1.
Gracie Fields
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Dame Gracie Fields, DBE was an English actress, singer and comedian and star of both cinema and music hall. She spent the part of her life on the isle of Capri. Fields was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to entertainment in 1938, Fields was born Grace Stansfield, over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Greater Manchester. She made her first stage appearance as a child in 1905, joining childrens repertory theatre groups such as Haleys Garden of Girls and her two sisters, Edith and Betty and brother, Tommy, all went on to appear on stage, but Gracie was the most successful. Fields met the comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together, Pitt gave Fields champagne on her 18th birthday, and wrote in an autograph book to her that he would make her a star. Pitt began to manage her career and they began a relationship and their first revue was called Yes I Think So in 1915 and the two continued to tour Britain together until 1924. That year they appeared in the revue Mr Tower of London, with other shows By Request, Its A Bargain, Fields and Holloway first worked together on her film Sing As We Go in 1934 and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives. Fields came to public notice in Mr Tower of London. Her career accelerated from this point with legitimate dramatic performances and the beginning of a recording career, at one point, Fields was playing three shows a night in Londons West End. She appeared in the Pitt production SOS with Gerald Du Maurier, Fields most famous song, which became her theme, Sally, was worked into the title of her first film, Sally in Our Alley, which was a major box office hit. She went on to several films initially in Britain and later in the United States. Regardless, she never enjoyed the process of performing without a live audience and she tried to opt out of filming, before director Monty Banks persuaded her otherwise, landing her the lucrative Hollywood deal. Fields demanded that the four films be filmed in Britain and not Hollywood, a reference to two other of her well-known songs, Walter, Walter, and Its the Biggest Aspidistra in the World. The famous opera star Luisa Tetrazzini heard her murdering an aria, Gracie decided to stay where I knew I belonged. She donated her house, The Towers,53 The Bishops Avenue, London, in 1939, she became seriously ill with cervical cancer. The public sent over 250,000 goodwill messages and she retired to her villa on Capri, after she recovered, she recorded a very special 78rpm record simply called Gracies Thanks, in which she thanks the public for the many cards and letters she received while in hospital. During World War II, she paid for all servicemen/women to travel free on public transport within the boundaries of Rochdale, Fields also helped Rochdale F. C. in the 1930s when they were struggling to pay fees and buy sports equipment. In 1933 she set up the Gracie Fields Childrens Home and Orphanage at Peacehaven and she kept this until 1967, when the home was no longer needed
2.
Seymour Hicks
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Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and producing Edwardian musical comedy, often together with his famous wife and his most famous acting role was that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol. Following this, he starred in a revival of Little Jack Sheppard at the Gaiety Theatre, Edwardes cast Hicks in his next show, The Shop Girl, in 1894. Its success led to his participation in two more of Edwardess hit girl musicals, The Circus Girl and A Runaway Girl, both starring Terriss and he first played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in 1901 and eventually played it thousands of times onstage. Hicks used his fortune from these shows to commission the building of the Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and his stage performances were less successful in later years, and he opted instead to star in music hall tours, including Pebbles on the Beach. He continued to light comedies, the most popular of which was The Happy Day. On film, he first appeared in Scrooge and David Garrick both from 1913, later notable films included The Lambeth Walk and Busmans Honeymoon, and his last film was the year of his death,1949. Hicks was born in St. Hélier on the island of Jersey, at the age of nine, he appeared as Little Buttercup in Gilbert and Sullivans H. M. S. Pinafore at his school in Bath, after that, he was determined to be an actor. Hicks first appeared professionally on stage at the age of sixteen in a production of In the Ranks at the Grand, in 1889, he joined the theatrical company of Mr. and Mrs. Kendal for an American tour where they presented a repertory of contemporary plays. Hicks starred as Dr. Watson in the first revue show ever staged in London, Under the Clock and that same year, he married Ellaline Terriss. After that, he starred in a revival of Little Jack Sheppard at the Gaiety Theatre and this brought him to the attention of the impresario George Edwardes. In 1894, Hicks joined his wife in the successful Fairy pantomime, Cinderella, produced by Henry Irving with music by Oscar Barrett, where she had been playing the title role. He played Thisbe, one of Cinderellas half-sisters who, in version, were Girton College girls who can jabber Greek and Latin, read French, play golf. Thisbe has an affectation for intellectuality – Ibsen, Spooks, Edwardes gave Hicks the chance to star in his next show, The Shop Girl, which became a hit at the Gaiety in 1894, playing for 546 performances. Hickss wife joined Edwardess company during the run of the show, replacing the star in the title role, and together they made the musical an even bigger hit. The following year, Hicks transferred with the show to Broadway for a run and then toured in America in 1895 with his wife. At the instance of W. S. Gilbert, Hicks wrote a drama called One of the Best, the Hickses were frequent guests of Gilbert at his estate in Grims Dyke
3.
