1.
Theatre
–
The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence, the specific place of the performance is also named by the word theatre as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον, itself from θεάομαι. Modern theatre, broadly defined, includes performances of plays and musical theatre, there are connections between theatre and the art forms of ballet, opera and various other forms. The city-state of Athens is where western theatre originated, participation in the city-states many festivals—and mandatory attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member in particular—was an important part of citizenship. The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture, Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play, the origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle, the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honoured Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10, the stage consisted of a dancing floor, dressing room and scene-building area. Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics, the actors wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE, no tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institution alised in competitions held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus. As contestants in the City Dionysias competition playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays, the performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE, official records begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. More than 130 years later, the philosopher Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in the oldest surviving work of dramatic theory—his Poetics, Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the surviving plays of Aristophanes. New Comedy is known primarily from the papyrus fragments of Menander. Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster. In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyrs themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal companions, often engaging in drunken revelry
2.
Moraine
–
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions on Earth, through geomorphological processes. Moraines are formed from debris previously carried along by a glacier, lateral moraines are formed at the side of the ice flow and terminal moraines at the foot, marking the maximum advance of the glacier. Other types of moraine include ground moraines, till-covered areas with irregular topography, moraines may be composed of debris ranging in size from silt-sized glacial flour to large boulders. The debris is typically sub-angular to rounded in shape, moraines may be on the glacier’s surface or deposited as piles or sheets of debris where the glacier has melted. Moraines may form through a number of processes, depending on the characteristics of sediment, the dynamics on the ice, moraine forming processes may be loosely divided into passive and active. Passive processes involve the placing of chaotic supraglacial sediments onto the landscape with limited reworking and these moraines are composed of supraglacial sediments from the ice surface. Active processes form or rework moraine sediment directly by the movement of ice and these form push moraines and thrust-block moraines, which are often composed of till and reworked proglacial sediment. Moraine may also form by the accumulation of sand and gravel deposits from glacial streams emanating from the ice margin and these fan deposits may coalesce to form a long moraine bank marking the ice margin. Several processes may combine to form and rework a single moraine, moraines can be classified either by origin, location with respect to a glacier or former glacier, or by shape. Some moraine types are only from ancient glaciers, while medial moraines of valley glaciers are poorly preserved. Lateral moraines are parallel ridges of debris deposited along the sides of a glacier, the unconsolidated debris can be deposited on top of the glacier by frost shattering of the valley walls and/or from tributary streams flowing into the valley. The till is carried along the glacial margin until the glacier melts, lateral moraines stand high because they protect the ice under them from the elements, causing it to melt or sublime less than the uncovered parts of the glacier. Multiple lateral moraines may develop as the glacier advances and retreats, ground moraines are till-covered areas with irregular topography and no ridges, often forming gently rolling hills or plains. They are accumulated at the base of the ice as lodgment till, in alpine glaciers, ground moraines are often found between the two lateral moraines. Ground moraines may be modified into drumlins by the overriding ice, Rogen moraines or ribbed moraines are a type of basal moraines that form a series of ribs perpendicular to the ice flow in an ice sheet. The depressions between the ribs are sometimes filled with water, making the Rogen moraines look like tigerstripes on aerial photographs, Rogen moraines are named after Lake Rogen in Härjedalen, Sweden, the landform’s type locality. End moraines, or terminal moraines, are ridges of unconsolidated debris deposited at the snout or end of the glacier and they usually reflect the shape of the glaciers terminus. Glaciers act much like a belt, carrying debris from the top of the glacier to the bottom where it deposits it in end moraines
3.
Newspaper
–
A newspaper is a serial publication containing news about current events, other informative articles about politics, sports, arts, and so on, and advertising. A newspaper is usually, but not exclusively, printed on relatively inexpensive, the journalism organizations that publish newspapers are themselves often metonymically called newspapers. As of 2017, most newspapers are now published online as well as in print, the online versions are called online newspapers or news websites. Newspapers are typically published daily or weekly, News magazines are also weekly, but they have a magazine format. General-interest newspapers typically publish news articles and feature articles on national and international news as well as local news, typically the paper is divided into sections for each of those major groupings. Papers also include articles which have no byline, these articles are written by staff writers, a wide variety of material has been published in newspapers. As of 2017, newspapers may also provide information about new movies, most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenses with a mixture of subscription revenue, newsstand sales, and advertising revenue. Some newspapers are government-run or at least government-funded, their reliance on advertising revenue, the editorial independence of a newspaper is thus always subject to the interests of someone, whether owners, advertisers, or a government. Some newspapers with high editorial independence, high quality. This is a way to avoid duplicating the expense of reporting from around the world, circa 2005, there were approximately 6,580 daily newspaper titles in the world selling 395 million print copies a day. Worldwide annual revenue approached $100 billion in 2005-7, then plunged during the financial crisis of 2008-9. Revenue in 2016 fell to only $53 billion, hurting every major publisher as their efforts to gain online income fell far short of the goal. Besides remodeling advertising, the internet has also challenged the business models of the era by crowdsourcing both publishing in general and, more specifically, journalism. In addition, the rise of news aggregators, which bundle linked articles from online newspapers. Increasing paywalling of online newspapers may be counteracting those effects, the oldest newspaper still published is the Gazzetta di Mantova, which was established in Mantua in 1664. While online newspapers have increased access to newspapers by people with Internet access, literacy is also a factor which prevents people who cannot read from being able to benefit from reading newspapers. Periodicity, They are published at intervals, typically daily or weekly. This ensures that newspapers can provide information on newly-emerging news stories or events, currency, Its information is as up to date as its publication schedule allows
4.
Tabloid (newspaper format)
–
A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format, the term tabloid journalism refers to an emphasis on such topics as sensational crime stories, astrology, celebrity gossip and television, and is not a reference to newspapers printed in this format. Some small-format papers with a standard of journalism refer to themselves as compact newspapers. Larger newspapers, traditionally associated with higher-quality journalism, are called broadsheets, in common usage, tabloid and broadsheet are frequently more descriptive of a newspapers market position than physical format. The Berliner format used by many prominent European newspapers is sized between the tabloid and the broadsheet, in a newspaper context, the term Berliner is generally used only to describe size, not to refer to other qualities of the publication. The word tabloid comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Co. to the compressed tablets they marketed as Tabloid pills in the late 1880s, the connotation of tabloid was soon applied to other small compressed items. A1902 item in Londons Westminister Gazette noted, The proprietor intends to give in tabloid form all the news printed by other journals, thus tabloid journalism in 1901 originally meant a paper that condensed stories into a simplified, easily absorbed format. The term preceded the 1918 reference to smaller sheet newspapers that contained the condensed stories, a tabloid is defined as roughly 17 by 11 inches and commonly half the size of a broadsheet. Tabloid newspapers, especially in the United Kingdom, boast a very high degree of variation as far as target market, political alignment, editorial style, thus, various terms have been coined to describe the subtypes of this versatile paper format. There are, broadly, two types of tabloid newspaper, red top and compact. The distinction is largely of editorial style, both red top and compact tabloids span the width of the spectrum from socialism to capitalist conservatism. The red top tabloid is, for many, the example of the format. Red tops tend to be written with a simplistic, straightforward vocabulary and grammar, their layout, more often than not, in the extreme case, red top tabloids have been accused of lying or misrepresenting the truth to increase circulation. Poll results are often predicted by red top papers, examples of British red top newspapers include The Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Sport. In contrast to red top tabloids, compacts use a style more closely associated with broadsheet newspapers. In fact, most compact tabloids formerly used the paper size. The term compact was coined in the 1970s by the Daily Mail, one of the newspapers to make the change. The purpose behind this was to avoid the association of the word tabloid with the flamboyant, the early converts from broadsheet format made the change in the 1970s, two notable British papers that took this step at the time were the Daily Mail and the Daily Express
5.
Mass media
–
The mass media is a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information electronically, via such media as film, radio, recorded music, digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email, social sites, websites. Print media transmit information via physical objects, such as books, comics, magazines, newspapers, event organizing and public speaking can also be considered forms of mass media. The organizations that control these technologies, such as studios, publishing companies. In the late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries, books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings, and television. The explosion of digital technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries made prominent the question. For example, it is whether to include cell phones, computer games. In the 2000s, a called the seven mass media became popular. For example, the Internet includes blogs, podcasts, web sites, the sixth and seventh media, Internet and mobile phones, are often referred to collectively as digital media, and the fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast media. Some argue that video games have developed into a mass form of media. While a telephone is a communication device, mass media communicates to a large group. In addition, the telephone has transformed into a phone which is equipped with Internet access. A question arises whether this makes cell phones a mass medium or simply a device used to access a mass medium. There is currently a system by which marketers and advertisers are able to tap into satellites and this transmission of mass advertising to millions of people is another form of mass communication. Video games may also be evolving into a mass medium, video games provide a common gaming experience to millions of users across the globe and convey the same messages and ideologies to all their users. Users sometimes share the experience with one another by playing online, excluding the Internet however, it is questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience when they play the game individually
6.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
International Standard Serial Number
–
An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
8.
