1.
Frankie Howerd
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Francis Alick Frankie Howerd, OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as a series of comebacks, spanned six decades. Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William and Edith Florence Howard, at the City Hospital in York, England and he was educated at Shooters Hill Grammar School in Woolwich, London. His first stage appearance was at age 13 but his hopes of becoming a serious actor were dashed when he failed an audition for RADA. He began to entertain during World War II service in the British Army and it was at this time that he adapted his surname to Howerd to be different. In 1944 he became a bombardier in Plymouth, was promoted to sergeant, despite suffering from stage fright, he continued to work after the war, beginning his professional career in the summer of 1946 in a touring show called For the Fun of It. His act was soon heard on radio, when he made his debut, in early December 1946 and his profile rose in the immediate postwar period. In 1954, he made his debut opposite Petula Clark in The Runaway Bus. The film was so low-budget that it could not afford scenery, the film, however, was an immediate hit, even though Howerd never established a major film presence thereafter. After suffering a breakdown at the start of the 1960s, he began to recover his old popularity. He was boosted further by success on That Was the Week That Was in 1963 and on stage with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which led into regular television work. In 1966 and 1967, he co-hosted a 90-minute Christmas show called The Frankie and Bruce Christmas Show with Bruce Forsyth, during the 1960s and 1970s, he was involved in shows for the BBC and Thames Television. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote for him from 1964 to 1966 when he worked for the BBC and also for a show for Thames, Frankie Howerd meets the Bee Gees. He was famous for his seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to the audience, which was a direct follow-up from Forum. His television work was characterised by direct addresses to camera and by his littering monologues with verbal tics such as Oooh, no missus, a later sale of his scripts, however, showed that the seemingly off-the-cuff remarks had all been meticulously planned. Barry Cryer said of his technique, What he could do with a script was amazing and he knew exactly what he was doing. Another feature of his humour was to feign innocence about his obvious and risqué double entendres, Howerd appeared as Francis Bigger, one of the lead characters in 1967s Carry On Doctor. The success of the version of Up Pompeii in 1971 saw British exhibitors vote him the ninth most popular star at the British box office that year. He would play versions of the character Lurkio in Up the Chastity Belt, also in 1971, the song was included in the 2004 CD re-issue of Oh
2.
Bill Fraser
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William Simpson Bill Fraser was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his role in the play When We Are Married. Fraser was born in Perth and educated at Strathallan School and he began his career as a clerk in a bank before beginning to act. In the early days when acting work was scarce, Fraser was often penniless, frequently sleeping rough on the Embankment in London. Just after the war a chance meeting in a London street led to Frasers giving Sykes his first work as a writer for radio comedy, Fraser is also credited with giving Peter Cushing his first acting job. Fraser often played irascible or belligerent characters on screen and had roles as a policeman. His first television appearance was on The Tony Hancock Show in 1956 and he then joined The Army Game as Sgt Claude Snudge, followed by a sequel called Bootsie and Snudge. He also played Snudge in the 1964 series Foreign Affairs, later comedic roles included parts in the TV dramatisation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ as well as Ripping Yarns, The Train Now Standing, The Corn is Green and Father, Dear Father. He also appeared in the comedy films The Amorous Milkman and Doctor at Large, the version of Love Thy Neighbour. Up the Front and Up the Chastity Belt and he had a recurring role on Rumpole of the Bailey as Judge Roger Bullingham, an unsympathetic judge privately nicknamed the Mad Bull by defence barrister Horace Rumpole. Frasers straight parts included Boanerges in The Apple Cart and Eddie Waters in Comedians and he also featured in the Doctor Who story Meglos in 1980, and appeared in the spin-off show K-9 and Company the following year. He appeared as Mr Micawber in the TV dramatisation of David Copperfield in 1966 and he played Serjeant Buzzfuzz in the TV musical Pickwick for the BBC in 1969, and his last role was as Mr Casby in the film version of Little Dorrit. Fraser also appeared in an advertisement for the Austin Metro. In 1985 he was cast as Bert Baxter in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, during those periods when Fraser was not acting, he ran a small sweetshop and tobacconists at Ilford Lane in Ilford, Essex. Bill Fraser played husband to Googie Withers in the Chichester Theatre production of Maughams The Circle and it transferred to the West End and played at the Haymarket, and then toured Britain. Also in the cast were Susan Hampshire and John McCallum, who was married to Googie Withers, in 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play When We Are Married. He died from emphysema in Bushey, Hertfordshire, aged 79, leaving a widow, the actress Pamela Cundell, performances listed in the Theatre Archive, University of Bristol Rotten Tomatoes Bill Fraser at the Internet Movie Database
3.
