1.
Order of the Companions of Honour
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The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. Founded on the date as the Order of the British Empire. The order consists of the Sovereign plus no more than 65 members, additionally, foreigners from outside the realms may be added as honorary members. Membership confers no title or precedence, but those inducted into the order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH. Appointments can be made on the advice of Commonwealth realm prime ministers, for Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom,7 for Australia,2 for New Zealand, the quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding 2 places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the 9 for the other countries to 7. While able to nominate candidates to the Order, New Zealand, as of 2016 those countries have nominated only politicians who have served as Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. Men wear the badge on a ribbon and women on a bow at the left shoulder. Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II List of Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour List of honorary British Knights List of people who have declined a British honour
2.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
3.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
4.
Warwickshire
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Warwickshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton, the county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks, the county is divided into five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon. The current county boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the historic county boundaries also included Coventry and Solihull, as well as much of Birmingham. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles from the Derbyshire border, an average-sized English county covering an area of almost 2,000 km2, it runs some 60 miles north to south. Equivalently it extends as far north as Shrewsbury in Shropshire and as far south as Banbury in north Oxfordshire, the majority of Warwickshires population live in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and include Atherstone, Bedworth, Nuneaton, of these, Atherstone has retained most of its original character. Major industries included coal mining, textiles, engineering and cement production, of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby are well-known outside of Warwickshire. The south of the county is rural and sparsely populated. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour, the highest point in the county, at 261 m, is Ebrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire, grid reference SP187426 at the countys southwest extremity. There are no cities in Warwickshire since both Coventry and Birmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves, the largest towns in Warwickshire in 2011 were, Nuneaton, Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Warwick, Stratford and Kenilworth. Much of western Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull, thus the names of a number of places in the central-western part of Warwickshire end with the phrase -in-Arden, such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden – from fielden, areas historically part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, and some of Birmingham including Aston and Edgbaston. These became part of the county of West Midlands following local government re-organisation in 1974. Some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which is based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as an area and share a single Chamber of Commerce. Coventry has been a part of Warwickshire for only some of its history, in 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire, in recent times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
Sussex
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Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. Brighton and Hove was created as an authority in 1997. Until then, Chichester was Sussexs only city, Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each oriented approximately east to west. In the south-west is the fertile and densely populated coastal plain, North of this are the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which is the well-wooded Sussex Weald. The name derives from the Kingdom of Sussex, which was founded, according to legend, in 825, it was absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex and subsequently into the kingdom of England. It was the home of some of Europes earliest hominids, whose remains have been found at Boxgrove, in 1974, the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex, which became separate ceremonial counties. Sussex continues to be recognised as a territory and cultural region. It has had a police force since 1968 and its name is in common use in the media. In 2007, Sussex Day was created to celebrate the rich culture. Based on the emblem of Sussex, a blue shield with six gold martlets. In 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles formally recognised and acknowledged the existence of Englands 39 historic counties. The name Sussex is derived from the Middle English Suth-sæxe, which is in turn derived from the Old English Suth-Seaxe which means of the South Saxons, the South Saxons were a Germanic tribe that settled in the region from the North German Plain during the 5th and 6th centuries. The earliest known usage of the term South Saxons is in a charter of 689 which names them and their king, Noðhelm. The monastic chronicler who wrote up the entry classifying the invasion seems to have got his dates wrong, the New Latin word Suthsexia was used for Sussex by Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu in his 1645 map. Three United States counties, and a former division of Western Australia, are named after Sussex. The flag of Sussex consists of six gold martlets, or heraldic swallows, on a background, blazoned as Azure. Officially recognised by the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011, its design is based on the shield of Sussex. The first known recording of this emblem being used to represent the county was in 1611 when cartographer John Speed deployed it to represent the Kingdom of the South Saxons
7.
Balcombe
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Balcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies 31 miles south of London,16 miles north of Brighton, nearby towns include Crawley to the north west and Haywards Heath to the south south east. The name Balcombe may mean Mining Place Camp, Bal is a Cornish word meaning a mining place as in Bal Maidens, and the same word may have existed in Ancient British Celtic. Although Coombe or Combe can mean a valley, it can come from the Roman camp. So possibly from its name Balcombe could have once been a Romano-British mining settlement, south of Balcombe on the London to Brighton railway line is the Ouse Valley Viaduct. Designed and engineered by John Urpeth Rastrick in consultation with the talented architect David Mocatta and it is 100 feet high and 500 yards long. It has 37 arches and was built with 11 million imported Dutch bricks, the village has a series of murals about World War I in its Victory Hall. Lady Gertrude Denman commissioned artist Neville Lytton to paint the thirty-four feet long by ten feet high frescoes, the murals were featured on a television programme about the war in 2005. Balcombe was the birthplace of Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne DCM, who fought at the battle of Rorkes Drift in the Zulu War and he was the last British survivor of that battle when he died in Dorking in 1945. Famous residents included actor Paul Scofield, the River Ouse was once navigable from the south coast to Balcombe, for the delivery of Dutch bricks to the viaduct. The village has a station which lies just north of Haywards Heath on the Brighton Main Line. Balcombe railway station helped expand a predominantly farming community into one of the popular London commuter villages, the station offers direct services to London and Brighton. To the north of the village is Balcombe tunnel, test drilling and possible fracking for petroleum deposits was proposed in 2012. A protest group was formed and a picnic was held, there was considerable opposition in the local population to exploration plans. Cuadrilla Resources, the company that proposes to drill the well, previous exploration by Conoco in the same area in 1986 was abandoned. In July 2013 a licence to drill the well was granted by the Environment Agency and Cuadrilla began transporting equipment, the well would be 3,000 feet deep with a possible 2,500 feet horizontal leg. As of August 2013 Balcombe had emerged as a focus of opposition to fracking in the Weald Basin of southeast England, in March 2014, a group of residents set up a renewable energy co-operative called REPOWERBalcombe, with a view to healing the rifts that emerged during the protests. REPOWERBalcombe aims to match the domestic electricity demand with community owned solar power
8.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
9.
Golden Globe Award
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
10.
British Academy Film Awards
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The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to honour the best British and international contributions to film. Between 2008 and 2016, the ceremony was held in central London at the Royal Opera House, the 70th British Academy Film Awards were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in 1947 as The British Film Academy, by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Roger Manvell and others. BAFTA stated charitable purpose is to support, develop and promote the art forms of the image, by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners. In addition to awards ceremonies BAFTA runs a year-round programme of educational events including film screenings. BAFTA is supported by a membership of about 6,000 people from the film, television, the Academys awards are in the form of a theatrical mask designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe, which was commissioned by the Guild of Television Producers in 1955. The ceremony previously took place in April or May and since 2002 it takes place in February in order to precede the Oscars. The awards are open to all nationalities, though there is an award for Outstanding British Film. Only UK films are eligible for the categories of The British Short Film, the Awards ceremony is delayed broadcast on British television the same evening, and across the world for example its shown on BBC America in the United States. It has been broadcast in colour since 1970, the award ceremony is held in London. From 2000 to 2007 the ceremonies took place at the flagship Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, between 2008 and 2016, the ceremonies took place at the Royal Opera House. The 70th Awards in 2017 were held at the Royal Albert Hall, until 2012, the mobile network Orange sponsored the awards and starting in 2013 Oranges parent company, EE, began sponsorship. British Academy of Film and Television Arts British Academy Television Awards Official website BAFTA Awards database Museum of Broadcast Communications, BAFTA IMDB, BAFTA
11.