Old pence
–
The pre-decimal penny was a coin worth 1/240th of a pound sterling. Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius and it was a continuation of the earlier English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one pre-1707 Scottish shilling. The penny was minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper. The plural of penny is pence when referring to a quantity of money, thus 8d is eight pence, but eight pennies means specifically eight individual penny coins. Before Decimal Day in 1971 twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound, values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e. g.42 pence would be three shillings and sixpence, pronounced three and six. Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence and this version of the penny was made obsolete in 1971 by decimalisation, and was replaced by the decimal penny which had a value 140% more. The kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged by the 1707 Act of Union to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the penny replaced the shilling of the pound scots. The design and specifications of the English penny were unchanged by the Union, Queen Annes reign saw pennies minted in 1708,1709,1710, and 1713. These issues, however, were not for circulation, instead being minted as Maundy money. The prohibitive cost of minting silver coins had meant the size of pennies had been reduced over the years, the practice of minting pennies only for Maundy money continued through the reigns of George I and George II, and into that of George III. In 1797, the government authorised Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his Soho Mint in Birmingham. At the time it was believed that the value of a coin should correspond to the value of the material it was made from. This requirement meant that the coins would be larger than the silver pennies minted previously. The large size of the coins, combined with the rim where the inscription was incuse i. e. punched into the metal rather than standing proud of it. These pennies were minted over the course of years. By 1802, the production of privately issued provincial tokens had ceased, however, in the next ten years the intrinsic value of copper rose. The return of privately minted token coinage was evident by 1811 and endemic by 1812, the Royal Mint undertook a massive recoinage programme in 1816, with large quantities of gold and silver coin being minted. To thwart the further issuance of private token coinage, in 1817 an Act of Parliament was passed which forbade the manufacture of private token coinage under very severe penalties
9.
Drury Lane
–
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the part in the City of Westminster. It acquired its name from the Suffolk barrister Sir Robert Drury, after the death in 1615 of his great-great-grandson, another Robert Drury, the property passed out of the family. It became the London house of the Earl of Craven, then a house under the sign of his reputed mistress. Subsequently the gardens and courtyards of the house were built over with rows of smallhouses, the remains of the house itself, which had been progressively demolished, were finally cleared in 1809. By this time Drury Lane had become one of the worst slums in London, dominated by prostitution, the area was eventually cleared to make way for the developments of Kingsway and Aldwych. Also in Drury Lane is the New London Theatre,173 Drury Lane was the location of the first J Sainsbury store, now one of the UKs largest retailers. The store was opened in 1869,191 Drury Lane was the location of the Workers Educational Society in 1847/48. The street Drury Lane is where The Muffin Man lives, as mentioned in the nursery rhyme. Colley Cibber Covent Garden List of eponymous roads in London Restoration comedy The Strand, Drury Lane and Clare Market, Old and New London Volume 3, Drury Lane, In Their Shoes, Drury Lane history resource
10.
Penny
–
A penny is a coin or a unit of currency in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius, it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system, presently, it is the formal name of the British penny and the informal name of one American cent as well as the informal Irish designation of 1 cent euro coin. It is the name of the cent unit of account in Canada. The name is used in reference to various historical currencies also derived from the Carolingian system, such as the French denier. It may also be used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin. The Carolingian penny was originally a. 940-fine silver coin weighing 1/240 pound, the British penny remained a silver coin until the expense of the Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, no penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings, halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. Penny is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English peni, a development of numerous variations including pennig, penning, and pending. The etymology of the penny is uncertain, although cognates are common across almost all Germanic languages and suggest a base *pan-, *pann-. Recently, it has proposed that it may represent an early borrowing of Punic PN. Following decimalization, the British and Irish coins were marked new penny until 1982 and 1985, the regular plural pennies fell out of use in England from the 16th century, except in reference to coins considered individually. The informal name for the American cent seems to have spread from New York, in British English, prior to decimalization, values from two to eleven pence and of twenty pence are often written and spoken as a single word, as twopence, threepence, &c. Where a single coin represented a number of pence, it was treated as a single noun, thus, a threepence would be single coin of that value whereas three pence would be its value and three pennies would be three penny coins. In British English, divisions of a penny were added to such combinations without a conjunction, as sixpence-farthing, adjectival use of such coins used the ending -penny, as sixpenny. The British abbreviation d. derived from the Latin denarius and it followed the amount after a space. It has been replaced since decimalization by p, usually written without a space or period, from this abbreviation, it is common to speak of pennies and values in pence as p. In North America, it is common to abbreviate cents with the currency symbol ¢, elsewhere, it is usually written with a simple c. The medieval silver penny was modeled on similar coins in antiquity, such as the Greek drachma, the Carthaginian shekel, forms of these seem to have reached as far as Norway and Sweden
11.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
–
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the worlds largest arts festival, which in 2016, spanned 25 days and featured 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Edinburgh, Scotlands capital and it is an open access performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The Fringe has often showcased experimental, challenging or controversial works that might not be invited to a more conservative arts festival, the Fringe board of directors is drawn from members of the Festival Fringe Society, who are often Fringe participants themselves – performers or administrators. Elections are held once a year, in August, and Board members serve a term of four years, the Board appoints the Fringe Chief Executive, who is currently Shona McCarthy and assumed the role in March 2016. The Chief Executive operates under the chair, currently Professor Sir Timothy OShea, the Fringe started life when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. With the official festival using the major venues, these companies took over smaller. Seven performed in Edinburgh, and one undertook a version of the morality play Everyman in Dunfermline Abbey, about 20 miles north. These groups aimed to take advantage of the large assembled theatre crowds to showcase their own alternative theatre, although at the time it was not recognised as such, this was the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This meant that two defining features of the future Fringe were established at the very beginning – the lack of invitations to perform. I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings. The word fringe had in fact used in a review of Everyman in 1947. Late night revues, which would become a feature of Fringes, the first one was the New Drama Groups After The Show, a series of sketches taking place after Donald Pleasences Ebb Tide, in 1952. Among the talent to appear in early Fringe revues were Ned Sherrin in 1955, due to many reviewers only being able to attend Fringe events late night after the official festival was finished, the Fringe came to be seen as being about revues. It was a few years before an official programme for the Fringe was created. John Menzies compiled a list of shows under the title Other Events in their omnibus festival brochure and this was funded by participating companies and was entitled Additional Entertainments, since the name Fringe was still not yet in regular usage. It also used a strange cover motif, a first attempt was made to provide a central booking service in 1955 by students from the university, although it lost money, which was blamed on those who had not taken part. Formal organisation progressed in 1959, with the formation of the Festival Fringe Society, the push for such an organisation was led by Michael Imison, director of Oxford Theatre Group. A constitution was drawn up, in which the policy of not vetting or censoring shows was set out, nineteen companies participated in the Fringe in that year
12.
Guinness World Records
–
The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time. As of the 2017 edition, it is now in its 63rd year of publication, the international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford. After missing a shot at a golden plover, he involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe. That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europes fastest game bird. Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland and abroad and he realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful. Beavers idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended University friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, the twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became The Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away, after the founding of The Guinness Book of Records at 107 Fleet Street, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British best seller lists by Christmas. The following year, it launched in the US, and sold 70,000 copies, since then, Guinness World Records has become a household name and the global leader in world records. Because the book became a hit, many further editions were printed, eventually settling into a pattern of one revision a year, published in September/October. The McWhirters continued to compile it for many years, Ross McWhirter was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975. Following Ross assassination, the feature in the show where questions about records posed by children were answered was called Norris on the Spot, Guinness Superlatives Limited was formed in 1954 to publish the first book. Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the Guinness book in the US for decades, and, under their management, the group was owned by Guinness PLC and subsequently Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by Gullane Entertainment. Gullane was itself purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002, with offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records global headquarters remain in London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida, US. Recent editions have focused on record feats by person competitors, many records also relate to the youngest person who achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, being Maurizio Giuliano. Each edition contains a selection of the records from the Guinness database, as well as new records. The majority of records are no longer listed in the book or on the website. For those unable to wait the 4–6 weeks for a reply, the Guinness Book of Records is the worlds most sold copyrighted book, earning it an entry within its own pages
13.