Hermione Baddeley
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Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley, known as Hermione Baddeley, was an English character actress of theatre, film and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as brassy or blowsy and she found her milieu in revue, in which she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with Hermione Gingold. Baddeley was born in Broseley, Shropshire, England and she is a descendent of British American Revolutionary War General Sir Henry Clinton. Her elder sister, Angela Baddeley, was also an actress and her half-brother, Very Rev William Baddeley, was a Church of England priest who became Rural Dean of Westminster. She also had a stage career. She had a professional relationship with Sir Noël Coward, appearing in many of his plays throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The most successful was her teaming with Hermione Gingold in Cowards comedy Fallen Angels and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Simone Signorets best friend in Jack Claytons Room at the Top. With just 2 minutes and 32 seconds, hers is the shortest role to be nominated for an Academy Award, in 1960 she played prostitute Doll Tearsheet in the BBCs series of Shakespeare history plays An Age of Kings, acting alongside her sister Angela as Mistress Quickly. In 1963, she was nominated for Broadways Tony Award as Best Actress for The Milk Train Doesnt Stop Here Anymore and she was known to American audiences for roles in Bewitched, Little House on the Prairie, Camp Runamuck and Maude. Toward the end of her career, Baddeley was also a sought-after voice-over actress, including roles in The Aristocats, in 1928 Baddeley married the Hon. David Francis Tennant. She arrived an hour late for the wedding, having misremembered the time booked for the ceremony and they rented Teffont Evias Manor, which became known for their boisterous parties. She had a daughter Pauline Tennant on 16 February 1927 and they divorced in 1937 but remained good friends until his death. In 1940 Baddeley married Major J. H. Dozey Willis and she also had a relationship with the actor Laurence Harvey, a man 22 years her junior. Although Harvey proposed marriage to her, Baddeley thought the age difference was too great, Harvey left Baddeley in 1951 for actress Margaret Leighton. Baddeley was known for her devotion to animals and she dedicated her autobiography, The Unsinkable Hermione Baddeley, to her pet dog. She continued to work in film and television until shortly before the end of her life and she died following a series of strokes on 19 August 1986, aged 79, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She was survived by two children, Pauline Tennant and David, from her first marriage and she was interred in St Mary and St Melor Parish Church in Amesbury, Wiltshire
4.
Up Pompeii!
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Up Pompeii. is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and 1991. Michael Mills and Tom Sloan, from BBC Comedy and Light Entertainment, were visiting the ruins of Pompeii, and the idea for the comedy took root. Talbot Rothwell was invited to write a script and the designer Sally Hulke visited Pompeii with a book and camera to ensure some realism. The series is set in ancient Pompeii, guest stars included several actresses from the Carry On film series, including Barbara Windsor, Wendy Richard and Valerie Leon. The format was more than a backdrop for an endless series of double entendres. Howerd was central to most of the gags and he started each episode with a prologue — a to camera piece that was seldom concluded, thirteen 30-minute episodes were made, in two series. In addition there was an episode and two special episodes entitled Further Up Pompeii, one in 1975 and the other, written by Brian Leveson and Paul Minett. The latter sparked speculation that there could be a new series, apart from the change to the actor playing Ludicrus Sextus, there are some differences between the two series of Up Pompeii, the second series using noticeably fewer sets than the previous. This may have due to the second series being commissioned, filmed. The series was recorded in front of a studio audience, with whom Howerd interacted. Also, Howerd made anachronistic comments like I dont use that glycerine rubbish or The BBC told me, when such things didnt exist in ancient times. Howerd addressed the audience using asides that the characters couldnt hear, often commenting on the script. The first was also called Up Pompeii and added such characters as Bilius, Voluptua, Scrubba and it was produced by Ned Sherrin and retained only Frankie Howerd from the cast of the original series. However, Aubrey Woods appeared in the TV series and the film, the two sequels were Up the Chastity Belt and Up the Front, which transported Howerds servile, cowardly character to Medieval times and World War I. The format of Up Pompeii inspired two later TV series, Whoops Baghdad and Then Churchill Said to Me, both starring Howerd. The later series was shelved due to the outbreak of the Falklands War, in 1988, Howerd asked one of his writers, Miles Tredinnick, to work on an updated stage version of Up Pompeii. The play was revised and updated and had its premiere in Chesterfield in January 2011
5.
