is the eldest of three children, he has a sister, Kate, an actress and voice coach, and a brother, Jonathan, an actor. Both of his parents were raised in India, because his grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather. As a child, Firth travelled a lot due to his parents work and he also lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11, which he has described as a difficult time. On returning to England, he attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School and he was still an outsider and was the target of bullying. To counter this, he adopted the working class Hampshire accent. By the time he was 14, Firth had already decided to be a professional actor, until further education, he was not academically inclined, later saying in an interview, I didnt like school. I just thought it was boring and mediocre and nothing they taught me seemed to be of any interest at all, after his sixth form years, Firth moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre. There, he made contacts in the acting world, from which he got a job in the wardrobe department at the National Theatre. From there, he went on to study at Drama Centre London, in 1984, Firth made his film debut in the role of Tommy Judd, Guy Bennetts straight, Marxist school friend in the screen adaptation of the play. This was the start of longstanding public feud between Firth and Everett, which was later resolved and he starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of J. B