John Osborne
–
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his excoriating prose and intense critical stance towards established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre, in a productive life of more than 40 years, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and TV. His personal life was extravagant and iconoclastic and he was notorious for the ornate violence of his language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against his own family, including his wives and children. Osborne was one of the first writers to address Britains purpose in the post-imperial age and he was the first to question the point of the monarchy on a prominent public stage. Osborne was born on 12 December 1929 in London, the son of Thomas Godfrey Osborne, a commercial artist and advertising copywriter of South Welsh extraction, and Nellie Beatrice, a Cockney barmaid. Thomas Osborne died in 1941, leaving the boy an insurance settlement which he used to finance a private education at Belmont College. He entered the school in 1943, but was expelled in the term of 1945, after whacking the headmaster. A School Certificate was the formal qualification he acquired. After school, Osborne went home to his mother in London, a job tutoring a touring company of junior actors introduced him to the theatre. He soon became involved as a manager and acting, joining Anthony Creightons provincial touring company. Osborne tried his hand at writing plays, co-writing his first, The Devil Inside Him, with his mentor Stella Linden, around this time he also married Pamela Lane. His second play Personal Enemy was written with Anthony Creighton, Personal Enemy was staged in regional theatres before he submitted Look Back in Anger. It was submitted to all over London and returned with great rapidity. In his autobiography, Osborne writes, The speed with which it had returned was not surprising. It was like being grasped at the arm by a testy policeman. Finally it was sent to the newly formed English Stage Company at Londons Royal Court Theatre, formed by actor-manager and artistic director George Devine, the company had seen its first three productions flop and urgently needed a success if it was to survive. Devine was prepared to gamble on this play because he saw in it a ferocious, Osborne was living on a leaky houseboat on the River Thames at the time with Creighton, stewing up nettles from the riverbank to eat. So keen was Devine to contact Osborne that he rowed out to the boat to tell him he would like to make the play the fourth production to enter repertory, the play was directed by Tony Richardson and starred Kenneth Haigh, Mary Ure and Alan Bates
14.
Royal Court Theatre
–
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre, in 1956 it was acquired by and is home to a resident company, the English Stage Company. The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre. By 1878, management of the theatre was shared by John Hare, further alterations were made in 1882 by Alexander Peebles, after which its capacity was 728. After that, Arthur Cecil was co-manager of the theatre with John Clayton, among other works, they produced a series of Arthur Wing Pineros farces, including The Rector, The Magistrate, The Schoolmistress, and Dandy Dick, among others. The theatre closed on 22 July 1887 and was demolished, the present building was built on the east side of Sloane Square, replacing the earlier building, and opened on 24 September 1888 as the New Court Theatre. Designed by Walter Emden and Bertie Crewe, it is constructed of red brick, moulded brick. Originally the theatre had a capacity of 841 in the stalls, dress circle, amphitheatre, Cecil and Clayton yielded management of the theatre to Mrs. John Wood and Arthur Chudleigh in 1887, although Cecil continued acting in their company until 1895. The first production in the new building was a play by Sydney Grundy titled Mamma, starring Mrs. John Wood and John Hare, with Arthur Cecil and Eric Lewis. Harley Granville-Barker managed the theatre for the first few years of the 20th century and it ceased to be used as a theatre in 1932 but was used as a cinema from 1935 to 1940, until World War II bomb damage closed it. The interior was reconstructed by Robert Cromie, and the number of seats was reduced to under 500, George Devine was appointed artistic director at the suggestion of Oscar Lewenstein, one of the other two co-founders of the English Stage Company. The ESC opened at the Royal Court in 1956 as a subsidised theatre producing new British and foreign plays, Devine aimed to create a writers theatre, seeking to discover new writers and produce serious contemporary works. Devine produced the new companys production in 1956, John Osbornes Look Back in Anger. Osborne followed Look Back In Anger with The Entertainer, with Laurence Olivier in the lead as Archie Rice, significantly, although it was quickly reversed, the artistic board of the ESC initially rejected the play. Two members of the board were in agreement in opposing The Entertainer, in the mid-1960s, the ESC became involved in issues of censorship. The succès de scandale of the two helped to bring about the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK. During the period of Devines directorship, besides Osborne and Bond, early seasons included new international plays by Bertolt Brecht, Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Marguerite Duras. In addition to the 400-seat proscenium arch Theatre Downstairs, the smaller studio Theatre Upstairs was opened in 1969
15.
Dusty Springfield
–
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette OBrien, OBE, better known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. She is a member of the US Rock and Roll and UK Music Halls of Fame, international polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, born in West Hampstead to a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters and her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, I Only Want to Be with You. Among the hits that followed were Wishin and Hopin , I Just Dont Know What to Do with Myself, You Dont Have to Say You Love Me, and Son of a Preacher Man. Although she was never considered a Northern Soul artist in her own right and she was the first UK singer to top the New Musical Express readers poll for Female Singer. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record Dusty in Memphis, an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records main production team. Released in 1969, it has ranked among the greatest albums of all time by the US magazine Rolling Stone and in polls by VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers. The album was awarded a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Despite its current recognition, the album did not sell well and after its release, however, in collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, she returned to the Top 10 of the UK and US charts in 1987 with What Have I Done to Deserve This. Two years later, she had two other UK hits on her own with Nothing Has Been Proved and In Private, subsequently, in the mid-1990s, owing to the inclusion of Son of a Preacher Man on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, interest in her early output was revived. Springfield was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette OBrien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead and her older brother, Dionysius P. A. OBrien, was later known as Tom Springfield. Springfields father, who had raised in British India, worked as a tax accountant and consultant. Her mother came from an Irish family, originally from Tralee, County Kerry, Springfield was brought up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire until the early 1950s, and later lived in Ealing. She attended St Annes Convent School, Northfields, a traditional all-girl school, Springfield and her brother were both prone to food-throwing as adults. She was given the nickname Dusty for playing football with boys in the street, Springfield was raised in a music-loving family. Her father would tap out rhythms on the back of her hand and she listened to a wide range of music, including George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller. A fan of American jazz and the vocalists Peggy Lee and Jo Stafford, at the age of twelve, she made a recording of herself performing the Irving Berlin song When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam at a local record shop in Ealing
16.
Idris Elba
–
Idrissa Akuna Idris Elba, OBE is an English actor, musician, and DJ. He has been nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, winning one, and was nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award. Elba has appeared in such as Ridley Scotts American Gangster, Takers, Thor, Prometheus, Pacific Rim, Thor, The Dark World and Beasts of No Nation. In 2016, he also voiced Chief Bogo in Zootopia, Shere Khan in The Jungle Book and he will make his directorial debut with an adaptation of 1992 novel Yardie by Victor Headley. In addition to his work, Elba is a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis. In 2016, he was named in the Time 100 list of the Most Influential People in the World, an only child, Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on 6 September 1972 in Hackney. His father, Winston, was a Sierra Leonean and worked in the Ford motor factory at Dagenham, while his mother, Elbas parents were married in Sierra Leone and later moved to London. Elba himself was brought up in Hackney and East Ham, and shortened his first name from Idrissa to Idris at school in Canning Town, where he first became involved in acting. He credits The Stage with giving him his first big break, having seen an advertisement for a play in the newspaper, Elba auditioned and met his first agent while performing in the role. In 1986, he began helping an uncle with his wedding DJ business, within a year, Elba left school in 1988 and won a place in the National Youth Music Theatre, thanks to a £1,500 Princes Trust grant. His first roles were in Crimewatch murder reconstructions, to support himself between roles in Crimewatch reconstructions, he worked in jobs such as tyre-fitting, cold call advertising sales, and the night shift at Ford Dagenham. He was working in nightclubs, under the DJ nickname Big Driis, at age 19, in 1995, Elba landed his first significant role on a series called Bramwell, a medical drama set in 1890s England. He played a character in an episode of Season 1, an African petty thief named Charlie Carter. His first named role arrived earlier in 1995, cast as a gigolo on the Sex episode of Absolutely Fabulous, many supporting roles on British television followed, including series such as The Bill and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. He joined the cast of the soap opera Family Affairs and went on to appear on the television serial Ultraviolet and he decided to move to New York City soon after. He returned to England occasionally for a role, such as a part in one of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries. In 2001, Elba played Achilles in a production of Troilus. After a supporting turn on a 2001 episode of Law & Order, from 2002 to 2004, Elba portrayed Russell Stringer Bell in the series, perhaps his best-known role in the United States
17.
