1.
John Hay
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John Milton Hay was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hays highest office was United States Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley. Hay was also an author and biographer and wrote poetry and other literature throughout much of his life, born in Indiana to an anti-slavery family that moved to Illinois when he was young, Hay showed great potential, and his family sent him to Brown University. After graduation in 1858, Hay read law in his uncles office in Springfield, Illinois, Hay worked for Lincolns successful presidential campaign and became one of his private secretaries at the White House. Throughout the American Civil War, Hay was close to Lincoln, in addition to his other literary works, Hay co-authored with John George Nicolay a multi-volume biography of Lincoln that helped shape the assassinated presidents historical image. After Lincolns death, Hay spent several years at posts in Europe, then worked for the New-York Tribune under Horace Greeley. Yet, Hay remained active in politics, and from 1879 to 1881 served as Assistant Secretary of State, afterward, he remained in the private sector, until President McKinley, for whom he had been a major backer, made him Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1897. Hay became Secretary of State the following year, Hay served for almost seven years as Secretary of State under President McKinley, and after his assassination, under Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was responsible for negotiating the Open Door Policy, which kept China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, John Milton Hay was born in Salem, Indiana, on October 8,1838. He was the son of Dr. Charles Hay and the former Helen Leonard. Charles Hay, born in Lexington, Kentucky, hated slavery, a doctor, he practiced in Salem and married there in 1831. Helens father, David Leonard, had moved his family west from Assonet, Massachusetts, in 1818, but died en route to Vincennes, Indiana, Charles was not successful in Salem, and moved, with his wife and children, to Warsaw, Illinois, in 1841. John attended the schools, and in 1849 his uncle Milton Hay invited John to live at his home in Pittsfield, Pike County, and attend a well-regarded local school. Milton was a friend of Springfield attorney Abraham Lincoln and had read law in the firm Stuart, in Pittsfield, John first met John Nicolay, who was at the time a 20-year-old newspaperman. Once John Hay completed his studies there, the 13-year-old was sent to live with his grandfather in Springfield and his parents and uncle Milton sent him to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, alma mater of his late maternal grandfather. Hay enrolled at Brown in 1855, although he enjoyed college life, he did not find it easy, his Western clothing and accent made him stand out, he was not well prepared academically and was often sick. Hay gained a reputation as a student and became a part of Providences literary circle that included Sarah Helen Whitman. He wrote poetry and experimented with hashish, Hay received his Master of Arts degree in 1858, and was, like his grandfather before him, Class Poet
2.
Robert Carlyle
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Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish actor. His film work includes Trainspotting, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough and he has been in the television shows Hamish Macbeth, Stargate Universe, and Once Upon a Time. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Full Monty, Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was brought up by his father after his left when Carlyle was four years old. Carlyle became involved in drama at the Glasgow Arts Centre at the age of 21, in 1991, he and four friends founded a theatre company, Raindog. The same year he guest starred in The Bill and also starred in his first movie, Riff-Raff, in 1994, he played the gay lover of Father Greg in the film Priest. Carlyles first high-profile role came as murderer Albert Albie Kinsella in an October 1994 episode of Cracker opposite Robbie Coltrane and this highly acclaimed role showcased Carlyles pure intensity. Shortly after his appearance in Cracker, he landed the role of Highland policeman Hamish Macbeth in the BBC comedy-drama Hamish Macbeth, the series ran for three seasons from 1995 to 1997. The latter earned Carlyle a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and he also starred with Ray Winstone in the 1997 film Face. Carlyle appeared in the 2002 Oasis music video for Little By Little and he played Adolf Hitler in the 2003 miniseries Hitler, The Rise of Evil. In 2006 he played the villain Durza in Eragon, in 2007 Carlyle played one of the main characters in the film 28 Weeks Later. He also played the role as a marine engineer attempting to save London from total devastation in the disaster film Flood. That year he also portrayed Father Joseph Macavoy in the film The Tournament, in 2008 Carlyle narrated a BBC audiobook version of The Cutting Room. In 2008, he was cast as Dr. Nicholas Rush in the television series Stargate Universe. His role in the series has been described thus, As to survive, Dr. Rush works to unlock the mysteries of the ship and return the group home and his was touted by the studio as the leading role in Universe. In December 2008, Carlyle appeared in 24, Redemption, a movie based on the popular TV series 24. In 2009, Carlyle appeared in a commercial for Johnnie Walker whisky. Carlyle was shown walking down a path and talking for six minutes in a long take
3.