Thomas More
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Sir Thomas More, venerated by Roman Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532 and he also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation. More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther, More also opposed the Kings separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason, of his execution, he was reported to have said, I die the Kings good servant, but Gods first. Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr, Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians. Since 1980, the Church of England has remembered More liturgically as a Reformation martyr, the Soviet Union honoured him for the Communist attitude toward property rights expressed in Utopia. From 1490 to 1492, More served John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, Morton enthusiastically supported the New Learning, and thought highly of the young More. Believing that More had great potential, Morton nominated him for a place at the University of Oxford, More began his studies at Oxford in 1492, and received a classical education. Studying under Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn, he became proficient in both Latin and Greek, More left Oxford after only two years—at his fathers insistence—to begin legal training in London at New Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery. In 1496, More became a student at Lincolns Inn, one of the Inns of Court, where he remained until 1502, according to his friend, theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, More once seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career to become a monk. Between 1503 and 1504 More lived near the Carthusian monastery outside the walls of London, although he deeply admired their piety, More ultimately decided to remain a layman, standing for election to Parliament in 1504 and marrying the following year. In spite of his choice to pursue a career, More continued ascetic practices for the rest of his life, such as wearing a hair shirt next to his skin. A tradition of the Third Order of Saint Francis honours More as a member of that Order on their calendar of saints, More married Jane Colt in 1505. She was five years younger than her husband, quiet and good-natured, Erasmus reported that More wanted to give his young wife a better education than she had previously received at home, and tutored her in music and literature. The couple had four children before Jane died in 1511, Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely, going against friends advice and common custom, within thirty days More had married one of the many eligible women among his wide circle of friends. He certainly expected a mother to care of his little children and, as the view of his time considered marriage as an economic union, he chose a rich widow. More was not viewed as being in haste to remarry for the gratification of sexual pleasure, as Alice was older than he, and their marriage was possibly not consummated. The speed of the marriage was so unusual that More had to get a dispensation of the banns, Alice More lacked Janes docility, Mores friend Andrew Ammonius derided Alice as a hook-nosed harpy
12.
A Man for All Seasons
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A Man For All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. It was first performed in London opening at the Globe Theatre on 1 July 1960 and it later found its way to Broadway, enjoying a critically and commercially successful run of over a year. It has had several revivals, and was made into a multi-Academy Award-winning 1966 feature film. The play portrays More as a man of principle, envied by rivals such as Thomas Cromwell and loved by the common people, the title reflects 20th century agnostic playwright Robert Bolt’s portrayal of More as the ultimate man of conscience. As one who remains true to himself and his beliefs while adapting to all circumstances and times, despite external pressure or influence, More represents a man for all seasons. Bolt borrowed the title from Robert Whittington, a contemporary of More, for where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability. And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, a Man for All Seasons struggles with ideas of identity and conscience. More argues repeatedly that a person is defined by his conscience and his own position is depicted as almost indefensible, the Pope is described as a bad and corrupt individual, forced by the Emperor Charles V to act according to his will. But as More says to Norfolk, What matters is not that its true, but that I believe it, or no, not that I believe it, but that I believe it. More fears that if he breaks with his conscience, he will be damned to hell, while his associates and friends are more concerned with holding onto their own temporal power. At another key point of the play, More testifies before a committee and Norfolk attempts to persuade him to sign the Succession to the Crown Act 1534, Norfolk, Oh. Im not a scholar, as Master Cromwell never tires of pointing out, but damn it, Thomas, look at those names. Cant you do what I did, and come with us, for fellowship. More, And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, Mores persecution is made to seem even more unjust by the inclusion of Eustace Chapuys, the long-time Imperial ambassador to England, into the story. Instead, More informs Norfolk of the plot, showing him to be patriotic, Bolt also establishes an anti-authoritarian theme which recurs throughout his works. All people in positions of power – King Henry, Cromwell, Wolsey, Cranmer, Chapuys, even Norfolk – are depicted as being corrupt, evil, or at best expedient. Bolts later plays and film screenplays also delve into this theme, although it is the law that eventually forces Mores execution, the play also makes several powerful statements in support of the rule of law. At one point Mores future son-in-law, Roper, urges him to arrest Richard Rich, More answers that Rich has broken no law, And go he should if he were the Devil himself until he broke the law
13.
West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
14.
Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at a ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre, several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Tony Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, the rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wings Tony Awards, which applies for that season only. It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards, the Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France. From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, in 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall, the 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12,2016 at the Beacon Theatre. The 71st Tony Awards will be held on June 11,2017, as of 2014, there are 24 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years, some examples, the category Best Book of a Musical was originally called Best Author. The category of Best Costume Design was one of the original awards, for two years, in 1960 and 1961, this category was split into Best Costume Designer and Best Costume Designer. It then went to a category, but in 2005 it was divided again. For the category of Best Director of a Play, a category was for directors of plays. A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian. The category of Best Special Theatrical Event was retired as of the 2009–2010 season, the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical were retired as of the 2014-2015 season. Performance categories Show and technical categories Special awards Retired awards The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of the American Theatre Wing headed by Brock Pemberton. The award is named after Antoinette Perry, nicknamed Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who died in 1946. As her official biography at the Tony Awards website states, At Jacob Wilks suggestion, proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting, at the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony
15.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
16.
Helen Mirren
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Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE is an English actor. The Audience was written by Peter Morgan, who also wrote The Queen, Tingle, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, The Last Station, Hitchcock, and The Hundred-Foot Journey. She played Victoria Winslow in the action-comedy films Red and Red 2, in 2003, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to the Performing Arts. In 2013, Mirren was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she was born Helen Lydia Mironoff at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, west London, the daughter of Kathleen Kitty Alexandrina Eva Matilda and Vasily Petrovich Mironoff. Her mother was English and her father was Russian, originally from Kuryanovo, Mirrens paternal grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was in the Imperial Russian Army and fought in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. He later became a diplomat, and was negotiating a deal in Britain when he. The former diplomat became a London cab driver to support his family and his son, Helen Mirrens father, anglicised the family name to Mirren in the 1950s and changed his name to Basil Mirren. He played the viola with the London Philharmonic before World War II, Mirrens mother was a working-class Londoner from West Ham, East London, and was the 13th of 14 children born to a butcher whose own father had been the butcher to Queen Victoria. Mirren considers her upbringing to have been very anti-monarchist, Mirren was the second of three children, she was born three years after her older sister, Katherine, and also had a younger brother, Peter Basil. Mirren was brought up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, aged eighteen, she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and was accepted. By the time she was 20, she was playing Cleopatra in the NYT production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Old Vic, as a result of her work for the National Youth Theatre, Mirren was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also appeared in four productions, directed by Braham Murray for Century Theatre at the University Theatre in Manchester, in 1970, the director/producer John Goldschmidt made a documentary film, Doing Her Own Thing, about Mirren during her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The film was made for ATV and shown on the ITV Network in the UK and she then rejoined the RSC, playing Lady Macbeth at Stratford in 1974 and at the Aldwych Theatre in 1975. According to Beauman, there were no repercussions for this rebuke of the RSC. Her performance earned her the London critics Plays & Players Best Actress award, beginning in November 1975, Mirren played in West End repertory with the Lyric Theatre Company as Nina in The Seagull and Ella in Ben Travers new farce The Bed Before Yesterday. In 1981, she returned to the Royal Court for the London premiere of Brian Friels Faith Healer, – Michael Coveney, Financial Times, April 1983. On 15 February 2013, at the West Ends Gielgud Theatre she began a turn as Elizabeth II in the World Premiere of Peter Morgans The Audience, the show was directed by Stephen Daldry. In April she was named best actress at the Olivier Awards for her role, a further stage breakthrough came in 1994, in an Yvonne Arnaud Theatre production bound for the West End, when Bill Bryden cast her as Natalya Petrovna in Ivan Turgenevs A Month in the Country
17.