Kenneth Branagh
–
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is a Northern Irish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter originally from Belfast. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and he has directed or starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeares plays, including Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet, Loves Labours Lost, and As You Like It. He also narrated the BBC documentary miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, and has won three BAFTAs, and an Emmy. He was appointed a knight bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and was knighted on 9 November 2012, at the age of nine, he moved with his family to Reading, Berkshire, to escape the Troubles. He was educated at Grove Primary School, Whiteknights Primary School, then Meadway School, Tilehurst, at school, he acquired Received Pronunciation to avoid bullying. On his identity today he has said, I feel Irish, I dont think you can take Belfast out of the boy, and he attributes his love of words to his Irish heritage. He is known to have attended the Reading Cine & Video Society as a member and was a member of Progress Theatre for whom he is now the patron. Branagh went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Branagh was part of the new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne, in 1984 he appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry V, directed by Adrian Noble. The production played to full houses, especially at the Barbican in London and it was this production that he adapted for the film version of the play in 1989. This Twelfth Night was later adapted for television, on the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness. A year later in 1989 Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance revival of Look Back in Anger, Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre. In 2002, Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III, in 2003 he starred in the Royal National Theatres production of David Mamets Edmond. Branagh directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001, from September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndhams Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhovs Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the performance of the year by several critics and it won him the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics. In July 2013 he co-directed Macbeth at Manchester International Festival with Rob Ashford, with Branagh in the title role, Alex Kingston played Lady Macbeth and Ray Fearon featured as Macduff. The final performance of the sold out run, was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part of National Theatre Live. He repeated his performance and directorial duties opposite Ashford and Kingston when the production moved to New York Citys Park Avenue Armory in June 2014, the production marked his New York stage debut
18.
BBC
–
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
19.
Play for Today
–
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration, a handful of these plays, including Rumpole of the Bailey and The Blackstuff, subsequently became television series in their own right. The strand was a successor to The Wednesday Play, the 1960s anthology series, popular works screened in anthology series on BBC2, like Willy Russells Our Day Out, were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of The Wednesday Play, Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, Shubik continued with the series until 1973 while MacDonald remained with the series until 1977 when he was promoted. Later producers included Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, in its time, Play for Today featured contemporary social realist dramas, historical pieces, fantasies, biopics and occasionally science-fiction. Most pieces were written directly for television, but there were also occasional adaptations from other forms, such as novels. Several prominent directors also featured, including Stephen Frears, Alan Clarke, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Roland Joffe, Ken Loach, Lindsay Anderson, and Mike Leigh. Some of the best remembered plays broadcast in the strand include Edna, certain other well known plays, including Pendas Fen, Nuts in May, were commissioned by David Rose of the BBCs English Regions Drama department based in Birmingham. Some installments in the series were spun off into full-blown series, other offshoots were Gangsters, and a single series of science fiction-based plays styled as Play for Tomorrow. Towards the end of the run, three set in Northern Ireland were written by Graham Reid. Known as the Billy Plays, they starred Kenneth Branagh as Billy Martin in his first acting role following his graduation from RADA, scum and Brimstone and Treacle were eventually transmitted, although in the meantime both had circumvented their withdrawal by being re-made as cinema films. The series as a whole was viewed with suspicion by rightwing commentators, of particular note was the criticism of the public expenditure on the Queens Silver Jubilee in the plays The Price of Coal and The Spongers. The programme officially ended in 1984, although there was one further series not broadcast in its name but in its replacement name Screen One. The general trend in 1980s television production was away from one-off plays and towards a concentration on series. A new programme publicised as a return of Play for Today, but under the title of The Evening Play, was announced at the beginning of March 2006. Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph wrote in support of Spacey, saying the British loved Play for Today once, a good piece of drama looks at the human condition, and tells us something we should know about ourselves. Armchair Theatre ITV Playhouse Play for Tomorrow Theatre 625 The Wednesday Play Evans, oxford University Press / British Film Institute
20.
Ricky Tomlinson
–
Eric Ricky Tomlinson is an English actor, comedian, author, and political activist. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker, Tomlinson was born in Bispham, Lancashire, and has lived in Liverpool nearly all his life. His father was a baker and he was born in Bispham because his mother and he attended a technical school after passing an exam when he was 13, but his favourite subject was English. A qualified plasterer by trade, he worked on building sites for many years becoming actively involved in politics. In 2002, Tomlinson starred in the BBC Series Nice Guy Eddie playing a Liverpool private investigator, using down-to-earth cases - actually based upon real-life ones from Liverpool private investigator Tony Smith - the show also starred Tom Ellis and John Henshaw. Tomlinson featured heavily in two of Paul Abbotts series Clocking Off, in a BAFTA-nominated episode written by Danny Brocklehurst. Tomlinson has fronted a series of adverts for the utility company British Gas. In January 2010 he began to appear in a series of advertisements for the food chain Farmfoods. On 19 June 2006 Tomlinson made his début as the guest celebrity in Dictionary Corner on the long-running UK Channel 4 game show Countdown, in December 2006 he presented a programme in Channel Fives Disappearing Britain series entitled When Coal was King. The BBC broadcast a programme in its Who Do You Think You Are, Series 13 on Tomlinsons ancestors which traced his family back through a number of carters working the Liverpool Docks. Tomlinson is a fan of Liverpool Football Club. Tomlinson is also a banjo and harpsichord player, and has played the instruments in many episodes of The Royle Family. That reached No.28 in the UK Singles Chart in 2001, a CD album entitled Music My Arse was released the same year, peaking at No.127 in the UK Albums Chart. He released a single at Christmas 2006 entitled Christmas My Arse which reached No.25, in 2006, Tomlinson toured at theatres across the UK with his show An Evening with Ricky Tomlinson where he was interviewed about his life by Elton Welsby. During 2008 and 2009 Tomlinson took his Laughter Show theatrical revue on a UK tour with fellow comedians Tony Barton, Duncan Norvelle and Pauline Daniels. In 2009 he took a role as the Head Judge in the VMH Club Star Talent Trail. A large number of North West-based performers entered the competition, which was won by 14-year-old Shaun Walsh from Liverpool. In March 2011 Tomlinson acted in a campaign for UK retail chain the Range
21.
Sandi Toksvig
–
Sandra Birgitte Sandi Toksvig OBE is a Danish-British comedian, writer, actor, presenter and producer on British radio and television, and political activist. On 21 October 2016, Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI and she was the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 from 2006 until June 2015. She also presented the quiz show 1001 Things You Should Know on Channel 4 television in 2012–13, and began hosting a revived series of the same channels game show Fifteen to One on 5 April 2014. She is joint founder of the Womens Equality Party, was installed as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth in October 2012, on 16 March 2017, Toksvig was announced as the new co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. Her father, Claus Toksvig, was a Danish journalist and broadcaster and foreign correspondent, so Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark and her mother, Julie Anne Toksvig is British. She attended Tormead School, an independent girls school near Guildford and her first job was a position as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the age of 18. She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree, One of her law tutors was Lord Denning. Toksvig began her career at Girton College, Cambridge University. She was there at the time as fellow members Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson. She was also a member of the universitys Light Entertainment Society and she started her television career on childrens series, presenting No. 73, the Sandwich Quiz, The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilberts Fridge and on programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show. Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC did not surprise me at all, in the comedy circuit, Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London and was once part of their Players, an improvisational comedy team. In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff, mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News for You, where she appeared on the very first episode in 1990. She was also the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show and her final show was first broadcast on 26 June. She presented Radio 4s travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012, in 1993 Toksvig wrote a musical, Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace, for Nottingham Playhouse, co-starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs. In 2002, it was re-written, with Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction, The Pocket Dream, which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run. The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One and she has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. In 1996, she narrated the Dragons, interactive CD-ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings, along with Harry Enfield
22.