Michael Caine
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Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor and author. Renowned for his working class cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over 115 films and is regarded as a British film icon. His most notable roles in the 1970s included Get Carter, The Last Valley, Sleuth, for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, The Man Who Would Be King, and A Bridge Too Far. He achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita earning him the BAFTA, in 1986, he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allens Hannah and Her Sisters. Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Caine played Nigel Powers in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight Trilogy. He appeared in other of Nolans films including The Prestige, Inception. He also appeared as a character in Alfonso Cuaróns Children of Men. As of February 2017, films in which he has starred have grossed over $3.5 billion domestically, Caine is ranked the eleventh highest grossing box office star. Caine is one of two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s. In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema. Caine was born in St Olaves Hospital in Rotherhithe, London, the son of Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a market porter, and Ellen Frances Marie Burchell. His father had English, Irish, and, reportedly, Irish Traveller ancestry and he was brought up in his mothers Protestant religion. Caine had a maternal half-brother, David William Burchell and a full brother, Caine grew up in Southwark, London, and during the Second World War, he was evacuated to North Runcton near Kings Lynn in Norfolk. In 1944, he passed his eleven plus exam, winning a scholarship to Hackney Downs School, after a year there he moved to Wilsons Grammar School in Camberwell, which he left at sixteen after gaining a School Certificate in six subjects. He then worked briefly as a clerk and messenger for a film company in Victoria Street. He had gone into Korea feeling sympathetic to communism, coming as he did from a poor family, Caine would like to see the return of national service to help combat youth violence, stating, Im just saying, put them in the Army for six months. Youre there to learn how to defend your country, then when you come out, you have a sense of belonging rather than a sense of violence. Adopting the stage name Michael Scott, in July 1953 he was cast as the drunkard Hindley in the Companys production of Wuthering Heights and he moved to the Lowestoft Repertory Company in Suffolk for a year when he was 21
4.