When the Whales Came
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When the Whales Came is a 1989 British film, based on the 1985 childrens book Why the Whales Came written by Michael Morpurgo. The film is set on the fictional British island of Scylla, while the location of the book is identified as Bryher. Two children named Gracie Jenkins and Daniel Pender are best friends living on the island of Bryher and they enjoy sailing wooden boats that they make off the numerous beaches, but the tide carries their favorite one across to a forbidden bay. This is the home of a local hermit nicknamed the Birdman, whom all the children are forbidden to go near and this is partly due to him being born on a nearby island named Samson which all locals avoid, as they say it is cursed. On stormy nights he goes over to Samson and can be seen sending lantern signals out to sea, daring to go to the Birdmans beach, Daniel and Gracie find the missing boat on the sand with a message written in stones, left by the hermit. Daniel leaves a message saying thank you and tells him their names. Later the Birdman leaves them a beautiful carving of a seabird, life on Bryher is hard and very rustic. The villagers survive on fishing and growing their own produce, Daniels father is a violent man who has to work extra hard in order to feed his large family of seven children. Gracies parents, Jack and Clem, are kinder, Gracie is a child as their parents have not been able to have more children. However, her father doesnt see school as important for Gracie in their lives as fishermen, the local school is on a nearby island and ruled by Mr Welbeloved, who struggles to get the rustic students to work. He is worried over the war and warns children to be vigilant against any who might be sending messages to enemies. Daniel and Gracie soon meet the Birdman in person, discover that he is kind, gentle, the NarWhales cursed them and the boat shipping the islanders and horns to the mainland was sunk, the Birdmans father among them. Next illness and death struck the island, then the plants began to fail, chickens stopped laying, mrs Woodcock had sworn she would not leave her husbands ghost alone, but when the Well runs dry, she is forced to leave. Before they do, the claims the Birdmans hearing, making him deaf. Daniel asks the Birdman to teach him to carve, and soon begins to become expert, one day the Birdman tells the children about a large amount of valuable timber which has washed up on one of the islands shores. The islanders all gather to collect and hide this timber before the authorities arrive. While searching the island they ask to see in Gracies attic, Jack asks where it came from and Gracie insists that Daniel made it. When Daniel shows several of his new carvings, Jack apologises, the war begins and Gracies father decides to go and fight in the Navy, as an experienced sailor, he feels it is his duty
18.
Mel Gibson
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Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson AO is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Peekskill, New York, and moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia and he studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a company which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called. Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama Gallipoli, the film also helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor. He later directed and produced the successful and controversial, biblical drama film The Passion of the Christ. He received further critical notice for his work of the action-adventure film Apocalypto. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children, and the son of Hutton Gibson, a writer. One of Gibsons younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor, because of his mother, Gibson retains dual Irish and American citizenship. Mel was twelve years old at the time, Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St Leos Catholic College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, during his high school years. Gibson gained very favorable notices from critics when he first entered the cinematic scene. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that Mr. Gibson recalls the young Steve McQueen, I cant define star quality, but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it. Gibson has also likened to a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. Gibsons roles in the Mad Max series of films, Peter Weirs Gallipoli, later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in Maverick and What Women Want. He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with, The Man Without a Face, in 1993, Braveheart, in 1995, The Passion of the Christ, in 2004, jess Cagle of Time compared Gibson with Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and Robert Redford. Connery once suggested Gibson should play the next James Bond to Connerys M. Gibson turned down the role, Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation for screen acting. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide
19.
Franco Zeffirelli
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Franco Zeffirelli, KBE Grande Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian director and producer of operas, films and television. He is also a senator for the Italian centre-right Forza Italia party. Recently Italian researchers have found that he is one of the few distant relatives of Leonardo da Vinci, some of his operatic designs and productions have become worldwide classics. He is also known for several of the movies he has directed, especially the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and his 1967 version of The Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remains the best-known film adaptation of that play as well. His miniseries Jesus of Nazareth won acclaim and is shown on Christmas. He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome, Zeffirelli was born Gianfranco Zeffirelli in the outskirts of Florence, Italy. He was the result of an affair between Alaide Garosi, a designer, and Ottorino Corsi, a wool and silk dealer. Since both were married, Alaide was unable to use her surname or Corsis for her child and she came up with Zeffiretti which are the little breezes mentioned in Mozarts opera Idomeneo, of which she was quite fond. However, it was misspelled in the register and became Zeffirelli and he graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze in 1941 and, following his fathers advice, entered the University of Florence to study art and architecture. After World War II broke out, he fought as a partisan, before he met up with British soldiers of the 1st Scots Guards and became their interpreter. After the war, he re-entered the University of Florence to continue his studies, but when he saw Laurence Oliviers Henry V in 1945, he directed his attention toward theatre instead. While working for a painter in Florence, he was introduced to and hired by Luchino Visconti, who made him the assistant director for the film La Terra trema. Viscontis methods had an impact upon Zeffirellis later work. He also worked with such as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini. In the 1960s, he made his name designing and directing his own plays in London and New York, Taylor and Burton helped fund production and took a percentage of the profits rather than their normal salaries. While editing The Taming of the Shrew, Zeffirellis native Florence was devastated by floods, a month later, Zeffirelli released a short documentary, Florence, Days of Destruction, to raise funds for the disaster appeal. Zeffirellis major breakthrough came the year after when he presented two teenagers as Romeo and Juliet, the movie is still immensely popular and was for many years the standard adaptation of the play shown to students. This movie also made Zeffirelli a household name - no other subsequent work by him had the impact of Romeo
20.
Hamlet (1990 film)
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Hamlet is a 1990 American drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Mel Gibson as the eponymous character. The film also features Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Dillane and it is notable for being the first film from Icon Productions, a company co-founded by Gibson. In Denmark, Prince Hamlet finds himself involved in a conspiracy of power to the royal palace, cruel uncle Claudius kills his brother and takes the power of the kingdom. After an encounter with the restless ghost of his father, Hamlet feigns madness. Mel Gibson was at that press conference, where it was announced that he would play Hamlet. Zeffirelli had set out to make a Shakespearian adaptation that would be accessible and appealing to younger viewers, Glenn Close was another obvious choice, having had recent box-office success with such Hollywood thrillers as Jagged Edge and Fatal Attraction. Financing was provided on loan from a Dutch bank by Carolco Pictures, Barry Spikings Nelson Entertainment, filming was set to begin on April 23,1990, with an 11-week shooting schedule. Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven and Blackness Castle were used as locations in the film, dover Castle provided the main location for Elsinore Castle, the home of Hamlet and his family. Interiors were filmed at Shepperton Studios in London, norma Moriceau was the projects initial costume designer, but quit for unknown reasons, to be replaced by Maurizio Millenotti. Tailors from Shepperton assembled the costumes, the film attracted little attention from major Hollywood studios, until post-production, when companies such as Warner Bros. Paramount, and Orion expressed interest in purchasing the film, Nelson Entertainment, which held the North American distribution rights, licensed theatrical exhibition to Warner as part of an incentive to lure Gibson into making Lethal Weapon 3. Despite Nelson owning a home video arm, they sold the rights to Warner as well. Warner Bros. attempted to attract high schools with study guides, an hour-long educational video titled Mel Gibson Goes Back to School was released in conjunction with the film, showing the actor lecturing Hamlet to a group of high-school students in Los Angeles. To this end, he cast Gibson — then famous for the Mad Max, cartmell also notes that the text is drastically cut, but with the effect of enhancing the roles of the women. J. Lawrence Guntner has suggested that Zeffirellis cinematography borrows heavily from the film genre that made Gibson famous. In casting Gibson, the director has said to have made the stars reputation part of the performance. Indeed, Gibson was cast after Zeffirelli watched his character, Martin Riggs, the fight between Hamlet and Laertes is an example of using Gibsons experience in action movies, Gibson handily depicts Hamlet as an experienced fencer. Initial reviews for Zeffirellis Hamlet were mixed, noted critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, calling Mel Gibsons portrayal of the Danish Prince a strong, intelligent performance
21.