Ben Miller
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Bennet Evan Ben Miller is an English comedian, actor and director. He is best known as one half of comedy double act Armstrong and Miller, Miller and Armstrong wrote and starred in the Channel 4 sketch show Armstrong and Miller, as well as the BBC sketch show The Armstrong & Miller Show. Miller was born in London, England and grew up in Nantwich and his paternal grandfather was a Lithuanian Jewish tailor who emigrated to the UK and lived in Londons East End. Bens father Michael Miller was a lecturer in American Literature at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic and she taught English at South Cheshire College. He has two sisters, Leah and Bronwen. Miller was educated at Malbank School and Sixth Form College, his local school in Nantwich. He studied Natural Sciences at St Catharines College, Cambridge, as an undergraduate, he participated in theatre with Rachel Weisz, and also dated her. He remained at Cambridge to study for a PhD in solid state physics and he abandoned completion of his thesis to pursue a career in comedy. Millers interest in comedy began when a friend asked him to ferry around the judges of the National Student Drama Festival. Having already finished his degree, he joined the Footlights in 1989, working with Andy Parsons, David Wolstencroft and Sue Perkins. Miller moved to London to pursue a career in comedy and he was introduced to fellow Cambridge graduate Alexander Armstrong in 1992, at the TBA Sketch Comedy Group, a comedy club which ran at the Gate Theatre Studio, Notting Hill throughout the 1990s. They performed their first full-length show together at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1994 and returned in 1996, when they were nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. Their success resulted in the commission of the television series Armstrong and Miller, in 1998, the duo also had their own radio show with the same name on BBC Radio 4, which featured many of the sketches and characters from their TV series. After a six-year break, the show was recommissioned for Hat Trick Productions as The Armstrong, in 2008, they also had a second radio show, Childrens Hour with Armstrong and Miller. Miller also started acting in films, starring in Steve Coogans first feature film, in 2003 he played the role of Bough, sidekick to Rowan Atkinsons title character, in the film Johnny English. In 2004 he co-starred in The Prince and Me, in 2004 and 2005, he starred in two series of the BBC television series The Worst Week of My Life, with Sarah Alexander. In 2006 he took part in a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life and he starred as James Lester in ITVs 2007 sci-fi drama Primeval and as Mr Jonathan in the Australian film Razzle Dazzle, A Journey into Dance. Miller provided the voice for the ITV Digital and now PG Tips Monkey in a series of television advertisements featuring Johnny Vegas
4.
Samia Ghadie
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Samia Maxine Longchambon is a British actress. She is best known for playing the role of Maria Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street since 2000. Ghadie was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester to Joseph, a French-Lebanese shop owner, and Patsy, an English actress who he met working in Abu Dhabi. She has a brother named Tariq, Ghadie made her acting debut when she was 11 years old, appearing in an episode of Cracker. She then made appearances in Childrens Ward, Heartbeat, Doctors, Theres Only One Jimmy Grimble, in Autumn 2009, Ghadie took a short break from her role as Maria on Coronation Street due to her maternity leave, however she resumed filming the show in May 2010. Ghadie won an episode of Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes impersonating Holly Valance, in January 2013, Ghadie was a competitor in the eighth series of Dancing on Ice, partnered with French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon. She sustained a concussion a few days into the pre-series training, Ghadie was eliminated in Week 8 of the competition losing out in a skate off to Luke Campbell. Ghadie placed 53rd in the 2003 FHMs 100 Sexiest Women in the World, Ghadie married Matt Smith, a property developer, in St Philips Church in Alderley Edge, Cheshire on 10 September 2005 after a seven-month engagement. On 19 October 2009, she gave birth to a baby girl, on 4 January 2011, Ghadie and her husband announced that they have separated by mutual agreement and decision. On 4 November 2011, it was revealed that she had reverted to her name of Ghadie following her decree absolute which was granted the same day. In May 2015, she announced her engagement to French professional ice skater Sylvain Longchambon and their son, Yves Joseph Longchambon, was born on 24 September 2015. Ghadies father, Joseph, died of cancer on 14 April 2009, Ghadie has appeared twice on the ITV show All Star Family Fortunes. Her first appearance was on a Christmas special on 23 December 2006 and her second appearance was on 13 May 2012, when she appeared with her own family. In 2008, Ghadie was a guest on Keith Lemons Very Brilliant World Tour, on 20 September 2014, Ghadie appeared on the primetime game show The Chase, Celebrity Special. - Contestant Samia Ghadie at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Manchester City F.C.
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Manchester City Football Club is a football club in Manchester, England. Founded in 1880 as St. Marks, they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887, the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, having regained their Premier League status in the early 2000s, the club was purchased in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group and has become one of the wealthiest in the world. Since 2011 the club have won five major honours, including the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, by 2014–15, Manchester City had the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €463.5 million. In 2016, Forbes magazine estimated they were the sixth most valuable football club. City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899, with it promotion to the highest level in English football. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, in the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, after relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer, in the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. Further trophies followed, City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in Vienna. City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy, the club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, the final trophy of the clubs most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final. A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s, Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were relegated from the top flight in the 1980s. However, this was only a respite, and following Reids departure Manchester Citys fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, after two seasons in Division One, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their countrys third league tier, after 1. After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline, under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham
6.
