1.
Armando Iannucci
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Armando Giovanni Iannucci, OBE is a Scottish satirist, writer, television director, and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, Iannucci studied at Oxford University and left work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy. Starting on BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4, his work with Chris Morris on the radio series On the Hour was transferred to television as The Day Today. A character from series, Alan Partridge, went on to feature in a number of Iannuccis television and radio programmes including Knowing Me, Knowing You. In the meantime, Iannucci also fronted the satirical Armistice review shows and in 2001 created his most personal work, The Armando Iannucci Shows, for Channel 4. Moving back to the BBC in 2005, Iannucci created the political sitcom The Thick of It as well as the spoof documentary Time Trumpet in 2006. Winning funding from the UK Film Council, he directed an acclaimed feature film, In the Loop. As a result of works, he has been described by The Daily Telegraph as the hardman of political satire. Iannucci created the HBO political satire Veep, and was its showrunner for four seasons from 2012 to 2015, other works during this period include an operetta libretto, Skin Deep, and his radio series Charm Offensive. In March 2012, it was announced that he is working on his first novel, Tongue International and his father, also called Armando, is from Naples, while his mother was born in Glasgow to an Italian family. His father, who came to Scotland in 1950, ran a pizza factory, Iannucci has two brothers and a sister. He was educated at St Peters Primary School, St. Aloysius College, Glasgow, the University of Glasgow, and University College, Oxford, in his teens, he thought seriously about becoming a Roman Catholic priest. He abandoned graduate work on 17th-century religious language, with reference to Miltons Paradise Lost. Iannucci first received fame as the producer for On the Hour on Radio 4. Baynham was closely involved with both Morriss and Lee & Herrings work – simultaneously at one point, between 1995 and 1999, Iannucci produced and hosted The Saturday Night Armistice. In 2000, he created two pilot episodes for Channel 4, which became The Armando Iannucci Shows and this was an eight-part series for Channel 4 broadcast in 2001, written with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. The series consisted of Iannucci pondering pseudo-philosophical and jocular ideas and fantasies in between surreal sketches, Iannucci has been quoted as saying it is the comedy series he is most proud of making. He told The Metro in April 2007 The Armando Iannucci Show on Channel 4 came out around 9/11, people had other things on their minds
2.
David Schneider (actor)
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David Schneider is an English actor, comedian and director. Schneider was born in London, England, during his time at university, Schneider performed a predominantly physical comedy act that contrasted with the trend towards stand-up comedy in live performance comedy in the 1980s. It was at time that he met Armando Iannucci, who in 1991 recruited him for news-radio spoof On the Hour. In the late 1990s he appeared in the topical satire The Saturday Night Armistice alongside Armando Iannucci, in 1997 and 2000, Schneider played the part of Bradley Wilson in the BBC sitcom The Peter Principle. Schneider wrote the screenplay for the 2001 feature film All the Queens Men, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and starring Matt LeBlanc, Schneider has also performed in the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme and appeared on BBC Radio 4 panel show The 99p Challenge. He had small roles in movies, including The Saint,28 Days Later, A Knights Tale and Mission, Impossible. In 2004, Schneider played Joseph Goebbels in the satirical tongue-in-cheek comedy Churchill, following this, in 2006 Schneider took his first lead role when he made Uncle Max, a series of 13 dialogue-free shorts for CITV. They focus on humour, with Schneider saying he wanted to be a human cartoon. In April 2008, he featured in an episode of Hotel Babylon as a magician, Schneider provides the voice of Blink for the CBBC series One Minute Wonders. In 2008, he took part in BBC Threes Most Annoying People of 2008, relaying his views about celebrities including Prince William, Mark Ronson and Peaches Geldof. He has written a play, called Making Stalin Laugh, based on the slaughter of the Moscow State Jewish Theater on the orders of Joseph Stalin. He also directed a pilot in 2007 called Up Close and Personal, set in the offices of a celebrity magazine. The pilot was rejected by ITV2. In 2011, he played Soggy Sid in Horrid Henry, The Movie and his radio sitcom Births, Deaths and Marriages, set in a Register office and starring himself, premiered on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012. Official website David Schneider at the Internet Movie Database
3.
BBC Two
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BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It covers a range of subject matter, but tending towards more highbrow programmes than the more mainstream. Like the BBCs other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence and it is a comparatively well-funded public service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public service networks worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched, a high-definition version of the channel launched on 26 March 2013, replacing BBC HD. British television at the time of BBC2s launch consisted of two channels, the BBC Television Service and the ITV network made up of regional companies. Both channels had existed in a state of competition since ITVs launch in 1955, the 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any serious programming. It therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC, prior to its launch, the new BBC2 was promoted on the BBC Television Service, the soon to be renamed BBC1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots Hullabaloo, a mother kangaroo, however, at around 18,45 a huge power failure, originating from a fire at Battersea Power Station, caused Television Centre, and indeed much of west London, to lose all power. BBC1 was able to continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra Palace, associated-Rediffusion, the London weekday ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on the BBCs behalf, but their gesture was rejected. At 22,00 programming was officially postponed until the following morning, there was believed to be no recording made of this bulletin, but a videotape was discovered in early 2003. By 11,00 on 21 April, power had restored to the studios and programming began. The launch schedule, postponed from the night before, was successfully shown that evening. In reference to the cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter Denis Tuohy. To establish the new identity and draw viewers to it. The production chosen was The Forsyte Saga, a adaptation of the novels by John Galsworthy, featuring well-established actors Kenneth More. Unlike BBC1 and ITV, BBC2 was broadcast only on the 625 line UHF system and this created a market for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two systems. On 1 July 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, BBC2 became the first channel in Europe to begin broadcasts in colour. The thirteen part series Civilisation was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and culture to showpiece the new colour technology, BBC1 and ITV later joined BBC2 on 625-line UHF band, but continued to simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985
4.
Satirical
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Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. This militant irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of the things the satirist wishes to attack. Satire is nowadays found in artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, television shows. The word satire comes from the Latin word satur and the subsequent phrase lanx satura, satur meant full but the juxtaposition with lanx shifted the meaning to miscellany or medley, the expression lanx satura literally means a full dish of various kinds of fruits. The word satura as used by Quintilian, however, was used to denote only Roman verse satire, a genre that imposed hexameter form. Quintilian famously said that satura, that is a satire in hexameter verses, was a genre of wholly Roman origin. He was aware of and commented on Greek satire, but at the time did not label it as such, the first critic to use the term satire in the modern broader sense was Apuleius. To Quintilian, the satire was a literary form. The odd result is that the English “satire” comes from the Latin satura, by about the 4th century AD the writer of satires came to be known as satyricus, St. Jerome, for example, was called by one of his enemies a satirist in prose. Subsequent orthographic modifications obscured the Latin origin of the satire, satura becomes satyra. The word satire derives from satura, and its origin was not influenced by the Greek mythological figure of the satyr, in the 17th century, philologist Isaac Casaubon was the first to dispute the etymology of satire from satyr, contrary to the belief up to that time. Laughter is not a component of satire, in fact there are types of satire that are not meant to be funny at all. Conversely, not all humour, even on such topics as politics, religion or art is necessarily satirical, even when it uses the tools of irony, parody. Even light-hearted satire has a serious after-taste, the organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize describe this as first make people laugh, Satire and irony in some cases have been regarded as the most effective source to understand a society, the oldest form of social study. They provide the keenest insights into a groups collective psyche, reveal its deepest values and tastes, some authors have regarded satire as superior to non-comic and non-artistic disciplines like history or anthropology. In a prominent example from ancient Greece, philosopher Plato, when asked by a friend for a book to understand Athenian society, historically, satire has satisfied the popular need to debunk and ridicule the leading figures in politics, economy, religion and other prominent realms of power. Satire confronts public discourse and the imaginary, playing as a public opinion counterweight to power, by challenging leaders. For instance, it forces administrations to clarify, amend or establish their policies, Satires job is to expose problems and contradictions, and its not obligated to solve them
5.
Television
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Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a set, a television program. Television is a medium for entertainment, education, news, politics, gossip. Television became available in experimental forms in the late 1920s. After World War II, a form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses. During the 1950s, television was the medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US, for many reasons, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions greatly increased in popularity, another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution that is substantially higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats, 1080p, 1080i, in 2013, 79% of the worlds households owned a television set. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs, major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are gradually expected to be replaced by OLEDs, also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s, Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and. Until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, a standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television, the word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning far, and Latin visio, meaning sight. The Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907 and it was. formed in English or borrowed from French télévision. In the 19th century and early 20th century, other. proposals for the name of a technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote. The abbreviation TV is from 1948, the use of the term to mean a television set dates from 1941
6.