Mike Tyson
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Michael Gerard Mike Tyson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. He held the world heavyweight championship and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years,4 months. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout,12 of them in the first round and he won the WBC title in 1986 after stopping Trevor Berbick in two rounds. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating James Smith and this made him the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them. In 1988, Tyson became the champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round. Tyson successfully defended the heavyweight championship nine times, including victories over Larry Holmes. In 1990, he lost his titles to underdog Buster Douglas, attempting to regain the titles, Tyson defeated Donovan Ruddock twice in 1991, but pulled out of a fight with then-undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield due to a rib injury. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape and sentenced to six years in prison, after his release in 1995, he engaged in a series of comeback fights. He won the WBC and WBA titles in 1996, after defeating Frank Bruno, after being stripped of the WBC title in the same year, Tyson lost the WBA title to Evander Holyfield by an eleventh-round stoppage. Their infamous 1997 rematch ended when Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfields ears, in 2002, Tyson fought for the world heavyweight title at the age of 35, losing by knockout to Lennox Lewis. Tyson retired from boxing in 2006, after being knocked out in consecutive matches against Danny Williams. Tyson declared bankruptcy in 2003, despite having received over $30 million for several of his fights, at the time it was reported that he had approximately $23 million of debt. Tyson was well known for his ferocious and intimidating boxing style as well as his controversial behavior inside and outside the ring. Nicknamed Iron, and Kid Dynamite in his career, and later known as The Baddest Man on the Planet. He was ranked No.16 on The Rings list of 100 greatest punchers of all time, sky Sports rated him as the scariest boxer ever, and described him as perhaps the most ferocious fighter to step into a professional ring. He has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Tyson was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 30,1966. He has a brother named Rodney and had an elder sister named Denise. Tysons biological father is listed as Purcell Tyson on his birth certificate, Kirkpatrick was from Grier Town, North Carolina, where he was one of the neighborhoods top baseball players
22.
Hurstpierpoint
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Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England,4 miles southwest of Burgess Hill, and 1.5 miles west of Hassocks railway station. Together with Sayers Common, it forms a parish with an area of 2029.88 ha. The name derives from Hurst, the Saxon name for a wooded hill, the settlement was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Throughout the centuries there have been several variants on the Hurstpierpoint name e. g. Herst, Herstperpunt, the village is chiefly one long street running east and west and most of the buildings in it are of the 18th century or later. After the Conquest, the remaining 18½ hides were held in 1086 by Robert de Pierpoint of William de Warenne, there was a church and 3 mills. The overlordship descended with the rape until the division after the death of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, in 1439, when the 10 fees late of Robert de Pierpoint passed to the Duke of Norfolk. Subsequently the overlordship of Hurstpierpoint came into the hands of the Lords Bergavenny, the late 20th Century and early 21st Century saw Hurstpierpoint expanding with new homes built North, East and West of the village. On 9 September 2016, a fire started to the rear of the village pet shop on the High Street causing significant damage to the adjoining Cooperative Supermarket. In Hurstpierpoint, there is a scouts HQ and a guides HQ, scouts is for boys, and Guides is for girls. Hurstpierpoint is located close to the A23, to the south of Hurstpierpoint is Danny House an Elizabethan Mansion at the foot of Wolstonbury Hill which forms part of the South Downs. It has some restaurants including The New Inn. It also has a brewery at the back of the White Horse, the base of the tower serves as a porch and there is a small porch to the north chapel. The church was rebuilt from the designs of Sir Charles Barry in 1843–5. In 1854, the chapel was added, and in 1874 the south chapel. The north transept has been fitted up as a chapel in memory of those who died in the War of 1914–18. The church which it replaced consisted of a chancel with a chapel of approximately equal dimensions, a nave with south aisle and north porch. It had been almost rebuilt by a rector, John Urry, about 1420, a number of funeral monuments and fittings were preserved from the old church. The font is probably of c,1200, but the heavy round bowl has been reworked and painted, the stem is plain, the base has a late 12th or early 13th century mould
23.
Garry O'Connor (writer)
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Garry OConnor is a playwright, biographer and novelist. Born Edgware, London, England, Garry OConnor is a biographer and novelist, noted for his publications on theatrical and literary figures. Educated at St Albans School and Kings College, Cambridge, where he was an Exhibitioner and State Scholar and he was taught at Cambridge by Professors Boris Ford and John Broadbent, with George Rylands as his Director of Studies, where OConnor concentrated mainly on directing and writing plays. He is an MA of Kings College and this was during the Peter Hall seasons at Stratford Upon Avon. Thereafter he directed plays in London and elsewhere until his decision to become a full-time writer, on 25 June 1970 he married Victoria Meredith-Owens, a farmer and yoga teacher. They have six children, Tobias Cavan, Joseph Owen, Emilie Margaret, Frederick Garry, Peter Alexander, and Juliet Elizabeth and his home is in Kings Sutton, in Northamptonshire. OConnor directed his own version of Jonsons Catiline in the Stratford Studio, with Roy Dotrice, Janet Suzman and he also read plays for the RSC and translated plays from French for the RSC, and later for the National Theatre in Olivier’s regime. OConnor was the first Resident Dramatist and Appeals Director of the Hampstead Theatre Club and his Dialogue Between Friends at the Open Space was based on his involvement with Arnold Weskers controversial The Friends, staged at the Roundhouse in 1970. His book Darlings of the Gods was adapted as a three-part mini-series for Thames Television and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991, and was filmed in Australia. More recently Campions Ghost, adapted from his novel about John Donne, was performed on Radio 4, with Paul McGann and Timothy West in the leading roles. He has also written and presented features for Radio 3, and acted as consultant on BBC1 documentaries on Laurence Olivier and Pope John Paul II, appearing in the latter. In the early 1960s OConnor wrote a short Daily Mail Charles Greville column and he has reviewed books and written features, conducted interviews for the Times, Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and other newspapers. OConnors first book, French Theatre Today, came out in 1976, virtually all his books have been serialised, while he has been translated among other languages into Polish and Swedish. OConnors favourite biography is that of William Shakespeare, in which he endeavours to give Shakespeare a life, not only as a historical figure. for this he brought in the opinions of those who have worked closely with the plays. Widely reviewed as a recreation and an imaginative exercise in faction, a gem. The ideas jostle each other off the page in this entertaining book, the Butcher of Poland, Hitler’s Lawyer Hans Frank. Subdued Fires, An Intimate Portrait of Pope Benedict XVI, the 1st Household Cavalry 1943-44, In the Shadow of Monte Amaro. With the author, Derek Jacobi’s As Luck Would Have It, the Pursuit of Perfection, A Life of Maggie Teyte
24.