No. 73
–
No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s childrens TV show produced by Television South for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988, the show starred, amongst others, Sandi Toksvig, Neil Buchanan, Andrea Arnold, Kim Goody and Kate Copstick. When Television South won the contract to provide ITV coverage for the South of England in 1980, much of the show was improvised, and a whole week of rehearsals plus an extensive dress rehearsal on Friday preceded each live broadcast on Saturday morning. No 73 opened its door to the public for the first time on 2 January 1982 at 11.00 am, Ethel Davis, an eccentric old lady who progressively got younger as the show went on, owned the place. Harry Stern was introduced as her bumbling nephew, Dawn Lodge, the roller-boot-wearing female lodger, quickly became the go-to person for the animal spot with international vet David Taylor. Most eccentric of all, Patrick Doyle appeared as Percy Simmonds, inventor, each episode ended with Ethel hosting the Sandwich Quiz, a madcap-general knowledge game pitting two of that weeks guests against each other. The show returned in the summer of that year, still being broadcast from Southampton studios. Neighbours Martin and Hazel Edwards from No 75 also started to figure into the storyline and this did not stop him from leaving at the end of this series. In this series, Sandi and the resident inventor, Tony English, created the Hover Cupboard, with Colin Daly holding his Supersleuth competition over several episodes dressed like Sherlock Holmes, there was certainly no shortage of silly looking characters around. Meanwhile, Dawn had her rollerboots spraypainted by Paul King, Ethel started running a Bed and Breakfast in this series and held the memorable matchbox competition to see who could cram the most objects into one tiny matchbox. While Fred and Eazi left the series after failing to start a radiostation in the shed, Ethel fell in love with her most unlikely suitor yet. The courtship lasted two episodes, with the series leading up to the wedding and a cliffhanger. As the show more and more popular, it became increasingly difficult for other Saturday morning shows to compete. With the failure of a show called TX, No 73 returned a month earlier than planned, there was no new Front Door Production, instead Neil and Kim held a treasure hunt across three counties to win the spare box room. Kim won, but ended up sharing the room with Dawn, by the end of the series the two rivals had fallen in love. Tony Deal appeared in two episodes, first on the run from the police and then trying to lure the guest to No 75 with Martin Edwards. The show was rescheduled to the season, with the location bound Saturday morning show Get Fresh taking over summer duties. It was revealed in passing that Ethel had emigrated to Australia to live with her cousin, leaving Harry, Dawn, Neil, the Sandwich Quiz was replaced by the Duster Muster, the winner of which got to clean the house on Saturday afternoon
23.
Maggie Philbin
–
Margaret Elizabeth Maggie Philbin OBE is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrows World, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Bang Goes the Theory. As a child she became interested in science through wanting to become a vet and she grew up in Leicester and went to an all-girls Catholic grammar school, Evington Hall Convent School in Evington. In the sixth-form she studied English, History, French and German, although she claims she was also at Maths and Physics. She married her co-presenter Keith Chegwin in 1982, the couple had a daughter, Rose – named after the editor who gave her the job with Swap Shop, Rosemary Gill, the couple divorced in 1993. With Noel Edmonds, they formed the one-hit wonder band Brown Sauce and had a No.15 hit with I Wanna Be A Winner in 1981 and she returned to television on BBC 1s flagship science and technology programme Tomorrows World where she stayed for eight years. Since then, she has presented a variety of television and radio programmes, including Hospital Watch, Bodymatters Roadshow, QED, and BBC 2s womens documentary series The Doll’s House. Philbin flew upside down in a Hawker Hunter as part of the Tomorrows World at Large series and she decided not to race the car, which then spun out of control after a tyre exploded with top driver Dennis Priddle at the wheel. She has also presented 40 editions of the science programme Wideworld for Five, in October 2003 she spearheaded the BBCs Talking Teenagers project across television and radio. Starting April 2004 she co-presented the BBC Radio Berkshire weekday breakfast show with Jim Cathcart before moving to the Andrew Peach show. She reunited with her former Swap Shop colleagues for a programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of the programme, It Started With Swap Shop. In 2008 she created TeenTech an interactive science and engineering event for teenagers, in 2010 it was awarded Best Engineering Event in National Science and Engineering Week by the British Science Association. In 2012 HRH Duke of York KG became patron of TeenTech, BBC News announced that she would be their face of technology on television, radio and online from 2007. In December 2011 she took part in BBC Radio 5 Lives first Science Night and she has launched the Helping Hand Campaign, encouraging digital switchover help for the elderly. She is a reporter on the BBC One regional programme Inside Out. She writes about technology for BBC WebWise and The Guardian, on 25 July 2010 she featured as guest presenter in Episode 3 of the LadyGeek App Show. On 26 March 2012 she featured as guest presenter in Episode 3 of the 6th Series of the BBC TV show Bang Goes the Theory, from March 2013 she became a full-time presenter of the programme, appearing with co-presenters Liz Bonnin and Jem Stansfield. In November 2013 she was asked to lead the UK Digital Skills Task Force which published a report in July 2014. On 14 October 2014 she appeared as a witness before the House of Lords Digital Skills Committee and she is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society and was invited by the IOF to sit on the Women leaders panel in Brussels in 2008
24.
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
–
It was ground-breaking in many ways, by being live, sometimes up to three hours in length, and using the phone-in format extensively for the first time on TV. The show was hosted by Noel Edmonds and his associates from the beginning were Keith Chegwin, John Craven and later, in 1978, the shows presenters formed a pop group called Brown Sauce in December 1981 and released a single called I Wanna be a Winner. The song peaked at number 15 in the UK Singles Chart, also featured was Posh Paws, a stuffed toy dinosaur. Edmonds once explained that his name was actually spelled Pohs Paws, another person named was Eric, the often-referred to but never seen technician whose job was to lower a plastic globe containing postcards sent in by viewers as answers to competitions. Eric Ilett performed a task on the BBCs Ask The Family when technical assistance was required as part of the programme. The content of the programme included music, visits from celebrities, competitions, there was also coverage of news and issues relevant to children, presented by John Craven, building on his profile as the presenter of John Cravens Newsround. The cornerstone, however, was the Swaporama element, hosted by Chegwin, an outside broadcast unit would travel to different locations throughout the country where children could swap their belongings with others. This proved to be one of the most popular aspects of the show, generally, the primary purpose of the BBC OB unit was to broadcast a sporting event at that Swaporama venue later that day. This allowed Swap Shop to use the unit and save programming costs which would otherwise be prohibitive. The telephone number for show was 018118055 spoken in the format of oh one, eight double one. The number was known and remembered by children, and was groundbreaking for the BBC. The graphic on the front of the Swap Shop studio showing the number has made into a T shirt. Swap Shop was a success, attracting substantial ratings not only among its audience of children. It ended in 1982, to allow the presenters to move on to other projects—notably Edmonds and it was replaced by a series of similar programmes, most notably Saturday Superstore, Going Live. and Live & Kicking. This first ever question for the audience was, Where will the next Olympic games be held. Swap Shop is poorly represented in the BBC archive, for some time it was believed that either the programmes were never routinely recorded in the first place, or they had been wiped on the orders of the BBCs Archive Selector Adam Lee in 1993. These tapes were held by the BBC until the late 1980s, at time the Deputy Head of Childrens Television, Roy Thompson, allowed many of them to be wiped. Amongst the editions wiped were those featuring appearances by Blondie, XTC, Trumpton creator Gordon Murray, on 20 December 2007, the BBC announced that Swap Shop was returning to BBC Two for a 13-week run
25.
Pop music
–
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
26.
Spice Girls
–
The Spice Girls are an English pop girl group formed in 1994. The group originally consisted of Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and they were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single Wannabe in 1996, which hit number one in 37 countries and established them as a global phenomenon. Their debut album Spice sold more than 31 million copies worldwide and their follow-up album Spiceworld sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Among the highest profile acts in 1990s British popular culture, Time called them arguably the most recognisable face of Cool Britannia, the mid-1990s celebration of youth culture in the UK. The group became one of the most successful marketing engines ever, earning up to $75 million per year, under the guidance of their mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British and global press. In 1996, Top of the Pops magazine gave each member of the group aliases, which were adopted by the group and media. According to Rolling Stone journalist and biographer David Sinclair, Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George, with the girl power phenomenon, the Spice Girls were popular cultural icons of the 1990s. They are cited as part of the second wave 1990s British Invasion of the US, in 2016, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited and launched a new website called Spice Girls - GEM. In February 1994, together with financier Chic Murphy, they placed an advertisement in the trade magazine The Stage asking for singers to audition for a pop band at Danceworks studios. A week after the audition, the women were asked to attend a recall at Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush, performing Signed, Sealed, Delivered on their own. During the session, Adams, Brown, Chisholm, Halliwell and Stephenson were selected to the band, the group moved to a house in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and spent most of 1994 training. During the first two months, they worked on demos at South Hill Park Recording Studios in Bracknell with producer/studio owner Michael Sparkes and songwriter/arranger Tim Hawes. According to Stephenson, the material the group was given was very, very pop, one of the songs they recorded, Sugar and Spice. They also worked on various dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Knaphill, near Woking, a few months into the training period, Stephenson was fired from the group and replaced with Emma Bunton. It was also during this time that Halliwell came up with the band name Spice, the group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and was frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for them. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the advice from, among others. In March 1995, the group parted from Heart Management due to their frustration with the unwillingness to listen to their visions
27.