Oldham
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Oldham /ˈɒldəm/ is a town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines between the rivers Irk and Medlock,5.3 miles south-southeast of Rochdale and 6.9 miles northeast of Manchester. Together with several surrounding towns, it is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, population 230,800 as of 2015. Historically in Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of and it was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England. At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, producing more cotton than France, Oldhams textile industry fell into decline in the mid-20th century, the towns last mill closed in 1998. The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed the local economy, today Oldham is a predominantly residential town, and a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the cotton mills. The town has a population of 103,544 and an area of around 26 square miles, the toponymy of Oldham seems to imply old village or place from Eald signifying oldness or antiquity, and Ham a house, farm or hamlet. Oldham is however known to be a derivative of Aldehulme, undoubtedly an Old Norse name and it is believed to be derived from the Old English ald combined with the Old Norse holmi or holmr, meaning promontory or outcrop, possibly describing the towns hilltop position. It has alternatively been suggested that it may mean holm or hulme of a farmer named Alda, the name is understood to date from 865, during the period of the Danelaw. Evidence of later Roman and Celtic activity is confirmed by an ancient Roman road, nearby Chadderton is also pre-Anglo-Saxon in origin, from the Old Welsh cadeir, itself deriving from the Latin cathedra meaning chair. Although not mentioned in the Domesday Book, Oldham does appear in documents from the Middle Ages, invariably recorded as territory under the control of minor ruling families. In the 13th century, Oldham was documented as a manor held from the Crown by a family surnamed Oldham, by 1756, Oldham had emerged as centre of the hatting industry in England. The rough felt used in the process is the origin of the term Owdham Roughyed a nickname for people from Oldham. The climate, geology, and topography of Oldham were unrelenting constraints upon the social, at 700 feet above sea level and with no major river or visible natural resources, Oldham had poor geographic attributes compared with other settlements for investors and their engineers. Within a year,11 other mills had been constructed, Oldhams small local population was greatly increased by the mass migration of workers from outlying villages, resulting in a population increase from just over 12,000 in 1801 to 137,000 in 1901. The speed of this urban growth meant that Oldham, with little pre-industrial history to speak of, was born as a factory town. Oldham became the manufacturing centre for cotton spinning in the second half of the 19th century. In 1851, over 30% of Oldhams population was employed within the textile sector, in 1871, Oldham had more spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined
7.
Greater Manchester
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Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles, which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. It is landlocked and borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, for the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government, district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts became unitary authority areas. However, the county has continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, has a Lord Lieutenant. A further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester is set to place upon the election of the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester scheduled for 2017. Before the creation of the county, the name SELNEC was used for the area. Since deindustrialisation in the century, Greater Manchester has become known as an exporter of media and digital content, for its guitar and dance music. Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, there is evidence of Iron Age habitation, particularly at Mellor, and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes. Stretford was also part of the believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth, are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086, Redhead states that this was only a partial survey was taken. During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire, Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of Englands woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production. Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, however, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the worlds largest marketplace for cotton goods, and the natural centre of its region. In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as an entity were proposed. In the 18th century, German traders had coined the name Manchesterthum to cover the region in, however, the English term Greater Manchester did not appear until the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the creation of the County of London in 1889
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Manchester
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Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry
10.
Manchester City
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Manchester City Football Club is a football club in Manchester, England. Founded in 1880 as St. Marks, they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887, the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, having regained their Premier League status in the early 2000s, the club was purchased in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group and has become one of the wealthiest in the world. Since 2011 the club have won five major honours, including the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, by 2014–15, Manchester City had the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €463.5 million. In 2016, Forbes magazine estimated they were the sixth most valuable football club. City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899, with it promotion to the highest level in English football. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, in the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, after relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer, in the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. Further trophies followed, City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in Vienna. City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy, the club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, the final trophy of the clubs most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final. A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s, Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were relegated from the top flight in the 1980s. However, this was only a respite, and following Reids departure Manchester Citys fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, after two seasons in Division One, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their countrys third league tier, after 1. After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline, under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham
11.