Church of England
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The Church of England is the state church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor, the Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It dates its establishment as a church to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. The English church renounced papal authority when Henry VIII sought to secure an annulment from Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s, the English Reformation accelerated under Edward VIs regents before a brief restoration of papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. This is expressed in its emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, as formalised in the Apostles, Nicene, in the earlier phase of the English Reformation there were both Catholic martyrs and radical Protestant martyrs. The later phases saw the Penal Laws punish Roman Catholic and nonconforming Protestants, in the 17th century, political and religious disputes raised the Puritan and Presbyterian faction to control of the church, but this ended with the Restoration. Papal recognition of George III in 1766 led to religious tolerance. Since the English Reformation, the Church of England has used a liturgy in English, the church contains several doctrinal strands, the main three known as Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical and Broad Church. Tensions between theological conservatives and progressives find expression in debates over the ordination of women and homosexuality, the church includes both liberal and conservative clergy and members. The governing structure of the church is based on dioceses, each presided over by a bishop, within each diocese are local parishes. The General Synod of the Church of England is the body for the church and comprises bishops, other clergy. Its measures must be approved by both Houses of Parliament, according to tradition, Christianity arrived in Britain in the 1st or 2nd century, during which time southern Britain became part of the Roman Empire. The earliest historical evidence of Christianity among the native Britons is found in the writings of such early Christian Fathers as Tertullian, three Romano-British bishops, including Restitutus, are known to have been present at the Council of Arles in 314. Others attended the Council of Sardica in 347 and that of Ariminum in 360, Britain was the home of Pelagius, who opposed Augustine of Hippos doctrine of original sin. Consequently, in 597, Pope Gregory I sent the prior of the Abbey of St Andrews from Rome to evangelise the Angles and this event is known as the Gregorian mission and is the date the Church of England generally marks as the beginning of its formal history. A later archbishop, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus, also contributed to the organisation of Christianity in England, the Church of England has been in continuous existence since the days of St Augustine, with the Archbishop of Canterbury as its episcopal head. Despite the various disruptions of the Reformation and the English Civil War, while some Celtic Christian practices were changed at the Synod of Whitby, the Christian Church in the British Isles was under papal authority from earliest times. The Synod of Whitby established the Roman date for Easter and the Roman style of monastic tonsure in Britain and this meeting of the ecclesiastics with Roman customs with local bishops was summoned in 664 at Saint Hildas double monastery of Streonshalh, later called Whitby Abbey
25.
Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
26.
Varndean College
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Varndean College is a sixth form college located in Brighton & Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults. In 1972 the first girls were admitted to the school, and in 1975 it became a sixth form college under its first principal and it shares the Surrenden campus with Balfour Junior School, Balfour Infants School, Dorothy Stringer High School and Varndean Secondary School. The Old Varndeanian Association exists to maintain a network between former pupils and students of both the school and college, as well as pupils of Varndean Girls School. The association maintains contact with thousands of Old Varndeanians and organises regular reunions and other functions
27.
Brighton
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Brighton /ˈbraɪtən/ is a seaside resort on the south coast of England. It is part of the county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman. The ancient settlement of Brighthelmstone was documented in the Domesday Book, Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses. Brighton continued to grow as a centre of tourism following the arrival of the railways in 1841. Many of the attractions were built in the Victorian era, including the Grand Hotel, the West Pier. Brighton attracted 7.5 million day visitors in 2015/16 and 4.9 million overnight visitors, Brighton has also been called the UKs hippest city, and the happiest place to live in the UK. Brightons earliest name was Bristelmestune, recorded in the Domesday Book, although more than 40 variations have been documented, Brighthelmstone was the standard rendering between the 14th and 18th centuries. Brighton was originally a shortened form, first seen in 1660, it gradually supplanted the longer name. Brighthelmstone was the official name until 1810, though. The name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, most scholars believe that it derives from Beorthelm + tūn—the homestead of Beorthelm, a common Old English name associated with villages elsewhere in England. The tūn element is common in Sussex, especially on the coast, an alternative etymology taken from the Old English words for stony valley is sometimes given but has less acceptance. Brighthelm gives its name to, among other things, a church, the town was originally split in half by the Wellesbourne, a winterbourne which was culverted and buried in the 18th century. Poet Horace Smith called it The Queen of Watering Places, which is widely used. Novelist William Makepeace Thackeray referred to Doctor Brighton, calling the one of the best of Physicians. London-by-Sea is well-known, reflecting Brightons popularity with Londoners as a resort, a commuter dormitory. The Queen of Slaughtering Places, a pun on Smiths description, the mid 19th-century nickname School Town referred to the remarkable number of boarding, charity and church schools in the town at the time
28.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
29.
Croydon
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Croydon is a large town in south London, England,9.5 miles south of Charing Cross. The principal settlement in the London Borough of Croydon, it is one of the largest commercial districts outside Central London, with a shopping district. Its population of 52,104 at the 2011 census includes the wards of Addiscombe, Broad Green, Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing. The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was the worlds first public railway, later nineteenth century railway building facilitated Croydons growth as a commuter town for London. By the early 20th century, Croydon was an important industrial area, known for car manufacture, metal working, Croydon was amalgamated into Greater London in 1965. Road traffic is diverted away from a largely pedestrianised town centre, East Croydon is a major hub of the national railway transport system, with frequent fast services to central London, Brighton and the south coast. The town is unique in Greater London for its Tramlink light rail transport system, alternative, although less probable, theories of the names origin have been proposed. According to John Corbett Anderson, The earliest mention of Croydon is in the joint will of Beorhtric and Aelfswth, in this Anglo-Saxon document the name is spelt Crogdaene. Crog was, and still is, the Norse or Danish word for crooked, which is expressed in Anglo-Saxon by crumb, from the Danish came our crook and crooked. This term accurately describes the locality, it is a crooked or winding valley, in reference to the valley runs in an oblique. However, there was no long-term Danish occupation in Surrey, which was part of Wessex, and Danish-derived nomenclature is also highly unlikely. The town lies on the line of the Roman road from London to Portslade, later, in the 5th to 7th centuries, a large pagan Saxon cemetery was situated on what is now Park Lane, although the extent of any associated settlement is unknown. By the late Saxon period Croydon was the hub of an estate belonging to the Archbishops of Canterbury, the church and the archbishops manor house occupied the area still known as Old Town. Croydon appears in Domesday Book as Croindene, held by Archbishop Lanfranc and its Domesday assets were,16 hides and 1 virgate,1 church,1 mill worth 5s,38 ploughs,8 acres of meadow, woodland worth 200 hogs. The church had established in the middle Saxon period, and was probably a minster church. A charter issued by King Coenwulf of Mercia refers to a council that had taken place close to the monasterium of Croydon, an Anglo-Saxon will made in about 960 is witnessed by Elfsies, priest of Croydon, and the church is also mentioned in Domesday Book. The will of John de Croydon, fishmonger, dated 6 December 1347, includes a bequest to the church of S John de Croydon, the church still bears the arms of Archbishop Courtenay and Archbishop Chichele, believed to have been its benefactors. In 1276 Archbishop Robert Kilwardby acquired a charter for a market
30.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
31.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
32.