Up the Chastity Belt
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Up the Chastity Belt is a 1971 British film, a spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii. That starred Frankie Howerd and was directed by Bob Kellett, Howerd played dual roles as King Richard the Lionheart and cowardly peasant Lurkalot. Eleanor of Aquitaine gave birth to twin sons – Lurkalot first, but the nobles of the country – led by Sir Braggart de Bombast intercepted Lurkalot, stole him away and abandoned him in a forest to die. He was raised by a family of pigs who belonged to Sir Coward de Custard who realised he wasnt a pig and took him in as a serf. By way of remittance, Lurkalot aids his master by selling love potions, Lurkalot is also visited by strange voices in the middle of the night who speak to him and try to tell him who he really is but get drowned out by events like lightning. All grown up, Richard is bored by ruling England and decides to go on a crusade, meanwhile, Sir Braggart de Bombast wants to acquire Sir Cowards lands and daughter for himself and makes him an offer. Sir Coward refuses but invites Sir Braggart and his followers to a banquet so as not to offend where a scene is made, offended, Sir Braggart challenges Sir Coward to a duel with Lady Lobelia as the prize. Lurkalot, although not a Knight, takes up the challenge as the Man with no name and defeats Sir Braggarts champion, realising that the rules of chivalry have not been met, Sir Braggart declares the duel void and declares war. Lurkalot and Lady Lobelia flee the scene to his workshop where to protect his masters daughter, Sir Coward responds to the challenge by running away to join the crusades whilst Lurkalot, encouraged by his voices, goes to find both him and Richard the Lionheart. Once in the Holy Land, he discovers that the crusades are actually a Bacchanalian orgy, saladin is actually a friend of a crusader and started everything. Richard wont leave the Holy Land as hes in his tent with Scheherazade, Lurkalots voices provide inspiration and he takes all the unused weaponry and fashions them into chastity belts. He then brings feminism to Saladins women, who go on strike, in Germany, Richard meets a local woman and decides to stay with her. He casually tosses Lurkalot the crown and says if he looks like him. After being ducked, he is sentenced to death by burning and they plan an attack on Sir Braggart and are joined by Sir Coward, who is fed up with being bullied and fortified by smoking from a hookah pipe. Meanwhile Richard has had to flee to England following an episode with his German woman and returns to Lurkalots village. Sir Coward feigns severe illness to get him and Lurkalot into the castle and he suffers withdrawal symptoms from the loss of his hookah and Lurkalot offers to make him a remedy based on sulphur and charcoal but spills in saltpetre by accident. He mixes it together, but Sir Coward, who hates taking medicine, throws it in the direction of a fire, Lurkalot calls his new invention gone powder and they use it to open the castle gate, where Robin Hood can attack. Meanwhile Sir Braggart duels Lurkalot and reveals that he must be Richards twin brother, the two battle all over the castle and he is eventually forced to flee in disgrace
6.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
7.