Comedy
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In a modern sense, comedy refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film, and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece, in the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a Society of Youth and a Society of the Old, a revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. Satire and political satire use comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, parody subverts popular genres and forms, critiquing those forms without necessarily condemning them. Similarly scatological humour, sexual humour, and race humour create comedy by violating social conventions or taboos in comic ways, a comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society and uses humor to parody or satirize the behaviour and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms. The adjective comic, which means that which relates to comedy is, in modern usage. Of this, the word came into usage through the Latin comoedia and Italian commedia and has, over time. The Greeks and Romans confined their use of the comedy to descriptions of stage-plays with happy endings. Aristotle defined comedy as an imitation of men worse than the average, however, the characters portrayed in comedies were not worse than average in every way, only insofar as they are Ridiculous, which is a species of the Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others, the mask, for instance, in the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings. It is in this sense that Dante used the term in the title of his poem, as time progressed, the word came more and more to be associated with any sort of performance intended to cause laughter. During the Middle Ages, the comedy became synonymous with satire. They disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic representation and instead identified it with Arabic poetic themes and forms and they viewed comedy as simply the art of reprehension, and made no reference to light and cheerful events, or to the troubling beginnings and happy endings associated with classical Greek comedy. After the Latin translations of the 12th century, the term gained a more general meaning in medieval literature. Starting from 425 BCE, Aristophanes, a playwright and satirical author of the Ancient Greek Theater wrote 40 comedies,11 of which survive. Aristophanes developed his type of comedy from the satyr plays
7.
Graham Linehan
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Graham Linehan is an Irish television comedy writer and director who, often in partnership with Arthur Mathews, has written or co-written a number of popular television comedies. He is most noted for the sitcoms Father Ted, Black Books, amongst others, he has also worked on Big Train, Count Arthur Strong, Brass Eye and The Fast Show. He also had a column with the magazine In Dublin before moving to London, Linehan is married to Helen Serafinowicz, a writer and the sister of Peter Serafinowicz, and the couple have two children. Linehan and Mathews first met while working at Hot Press, the two continued their collaboration with Paris and Father Ted. They then wrote the first series of the sketch show Big Train and they also wrote the Dearth of A Salesman episode for the series Coogans Run, which featured the character Gareth Cheeseman. In late 2003, they were named one of the 50 funniest acts to work in television by The Observer, Linehan has since written for other shows, including Brass Eye. With Dylan Moran, he co-wrote the first series of Black Books, Linehan has also contributed material to Blue Jam, and its television adaptation Jam. In November 2008, he was awarded an International Emmy for The IT Crowd, in 2013, he wrote and directed The Walshes. Linehan and Mathews have had one book published, Father Ted and they have also contributed to various magazines and written surreal liner notes for the popular Volume series of alternative music compilations. This film appears as an extra on The IT Crowd, Version 1.0 DVD and he was also an executive producer of the first series of The IT Crowd, and an associate producer of one episode of Father Ted. Both Linehan and Mathews have made appearances in programmes they have written. They also made an appearance in the sitcom Im Alan Partridge as two Irish TV producers considering Alan Partridge for a contract and he appeared in the Identity Parade round of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Linehan was one of the writers interviewed by Charlie Brooker in a special episode of the fifth series of Brookers Screenwipe programme. Linehan also appeared as a guest panellist on Have I Got News for You in 2011 and again in 2012 and he received a score of −19 on his only appearance on QI. In 2007, a documentary about Linehan, his life and his career was produced by Wildfire Films for RTÉ One and this documentary explored the art, craft and deeply competitive business of creating contemporary television comedy. It was directed by Adrian McCarthy and produced by Martha ONeill, in 2011, Linehan also appeared with several members of the cast in Channel 4s Father Ted Night, an evening of the writers favourite episodes and two retrospective documentaries. On 6 June 2011, Linehan appeared on BBC Radio 4s Today programme to discuss his adaption of the Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers for the West End stage. During this appearance, Linehan took issue with Today presenter Justin Webb over what he saw as the staging of an artificial argument between himself and the critic Michael Billington
8.
Simon Pegg
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Simon John Pegg is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-wrote and starred in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy of films, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and he and Nick Frost wrote and starred in the sci-fi film Paul. Pegg portrayed Benji Dunn in the Mission, Impossible film series and Montgomery Scott in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond, co-writing the latter. Pegg was born and raised in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, the son of Gillian Rosemary, a civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham. His parents divorced when he was seven and he took the surname of his stepfather after his mother remarried, Pegg attended Castle Hill Primary School, Brockworth Comprehensive Secondary School, and The Kings School, Gloucester. Pegg moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire when he was 16 and studied English Literature and Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon College. He graduated from the University of Bristol in 1991 with a BA in Theatre, Film, while there, he performed as a member of a comedy troupe called David Icke and the Orphans of Jesus, alongside David Walliams, Dominik Diamond, and Jason Bradbury. Peggs early appearances in TV series and films include Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train, between 1998 and 2004, Pegg was regularly featured on BBC Radio 4s The 99p Challenge. He played various roles during the tour of Steve Coogans 1998 live stage show The Man Who Thinks Hes It, in 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. The series was directed by Edgar Wright, with whom Pegg and Stevenson had previously worked on Asylum, for his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. At George A. Romeros invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romeros zombie film, in 2004, Pegg starred in a spin-off of the television show Danger. 50,000 Zombies. in which he played a hunter named Dr. Fell. He played mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog and he also narrated the first series of the making-of documentary series Doctor Who Confidential. When the film Mission, Impossible III was subsequently made, Pegg appeared in it as Benji Dunn and he reprised the role of Benji Dunn in the 2011 film Mission, Impossible – Ghost Protocol and the 2015 film Mission, Impossible – Rogue Nation. In 2006, he played Gus in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer, the same year, Pegg and Wright completed their second film, Hot Fuzz, released in February 2007. In 2007, Pegg starred in The Good Night and Run Fatboy Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring Thandie Newton, in 2008, he wrote the dialogue for an English language re-release of the cult 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy. Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and Pegg also voiced one of the characters in the English-language version. Pegg co-wrote the script for a film called Paul, about two men who encounter a comedic extraterrestrial alien during a road trip across the US
9.
Kevin Eldon
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Kevin Eldon is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including Fist of Fun, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, Big Train, Brass Eye, in 2013 he appeared in his own BBC sketch series, Its Kevin. In 2016 Eldon joined the HBO series Game of Thrones, Eldon was born in Chatham, Kent. He has been a practising Nichiren Buddhist since 1990 and he has a daughter with his long-term girlfriend Holly whom he met on the set of Hyperdrive where she was the art director. He started on the circuit in the early 1990s performing an act in character as the political poet Paul Hamilton. Lee and Herring would usually refer to him as the actor Kevin Eldon, in reference to his claim to be an actor, rather than a comedian. He played recurring characters Simon Quinlank, the self-confessed King of Hobbies and Rod Hull an nonsensical version of Rod Hull with a prosthetic limb and an obsession with jelly. In 1994 and 1997, he appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part the comedy troupe Cluub Zarathustra other comedians included Roger Mann, Johnny Vegas, Simon Munnery and they were given a Channel 4 pilot which led to the television series Attention Scum. The book You Are Nothing by Robert Wringham praises the performers talent, from March 2009, Eldon appeared in Stewart Lees Comedy Vehicle in a number of the shows sketches most often with Paul Putner. Eldon has appeared in many British comedy shows from the 1990s onwards, during the 1990s he worked with comedians such as Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, Julia Davis, Amelia Bullmore and others in the sketch comedy series Big Train. He had worked previously with some of the cast in the satirical series Brass Eye, dark comedy Jam, Eldon would later act in Nathan Barley and in the 2010 film Four Lions as a police sniper also written by Christopher Morris. In 2004, Eldon appeared in the BAFTA-award-winning dark comedy Nighty Night as Terry Tyrrell and they also appeared later in Hunderby, another dark comedy written by Julia Davis, Little Crackers and Psychobitches. He worked again with Pegg in an episode in the sitcom Spaced with Mark Gatiss, Eldon has appeared on stage and screen numerous times with the comedian Bill Bailey. He played the role in Baileys 2007 Tinselworm tour, Channel 4s Comedy Gala in 2010. In late 2006, Eldon helped, alongside Bill Bailey, to organise and produce a short tour, the show was a collection of sketches written by Harold Pinter also starring Geraldine McNulty and Sally Philips. They also appeared together when Eldon was a panellist on Nevermind the Buzzcocks in 2007 and they also acted together in the sitcom Black Books episode Grapes of Wrath, where Eldon played The Cleaner. Eldon has also had minor guest starring roles in numerous projects, including Smack the Pony, Green Wing, The IT Crowd. In February 2010, Eldon appeared in the pilot for a sort-of-sketch-show called Missing Scene, in 2011 he appeared in sketches throughout How TV Ruined Your Life, and, with Paul Whitehouse, as one of a pair of women 1950s typists in Series 4 of Harry and Paul
10.