Eugene O'Neill
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Eugene Gladstone ONeill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. ONeills plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. Of his very few comedies, only one is well-known, nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism. ONeill was born in a hotel, the Barrett House, at Broadway and 43rd Street, a commemorative plaque was first dedicated there in 1957. The site is now occupied by 1500 Broadway, which offices, retail. He was the son of Irish immigrant actor James ONeill and Mary Ellen Quinlan and his father suffered from alcoholism, his mother from an addiction to morphine, prescribed to relieve the pains of the difficult birth of her third son, Eugene. ONeill spent his summers at the Monte Cristo Cottage in New London and he attended Princeton University for one year. Accounts vary as to why he left, ONeill spent several years at sea, during which he suffered from depression and alcoholism. Despite this, he had a love for the sea and it became a prominent theme in many of his plays. ONeill joined the Marine Transport Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, ONeills parents and elder brother Jamie died within three years of one another, not long after he had begun to make his mark in the theater. After his experience in 1912–13 at a sanatorium where he was recovering from tuberculosis, ONeill had previously been employed by the New London Telegraph, writing poetry as well as reporting. In the fall of 1914, he entered Harvard University to attend a course in dramatic technique given by Professor George Baker and he left after one year and did not complete the course. During the 1910s ONeill was a regular on the Greenwich Village literary scene, ONeill also had a brief romantic relationship with Reeds wife, writer Louise Bryant. ONeill was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1981 film Reds and his involvement with the Provincetown Players began in mid-1916. ONeill is said to have arrived for the summer in Provincetown with a full of plays. He was not left alone in the dining-room when the reading had finished, the Provincetown Players performed many of ONeills early works in their theaters both in Provincetown and on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. Some of these early plays began downtown and then moved to Broadway, ONeills first published play, Beyond the Horizon, opened on Broadway in 1920 to great acclaim, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His first major hit was The Emperor Jones, which ran on Broadway in 1920 and his best-known plays include Anna Christie, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, and his only well-known comedy, Ah, Wilderness
33.
Desire Under the Elms
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Desire Under the Elms is a 1924 play written by Eugene ONeill. Like Mourning Becomes Electra, Desire Under the Elms signifies an attempt by ONeill to adapt plot elements and it was inspired by the myth of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and Theseus. A film version was produced in 1958, and there is a setting by Edward Thomas. The following descriptions are taken from the text of the play, eben- He is twenty-five, tall and sinewy. His face is well-formed, good-looking, but its expression is resentful and his defiant, dark eyes remind one of a wild animals in captivity. Each day is a cage in which he himself trapped. There is a fierce, repressed vitality about him and he has black hair, mustache, a thin, curly trace of beard. He is dressed in rough farm clothes, Simeon and Peter- tall men, much older than their half-brother, built on a squarer, simpler model, fleshier in body, more bovine and homelier in face, shrewder and more practical. Their shoulders stoop a bit from years of farm work and they clump heavily along in their clumsy thick-soled boots caked with earth. Their clothes, their faces, hands, bare arms and throats are earth-stained, Ephraim Cabot- is seventy-five, tall and gaunt, with great, wiry, concentrated power, but stoop-shouldered from toil. His face is as hard as if it were out of a boulder, yet there is a weakness in it. His eyes are small, close together, and extremely near-sighted, blinking continually in the effort to focus on objects and he is dressed in his dismal black Sunday suit. Abbie Putnam- is thirty-five, buxom, full of vitality and her round face is pretty but marred by its rather gross sensuality. There are strength and obstinacy in her jaw, a determination in her eyes, and about her whole personality. Young Girl Two Farmers The Fiddler A Sheriff Act 1, Scene 1 The play opens at the exterior of a farmhouse in New England and it is sunset on an early summer day in 1850. Eben Cabot enters and walks to the edge of the porch and he rings a bell to call in his half-brothers, Simeon and Peter, who emerge soon after Eben goes back inside. The two brothers begin to talk about gold in the west and the risk of leaving everything they have worked for here. Eben sticks his head out the window as the two brothers speculate over their fathers disappearance to the west, saying that he hasnt left the farm in 30 years or more and they decide they cant go west until their father dies
34.
Laurence Olivier
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Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles, late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no connections, but Oliviers father, a clergyman. After attending a school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Cowards Private Lives, in 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, there his most celebrated roles included Shakespeares Richard III and Sophocless Oedipus. From 1963 to 1973 he was the director of Britains National Theatre. His own parts there included the role in Othello and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Among Oliviers films are Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director, Henry V, Hamlet and his later films included Sleuth, Marathon Man, and The Boys from Brazil. His television appearances included an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence, Long Days Journey into Night, Love Among the Ruins, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brideshead Revisited, Oliviers honours included a knighthood, a life peerage and the Order of Merit. For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatres largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. He was married three times, to the actresses Jill Esmond from 1930 to 1940, Vivien Leigh from 1940 to 1960, Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of the three children of the Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier and his wife Agnes Louise, née Crookenden. Their elder children were Sybille and Gerard Dacres Dickie and his great-great-grandfather was of French Huguenot descent, and Olivier came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. Gerard Olivier had begun a career as a schoolmaster, but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England and he practised extremely high church, ritualist Anglicanism and liked to be addressed as Father Olivier. This made him unacceptable to most Anglican congregations, and the church posts he was offered were temporary. This meant a nomadic existence, and for Laurences first few years, in 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant priest at St Saviours, Pimlico. He held the post for six years, and a family life was at last possible
35.
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
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The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1, 040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeares birthplace – in the English Midlands, the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened in 1932 on the adjacent to the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. The architect was Elisabeth Scott, so the theatre became the first important work erected in Britain from the designs of a woman architect and it was renamed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1961, following the establishment of the Royal Shakespeare Company the previous year. In the building designed by Scott, the theatre had a stage. Two tiers of seating were added to the side walls of the theatre. Balcony seats could only be accessed by means of a staircase to the side of the building, separate from the main foyer, the theatre has several notable Art Deco features, including the staircase and corridors at either side of the auditorium. It is a Grade II* listed building, the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres are on the western bank of the River Avon, with the adjacent Bancroft Gardens providing a scenic riverside setting. The Rooftop Restaurant and Bar overlooks both the river and the Bancroft Gardens, the Royal Shakespeare Company has renovated the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as part of a £112. The new theatre is more accessible to people with disabilities. The theatre is a theatre, which allows the actors. The stage reaches out into the audience, who are seated on three sides of it and this one-room theatre creates a more traditional Shakespearean performance area, allowing the audience to draw closer to the actors and creating a more personal theatre experience. The project reached over a total of £100 million in cost and also drew in financial support from RSC America, plans to redevelop the theatre were finalised and work commenced in 2007, with a scheduled completion date of 2010. The RSC had its own team, led by Project Director. Other members of the team included, Bennetts Associates, Buro Happold, Charcoalblue, Mace, Acoustic Dimensions, Drivers Jonas Deloitte and Gardiner. The new theatre opened in November 2010, with events and activities. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre was officially opened on 4 March 2011 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, there is also a riverside walk which stretches from the Bancroft Gardens, past the theatre, towards Holy Trinity Church. The whole building is now accessible for the first time for visitors, performers, the Company, A Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company
36.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
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John Gower introduces each act with a prologue. The play opens in the court of Antiochus, king of Antioch, who has offered the hand of his daughter to any man who answers his riddle. Pericles, the young Prince of Tyre in Phoenicia, hears the riddle, if he reveals this truth, he will be killed, but if he answers incorrectly, he will also be killed. Pericles hints that he knows the answer, and asks for time to think. Antiochus grants him forty days, and then sends an assassin after him, however, Pericles has fled the city in disgust. Pericles returns to Tyre, where his friend and counsellor Helicanus advises him to leave the city. Pericles leaves Helicanus as regent and sails to Tarsus, a city beset by famine, the generous Pericles gives the governor of the city, Cleon, and his wife Dionyza, grain from his ship to save their people. The famine ends, and after being thanked profusely by Cleon and Dionyza, a storm wrecks Pericles ship and washes him up on the shores of Pentapolis. Fortunately, one of the fishermen drags Pericles suit of armour on shore that very moment, although his equipment is rusty, Pericles wins the tournament and the hand of Thaisa in marriage. Simonedes initially expresses doubt about the union, but soon comes to like Pericles, a letter sent by the noblemen reaches Pericles in Pentapolis, who decides to return to Tyre with the pregnant Thaisa. Again, a storm arises while at sea, and Thaisa appears to die giving birth to her child, the sailors insist that Thaisas body be set overboard in order to calm the storm. Pericles grudgingly agrees, and decides to stop at Tarsus because he fears that Marina may not survive the storm, luckily, Thaisas casket washes ashore at Ephesus near the residence of Lord Cerimon, a physician who revives her. Thinking that Pericles died in the storm, Thaisa becomes a priestess in the temple of Diana, Pericles departs to rule Tyre, leaving Marina in the care of Cleon and Dionyza. Marina grows up more beautiful than Philoten the daughter of Cleon and Dionyza, the plan is thwarted when pirates kidnap Marina and then sell her to a brothel in Mytilene. There, Marina manages to keep her virginity by convincing the men that they should seek virtue, worried that she is ruining their market, the brothel rents her out as a tutor to respectable young ladies. She becomes famous for music and other decorous entertainments, meanwhile, Pericles returns to Tarsus for his daughter. The governor and his wife claim she has died, in grief, Pericles wanderings bring him to Mytilene where the governor Lysimachus, seeking to cheer him up, brings in Marina. They compare their sad stories and joyfully realise they are father and daughter, next, the goddess Diana appears in a dream to Pericles, and tells him to come to the temple where he finds Thaisa
37.