Ray Winstone
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Raymond Andrew Ray Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his hard man roles beginning with his role as Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and he has also become well known as a voice over actor, and has recently branched out into film production. Winstone was born in Homerton, Hackney, London, Winstone moved to Enfield when he was seven, and grew up on a council estate just off the A10 road. His father, Raymond J. Winstone, ran a fruit and vegetable business, while his mother, Winstone recalls playing with his friends on bomb sites, until Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested for killing three children. Ray joined Brimsdown Primary School and then he was educated at Edmonton County School and he also attended Corona Theatre School. He did not take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE in Drama, Winstone had an early affinity for acting, his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he viewed Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a mother, a drama teacher, Winstone took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper seller in a production of Emil. Winstone was also a fan of boxing, known to his friends as Winnie, he was called Little Sugs at home. At the age of 12, Winstone joined the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club, over the next 10 years, won 80 out of 88 bouts. At welterweight, he was London schoolboy champion on three occasions, fighting twice for England. The experience gave him a perspective on his career, If you can get in a ring with 2,000 people watching and be smacked around by another guy. Deciding to pursue drama, Winstone enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, at £900 a term, it was expensive, considering the average wage was then about £36 a week. He landed his first major role in What a Crazy World at the Theatre Royal, Stratford, London, Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence. After some 12 months, he found that he was the only pupil not invited to the Christmas party, hammering some pins through a piece of wood, he placed it under the wheel of his headmistresss car and blew out the tyre. As a joke, he went up to the BBC, where his schoolmates were involved in an audition, the play, written by Roy Minton and directed by Clarke, was a brutal depiction of a young offenders institution. Winstone was cast in the role of Carlin, a young offender who struggles against both his captors and his fellow cons to become the Daddy of the institution. Hard hitting and often violent the play was judged unsuitable for broadcast by the BBC, the banned television play was entirely re-filmed in 1979 for cinematic release with many of the original actors playing the same roles
12.
Billy's Boots
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Billys Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. There was an earlier humour series called Billys Boots, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, the later more serious Billy appeared in the first issue of Scorcher in 1970, and later moved to Tiger when the two comics merged in 1974. In 1985 Tiger in turn merged with Eagle and the strip moved again, however just a year later Billys adventures relocated once more, new adventures were included in the weekly comic until May 1990, before he switched to Best of Roy of the Rovers Monthly. The strip also appeared in annuals, including annuals for comics which had ceased publication. In Finland and Sweden, Billys Boots was published in Buster magazine, in the UK, stories based on Billys earliest adventures appeared in Total Football magazine until it closed in 2001, and Billys story was also reprinted for a few months in the defunct Striker comic. The boots, which his grandfather had bought as a souvenir, had belonged, decades before, in a manner which was never explained in the story, the boots possess special abilities which turn Billy into a fantastic football player when he wore them. However, despite the boots obvious importance to him, he would lose them or have them stolen. Unfortunately, being so old, after he wears them a few times the boots soon fell apart, and were unable to be repaired. Having secretly entered the stadium, he found the boot room, in 1971, while playing for England in one such tour match in France, the boots split and Billy took them to a local shoe repairers shop. When he went to them, the elderly owner told Billy that he recognised the boots as a pair he had made as a special order for Keen many years earlier. Billy asked him to make a pair, as a contingency against future damage or loss of the original boots. Billy was often able to anticipate future events in his own life by reading Keens book The Life of Dead Shot Keen and he had previously read about Keens similar experiences while turning out for his teams. He was thus able to foresee events and work out solutions to problems, in February 1971 Billy sat his 11+. Billy lived with his grandmother, but no mention was made of the fate of his parents. In 1973 Billy and his moved to the village of Groundwood to live with his grandmothers elderly sister Kate. By the early 1980s, Billy was playing as Centre Forward for Groundwood School, alongside such as Jimmy Dawson, Reg Wood, Marvin Soames. The strip regularly involved mishaps involving his boots, which were periodically lost, stolen or damaged, resulting in Billy underperforming and thus being dropped from the school team. In several instances, he turned out for opposing sides such as Merlin or Brand X, scoring against the school first team, thus embarrassing the sports teacher, Mr Harris
13.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
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BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
15.
The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
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ABC Online
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ABC Online is the brand name in Australia for the online services of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, managed by ABC Innovation. It covers a large network of websites including those for ABC News, television, radio, ABC Online is one of Australias largest and most-visited web sites, according to Alexa the eleventh-most popular in the country. It currently contains over 5 million pages, the ABC established its original Multimedia Unit in 1995, to manage the Corporations website. Although the unit at first relied upon funding allocation to the Corporations television and radio operations, the ABC provided live, online election coverage for the first time in 1996, and limited news content began to be provided in 1997. ABC Online became a part of ABC New Media and Digital Services when the Multimedia division was renamed and changed to a division similar to Television or Radio. Broadband news services were introduced in 2001, in 2008, Crikey reported that certain ABC Online mobile sites in development were planned to carry commercial advertising. Screenshots, developed in-house, of an ABC Grandstand sport page include advertising for two private companies, Media Watch later revealed that the websites were to be operated by ABC Commercial and distinguished from the main, advertising-free, mobile website by a distinct logo