Scooch
–
Scooch are a British bubblegum dance group, comprising performers Natalie Powers, Caroline Barnes, David Ducasse and Russ Spencer. Scooch represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with their song Flying the Flag, the song reached number 5 in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart on 13 May 2007 after having been available for download for two months prior. Auditions for an all-singing, all-dancing pop group were held between autumn 1997 and spring 1998 in front of the songwriters and producers Mike Stock and Matt Aitken, heidi Range auditioned for the group but was declined after it was revealed she was only 14 years old. The final foursome was formed in October 1998, for the first few months the group were kept low-key and spent time on their image and sound. The groups name comes from a used to ask someone to move up or along a bench or sofa. Scooch won a contest on BBC Ones Saturday morning show Live & Kicking in 1999 and they competed against the boy band Glitterbug, to have their single released. Even though the bands were formed, this contest was unique as it pre-dates the format of the first music talent reality show to air in the United Kingdom. Their debut single When My Baby charted within the Top 40 and this prompted a tour supporting the Irish girl band B*Witched, and promoted their second and biggest single More Than I Needed to Know. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 5, and went on to see a global release, a promotional support tour for boy band Five provided the group with the foundation for their third single The Best Is Yet To Come which charted at number 12 in the UK. The group recorded their debut album Welcome To The Planet Pop which was released to Top 20 success in Japan. More Than I Needed To Know reached number one in Japan, Scooch performed at every arena in the UK and spent a year as Ambassadors for the Childrens Health Authority. Scoochs fourth single came in the form of the flamenco-inspired For Sure which made number 15 in the UK and it was followed by the UK version of their album entitled Four Sure which peaked just outside the UK Top 40. The band were dropped by their label and privately split. The group briefly reformed in January 2004 to perform at G-A-Ys Gone But Not Forgotten night, in 2006, Russ Spencer took part in the E4 reality show Boys Will Be Girls, in which he attempted, along with two other ex-boyband members, to pose as a girl-group. Spencer and his bandmates were given four weeks to record a single, make a pop video and play live, Spencer has also become a television presenter, presenting TV shows including Make Your Play for ITV1. His theatre work includes starring as the The Child Catcher in the UK National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Caroline Barnes and Natalie Powers have both had various parts on the stage in the West End. Powers has also released two singles, Music To My Heart and Unchained Melody, with Almighty Records. David Ducasse established his own performing arts academy in the North East in 2000 training young performers, the school is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary with a celebratory concert, which is to be performed this April
28.
Lee Mead
–
In 2014, he joined the cast of the BBC One drama Casualty, playing the role of Ben Lofty Chiltern, while continuing to tour the UK with his band between filming commitments. He returned to the stage in May 2016 as Caractacus Potts in the UK Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in 2017, he returns to the role of Lofty, but in Casualtys sister series, the BBC One drama Holby City. He moved into theatre in 2004, playing both Levi and the Pharaoh in the UK touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Following Joseph, Mead performed in the UK tours of Tommy and Miss Saigon before joining the West End production of Phantom of the Opera as an ensemble player and understudy for the role of Raoul. From 10,000 initial auditionees, Mead was selected as one of the final 12 potential Josephs who performed live on TV every Saturday night to win the publics vote. The single, featuring Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door reached number 2 in the official UK singles chart. Lee… was a West End star just waiting for a chance to shine… the sight of him in a loincloth almost called for the appearance of the St John Ambulance wrote Alun Palmer in the Daily Mirror, Mead is in excellent form vocally wrote The Stages Lisa Martland. His performance of Close Every Door, encapsulating both tenderness and defiance, was a highlight for her, after 600 performances in the role, Mead played Joseph for the last time on 10 January 2009. Mead led the cast playing the role alongside established performers including Gary Wilmot, Kate OMara, David Ross. Mead was nominated for the Whatsonstage. com Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role for this role, Mead then took over the role of Emmett in Legally Blonde in the West End from 20 June to 8 October 2011. In December 2012, he starred in his first pantomime as the title character Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton alongside Julian Clary and Nigel Havers. Mead returned to the West End in May 2013, starring in The West End Men in concert at the Vaudeville Theatre alongside Matt Willis, Glenn Carter, Stephen Rahman-Hughes and David Thaxton. In December 2013, he starred in his second pantomime as Robin in Robin Hood at the Theatre Royal, on 1 March 2014, he made his first appearance as Ben Lofty Chiltern in the BBC drama series Casualty. Mead was nominated as Favourite Newcomer in the 2014 TV Times Awards, Mead has appeared as a guest artist at a range of concerts and events. Mead undertook his first solo concert in his town of Southend in May 2010 and continued to tour the UK. A second tour, The Love Tour, followed in February 2012 to coincide with the release of his third album, Love Songs. In the summer of 2012, Mead joined forces with Stephen Rahman-Hughes and Matt Rawle to tour as the West End Men, supported by special guest, a further short tour with the West End Men followed in November 2012 with Ramin Karimloo replacing Matt Rawle in the line-up. Mead also starred in a run of the West End Men from May to June 2013 at the Vaudeville Theatre in London
29.
BBC One
–
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
30.
Any Dream Will Do (TV series)
–
Any Dream Will Do, is a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph, the show was hosted by Graham Norton, who announced Lee Mead as the winner of the final public telephone vote on 9 June 2007. It was the second West-End talent show to be produced by the BBC/Andrew Lloyd Webber, after How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, further Talent shows in the series have aired, with Id Do Anything completing in 2008 and Over the Rainbow which ran in April/May 2010. On 26 October 2008, Freek Bartels was announced the winner of this show, commissioned after the success of the similar BBC series How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria. The series followed the format to find a new, unknown lead for a revival of Joseph. The series was named after the song from the musical, Any Dream Will Do, an expert panel provided advice to the contestants throughout the series, and provided comments during the live shows. As they appeared on screen from right to left, the panel was made up of, Zoe Tyler, vocal coach to the contestants Bill Kenwright Denise Van Outen who later went on to date, john Barrowman Andrew Lloyd Webber, head judge and composer of Joseph. The first week of the documented the initial auditions where one hundred hopefuls. This was further whittled-down by the panel of judges to fifty contestants who would enter Andrew Lloyd Webbers Joseph School, however, two additional entrants were selected over this fifty contestant limit after they went to Lloyd Webbers personal studio for a second audition. In the second week, the fifty individuals selected attended Joseph School where the coaches worked on singing, acting, former Joseph actor Jason Donovan, amongst others, visited to lend his advice and support for them. On the second day, one contestant left the competition, twenty-three were eliminated, on the third day, another eight men were eliminated, leaving only twenty contestants in the competition. These men were taken to Lloyd Webbers castle in Ireland, where they performed live in front of a house of locals. The best twelve were taken through to the live studio finals. Twelve potential Josephs were chosen, each wearing a unique coloured coat, at the end of every live show, the Joseph who was eliminated had his coat stripped off whilst singing a song of farewell. Colour key The twelve finalists, were announced on 7 April 2007, each week the Josephs were set various singing and performing tasks each week. They were introduced with clips summarising their past week before performing a song and hearing comments from the panel. Each week they performed two group songs, one from Joseph at the start of each show and one after the solo performances. All the performances were live in front of an audience, with a live band headed by Nigel Wright
31.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
–
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical or operetta with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is based on the coat of many colors story of Joseph from the Bibles Book of Genesis and this was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly. The show has little dialogue, it is completely sung-through. Joseph was first presented as a 15-minute pop cantata at Colet Court School in London in 1968 and was recorded as an album in 1969. After the success of the next Lloyd Webber and Rice piece, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph received stage productions beginning in 1970 and expanded recordings in 1971 and 1972. While still undergoing various transformations and expansions, the musical was produced in the West End in 1973, several major revivals and a 1999 straight-to-video film, starring Donny Osmond, followed. Lloyd Webbers composer father, William, felt the show had the seeds of greatness and he encouraged and arranged for a second performance — at his church, Westminster Central Hall — with a revised and expanded format. The boys of Colet Court sang at this performance in May 1968 and it received positive reviews, Londons Sunday Times said it was a new pop oratorio. By its third performance at St Pauls Cathedral in November 1968, it had expanded to 35 minutes. Novello agreed to publish the work, and Decca Records recorded it in 1969 as a concept album, David Daltrey, front man of British psychedelic band Tales of Justine, played the role of Joseph, and Tim Rice was Pharaoh. Other vocalists included Terry Saunders and Malcolm Parry of the Mixed Bag, in 1969, Lloyd Webber and Rice used the popularity of their second rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, to promote Joseph, which was advertised in America as a follow-up to Superstar. Riding on Superstars coattails proved profitable for Joseph, as the US Decca recording of Superstar had been in the top of Americas charts for three months, the first American production of Joseph was in May 1970, at Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, New York. Following this, according to Lloyd Webbers Really Useful site, there followed huge interest from colleges, Decca Records recorded Joseph in 1969 as a concept album, credited to the Joseph Consortium. David Daltrey, front man of British EMI psychedelic band Tales of Justine, played the role of Joseph and lead guitar, other vocalists included members of the Mixed Bag group such as Terry Saunders and Malcolm Parry, and the choir of Colet Court School. A recording of the musical with 19 tracks was issued in the US on Scepter Records in 1971, in late August and September 1972, Joseph was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival by the Young Vic Theatre Company, directed by Frank Dunlop. It starred Gary Bond in the role, Peter Reeves as the narrator. In October the production played at Londons Young Vic Theatre, the production was part of a double bill called Bible One, Two Looks at the Book of Genesis. Part I, entitled The Genesis Mediaeval Mystery Plays, The Creation to Jacob, was Dunlops reworking of the first six of the medieval Wakefield Mystery Plays, part II was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
32.