Claire Bloom
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Patricia Claire Blume CBE is an English film and stage actress whose career has spanned over six decades. She is famous for leading roles in such as A Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll’s House, and Long Days Journey into Night. After an uprooted and unstable childhood in war-torn England, Bloom studied drama and she had her debut on the London stage when she was sixteen, and soon took roles in various Shakespeare plays. They included Hamlet, in which she played Ophelia alongside Richard Burton, with whom she would have a long and stormy first love affair. For her Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, critic Kenneth Tynan stated it was “the best Juliet Ive ever seen. ”And after she starred as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, its playwright, Tennessee Williams, was exultant, stating, I declare myself absolutely wild about Claire Bloom. It became Blooms major film debut and made her into a film star. During her lengthy career, she starred alongside numerous major actors, including Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Paul Scofield, Ralph Richardson, Yul Brynner. Scott, James Mason, Paul Newman and Rod Steiger, whom she would marry, in 2010, Bloom played the role of Queen Mary in the British film, The Kings Speech, and she currently acts in British films. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama, Bloom was born as Patricia Claire Blume in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales. Bloom attended secondary school at the independent Badminton School in Bristol, after the Germans began bombing London during the Blitz in 1940, her family had a number of narrow escapes as bombs dropped close to their home. She and her brother John were sent to safety in the country, and then to the United States and she recalls, It was 1941, I was ten, John was nearly six. We were to sail from Glasgow in a convoy, on a ship that was evacuating children. During her year stay in Florida, she was asked by the British War Relief Society to help raise money by entertaining at various benefits, thus I broke into show business singing, she writes. Bloom, along with her mother and brother, next lived in New York for another eighteen months before returning to England, thats what I was looking for—something more moving even than my own plight as a little English girl driven from my home by the Gods of War. Blooms brother is film editor John Bloom, after training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Bloom made her debut on BBC radio programmes. She made her debut in 1946, when she was 15. She debuted at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre as Ophelia to Paul Scofields Hamlet, Bloom has written that during the production she had a crush on Scofield. As Scofield was happily married and the father of a son, Bloom hoped only, to be flirted with and taken some notice of
38.
Ophelia
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Ophelia is a character in William Shakespeares play Hamlet. She is a noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes. She is one of the two characters in the play. In Ophelias first speaking appearance in the play, she is seen with her brother, Laertes, Laertes warns her that Hamlet, the heir to the throne of Denmark, does not have the freedom to marry whomever he wants. Ophelias father, Polonius, who enters while Laertes is leaving, also forbids Ophelia from pursuing Hamlet, based on what Ophelia told him, Polonius concludes that he was wrong to forbid Ophelia from seeing Hamlet, and that Hamlet must be mad with love for her. Polonius immediately decides to go to Claudius, the new King of Denmark and also Hamlets uncle and stepfather, Polonius later suggests to Claudius that they hide behind an arras to overhear Hamlet speaking to Ophelia, when Hamlet thinks the conversation is private. Since Polonius is now sure that Hamlet is lovesick for Ophelia, Claudius agrees to try the eavesdropping plan later. The plan leads to what is called the Nunnery Scene. Polonius instructs Ophelia to stand in the lobby of the castle while he, Hamlet enters the room in a different world from the others, and recites his To be, or not to be soliloquy. Hamlet approaches Ophelia and talks to her, saying Get thee to a nunnery, Hamlet asks Ophelia where her father is and she lies to him, saying her father must be at home. Hamlet realizes he is being spied and he exits after declaring, I say we will have no more marriages. Ophelia is left bewildered and heartbroken, sure that Hamlet is insane and she knows that ultimately it is she that broke him because she lied. She was the woman he had loved and a friend whom he trusted, after Hamlet storms out, Ophelia makes her O, what a noble mind is here oerthrown soliloquy. The next time Ophelia appears is at the Mousetrap Play, which Hamlet has arranged in order to try to prove that Claudius killed King Hamlet, Hamlet sits with Ophelia and makes sexually suggestive remarks, he also says that womans love is brief. Later that night, after the play, Hamlet kills Polonius during a meeting between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude. At Ophelias next appearance, after her fathers death, she has gone mad and she talks in riddles and rhymes, and sings some mad and bawdy songs about death and a maiden losing her virginity. She exits after bidding everyone a good night, the last time Ophelia appears in the play is after Laertes comes to the castle to challenge Claudius over the death of his father, Polonius. Ophelia sings more songs and hands out flowers, citing their symbolic meanings, although interpretations of the meanings differ
39.
Robert Helpmann
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Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer. He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia, Helpmann was educated at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, but left school at 14. From childhood, Helpmann had a desire to be a dancer. This was an unusual ambition in provincial Australia of the 1920s, in a 1974 interview, Helpmann recalled that he was taught the moves and dances of a girl because his dance teacher had no prior experience teaching boys. In the Margot Fonteyn biography, Helpmann is described as being dark-haired, pale, in 1926 he joined the touring dance company of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. The introduction came via his father, who was on a trip to Melbourne. Following the wartime return of the Sadlers Wells Ballet from the newly occupied Netherlands, Helpmann took a role in Ninette de Valois new ballet of 1940. The highpoint of Helpmanns career as a dancer was the Sadlers Wells Ballet tour of the United States in 1949, with Fonteyn and Helpmann dancing the leading roles in The Sleeping Beauty. The production caused a sensation, which made the names of both the Royal Ballet and its two principals, public and press referred to them affectionately as Bobby and Margot. Although Helpmann was past his best as a dancer, the tour opened doors for him in the United States as an actor and director, in the 1940s, as he passed his peak as a dancer, Helpmann turned to production and to acting. He produced his own ballets — Comus, Hamlet, The Birds, Miracle in the Gorbals, Caravan, Adam Zero and Elektra. Helpmann also appeared in films, including the two Powell and Pressburger ballet films The Red Shoes, for which he was the choreographer. In 1942 he played the Dutch Quisling in the Powell/Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, after his return to Australia as co-director of The Australian Ballet, he continued to appear in films. Notable productions included one of his most recognized screen roles, the evil and his performance in the film was later rated by Empire magazine as among the 100 most frightening ever filmed. Another family film he starred in was Alices Adventures in Wonderland, and for The Australian Ballet he co-directed with Rudolf Nureyev the ballet-film Don Quixote, in which he also played the title role. He also starred in the cult 1978 horror film Patrick, in which he broke his back in a scene where he lifted the title character, since he was gay and flamboyant, his arrival in what was at that time a very conservative country caused some consternation. Australians were proud of his fame, but not sure what to make of him personally. He did not endear himself with the comment, I dont despair about the scene in Australia because there isnt one here to despair about
40.