Steve Pemberton
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Steve James Pemberton is an English actor, writer, comedian and screenwriter, best known as a member of The League of Gentlemen with Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. Pemberton and Shearsmith also co-wrote and appeared in the sitcom Psychoville and his other television credits include Doctor Who, Benidorm, Blackpool, Shameless, Whitechapel, Happy Valley and Mapp and Lucia. Pemberton was born in Blackburn, Lancashire and he attended St Michaels CE High School, where his acting skills were first recognised. After studying at Runshaw College, Pemberton graduated from Bretton Hall College with a BA in theatre arts, Pembertons previous work has centred mainly around fringe theatre, he was a founding member of the 606 Theatre with Gordon Anderson, Tom Hadley, and producer Shane Walter. He has produced, performed in, and directed stage productions. He has written for Variety and was the assistant editor of the International Film Guide from 1991 to 1998 and his TV credits include Whitechapel, Doctor Who, Benidorm, Under the Greenwood Tree, Hotel Babylon, The Last Detective, Randall and Hopkirk, Blackpool and Shameless. In 2004, he played Dr Bessner in Death on the Nile and he also appeared in the film Lassie. The latter has seen Pemberton and his colleagues awarded a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award, in 2007, Pemberton made an appearance as the vicar in the film Mr. Beans Holiday. In July 2007, he took over from Bob Martin as Man in Chair in the West End production of the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, playing the role until the production closed on 4 August 2007. In the 2008 English language DVD re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy, Pemberton voiced Mattis, in June 2009, Psychoville aired and marked Pembertons return to BBC Two. It was co-written by Pemberton and his fellow League of Gentlemen member Reece Shearsmith, both of them play numerous characters in the series, similar to the format of The League of Gentlemen. Pemberton portrayed Rufus Drumknott in 2010s Terry Pratchetts Going Postal and he appeared as Vice Principal Douglas Panch in the Donmars 2011 production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In 2014, he played Georgie Pillson in an adaptation of E. F. Bensons Mapp and he also wrote the adaptation, which featured his League of Gentlemen cohort Mark Gatiss. It was broadcast during Christmas 2014, since 2014, he has starred as various characters in the dark comedy anthology series Inside No. 9, which he co-created with Shearsmith, airing on BBC Two, a second series aired in 2015 and a third in 2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008, steve Pemberton at the Internet Movie Database
11.
Reece Shearsmith
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Reeson Wayne Reece Shearsmith is an English actor, writer and comedian. He created, wrote and starred in sketch show The League of Gentlemen, along with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and he and Pemberton also created, wrote and starred in another dark comedy series Psychoville. He and Pemberton currently write and star in their anthology series Inside No.9, in The League of Gentlemen, Psychoville and Inside No. Reece was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and went to Bretton Hall College. The League of Gentlemen initially began as an act in 1995, transferred to BBC Radio 4 as On the Town with The League of Gentlemen in 1995. The latter saw Shearsmith and his colleagues awarded a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award, from March 2006 to January 2007, he appeared in the West End as Leo Bloom in The Producers. In this, his voice is used along with Steve Pemberton, Psychoville began June 2009 and marked his return to BBC2. The dark comedy series was written by Shearsmith and his League of Gentlemen writing partner Steve Pemberton, both Shearsmith and Pemberton played numerous characters in the programme, which ran for two series and a Halloween special. In 2010 Shearsmith appeared in John Landis black comedy Burke and Hare and played the character in Ghost Stories, written and directed by Jeremy Dyson. In 2011, Cameron Mackintoshs new musical Betty Blue Eyes opened in the West End, also in 2011, he played Harry Wiseman in Eric & Ernie, a feature-length TV drama about Morecambe and Wise. In 2012, he appeared in Bad Sugar, a pilot written by Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong, along with Olivia Colman, Julia Davis. A full series order was cancelled due to availability of the writers and he also appeared in comedy pilot The Function Room. In 2013, he played Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time, a docu-drama about the conception and making of Doctor Who, which was written by Mark Gatiss. He worked with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer again in the first series of House of Fools as Martin the ghost and he made two guest appearances in Jeremy Dysons Psychobitches as Old Mother Shipton in series one and Princess Margaret in series two. Also in 2013, he starred in Ben Wheatleys A Field In England as Whitehead, in 2014, Shearsmith and Pemberton returned to BBC2 with a new dark comedy series called Inside No.9. Each episode of the series takes place in a different No.9 location. Shearsmith and Pemberton play various characters across the series and have directed two of the episodes. Also in 2014, he starred as Malcolm Webster in ITV drama series, based on a true story, also in 2014, he starred as Detective Sergeant Stone in Chasing Shadows, an ITV drama series about missing persons
12.
Omid Djalili
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Omid Djalili is a British stand-up comedian, actor, television producer, voice actor and writer of Iranian origin. Djalili was born in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháí parents and is a Baháí himself and he attended Holland Park School and then the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, studying English and Theatre studies. He did his part for Comic Relief after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the same year he broke Edinburgh Festival box office records with over 16,500 ticket sales. The No Agenda tour DVD was released in late 2007, on 18 March 2007, he was voted by the British public as the 60th best stand-up comedian in a Channel 4 programme The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. On 26 October 2007, he guest-presented the BBC political quiz show Have I Got News for You, the Omid Djalili Show started on BBC1 on 17 November 2007. The series is a mix of sketches and stand-up material, a second series was recorded in late 2008 and began broadcast on BBC1 on 20 April 2009. He performed on We Are Most Amused on ITV1 to mark Prince Charless 60th birthday in 2008, on 12 February 2009, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that Djalili would appear as the second Fagin in the new West End production of Oliver. At the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, Omid took over from Rowan Atkinson, who was contracted until 18 July 2009. In 2009, Djalili became the voice of Yusuf Amir in the gaming series Grand Theft Auto. He took up the role in the Grand Theft Auto, The Ballad of Gay Tony spin-off game, in 2010, he starred in the David Baddiel scripted film The Infidel. In 2010, Djalili starred in a series of TV and cinema adverts for Moneysupermarket. com, Djalili appeared in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Paul Reiser Show, which was a midseason replacement for the 2010-11 television season. For the BBC Learning project Off By Heart Shakespeare, Omid played Lord Capulet from Romeo and Juliet and delivered the speech Hang thee, young baggage, Djalili will appear in the Sky TV adaptation of Moonfleet shooting in Ireland in 2013. Djalili also appears in the season of Thunderbirds Are Go in October 2016 as Horse Williams. Djalili also provided his voice in the 2015 stop motion animated comedy Shaun the Sheep Movie, in 2008, he was an official festival judge for the Noor Iranian Film Festival. He also appeared on the Graham Norton Show on 17 February 2012, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Djalili is a Chelsea fan and has also appeared many times in the clubs in-house channel, Chelsea TV. He has been married to Annabel Knight since 1992, and they have three children, Isabella, Louis and Daniel, No Agenda, Live at the London Palladium Live in London Tour of Duty Iranian stand-up comedy Official website Omid Djalili at the Internet Movie Database
13.
Al Murray
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Alastair James Hay Al Murray, is an English comedian and TV personality well known for his stand-up persona and quick repartee. His best-known character is The Pub Landlord, a xenophobic publican, in 2003, Murray was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, Murray was born at Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, only son of Lieut-Col. Ingram Bernard Hay Murray, by his wife Juliet Anne Thackeray and his grandfather, the former British ambassador Sir Ralph Murray, was from Scottish aristocracy and married into the von Kuenburg family, nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. His patrilineal great-great-grandfather, Dr George Murray, was Bishop of Rochester, Al Murray is in remainder both to English and Scottish peerage titles, including the barony of Strange and the dukedom of Atholl. Murray was educated at Bedford School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, at Oxford he performed in the comedy group, the Oxford Revue, in a show directed by Stewart Lee. Murray married Amber Hargreaves in 2002, the couple, who have two daughters, Scarlett and Willow, separated in 2008. Al Murray is a cricket fan, and was invited to attend a farewell lunch for the England cricket team before their departure for the 2013 Ashes series. An appeal against Chambers conviction was successful, in August 2014, Murray was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to Septembers referendum on that issue. Murray was awarded a degree by the University of Bedfordshire in 2014. Murray started out touring with comedians including Harry Hill and Frank Skinner. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999 and he started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including guns, animals and a car boot. With this act he supported Jim Tavaré in Leeds in Winter 1992, in 1994–95 he was the drummer in the band Evangelista, the house band at Stewart Lees and Simon Munnerys experimental Cluub Zarathustra in London. Film maker Martin Pickles made a film about the band in 2002. At this time the lead singer Reid described Murray as hes not a household name. The character also has a love for the British 1970s rock band Queen, often getting musician on his show to perform one of Queens tunes in their own style. The character first appeared in 1994 during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in the show Pub Internationale, with Harry Hill, the show featured the Pub Band, with Murray playing drums and compering. At the Edinburgh Festival, Murray came up with The Pub Landlord, Murray then made his first television appearances on Hills TV show playing his big brother Alan, and subsequently featured in a short film, Pub Fiction
14.