Roman Polanski
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Rajmund Roman Thierry Polański is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer, and actor. Born in Paris, his Polish-Jewish parents moved the back to Poland in 1937. Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany a few later, in 1939. Polanskis first feature-length film, Knife in the Water, made in Poland, was nominated for a United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, along with two BAFTAs, four Césars, a Golden Globe Award and the Palme dOr of the Cannes Film Festival in France, in the United Kingdom he directed three films, beginning with Repulsion. In 1968 he moved to the United States and cemented his status by directing the horror film Rosemarys Baby. A turning point in his life took place in 1969, when his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, following her death, Polanski returned to Europe and eventually continued directing. He made Macbeth in England and back in Hollywood, Chinatown, in 1977, Polanski was arrested and charged with the rape of a 13-year-old model during a photo session. He subsequently pled guilty to the charge of statutory rape and he was released from prison after serving 42 days, and as part of an apparent plea bargain, was to be put on probation. When he learned that the judge changed his mind and planned to reject the plea bargain, in Europe, Polanski continued to make films, including Tess, starring aspiring actress, Nastassja Kinski. It won Frances César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and he later produced and directed The Pianist, starring Adrien Brody, in a World War II true story drama about a Jewish-Polish musician. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, along with numerous international awards and he also directed Oliver Twist, a story which parallels his own life as a young boy attempting to triumph over adversity. Polanski was born in Paris, the son of Bula and Ryszard Polański, a painter and manufacturer of sculptures and his mother had a daughter, Annette, by her previous husband. Annette managed to survive Auschwitz, where her mother died, Polańskis father was Jewish and originally from Poland, Polańskis mother, born in Russia, had been raised Roman Catholic and was of half-Jewish ancestry. Polański, influenced by his education in the Peoples Republic of Poland, said Im an atheist in an interview about his film, Rosemarys Baby. The Polański family moved back to the Polish city of Kraków in 1936, Kraków was soon occupied by the German forces, and Nazi racial purity laws made the Polańskis targets of persecution, forcing them into the Kraków Ghetto, along with thousands of the citys Jews. Around the age of six, he attended school for only a few weeks, until all the Jewish children were abruptly expelled. That initiative was followed by requiring all Jewish children over the age of twelve to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David imprinted for visual identification
5.
Jerry Lee Lewis
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Jerry Lee Lewis is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, often known by his nickname, The Killer. He has been described as rock & rolls first great wild man, a pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. Crazy Arms sold 300,000 copies in the South, and he followed this with Great Balls of Fire, Breathless and High School Confidential. However, Lewiss rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old first cousin once removed when he was 23 years old and he had minimal success in the charts following the scandal, and his popularity quickly eroded. His live performance fees plummeted from $10,000 per night to $250, in the meantime he was determined to gain back some of his popularity. In the early 1960s, he did not have much success, with few exceptions. His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic and his 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever. In 1968 Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with such as Another Place. His No.1 country hits included To Make Love Sweeter for You, There Must Be More to Love Than This, Would You Take Another Chance on Me and Me and Bobby McGee. Lewiss successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Boppers Chantilly Lace, in the 21st century Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His album Last Man Standing is his best selling to date and this was followed by Mean Old Man, which has received some of the best sales of Lewiss career. Lewis has a dozen gold records in rock and country. He won several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, in 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler, in 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of 55 album and his parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Lewis was influenced by an older cousin, Carl McVoy, the radio, and the sounds from Haneys Big House. On the live album By Request, More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth and he was also influenced by the Great American Songbook and popular country singers like Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams
6.
Hey Jude
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Hey Jude is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from Hey Jules, a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennons son, Julian, Hey Jude begins with a verse-bridge structure incorporating McCartneys vocal performance and piano accompaniment, further instrumentation is added as the song progresses. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda that lasts for more than four minutes. Hey Jude was released in August 1968 as the first single from the Beatles record label Apple Records, more than seven minutes in length, it was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts. It also spent nine weeks at one in the United States. Hey Jude tied the record, at the time, for the longest run at the top of the US charts. The single has approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional critics lists of the greatest songs of all time. In 2013, Billboard named it the 10th biggest song of all time, in May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia Lennon separated because of Johns affair with Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit Cynthia and Johns son, Julian, at Kenwood, Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartneys surprise visit, I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare. On the journey down he composed Hey Jude in the car, I will never forget Pauls gesture of care and concern in coming to see us. The songs original title was Hey Jules, and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents separation. McCartney later said, I knew it was not going to be easy for him, according to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney test his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Bands rendition of his instrumental Thingumybob, in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at a village in Bedfordshire and performed Hey Jude at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single Im the Urban Spaceman, in London, Lennon replied, You wont, you know. Thats the best line in the song, McCartney retained the phrase, he later said of his subsequent live performances of the song, thats the line when I think of John, and sometimes I get a little emotional during that moment. Although McCartney originally wrote Hey Jude for Julian, John Lennon thought it had actually written for him. Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to Hey Jude, McCartneys failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious message to himself. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it, Music critic and author Tim Riley writes, If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey
7.