Expresso Bongo
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Expresso Bongo, a 1958 West End musical and a 1959 film, is a satire of the music industry. It was first produced on the stage at the Saville Theatre and its book was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More, with music by David Heneker and Monty Norman, also the co-lyricist with Julian More. The production starred Paul Scofield with Hy Hazell, Millicent Martin, musical director was Burt Rhodes and director William Chappell. The subsequent 1959 film version was directed by Val Guest and starred Laurence Harvey, Cliff Richard, Johnny rechristens Rudge as Bongo Herbert and signs him to a contract that gives Johnny a 50% share of the profits. With Johnnys help, Bongo rockets to stardom, bongos success attracts a host of sleazy music industry types intent on exploiting him. Johnny quickly finds himself outclassed in the department as Bongo turns out to be the slipperiest slime of them all. The writers of the 1958 musical were inspired by such as Noël Coward. The tunes modulate all over the place and parody rock, Latin jazz, skiffle, music historian John Snelsen writes, Expresso Bongo opened in the West End in the same year as My Fair Lady. It did not run as long and has hardly been seen since, the later film was made at Shepperton Studios, near London, with certain scenes shot on location in Londons Soho district. Laurence Harvey plays sleazy hustler Johnny Jackson, who is always on the lookout for fresh talent to exploit, while managing his life with his stripper girlfriend. Maise is looking to find a life in singing. Jackson discovers a teenage singer named Bert Rudge, played by Cliff Richard, in a coffee shop. He changes his name to Bongo Herbert and soon gets him a record deal, however, Bongo soon realises that his 50/50 contract with Johnny is not as great as he thought it was, and breaks from Johnnys contract with help from Dixie as Bongo is a minor. Director Val Guest engaged Kenneth MacMillan to choreograph the strip-club dancers who appear in the film, struggling at Shepperton Studios to get them to dance and sing to playback at the same time, MacMillan complained, Its the simplest routine. They may have looks, legs and tits, but they have no co-ordination, Harvey arranged a couple of lunches with the unsuspecting Mankowitz to study the writer at close hand, so the character Johnny Jackson in the film sounds something like the writer of the film. Harveys character sports a melange of accents including his own South African, Wolf Mankowitz appears in the films opening credit sequence, wearing a sandwich-board bearing his writer credit. The music for the 1959 film was produced by Norrie Paramor, with the exception of one song, it was entirely different from the music that was used in the 1958 musical. The music and the plot were rewritten to downplay the satire and showcase Richard, in the best ironic traditions of Tin Pan Alley, a satire became a tribute
41.
Peter Brook
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Peter Stephen Paul Brook, CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director who has been based in France since the early 1970s. He has won multiple Tony and Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Praemium Imperiale, and he has been called our greatest living theatre director. With the Royal Shakespeare Company, Brook directed the first English language production of Marat/Sade in 1964 and it transferred to Broadway in 1965 and won the Tony Award for Best Play, and Brook was named Best Director. Brook was born in the Turnham Green area of Chiswick, London, the family home was at 27 Fairfax Road, Turnham Green. His elder brother was the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Alexis Brook and his first cousin was Valentin Pluchek, chief director of the Moscow Satire Theatre. Brook was educated at Westminster School, Greshams School, and Magdalen College and he directed Dr Faustus, his first production, in 1943 at the Torch Theatre in London, followed at the Chanticleer Theatre in 1945 with a revival of The Infernal Machine. In 1947, he went to Stratford-upon-Avon as assistant director on Romeo and Juliet, from 1947 to 1950, he was Director of Productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His work there included a highly controversial staging of Strauss Salome with sets by Salvador Dalí, a proliferation of stage and screen work as producer and director followed. Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson, at the Ambassadors Theatre and it has been based in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord theatre since 1974. In 2008 he made the decision to resign as director of Bouffes du Nord, handing over to Olivier Mantei. Brook has been influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his ideas for his Theatre of Cruelty, the result was a showing of works in progress made up of improvisations and sketches, one of which was the premier of Artauds The Spurt of Blood. – Lee Jamieson, Antonin Artaud, From Theory to Practice, Greenwich Exchange,2007 His greatest influence, Brook described her as the most galvanising director in mid-20th century Britain. Brooks work is inspired by the theories of experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Chris Covics and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Gurdjieff, Edward Gordon Craig, and Matila Ghyka, Brook first encountered Wakhévitch in London when he saw the production of Jean Cocteaus ballet Le Jeune Homme et la Mort which Wakhévitch designed. Brook declared, he was convinced that this was the designer for whom I had been waiting, however, many postcololonial scholars have challenged the claim to universalism, accusing the play of orientalism. In 2015 Brook returned to the world of Mahabharata with a new Young Vic production, Battlefield in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, in 2005 Brook directed Tierno Bokar, based on the life of the Malian sufi of the same name. The play was adapted for the stage by Marie-Hélène Estienne from a book by Amadou Hampate Ba, the book and play detail Bokars life and message of religious tolerance. Columbia University produced 44 related events, lectures, and workshops that were attended by over 3,200 people throughout the run of Tierno Bokar, panel discussions focused on topics of religious tolerance and Muslim tradition in West Africa
42.
King Lear
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King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The Tragedy of King Lear, a more theatrical revision, was included in the 1623 First Folio, Modern editors usually conflate the two, though some insist that each version has its own individual integrity that should be preserved. The tragedy is particularly noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering, george Bernard Shaw wrote, No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear. The eldest, Goneril, speaks first, declaring her love for her father in fulsome terms, moved by her flattery Lear proceeds to grant to Goneril her share as soon as she has finished her declaration, before Regan and Cordelia have a chance to speak. He then awards to Regan her share as soon as she has spoken, in his anger he disinherits Cordelia and divides her share between Regan and Goneril. Kent objects to Lears unfair treatment of Cordelia, enraged by Kents protests, Lear then summons the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, who have both proposed marriage to Cordelia. Learning that Cordelia has been disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy withdraws his suit, the King of France is shocked by Lears decision because up until this time Lear has only praised and favored Cordelia. Meanwhile, Gloucester has introduced his illegitimate son Edmund to Kent, Lear announces he will live alternately with Goneril and Regan, and their husbands. He reserves to himself a retinue of one hundred knights, to be supported by his daughters, Goneril and Regan speak privately, revealing that their declarations of love were fake, and that they view Lear as a foolish old man. Edmund resents his illegitimate status, and plots to dispose of his older brother Edgar. He tricks their father Gloucester with a letter, making him think Edgar plans to usurp the estate. Kent returns from exile in disguise under the name of Caius, Lear and Caius quarrel with Oswald, Gonerils steward. Lear discovers that now that Goneril has power, she no longer respects him and she orders him to behave better and reduces his retinue. Enraged, Lear departs for Regans home, Edmund learns from Curan, a courtier, that there is likely to be war between Albany and Cornwall, and that Regan and Cornwall are to arrive at Gloucesters house that evening. Taking advantage of the arrival of the duke and Regan, Edmund fakes an attack by Edgar and he disinherits Edgar and proclaims him an outlaw. Bearing Lears message to Regan, Caius meets Oswald again at Gloucesters home, quarrels with him again, when Lear arrives, he objects to the mistreatment of his messenger, but Regan is as dismissive of her father as Goneril was. Goneril arrives and supports Regans argument against him, Lear yields completely to his rage. He rushes out into a storm to rant against his ungrateful daughters, Kent later follows to protect him
43.
Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