Ben Moor (writer)
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Benedict Ben Moor is an English comedy writer and actor. Moor was born in Wimbledon and grew up in Whitstable, Kent and he read History at University College, Oxford and graduated in 1990. While at university joined The Oxford Revue after watching the Seven Raymonds perform and first met Richard Herring, Stewart Lee and Al Murray, moving to London, Moor wrote sketches for Week Ending and Spitting Image and developed his own work. In 1995 he created Elastic Planet for BBC Radio 4 which populated surreal storytelling with real world such as Patrick Moore. It was narrated by Oliver Postgate, Moors television credits include a clown in Knowing Me, Knowing You. with Alan Partridge, a quiz participant in Time Gentlemen Please and various roles in Fist of Fun and ITVs Planet Mirth. In cinema, he played the part of Andolini in Lasse Hallströms 2005 movie, in 2000, Moor played Lord John Dervis in the Bristol Old Vic and West End production of A Busy Day by Fanny Burney. His one-man shows include A Supercollider for the Family, Poppy Day, in 2001 Moor wrote and performed in Three Wishes with Janice Phayre, directed, as many of his shows have been, by Erica Whyman. In 2004 he adapted Black Cocktail, a novella by Jonathan Carroll and his play Coelacanth, adapted from the stage one-man show performed at the Edinburgh Fringe of 2005, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2006. Between 2006 and 2009 he created for BBC Radio 7 three series of Undone, a comedy in which he also played the role of Tankerton Slopes. He has also appeared in the BBC Radio 4 sketch show Laura Solon, Talking, Moors journalism work has appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian, The Observer and The Idler. In 2009, Portobello Book published More Trees to Climb, a book collecting three of Moors one man shows, Coelacanth, Not Everything Is Significant and A Supercollider for the Family and they are presented in prose as three separate short stories. Personal Website Ben Moor on Twitter Ben Moor at the Internet Movie Database
15.
Mel Giedroyc
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In early 2017, Giedroyc took on the role of co-presenter on the BBC show Let It Shine. Giedroyc was born in Epsom, Surrey, and grew up in Leatherhead and her father, a historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent from the Giedroyć family, came to Britain in 1947. She attended the independent Oxford High School, Oxford, and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a 2,2 degree in Italian language, Giedroyc has appeared in one episode of Gimme Gimme Gimme, playing a receptionist at a hotel. She was also a presenter on Channel 4s RI, SE and she narrated Celebrity Driving School in 2003. Some other ventures include being a contestant on the 2005 series of The Games, co-starring in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed, Giedroyc was in one episode of The Vicar of Dibley. Giedroyc is best known for presenting comedy items with Sue Perkins, the two women met while students at the University of Cambridge and were members of the Footlights comedy club. Mel and Sue, the duo were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993 and their first presenting roles saw them host a lunchtime show on Channel 4 called Light Lunch. Giedroyc was the student to be voted out of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy and was a celebrity judge on the 2007 edition of Making Your Mind Up along with John Barrowman. She starred as one of the presenters in the show Eurobeat, at the Edinburgh Fringe and subsequently in the West End at the Novello Theatre. Giedroyc played the Fairy Liquid in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at Londons Barbican theatre in December 2007 and she appeared in a childrens sketch show for the BBC Sorry, Ive Got No Head. Giedroyc was a panellist on the Channel 5 programme The Wright Stuff in 2007,2008 and in February 2010. She plays Mrs V, the owner of the Y café, in CBBC programme Sadie J and is also the voice of Mist in Mist, Sheepdog Tales, shown on Channel 5s morning show Milkshake. Giedroyc was reunited with Sue Perkins in 2010 to host the cookery competition The Great British Bake Off, later, in an apparently syndicated newspaper interview, Giedroyc admitted that she did the show just for the money, informing readers as to how she had nearly gone bankrupt. The show moved to BBC One for its series and has won numerous awards. In September 2016, Love Productions announced that a deal had been agreed to broadcast The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, instead of the BBC. Giedroyc and Perkins announced that they would not be continuing with the show on its new network, mary Berry later announced she was also leaving the Bake Off on the same day that fellow-judge Paul Hollywood separately announced he would be staying with the show. In 2012 and 2013, Giedroyc hosted two special charity series for Sport Relief and Comic Relief featuring celebrities who took part for charity. In 2014, she guest hosted an episode of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off and in 2015, in 2016, she presented the first episode of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
16.
Sue Perkins
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Susan Elizabeth Sue Perkins is an English comedian, broadcaster, actress and writer, born in East Dulwich, south London. Perkins was ranked sixth in The Independent on Sundays 2014 Rainbow List and has been in the list every year since 2008, Perkins was born on 22 September 1969 in south London, where she grew up in Croydon with her two younger siblings and parents. Her father worked for a car dealer and her mother was employed as a secretary. She was educated at Croham Hurst School, a independent school for girls in South Croydon, Greater London. She later studied English at New Hall at the University of Cambridge, while at Cambridge, she was a member of the Footlights, where she met Mel Giedroyc. She was Footlights president during the academic year 1990–91, Perkins and creative partner Mel Giedroyc took their first steps into television under the name Mel and Sue. The duo began to gain success and were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993, in January 2015, Giedroyc and Perkins began hosting their own daytime chat show on ITV called Mel and Sue. In August 2015, it was announced that Mel and Sue had been cancelled by ITV, in 2002, Perkins appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in aid of four charities, Centrepoint, National Missing Persons Helpline, Rethink and Samaritans. During the series, she interacted with series winner Mark Owen from Take That, Perkins was evicted from the house on Day 9. She provided the voice for Messenger Bird in Dinotopia, produced for Hallmark Entertainment, in 2003, Perkins joined Channel 4 morning television programme RI, SE. In the same year, Perkins also provided additional material for BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. Perkins has appeared on several BBC shows including Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, QI, Room 101, Celebrity Weakest Link, Question Time, Perkins has commented that the BBC pay her a regular wage for blabbering on random shows. She has made appearances as a reporter for Armando Iannucci vehicle The Saturday Night Armistice. Perkins hosted the series of Good Evening, Rockall, a short-lived, news-orientated panel game shown on BBC Choice. In 2006, she appeared in BBC Fours vocabulary quiz show Never Mind the Full Stops and she was also a team captain on ITVs Win, Lose or Draw Late. During the same decade she made appearances on Celebrity MasterChef, Celebrity Poker, in April 2007, she participated in the television series, Edwardian Supersize Me for the BBC. She was joined by food critic Giles Coren, the series focused on spending a week eating the equivalent of a wealthy Edwardian couples food, whilst wearing period clothing. Following the series, Perkins and Coren were commissioned to present a new series called, the premise of Edwardian Supersize Me was replicated and focused on other periods throughout history
17.
The Day Today
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The Day Today is a British comedy television show which parodies television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994 on BBC2. For The Day Today, Peter Baynham joined the writing team, the principal cast of On the Hour was retained for The Day Today. The Day Today is composed of six episodes and a selection of shorter. The six half-hour episodes were originally broadcast from 19 January to 23 February 1994 on BBC2, the Day Today has won many awards, including Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. All six episodes are available on BBC DVD, having previously issued on VHS. Each episode is presented as a news programme, and the episodes rely on a combination of ludicrous fictitious news stories, covered with a serious. Each episode revolves around one or two stories, which are pursued throughout the programme, along with a host of other stories usually only briefly referred to. The final episode features reports from the fictitious documentary The Office, other non-news segments of the programme include the occasional physical cartoons of current events set in the studio. The programme occasionally features producer Armando Iannucci and writer Peter Baynham, John Thomson, Graham Linehan, Tony Haase, and Minnie Driver also appear. Michael Alexander St John provides the voiceover stings, as he did in On the Hour, much of the programmes humour derives from its excessively brash style of reporting, and its unnecessarily complex format. Morris presents aggressively, often arguing with reporters and guests on-air, the programme frequently lambasts Conservative government politicians in office at the time of the programmes production. Those repeatedly lampooned by the series include John Major, Michael Heseltine, Chris Patten, Douglas Hurd, Virginia Bottomley, Michael Portillo, each episode ends in a familiar style for news reports, with the camera panning out as the studio lights dim on Morris. The programme features surreal news items, examples include, Reports that explosive-packed terrorist dogs were being released in London by the IRA. These bomb dogs wreak havoc, and prompt the British police to begin executing any dog on sight and this story is accompanied by a clip of Steve Coogan impersonating a Gerry Adams-esque Sinn Féin leader, spouting rhetoric while inhaling helium to subtract credibility from his statement. Coverage of a feud between John Major and the Queen, coverage of an ongoing rail crisis, following a train trapped on the tracks in Hampshire. Trapped by a signal post, the stranded train rapidly becomes the scene of anarchy and paganism. In the fifth episode, Morris provokes a war between Hong Kong and Australia, and much of the episode revolves around the resulting conflict, subsequent reports of the war, delivered from Eastmanstown in the Upper Cataracts on the Australio-Hong-Kong border, are humorously blown out of proportion. Morris has several computers giving him the news instantly from around the world and he is always confrontational and aggressive, frequently picking fights with his staff and guests while on-air, and his efforts to resolve problems frequently make bad situations even worse
18.