The Beatles
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The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. They acquired the nickname the Fab Four as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, from 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, after their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in November 2001. The Beatles are the band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act, according to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazines list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, as of 2016 and they have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were also collectively included in Time magazines compilation of the twentieth centurys 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he, in February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, after a month of Harrisons persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennons Quarry Bank friends had left the group, the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer. By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles, allan Williams, the Beatles unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960
8.
Let It Be
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Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the groups break-up. Like most of the previous releases, it was a number one album in many countries. The album was conceived as Get Back, a return to the Beatles earlier, the recording sessions began at Twickenham Film Studios in January 1969 as part of a planned documentary showing the Beatles preparing to return to live performance. A project instigated by Paul McCartney, the rehearsals were marked by ill-feeling within the band. As a condition of his return, the Beatles reconvened at their own Apple Studio, following several rejected mixes by Glyn Johns, a new version of the album was produced by Phil Spector in March–April 1970. Naked was released in 2003, a version of the album, without any of Spectors production work. By late 1968, more than two years after the Beatles gave up touring, Paul McCartney was eager for the group to live again. The sessions for that years The Beatles had seen a number of serious arguments and this would allow the group to return to their roots by playing as a true ensemble, recording some or all of the new album during a one-off live concert or full concert tour. This idea mirrored the back to basics attitude of a number of musicians at this time in reaction against the psychedelic. The concert itself would be filmed for broadcast on worldwide television, McCartney also decided to invite producer/engineer Glyn Johns to contribute to the recording. His proposed role was not clearly defined, as McCartney also wished to retain the services of George Martin. As a result, Johns was not entirely sure whether he was supposed to be producing the album or merely engineering it, as it turned out, Johns acted as engineer, while the band used Martin for advice and ideas as they worked. The other three Beatles were less enthusiastic about McCartneys proposals and they had just completed five months work on their previous album and were sceptical about the prospects of returning to live performance. George Harrison in particular was opposed to the idea of touring, having taken the strongest dislike of any in the group to the tours of the Beatlemania era. In the end, the agreed to convene for rehearsals immediately following 1 January 1969. The rehearsals and recording sessions for the album did not run smoothly, the acrimony that began during the recording of The Beatles resumed soon after the rehearsals began. The Beatles were not getting along, and Lennon and McCartney werent working together as before, All of these factors led to friction within the band
9.
Blade Runner
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Blade Runner is a 1982 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. The film, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is an adaptation of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. by Philip K. Dick. The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in which genetically engineered replicants, the use of replicants on Earth is banned and they are exclusively utilized for dangerous or menial work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down, during his investigations, Deckard begins a relationship with Rachael, an advanced replicant who causes him to question his and the replicants humanity. Blade Runner initially polarized critics, some were displeased with the pacing, the year following its release, the film won the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Blade Runner underperformed in North American theaters, but has become a cult film. Hailed for its design, depicting a retrofitted future, it remains a leading example of the neo-noir genre. It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood, Ridley Scott regards Blade Runner as probably his most complete and personal film. In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed culturally, historically, Blade Runner is now regarded by many critics as one of the all-time best science fiction films. Seven versions of the film have been shown for various markets as a result of changes made by film executives. A Directors Cut was released in 1992 after a response to workprint screenings. This, in conjunction with its popularity as a rental, made it one of the first films released on DVD, resulting in a basic disc with mediocre video. A sequel, Blade Runner 2049, is scheduled for release in 2017, in Los Angeles in November 2019, ex-police officer Rick Deckard is detained by officer Gaff and brought to his former supervisor, Bryant. Deckard, whose job as a Blade Runner was to track down bioengineered beings known as replicants, as Tyrell Corporation Nexus-6 models, they have only a four-year lifespan and may have come to Earth to try to extend their lives. Deckard watches a video of a Blade Runner named Holden administering the Voight-Kampff test designed to distinguish replicants from humans based on their response to questions. The test subject, Leon, shoots Holden after Holden asks about Leons mother, Bryant wants Deckard to retire Leon and the other three replicants, Roy Batty, Zhora, and Pris. Deckard initially refuses, but after Bryant ambiguously threatens him, he reluctantly agrees, Deckard begins his investigation at the Tyrell Corporation to ensure that the test works on Nexus-6 models. While there, he discovers that Dr. Eldon Tyrells assistant Rachael is a replicant who believes herself to be human
10.