GMTV
–
GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009, shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010, GMTV transmitted daily from 6 am with GMTVs weekday breakfast magazine programme GMTV broadcasting until 8,25, followed by GMTV with Lorraine, until the regional ITV franchises took over at 9.25 am. In later years, the switchover was practically seamless and the station was surrounded in the most part by ITV Network continuity on either side of transmission. GMTV also broadcast its own programmes, independent from CITV until the programme Boohbah was cross-promoted on both sides, with different credits for each. GMTV won the licence for the breakfast Channel 3 franchise from 1993, outbidding the previous holder, TV-am. The station was backed by LWT, Scottish Television, The Walt Disney Company, GMTV promised a cheerful morning and with more information - termed the F-factor. A new childrens news bulletin was to be broadcast at 7,20 am every morning, while at 8,50 am during the week, Carlton Communications bought a 20% stake in the consortium in November 1991. GMTV was first intended to be called Sunrise Television, but as Sky News breakfast programming also went by name, Sky protested. In May 1992, GMTV was criticised after unveiling its plans for a family orientated format with business. Director of Programmes Lis Howell stated, The structure of the programme will be different from TV-am. It will be a programme, with two presenters in which the news will be long or as short as the news dictates. Its in a sense a news programme but its a very soft news agenda, although if there is a big story we will ditch everything, the first edition of GMTV was broadcast on 1 January 1993, presented by Eamonn Holmes and Anne Davies. Its main weekday presenters at launch were Fiona Armstrong and Michael Wilson, within six weeks of broadcasting, the station had lost 2 million viewers. Mark Lawson of The Independent dubbed the new franchise Grinning Morons Television, Greg Dyke was appointed chairman of the GMTV board and tasked with overhauling the station format, which included more popular journalism. His role was primarily to bring new and imaginative ideas to the station taking on full day-to-day running. Within three days, programme Director Lis Howell resigned, Greg Dyke had refused to endorse any of her strategy for GMTV. On 8 February 1993, following continued poor ratings, Wilson had moved to present a new news focused slot from 6 to 7am, on Monday 19 April 1993 GMTV was revamped, including a new set that mimicked that of TV-am
33.
Diggit/Diggin' It
–
The following details are for the programmes that GMTV broadcast on ITV. GMTV is the former breakfast television franchise for the UKs ITV network and it began broadcasting on Friday 1 January 1993 and finished on Friday 3 September 2010, being replaced by ITV Breakfast. GMTV is the brand for GMTVs weekday breakfast magazine programme from 6,00 am. It included national and international stories, regional news, weather, interviews, cookery and health features, human-interest and showbiz stories. In spring 1993, shortly after the launch, a separate news-focused programme was introduced between 6,00 am and 7,00 am, which in early 1994 became The Reuters News Hour. The main 6, 00–9,00 am programme remained named GMTV but as part of the new look for the millennium. On 3 January 2000, GMTV relaunched and changed the names of each of their programmes and this now meant that the programme GMTV did not exist. This was then split up into The Newshour and GMTV Today and this titling for the programmes remained until January 2009 when GMTV relaunched. The show returned with a new set and new onscreen graphics, for the first time since the stations launch the logo was changed from the sun logo. Despite the changes, the theme music and headline beds were still used throughout the programme. However, on 9 March 2009, GMTV introduced new music and headline beds to its main programmes. These were later revised in October of that year. These replaced the hour and half-hour bulletins which featured previously, Fiona Phillips and Andrea McLean left the show in late 2008. In November 2008 it was announced that Sky News business presenter Emma Crosby would replace Phillips, and the BBCs Kirsty McCabe would replace McLean as weather presenter. Aside from the new members of the team, previous presenters continued to present in their previous slots and, from August 2009 and this continued until Penny Smith left on 4 June 2010, with the same presenters on air from 6, 00–8, 35/9,25 am. In November 2009, ITV plc took full control of the broadcaster after purchasing The Walt Disney Companys 25% share, the editor of GMTV, Martin Frizell, quit his role, as Disneys share of the company was sold, and was replaced temporarily by Sue Walton. It was announced on 7 May 2010 that former The One Show editor Ian Rumsey would take on the role as of June 2010, with Paul Connolly as his deputy. On 4 March 2010, it was announced that presenter and newsreader Penny Smith was leaving GMTV, on 19 April 2010, it was announced that The One Show presenter Adrian Chiles was quitting his roles with the corporation, to join ITV on a six-year contract
34.
Channel 4
–
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that began transmission on 2 November 1982. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital on 31 March 2010, before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services, BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth, after some months of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982. Indeed, television sets throughout the 1970s and early 1980s had a spare channel called ITV/IBA2. It was most likely politics which had the biggest impact in leading to a delay of almost three decades before the commercial channel became a reality. The campaign was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans, former president of Plaid Cymru, the result was that Channel 4 as seen by the rest of the United Kingdom would be replaced in Wales by Sianel Pedwar Cymru. Operated by a specially created authority, S4C would air programmes in Welsh made by HTV, since then, carriage on digital cable, satellite and digital terrestrial has introduced Channel 4 to Welsh homes where it is now universally available. The first programme to air on the channel was the game show Countdown. The first person to be seen on Channel 4 was Richard Whiteley with Ted Moult being the second, the first woman on the channel, contrary to popular belief, was not Carol Vorderman and was a lexicographer only ever identified as Mary. Whiteley opened the show with the words, On its first day, Channel 4 also broadcast controversial soap opera Brookside, which ran until 2003. On its launch, Channel 4 committed itself to providing an alternative to the existing channels, Channel 4 co-commissioned Robert Ashleys ground-breaking television opera Perfect Lives, which it premiered over several episodes in 1984. The channel often did not receive mass audiences for much of period, however. Channel 4 for many years had a poorer quality signal compared to other channels, Channel 4 also began the funding of independent films, such as the Merchant-Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay, during this time. In 1992, Channel 4 also faced its first libel case by Jani Allan, a South African journalist, who objected to her representation in the documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Drivers Wife. After control of the station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to the Channel Four Television Corporation in 1993, instead of aiming for the fringes of society, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many US programmes in peak viewing time and it gave such shows as Friends and ER their UK premières. In the early 2000s, Channel 4 began broadcasting reality formats such as Big Brother and obtained the rights to broadcast mass appeal sporting events like cricket and this new direction increased ratings and revenues. In addition, the corporation launched a number of new channels through its new 4Ventures offshoot, including Film4, At the Races, E4
35.