Orange Order
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The Loyal Orange Institution, more commonly known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal organisation based primarily in Northern Ireland. It also has a significant presence in the Scottish Lowlands and lodges throughout the Commonwealth, the Orange Order was founded in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a Masonic-style brotherhood sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy. It is headed by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, which was established in 1798 and its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated the army of Catholic king James VII & II in the Williamite War in Ireland. Its members wear orange sashes and are referred to as Orangemen, the Order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July. Politically, the Orange Order is a conservative British unionist organisation with links to Ulster loyalism and it campaigned against Scottish independence in 2014. The Order sees itself as defending Protestant civil and religious liberties, whilst critics accuse the Order of being sectarian and it has also been criticised for associating with loyalist paramilitary groups. As a Protestant society, it does not accept non-Protestants as members unless they convert and adhere to the principles of Orangeism, Orange marches through mainly Catholic and nationalist neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland are controversial and have often led to violence. In particular, the Institution remembers the victories of William III and his forces in Ireland in the early 1690s and these followed a tradition started in Elizabethan England of celebrating key events in the Protestant calendar. By the 1740s there were organisations holding parades in Dublin such as the Boyne Club, throughout the 1780s, sectarian tension had been building in County Armagh, largely due to the relaxation of the Penal Laws. Here the number of Protestants and Catholics were of equal number. Drunken brawls between rival gangs had by 1786 become openly sectarian, in September 1795, at a crossroads known as The Diamond near Loughgall, Defenders and Protestant Peep o Day Boys gathered to fight each other. When a contingent of Defenders from County Tyrone arrived on 21 September, however, the Peep o Day Boys quickly regrouped and opened fire on the Defenders. According to William Blacker, the battle was short and the Defenders suffered not less than thirty deaths. After the battle had ended, the Peep o Days marched into Loughgall, and in the house of James Sloan they founded the Orange Order, the principal pledge of these lodges was to defend the King and his heirs so long as he or they support the Protestant Ascendancy. At the start the Orange Order was an organisation to the Defenders in that it was a secret oath-bound society that used passwords. One of the few landed gentry that joined the Orange Order at the outset. He says that a determination was expressed to driving from this quarter of the county the entire of its Roman Catholic population, with notices posted warning them to Hell or Connaught. Other people were warned by notices not to inform on local Orangemen or I will Blow your Soul to the Low hils of Hell And Burn the House you are in, within two months,7,000 Catholics had been driven out of County Armagh
19.
Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)
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The Leader of Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition is the politician who leads the official opposition in the United Kingdom. The current Leader of the Opposition is Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, the Leader of the Opposition is normally viewed as an alternative prime minister, and is appointed to the Privy Council. They lead an Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet which scrutinises the actions of the Cabinet led by the prime minister, There is also a Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. In the nineteenth century party affiliations were generally fixed and leaders in the two Houses were often of equal status. A single, clear Leader of the Opposition was only definitively settled if the leader in Commons or Lords was the outgoing prime minister. However, since the Parliament Act 1911 there has been no dispute that the leader in the House of Commons is pre-eminent, the Leader of the Opposition is entitled to a salary in addition to their salary as a Member of Parliament. In 2010, this additional entitlement was available up to £73,617, the first modern Leader of the Opposition was Charles James Fox, who led the Whigs as such for a generation, except during the Fox–North Coalition in 1783. He finally rejoined the government in 1806, and died later that year, for there to be a recognised Leader of the Opposition, it is necessary for there to be a sufficiently cohesive opposition to need a formal leader. The emergence of the office coincided with the period when wholly united parties became the norm. This situation was normalised in the Parliament of 1807–1812, when the members of the Grenvillite and Foxite Whig factions resolved to maintain a joint, dual-house leadership for the whole party. The Ministry of all the Talents, in which both Whig factions participated fell at the 1807 general election, during which the Whigs had re-adopted traditional factions, the prime minister of the Talents ministry, Lord Grenville had led his eponymous faction from the House of Lords. Meanwhile, the government leader of the House of Commons, Viscount Howick, led his faction, howicks father, the 1st Earl Grey died on 14 November 1807. As such the new Earl Grey vacated his seat in the House of Commons and this left no obvious Whig leader in the House of Commons. Grenvilles article in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that he was considered the Whig leader in the House of Lords between 1807 and 1817, despite Grey leading the larger faction. Grenville and Grey, political historian Archibald Foord describes as being duumvirs of the party from 1807 to 1817, Grenville was at first reluctant to name a Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, commenting. All the elections in the world would not have made Windham or Sheridan leaders of the old Opposition while Fox was alive, eventually they jointly recommended George Ponsonby to the Whig MPs, whom they accepted as the first Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. Ponsonby proved a leader but as he could not be persuaded to resign. Lord Grenville retired from politics in 1817, leaving Grey as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
20.
Sooty
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Sooty is a glove puppet, created by Harry Corbett in 1948, a fictional bear that appears on British television. The childrens television show that bears his name has continued in various forms since the 1950s and, according to Guinness World Records, is the longest-running childrens programme in the UK. Sooty was originally devised by Harry Corbett, who bought the puppet as a present for his son, Matthew Corbett, Sooty, a small yellow bear with black ears and nose, is mute to the audience but can communicate with his operator by apparently whispering in his ear. He first appeared on screen on the BBC in 1952 on the BBCs Talent Night and this particular show came from the TV Theatre at the annual British Radio Show held on this occasion at Belle Vue, Manchester. For ten days there had been nightly heats of hopefuls in the theatre culminating in each of the winners performing live on the Saturday night variety show transmitted nationally, Harry Corbett won his heat and then, by public vote, the overall winner on the live TV show. Sooty and Harry then became regulars on the BBC childrens show Saturday Special from 1952-1955, the original bear was completely yellow, and Harry covered his ears and nose with soot so that he would show up better on black and white television - hence the puppets name. He would later be joined by other puppet characters Sweep, Soo, Kipper, Butch, Ramsbottom, Enry the Robot, Cousin Scampi, Miki and Maggie Mouse. Like Sooty, Scampi appears to only in a very light whisper which can be heard only when someone puts their ear close to his mouth. Following Harry Corbetts retirement in 1976, Sooty was operated by Corbetts son Matthew, the Sooty Show continued until 1992, evolving into a sitcom format. Like his father, Matthew took on a role to the puppets, sharing a house with Sooty, Sweep, Soo. Matthew developed a well-meaning but slightly conceited screen character, whose boasting and pomposity was frequently punctured by the mayhem caused by Sooty and Sweep. In 1993 Sooty, Sweep, Soo, Little Cousin Scampi, Brenda Longman, the voice of Soo since the early 1980s, co-starred as neighbour Mo. In May 1996, Matthew Corbett sold the rights to Sooty to the Global Rights Development Fund, Corbett commented, I have worked hand in glove with Sooty for the past 20 years, but now it is time for him to stand on his own two feet. The plan is to use my 50th birthday in two years time as a springboard to shoot Sooty to true international stardom, the deal included Corbett staying until 1998. He was joined in these by two female co-hosts, starting with Liana Bridges from 1999-2000 who worked in Sooty & Co. in the period he did. Cadell, who is a lifelong enthusiast of Sooty, said it was a dream come true to be able to own the rights to Sooty, repeats of Sooty Heights and Sooty were shown on the CITV channel between 2006 and 2010. In June 2008 it was announced that Richard Cadell had bought the rights to Sooty, a brand new Sooty adventure, Sootys Big Day Out, was released on DVD and was made available via the official Sooty Show website. A 26-part series aired in 2011 on CITV, set in a camp with Richard Cadell as the caretaker
21.
Tony Blair
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Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
22.
O. J. Simpson
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Orenthal James O. J. Simpson, nicknamed The Juice, is a former American football running back, broadcaster, actor, and convicted armed robber and kidnapper. Simpson attended the University of Southern California, where he played football for the USC Trojans. He played professionally in the National Football League as a back for 11 seasons, with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, holding the record for the single season yards-per-game average, which stands at 143.1. He is the player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format. Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983, after retiring from football, he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting. In 1995, Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after a lengthy and internationally publicised trial. The families of the victims filed a suit against him. In 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment, with a minimum of nine years without parole. He is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, born and raised in San Francisco, California, Simpson is the son of Eunice, a hospital administrator, and Jimmy Lee Simpson, a chef and bank custodian. His father was a drag queen in the San Francisco area. Later in life, Jimmy Simpson announced that he was gay, Simpsons maternal grandparents were from Louisiana, and his aunt gave him the name Orenthal, which she said was the name of a French actor she liked. Simpson has one brother, Melvin Leon Truman Simpson, one living sister, Shirley Simpson-Baker, as a child, Simpson developed rickets and wore braces on his legs until the age of five. His parents separated in 1952, and he was raised by his mother, growing up in San Francisco, Simpson and his family lived in the housing projects of the Potrero Hill neighborhood. In his early years, he joined a street gang called the Persian Warriors and was briefly incarcerated at the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center. At Galileo High School in San Francisco, Simpson played for the football team. From 1965 to 1966, Simpson was a student at City College of San Francisco and he played both offense and defense and was named to the Junior College All-American team as a running back. Simpson was awarded a scholarship to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles
23.