Nicole Kidman
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Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an Australian actress and film producer. Kidmans breakthrough roles were in the 1989 feature film thriller Dead Calm, other successful films followed in the late 1990s. Her performance in the musical Moulin Rouge, earned her a second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her performances in the drama Birth and the thriller The Paperboy earned her Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress and her performance in the 2010 drama Rabbit Hole, which she also produced, earned Kidman further accolades, including a third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2012, she earned her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the biopic Hemingway & Gellhorn. Kidmans performance in Lion earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion in the Order of Australia, as a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States. Kidman founded and owns the production company Blossom Films, Kidman was born 20 June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on educational visas. Her father was Antony Kidman, a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author and her mother, Janelle Ann, is a nursing instructor who edited her husbands books and was a member of the Womens Electoral Lobby. Kidmans ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, and English heritage, being born in Hawaii, she was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani. The inspiration for the name came from a baby elephant born around the time at the Honolulu Zoo but the name is also a commonly used Hawaiian name for girls. At the time of Kidmans birth, her father was a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He became a fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the war in Vietnam, Kidmans parents participated in anti-war protests while living in Washington, the family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her mother now lives on Sydneys North Shore. Kidman has a sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist. Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls High School and she was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. She says that she was first inspired to become an actress upon seeing Margaret Hamiltons performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Kidman has revealed that she was timid as a child, saying, I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness
11.
Colin Firth
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Colin Andrew Firth, CBE is an English actor. His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide, Firth has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup. Firths most notable and acclaimed role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI in The Kings Speech and this led to roles in films such as The English Patient, Bridget Joness Diary, Shakespeare in Love, and Love Actually. In 2009, Firth received widespread acclaim for his leading role in A Single Man, for which Firth gained his first Academy Award nomination. Firth starred in the spy movie Kingsman, The Secret Service in 2014. In 2011, Firth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Winchester in 2007, and was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2012. He has campaigned for the rights of tribal peoples, and is a member of Survival International. Firth has also campaigned on issues of asylum seekers, refugees rights, and he commissioned and is credited as a co-author on a scientific paper on a study into the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations. Firth was born in the village of Grayshott, Hampshire, to parents who were both academics and teachers, Firth is the eldest of three children, he has a sister, Kate, an actress and voice coach, and a brother, Jonathan, an actor. Both of his parents were raised in India, because his grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather. As a child, Firth travelled a lot due to his parents work and he also lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11, which he has described as a difficult time. On returning to England, he attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School and he was still an outsider and was the target of bullying. To counter this, he adopted the working class Hampshire accent. By the time he was 14, Firth had already decided to be a professional actor, until further education, he was not academically inclined, later saying in an interview, I didnt like school. I just thought it was boring and mediocre and nothing they taught me seemed to be of any interest at all, after his sixth form years, Firth moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre. There, he made contacts in the acting world, from which he got a job in the wardrobe department at the National Theatre. From there, he went on to study at Drama Centre London, in 1984, Firth made his film debut in the role of Tommy Judd, Guy Bennetts straight, Marxist school friend in the screen adaptation of the play. This was the start of longstanding public feud between Firth and Everett, which was later resolved and he starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of J. B