T4 (Channel 4)
–
T4 was a scheduling slot on Channel 4 and E4. It also aired on weekdays in the school holidays, the slot had a separate station identification on screen graphic from Channel 4 and E4. The logo of T4 is noticeably the top segment of the standard Channel 4 logo. Channel 4 originally produced the strand in-house until 2002, when production was passed onto independent companies, the slot was targeted at the 16-34 age group. On 12 October 2012, Channel 4 announced that they would be axing T4 at the end of December 2012, the show ended on 29 December 2012. Around 2001, this was dropped and the strand refocused entirely towards the teen/youth market, for the first few months of T4s life, its idents consisted of an animated spaceman like character. In 1999, this character appeared on the idents during the early morning pre-school shows. These idents continued in use until 2004, after E4s launch in 2001, T4 initially also had a slot on the channel. They also had a short lived Friday evening slot on Channel 4. Following the sale of Quiz Call by Channel 4, it was rumoured that a T4 channel was one of the proposals to fill the vacant slot on Freeview. However, the plan is thought to have been rejected by director of television Kevin Lygo. Initially broadcast only on Sundays, the success of T4 saw the strand subsequently extended to include a Saturday block. In more recent years, T4 had provided Channel 4 a broadcast window of programmes that are also broadcast in primetime slots on E4, in addition, following Channel 4s acquisition of terrestrial broadcast rights to The Simpsons, the series began to feature regularly within T4. Friends featured regularly within T4 until Channel 4 relinquished the rights to the sitcom in 2011, vernon Kay, Dermot OLeary, Miquita Oliver and Alexa Chung returned for the last show on 29 December 2012 alongside current presenters Matt Edmondson, Nick Grimshaw, Jameela Jamil and Georgie Okell. T4 also staged a summer festival, T4 on the Beach, in the resort of Weston-super-Mare, and previous musical acts that have appeared include McFly, Calvin Harris, Little Boots. The concert in July 2010 was the year running that the event had taken place in Weston-super-Mare which featured Dizzee Rascal and Florence. Normally bookended at the end of the year, T4 ‘Stars Of…’ broadcast live from Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The event was first held in 2009 and since then had become a fixture in the T4 events calendar
36.
Take That
–
Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, the original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals and Donald. The group have had 28 top 40 singles and 17 top 5 singles in the United Kingdom,12 of which have reached number one, internationally, the band have had 56 number one singles and 37 number one albums. They have received eight Brit Awards—winning awards for Best British Group, Williams left the band in 1995 while the four remaining members completed their world tour and released a final single before splitting up in 1996. The group achieved new success as a four-piece, scoring a string of hits across the UK. Williams rejoined Take That in 2010 for the sixth studio album. Released on 15 November of that year, it was the first album of new material to feature Take Thats original line-up since their 1995 album and it became the fastest-selling album of the 21st century and the second fastest-selling album in British history. In 2014, the recorded a seventh studio album, this time as a trio without Williams. The album, titled III, was released in November 2014 and it was preceded by the single These Days, which became the bands 12th number one single in the UK. In 2012, the band were announced by Forbes as the fifth highest-earning music stars in the world, as of 2017, Take That had sold over 45 million records worldwide. In 1989, Manchester-based Nigel Martin-Smith sought to create a British male vocal singing group modelled after New Kids on the Block, martin-Smiths vision, however, was a teen-orientated group that would appeal to more than one demographic segment of the music industry. Martin-Smith was introduced to young singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, who had been performing in clubs since the age of 15, impressed with Barlows catalogue of self-written material, Martin-Smith decided to build his new-look boy band around Barlows musical abilities. A campaign to audition young men with abilities in dancing and singing followed, at 22, Howard Donald was one of the oldest to audition, but he was chosen after he got time off work as a vehicle painter to continue the process. Prior to auditioning, Jason Orange had appeared as a breakdancer on the television programme The Hit Man. Martin-Smith also selected 18-year-old bank employee Mark Owen and finally 16-year-old Robbie Williams to round out the group, Take Thats first TV appearance was on The Hit Man and Her in 1990, where they performed Barlows self-written, unreleased song, My Kind of Girl. They later appeared a second time to perform Waiting Around, which would become the B-side for the first single, promises and Once Youve Tasted Love were also released as singles but were minor hits in the UK. Take That initially worked the same territory as their American counterparts, singing new jack R&B, urban soul, however they worked their way toward Hi-NRG dance music, while also pursuing an adult contemporary ballad direction
37.
Gary Barlow
–
Gary Barlow OBE is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He is frontman and lead vocalist of British pop-group Take That, Barlow also served as head judge of The X Factor UK from 2011 to 2013 and Let It Shine in 2017. Barlow is one of Britains most successful songwriters, having written fourteen number one singles and he is also a six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Gary Barlow was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the son of Colin. In Barlows autobiography, he relates that his love of music began at an early age, I was one of those kids thats forever dancing in front of the TV looking at my reflection. He cites watching a performance of Just Cant Get Enough by Depeche Mode on Top of the Pops when he was ten years old as an influence of his love of music. Barlow subsequently asked for a keyboard for Christmas and he spent most of his spare time teaching himself to play his favourite songs. He has credited Elton John with inspiring him to play the piano, in 1986, when Barlow was fifteen years old, he entered a BBC Pebble Mill at One Christmas song competition with Lets Pray for Christmas. After reaching the semi-finals, he was invited to Londons West Heath Studios to record his song and this inspired Barlow to perform on the northern club circuit, singing cover versions and his own songs. Barlows first performance was at the Connahs Quay Labour Club in the late 1980s, in 1989, he appointed Wigan show business agent Barry Woolley to be his manager and recorded a single which was never released commercially. Barlow was eventually put in touch with casting agent Nigel Martin-Smith, by renowned celebrity photographer Doc Braham, Nigel is a friend of Docs, and introduced Barlow to Nigel who was interested in starting a boyband. Barlow, who wrote the majority of the songs, is widely recognised as the musical talent behind Take That. After selecting Barlow as the groups lead-singer, Nigel Martin-Smith introduced Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, the group were signed to RCA Records, and after a number of top 40 hits, eventually secured their first number one with Barlows Pray. Previous hits included A Million Love Songs, It Only Takes a Minute, the debut album Take That & Party was released on 17 August 1992 and reached number two on the UK Album Chart. The following year saw the release of their album, Everything Changes based on Barlows own material. Barlow received an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1994 for the number 1 hit song Pray included on the album, in 1994, alongside Rick Astley, Barlow did backing vocals for Elton Johns version of Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King. Take Thats third album Nobody Else, again based on Barlows own material, a Greatest Hits collection followed again reaching number 1. The album featured the eighth number 1 single How Deep Is Your Love
38.
Charles Dance
–
Walter Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains, Charles Dance was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of Eleanor, a cook, and Walter Dance, an engineer. Growing up in Plymouth, he attended Widey Technical School for Boys in Crownhill, Dance was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company during the mid-to-late-1970s and was in many of their productions in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Later he returned to the RSC to take the role in Coriolanus at Stratford-upon-Avon and Newcastle in 1989. He received rave reviews and a Critics Circle Best Actor award for his performance as the Oxford don C. S. Lewis in William Nicholsons Shadowlands, in the 2007 stage revival. He has also starred in many other British television dramas such as Edward the Seventh, Murder Rooms, Randall and Hopkirk, Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House. He also played Guy Spencer, the pro-Hitler propagandist, in the installment of Foyles War. Dance made a guest appearance on the BBC drama series Merlin as the Witchfinder Aredian and he played Havelock Vetinari in the 2010 Sky adaptation of Terry Pratchetts Going Postal. He played the role of Tywin Lannister in HBOs Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice, Dance was wooed for the role by the producers whilst filming Your Highness in Belfast. Dance also played Conrad Knox on the British television series Strike Back and he appeared in Paris Connections as the Russian oligarch Aleksandr Borinski. Dance made one of his earliest big screen appearances in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only as evil henchman Claus. Though he turned down the opportunity to screen test for the James Bond role, in 1989 he played Bond creator Ian Fleming in Anglia Televisions dramatised biography, Goldeneye. On 30 June 2013, Dance appeared amongst other celebrities in an episode of the BBCs Top Gear as a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car for the debut of the Vauxhall Astra. Dances debut film as a writer and director was Ladies in Lavender, in 2009, he directed his own adaptation of Alice Thomas Elliss The Inn at the Edge of the World. Dance married Joanna Haythorn in 1970 and he became engaged to sculptor Eleanor Boorman in September 2010. They have a daughter, Rose, born in March 2012, Dance was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 17 June 2006. He lives in Kentish Town in north London