Diana, Princess of Wales
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Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry and was the child and third daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. She grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, in 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became known as Lady Diana Spencer. She came to prominence in February 1981 when her engagement to Prince Charles was announced and her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Pauls Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, the marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and she was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She was involved with dozens of charities including Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, Diana was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the Spencer family has been closely allied with the British Royal Family for several generations. Both of Dianas grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, with wealthy commoners as godparents. Diana had three siblings, Sarah, Jane, and Charles and her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an added strain to the Spencers marriage. Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, the Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with Princes Andrew, Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later had an affair with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969, Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents separation in 1967, but during that years Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Ruth Roche, in 1972, Lord Althorp began a relationship with Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Dame Barbara Cartland. They married at Caxton Hall, London in 1976, as an upper-class child at the time, Diana was first educated under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Diss
24.
News UK
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News Corp UK & Ireland Limited, is a British-based American-owned newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun newspapers and its former publications include the Today, News of the World, until June 2002, it was called News International plc. On 31 May 2011 the company name was changed from News International Limited to NI Group Limited, News UKs main competitor is DMG Media, which is in turn owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. Between 1987 and 1995, News International owned, through its subsidiary News Ltd, Today, all of News Internationals newspapers were founded by other owners, in some cases hundreds of years ago. In October 2005 News International sold TSL Education, publishers of Times Higher Education, Times Educational Supplement, the Times Literary Supplement, previously part of TSL Education, has been retained by News International as part of this deal. Darwin Ltd, who had taken over the company, continued to produce the same product and it has been alleged that News Group staff, including Clive Goodman, illegally accessed voicemail for the mobile phones of thousands of public figures, including politicians and celebrities. Goodman was jailed in 2007 for tapping the mobile phones of three members of the staff, this is an offence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. It was stated by News International at the time that Goodman had acted without their knowledge, apparently, these activities were well-known within the News of the World, being openly paid for by the accounts department with invoices which itemised illegal acts. This occurred during the period that Rebekah Brooks was editor, on 7 July, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph alleged that the families of dead British service personnel were targeted by private investigators working for the News of the World. This led to The Royal British Legion severing ties with the paper until such allegations are proved false, on 7 July, James Murdoch announced the final edition of the News of the World would be published on Sunday 10 July 2011, due to the allegations. On 15 July Rebekah Brooks resigned as Chief Executive of News International, I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a point of the debate. This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past, therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted, ruperts wisdom, kindness and incisive advice has guided me throughout my career and James is an inspirational leader who has shown me great loyalty and friendship. I would like to them both for their support. The Guardian newspaper, citing official company accounts, claims Brooks received a £10. 8m payoff for leaving News International, in September 2015, Rebekah Brooks was reappointed as CEO of the company, now named News UK. The companys major titles are published by companies, Times Newspapers Ltd. The printing of the papers is now undertaken at Broxbourne, Knowsley, the News Building, where all of News UKs London operations are based, was opened on 16 September 2014 by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
25.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
26.
Ascot Racecourse
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Ascot Racecourse is a British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the racecourses in the United Kingdom. The course, owned by Ascot Racecourse Ltd, enjoys close associations with the British Royal Family, Ascot today stages twenty-six days of racing over the course of the year, comprising eighteen flat meetings held between the months of May and October inclusive. It also stages important jump racing throughout the winter months, the Royal Meeting held each June, remains a major draw, its highlight being The Gold Cup. The most prestigious race is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes run over the course in July, Ascot Racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne. The first race, Her Majestys Plate, with a purse of 100 guineas, was held on 11 August 1711, seven horses competed, each carrying a weight of 12 stones. This first race comprised three separate four-mile heats, in 1813 Parliament passed an Act to ensure that the grounds would remain a public racecourse. A new grandstand was opened in 1839 at a cost of £10000, a further Act of Parliament of 1913 establishing the Ascot Authority which entity manages the racecourse to this day. From its creation until 1945 the only racing that took place at Ascot was the Royal Meeting, since that date, more fixtures have been introduced to the grounds, notably steeplechase and hurdles in 1965. Ascot racecourse closed for a period of twenty months on 26 September 2004, for a £185 million redevelopment funded by Allied Irish Bank and designed by Populous, as owner of the Ascot estate, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth reopened the racecourse on Tuesday 20 June 2006. However, the upper levels provide far less accommodation for the everyday racegoer than was present in the former stand, in July 2009 Ascot Racecourse also hosted the third round of the UAE Presidents Cup. The Royal Ascot is the centrepiece of Ascots year and dates back to 1711 when it was founded by Queen Anne and it is a major event in the British social calendar, and press coverage of the attendees and what they are wearing often exceeds coverage of the actual racing. There are three enclosures attended by guests on Royal Ascot week, the Royal Enclosure is the most prestigious of the three enclosures, with recent visits from the Queen and Royal Family members. Access to the Royal Enclosure is restricted, with security on the day. First-time applicants must apply to the Royal Enclosure Office and gain membership from someone who has attended the enclosure for at least four years, for existing badgeholders, an invitation is sent out by Her Majestys Representative to request badges. The badgeholders name is written onto the badge and can be used only by that person and those in the Royal Enclosure have the options of fine dining and hospitality, and a selection of bars. The dress code is strictly enforced, for women, only a day dress with a hat is acceptable, with rules applying to the length and style of the dress. In addition, women must not show bare midriffs or shoulders, for men, black or grey morning dress with top hat is required
27.
The Times
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The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London, England. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, the Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967 and its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in touch with 10 Downing Street. In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope, in November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, the Sunday Times remains a broadsheet. The Times had a daily circulation of 446,164 in December 2016, in the same period. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006 and it has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company where he was working went bankrupt because of the complaints of a Jamaican hurricane. Being unemployed, Walter decided to set a new business up and it was in that time when Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was faster and more precise. Walter bought the patent and to use it, he decided to open a printing house. The first publication of the newspaper The Daily Universal Register in Great Britain was 1 January 1785, unhappy because people always omitted the word Universal, Ellias changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name, the Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its life, the profits of The Times were very large. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig, in 1815, The Times had a circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed editor in 1817
28.
Closed-circuit television
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Closed-circuit television, also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may point to point, point to multipoint. Videotelephony is seldom called CCTV but the use of video in distance education, Surveillance of the public using CCTV is common in many areas around the world. In recent years, the use of body worn video cameras has been introduced as a new form of surveillance, video surveillance has generated significant debate about balancing its use with individuals right to privacy even when in public. In industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process from a control room. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event, a more advanced form of CCTV, utilizing digital video recorders, provides recording for possibly many years, with a variety of quality and performance options and extra features. More recently, decentralized IP cameras, some equipped with sensors, support recording directly to network-attached storage devices. There are about 350 million surveillance cameras worldwide as of 2016, about 65% of these cameras are installed in Asia. The growth of CCTV has been slowing in recent years, the first CCTV system was installed by Siemens AG at Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Nazi Germany in 1942, for observing the launch of V-2 rockets. The noted German engineer Walter Bruch, Wayne Cox, and Tashara Arnold were responsible for the technological design, in the U. S. the first commercial closed-circuit television system became available in 1949, called Vericon. Very little is known about Vericon except it was advertised as not requiring a government permit, marie Van Brittan Brown invented the home security system. The patent was granted in 1969, browns system had a set of 4 peep-holes and a camera that could slide up and down to look through each one. The system included a device that enabled a homeowner to use a set to view the person at the door. The earliest video surveillance systems involved constant monitoring because there was no way to record, the development of reel-to-reel media enabled the recording of surveillance footage. Due to these shortcomings, video surveillance was not widespread, VCR technology became available in the 1970s, making it easier to record and erase information, and use of video surveillance became more common. During the 1990s, digital multiplexing was developed, allowing cameras to record at once, as well as time lapse. This increased savings of time and money and the led to an increase in the use of CCTV, recently CCTV technology has been enhanced with a shift toward Internet-based products and systems, and other technological developments. In September 1968, Olean, New York was the first city in the United States to install video cameras along its main street in an effort to fight crime
29.
United Kingdom general election, 1997
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The United Kingdom general election of 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition and won the election with a landslide victory, winning 418 seats. Blair, as a result, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, under Blairs leadership, the Labour Party had adopted a more centrist policy platform under the name New Labour. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more left-wing stance of the Labour Party, the Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government. However,1997 remains the last election in which Labour had a net gain of seats, a record number of women were elected to parliament,120, of whom 101 were Labour MPs. This was in thanks to Labours policy of using all-women shortlists. The Conservative Party was led by incumbent Prime Minister John Major and ran their campaign emphasising falling unemployment, however, future Prime Minister Theresa May was elected to the safe Conservative seat at Maidenhead, and future Speaker John Bercow in the seat at Buckingham. The Scottish National Party returned 6 MPs, double their total in 1992, as with all general elections since the early 1950s, the results were broadcast live on the BBC, the presenters were David Dimbleby, Peter Snow and Jeremy Paxman. Labour had elected John Smith as its party leader in 1992, Blair brought the party closer to the political centre and abolished the partys Clause IV in their constitution, which had committed them to mass nationalisation of industry. Labour also reversed its policy on nuclear disarmament and the events of Black Wednesday allowed Labour to promise greater economic management under the Chancellorship of Gordon Brown. Fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders by halving the time from arrest to sentencing, cut NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients as a first step by releasing £100 million saved from NHS red tape. Get 250,000 under-25-year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from a levy on the privatised utilities. No rise in tax rates, cut VAT on heating to 5 per cent. Disputes within the Conservative government over European Union issues, and a variety of sleaze allegations had affected the governments popularity. The previous Parliament first sat on 29 April 1992, therefore, the latest date the election could have been held on was 22 May 1997. British elections have been held on Thursdays by convention since the 1930s, Prime Minister John Major called the election on Monday 17 March 1997, ensuring the formal campaign would be unusually long, at six weeks. The election was scheduled for 1 May, to coincide with the elections on the same day. This set a precedent, as the three subsequent general elections have also held alongside the May local elections
30.
BBC Guide to Comedy
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BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBCs online service. The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched, originally named BBC Online, it was then rebranded as BBCi before being named bbc. co. uk. It was then renamed BBC Online again in 2008, however the service uses the branding BBC, the web-based service of the BBC is one of the most visited websites and the worlds largest news website. As of 2007, it contained two million pages. On 2 March 2010, the BBC reported that it cut its website spending by 25% and close BBC6 Music. On 24 January 2011, the cuts of 25% were announced leaving a £34 million shortfall. This resulted in the closure of several sites, including BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6, and this led to the official launch of BBC Online at the www. bbc. co. uk address in December 1997. Later, BBC Online launched licence fee funded web sites for Top of the Pops and Top Gear, Beeb. com was later refocussed as an online shopping guide, and was closed in 2002. Beeb. com now redirects to the BBC Shop website, run by BBC Worldwide. In 1999, the BBC bought the www. bbc. com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing, as of 2005, www. bbcnc. org. uk no longer exists. In 2001, BBC Online was rebranded as BBCi. the website launched on 7 November 2001, the BBCi name was conceived as an umbrella brand for all the BBCs digital interactive services across web, digital teletext, interactive TV and on mobile platforms. The navbar was designed to offer a similar system to the i-bar on BBCi interactive television. Interactive TV services continued under the BBCi brand until it was dropped completely in 2008, the BBCs online video player, the iPlayer has, however, retained an i-prefix in its branding. The widget-based design was inspired by such as Facebook and iGoogle. The new homepage also incorporated the design used in the 1970s on the BBCs television service into the large header. The new BBC homepage left beta on Wednesday,27 February 2008 to serve as the new BBC Homepage under the same URL as the previous version. On 30 January 2010, a new design became available as a beta version. This homepage expanded on the idea and the customisation theme
31.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
32.
I'm Alan Partridge
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Im Alan Partridge is a 1997 BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan and written by Coogan, Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci. It features Alan Partridge, a tactless and inept radio DJ, after he has left by his wife. The show follows Partridge as he lives in a hotel, presents a graveyard slot on Norwich local radio. A second series followed in 2002, with Partridge now living in a static caravan after recovering from a mental breakdown, Iannucci said the writers used the sitcom as a kind of social X-ray of male middle-aged Middle England. Supporting Coogan are Felicity Montagu as his faithful but timid personal assistant, Lynn Benfield, Simon Greenall as Geordie handyman Michael, the series was nominated for three BAFTAs, two British Comedy Awards, and a Royal Television Society award. In a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted by industry professionals, the main character of the series, Alan, a former host on Knowing Me, Knowing You. By series two, following a mental breakdown, Alan has fixed himself slightly. He lives in a static caravan next to the house he is having built. Besides this, he has a show in the evening, hosts a military-based quiz show on digital television, has published his autobiography. Alan is generally loathsome and narcissistic with very poor social skills, Lynn is a member of a local Baptist church, which Alan finds strange but is willing to tolerate. Her mother, with whom Lynn possibly lives, is apparently housebound, when accompanying Alan, Lynn appears inhibited by him, but seems capable of easily blending into social situations when Alan is not present. Despite her intense and frequently ludicrous workload, Lynn receives a paltry £8,000 per year, by the second series, her mother has died, and Lynn finds romance with a fellow churchgoer, a retired policeman. At the celebration following her church baptism, she is shown to have friends and is held in high regard by other churchmembers. An all-purpose worker at the Linton Travel Tavern, Michael speaks with a heavy Geordie accent, Partridge and Alan clearly regards Michael with a great deal of disdain. Michael is almost as desperate and neurotic a character as Alan, Michael frequently tells stories of his time in the British army, to the delight of Alan, especially if they are of a salacious or violent nature. During a period of military placement in the Philippines, Michael married a Filipino woman, however, his wife left him and now lives with his brother in Sunderland, possibly shedding light on the origins of Michaels neuroticism. In the last episode of the first series, Michael appears at Alans party already drunk on Scrumpy Jack and he is also a recurring character in the second series of Im Alan Partridge, where he has left the Linton Travel Tavern and now works in a BP petrol station. Dave is a Radio Norwich DJ who runs the right after Alans graveyard slot show
33.
The Armando Iannucci Shows
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The Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. It was shown on UKs Channel 4 from September to October 2001, each episode focused on specific themes relating to human nature and existentialism, around which Iannucci would weave a series of surreal sketches and monologues. Iannucci has been quoted as saying it is the series he is most proud of making. He told The Metro in April 2007 The Armando Iannucci Show on Channel 4 came out around 9/11, people had other things on their minds. But that was the closest to me expressing my comic outlook on life, the show is also notable for its use of music, the quality of its direction and the often extensive use of CGI effects. A DVD of the series was released on 4 September 2006 after years of wrangles due to rights issues. The East End Thug - A middle-aged Cockney Villain who can solve almost any problem through the medium of violent gangland threats, hugh - an old man who visits Armando and recalls his past, his reminiscences containing a modern twist. The Television Executives - a group of TV executives unable to conceive of anything other than in terms of a TV pitch, usually end up congratulating themselves with a conga. Each episode is themed around a certain subject, the following episode order is according to the DVD which had its contents significantly reshuffled from the original broadcast timeline. The original broadcast version featured a number of classical pieces including, Spiegel im Spiegel – Arvo Pärt – Angela Yoffe and Vadim Gluzman Shaker Loops. There is also a snippet of a modern opera, Ibiza Uncovered. Empire called the show an effort, even if this does display flashes of the wit behind The Day Today. The Armando Iannucci Shows at the former BBC Guide to Comedy The Armando Iannucci Shows at the Internet Movie Database
34.
The Thick of It
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The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast for two series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a small cast focusing on a government minister, his advisers. These characters continued when the show switched channels to BBC Two for its series in 2009. A fourth series about a government was broadcast in 2012. In a 2012 interview, series creator Armando Iannucci said the series of the programme would probably be its last. The series has been described as the 21st centurys answer to Yes Minister, highlighting the struggles, as with Yes Minister, the political parties involved are never mentioned by name, although the context makes clear which is which. Iannucci describes it as Yes Minister meets Larry Sanders, the journalist and former civil servant Martin Sixsmith is an adviser to the writing team, giving some of the storylines an element of realism. The series became known for its profanity and for featuring storylines which have mirrored, or in some cases predicted real-life policies. A feature film spin-off, In the Loop, was released in the UK on 17 April 2009. A pilot for a U. S. Armando Iannucci originally conceived of a political satire after arguing the case for Yes Minister in a 2004 Best British Sitcom poll for BBC Two. His idea was commissioned by Roly Keating, the controller of BBC Four, Iannucci created the first series of three episodes, which aired in May–June 2005, and a second series, also of three episodes, which followed in October. The series is written by a team of writers led by Armando Iannucci, some of the dialogue is improvised rather than scripted, and includes some very strong language. Peter Capaldi said Fundamentally 80% of the cut is the script that we started with. The improvisation just makes it more real and not written. Prior to rehearsals, the scripts are sent to a consultant in Lancaster called Ian Martin. The programmes producer is Adam Tandy, who has produced all of Iannuccis television projects since 2000, the programme is shot with hand-held cameras to give it a sense of vérité or fly-on-the-wall documentary. The documentary style is furthered by the absence of any music or laughter track. The action centres on the fictional Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, thus it acts as a super department overseeing many others, with some similarities to the Cabinet Office
35.
Time Trumpet
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Time Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a manner to Iannuccis earlier one-off programmes 2004, The Stupid Version and Clinton. One sketch was later spun off by Irish network RTÉ into the cult TV series Soupy Norman in 2007, Time Trumpet is set in the year 2031 and is a retrospective documentary on the first thirty years of the 21st century. Actors and actresses played the parts of todays stars thirty years on, the show also included interviews with comedians, billed in the show as top cultural commentators slash TV pundits, speaking about the events of the past. These included Stewart Lee, Richard Ayoade, Jo Enright, Matthew Holness, Adam Buxton, Mark Watson, Iannucci himself is seen once per episode interviewing guests, but at an oblique angle and with a different physical appearance. Series co-creator Will Smith also appears in the series, as the host of a TV show My Name is Phil, each episode had a main theme running throughout, such as The Olympics or the War in Iraq. The cancelled episode was shown a week later, without the footage of an assassinated Blair. However, a sketch was aired, involving a play on the events of 9/11. A DVD of the series was released on 27 April 2009, the assassination of Tony Blair sketch was also removed from this, as was some sketches that included footage of the Olympic Games. This ended up forming the basis of the cult TV show Soupy Norman on RTÉ, alan Moores final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen includes a reference to Rape An Ape, as well as several references to Iannuccis The Thick of It. In December 2011, US network Comedy Central announced they would be remaking the series, ultimately the series was not picked up by the network, and Iannucci has since moved on to other projects. Time Trumpet website Time Trumpet at BBC Programmes Time Trumpet at the Internet Movie Database Iannucci profiled on BBC News Faces of the Week with reference to Time Trumpet BBC comedy blog
36.
Veep
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Veep is an American political satire comedy television series, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, that premiered on HBO on April 22,2012. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of the British sitcom The Thick of It, Veep is set in the office of Selina Meyer, a fictional Vice President, and subsequent President, of the United States. The series follows Meyer and her team as they attempt to make their mark and leave a lasting legacy without getting tripped up in the political games that define Washington. Veep has received acclaim and won several major awards. It has been nominated five years in a row for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Louis-Dreyfus has won five consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Award, two Critics Choice Television Awards and one Television Critics Association Award for her performance. Supporting cast members Anna Chlumsky and Tony Hale have both received four consecutive Emmy nominations for their work on the series, including Hale winning in 2013 and 2015, the series has been renewed for a 10-episode sixth season which will premiere on April 16,2017. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, a former Maryland Senator who, in the start of the series, is the titular Vice President, during this term, she often feels powerless, disregarded, and discontented in her position as second-in-command. During her tenure as Vice President, she has a relationship with the President. She ascends to the office of the presidency in season 3, after the sitting president resigns for personal reasons. Due to a complex manipulation of constitutional law, she loses the race in season 5. She is divorced with one daughter, but remains romantically entangled with her ex-husband during the first two seasons, Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer, the Vice Presidents Chief of Staff. She credits herself as the Vice Presidents trouble-shooter, problem-solver, issue-mediator, doubt-remover, conscience-examiner, thought-thinker, Amy is constantly sacrificing her own reputation to save Selinas political credibility. She is known to be uptight and overly dedicated to her career, unwilling to settle down and have children and she has history with both Jonah and Dan, and may still have feelings for the latter. Amy becomes Selinas campaign manager during her run, but resigns as a result of the brief appointment of an unopinionated friend of Selinas to her campaign team. She rejoins the Meyer team when a tie in the election leads to a statewide recount in Nevada. Chlumsky previously portrayed a character, Liza Weld, in Iannuccis 2009 film. She has received four consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her performance, Tony Hale as Gary Walsh, Selinas personal aide and body man. A long-term associate and confidant of Selina, Gary is portrayed as incredibly loyal, despite his menial job, Gary is actually a graduate of Cornell University, having majored in hotel management
37.
Tube Tales
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Tube Tales is a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers as submitted to Time Out magazine. The stories were scripted and filmed independently of each other, filming took place on the London Underground network in 1999 by nine directors including Stephen Hopkins, Charles McDougall and Bob Hoskins, with directorial debuts by Ewan McGregor and Jude Law. The film was produced by Richard Jobson and is also Simon Peggs film debut, in a small role. Cast, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Kelly Macdonald. Director, Charles McDougallWriter, Nick PerryOriginator, TJ AustinStarring, Hans Matheson and Carmen EjogoSynopsis, Two young opportunists steal a briefcase and their victim shoots at them, but they seem to escape unscathed onto an unused platform where they board a mysterious train. A preacher reads from the bible and a young boy washes passengers feet, Tube Tales Official Site Tube Tales at the Internet Movie Database
38.
In the Loop
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In the Loop is a 2009 British satirical black comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci. The film is a spin-off from the BBC Television series The Thick of It and satirizes Anglo-American politics in the 21st century and it was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film stars Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Chris Addison, David Rasche, with the help of his girlfriend Suzy, Simons new aide Toby Wright manages to get him into the Foreign Office meeting that day. The report heavily opposes intervention, noting the lack of intelligence except that which is coming from a source known as Iceman. Also during the committee it is hinted at that the US Assistant Secretary of State for Policy, Linton Barwick, after the meeting, Simon is ambushed by reporters and contradicts his previous statements by saying the government has to be prepared to climb the mountain of conflict. Again he is subjected to chastisement from Tucker, returning to the US, Karen and Liza conclude that Linton has created a war committee under the guise of Future Planning. At a party Karen teams up with General George Miller who opposes the war believing that the US does not have enough troops to succeed and she tells him that they could use Simon on the committee as he would internationalise the dissent. While on a mission in Washington, Simon and Toby are invited by Karen to the Future Planning committee. Toby accidentally leaks the details of the meeting to a friend at CNN before meeting up with Liza at a bar, due to Tobys leak the Future Planning committee is swamped, but Karen and George fail to find out anything about the war. Both Karen and Linton turn to Simon to back their respective causes, Tucker, who is in the US, is diverted by Linton to the White House for a fake briefing. He confronts Linton, who tells him that he has to supply the US with the British intelligence on the situation in the Middle East, news of this reaches the papers, who criticise Simon for not acting on the issue. Suzy finds out about Tobys one-night-stand with Liza and they break up, when leaving their apartment he gives her a copy of PWPPIP to leak if she chooses, but she calls him a coward for not doing it himself. The President rushes forward the security council vote on intervention by vetoing tariffs on Chinese imports. Simon tells his Director of Communications Judy Molloy, to leak to the press that he would if the committee votes in favour. Once at the UN Headquarters Tucker gets word that PWPPIP has been leaked and it is later revealed that Michael Rodgers of the Foreign Office accidentally leaked it, not realising its importance. Miller and Tucker convince Jonathan Tutt, the UK Ambassador, to push the meeting forward so that the leak will not have time to spread in the US. However, Linton asserts his dominance over Tucker by telling him that the British intelligence has to be handed over before a vote can be taken, subsequently the committee votes in favour of intervention. After the vote, Miller informs Karen that he not resign now that the war is happening
39.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
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The film was directed by Declan Lowney and written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham, Neil Gibbons, and Rob Gibbons. Principal photography began on 7 January 2013 in Norwich and Mitcham, the film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 7 August 2013 by StudioCanal UK, where it opened at number one in the box office. Magnolia Pictures distributed the film in America, the film received a positive reception and grossed $9.8 million on a £4 million budget. It also received a Grand Marnier Fellowship Award nomination for Best Film, a book of the screenplay was published on 21 November 2013. Norwich radio station North Norfolk Digital is bought out by a multinational conglomerate, DJ Alan Partridge is not concerned, but fellow DJ Pat Farrell convinces him to gatecrash a board meeting to persuade the new owners not to fire Pat. When Alan discovers that either he or Pat must go, he urges them to fire Pat, during a company party, Pat enters the station with a shotgun and holds the staff hostage, demanding his job back. The police enlist Alan as a negotiator, and he builds a rapport with Pat, with Alans co-presenter Sidekick Simon. Alan daydreams of ending the siege heroically, but cannot bring himself to grab Pats gun, Alan accidentally locks himself out of the building and loses his trousers trying to get back in through a window. The police realise he is a negotiator and send in an undercover officer disguised as a pizza delivery man. Alan interrupts and takes the pizzas in himself, when Pat discovers a taser in one of the boxes, an argument erupts between the hostages and the police burst in. Pat escapes in the tour bus, bringing Alan and security guard Michael. On the bus, Alan regains Pats trust and they continue to host the radio show, however, Pat sees Alans JUST SACK PAT message in a photo and deduces that Alan was behind his redundancy. Alan hides in the bus toilet compartment and escapes in the septic tank, on Cromer Pier, Pat faces off with Alan and the police. Michael tries to distract Pat by throwing himself off the pier, Pat tells Alan that he is depressed due to the death of his wife and prepares to shoot himself. Unable to pull the trigger, he gives his shotgun to Alan, the gun goes off, shooting Alan in the leg, he is then shot again by a police sniper reacting to gunfire. Lynn arrives and thinks Alan is dead, but a paramedic assures him that he will be fine, Alan returns to North Norfolk Digital with Sidekick Simon and Pat calls the show from jail. Alan goes on holiday with Angela and her sons, several characters from Im Alan Partridge make appearances in the film. The character is a television presenter and radio announcer, whose presenting style is a parody of cliched media reporting or presentation