Stanley Holloway
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Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen and he was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career. Born in London, Holloway pursued a career as a clerk in his teen years, in 1921, he joined a concert party, The Co-Optimists, and his career began to flourish. At first, he was employed chiefly as a singer, but his skills as an actor, by the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety, pantomime and musical comedy, including several revues. After the war, he appeared in the film Brief Encounter and made a series of films for Ealing Studios, including Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt. In 1956 he was cast as the irresponsible and irrepressible Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a role that he played on Broadway, the West End and in the film version in 1964. The role brought him fame, and his performances earned him nominations for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Holloway was married twice and had five children, including the actor Julian Holloway, Holloway was born in Manor Park, Essex, the younger child and only son of George Augustus Holloway, a lawyers clerk, and Florence May née Bell, a housekeeper and dressmaker. He was named after Henry Morton Stanley, the journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa, there were theatrical connections in the Holloway family going back to Charles Bernard, an actor and theatre manager, who was the brother of Holloways maternal grandmother. Holloways paternal grandfather, Augustus Holloway, an orphan, was brought up by John Stone, a sailmaker, Augustus became a wealthy shopkeeper, running his own brush-making business. He married Amelia Catherine Knight in September 1856, and they had three children, Maria, Charles and George, in the early 1880s the family moved to Poplar, London. When Augustus died, George Holloway moved to nearby Manor Park and became a clerk for a city lawyer, George married Bells daughter Florence in 1884, and they had two children, Millie and Stanley. George left Florence in 1905 and was never seen or heard again by his family. During his early years, Holloway attended the Worshipful School of Carpenters in nearby Stratford and joined a local choir. He left school at the age of 14 and worked as a clerk in a boot polish factory. He began performing part-time as Master Stanley Holloway – The Wonderful Boy Soprano from 1904, a year later, he became a clerk at Billingsgate Fish Market, where he remained for two years before commencing training as an infantry soldier in the London Rifle Brigade in 1907. Holloways stage career began in 1910, when he travelled to Walton-on-the-Naze to audition for The White Coons Show, Pepper, father of Harry S. Pepper, with whom Holloway later starred in The Co-Optimists. This seaside show lasted six weeks, in 1913 Holloway was recruited by the comedian Leslie Henson to feature as a support in Hensons more prestigious concert party called Nicely, Thanks
8.
Robert Coote
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Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in films. Coote was born in London and educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex and he began his stage career at the age of 16, performing in Britain, South Africa, and Australia before arriving in Hollywood in the late 1930s. He played a succession of pompous British types in supporting roles, including a brief and his acting career was interrupted by his service as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Muir, Forever Amber, The Three Musketeers, and Orson Welles Othello, in 1956, Coote created the role of Colonel Pickering in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, which he reprised in the musicals 1976–77 Broadway revival. He also originated the role of King Pellinore in the Broadway production of Camelot and he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as Timmy St. Clair in the NBC TV series The Rogues. In 1966, Coote appeared with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in an episode of The Honeymooners entitled The Honeymooners in England, in his last feature film performance, Coote portrayed one of the critics dispatched by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood. His final role was on television, playing orchid nurse Theodore Horstmann in the 1981 NBC-TV series Nero Wolfe, starring William Conrad in the title role. In most film and TV adaptations of Nero Wolfe mysteries, before and since, Horstmann has been a minor character. The veteran British character actor died in his sleep at the New York Athletic Club in November 1982, at the age of 73. Coote was a friend of actor David Niven, sharing a house with Niven for a time in the late 1930s. Robert Coote at the Internet Movie Database Robert Coote at the Internet Broadway Database Robert Coote at Find a Grave Robert Coote performances in Theatre Archive, University of Bristol
9.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
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Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor, Gabor began her stage career in Vienna and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1941, becoming a sought-after actress with European flair and style, she was considered to have a personality that exuded charm and grace. Her first film role was a role in Lovely to Look At. She later acted in Were Not Married, and played one of her few leading roles in the John Huston-directed film, Moulin Rouge. Huston would later describe her as a creditable actress, outside her acting career, Gabor was known for her extravagant Hollywood lifestyle, her glamorous personality, and her many marriages. In total, Gabor had nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and she once stated, Men have always liked me and I have always liked men. But I like a man, a man who knows how to talk to. Zsa Zsa Gabor was born Sári Gábor on February 6,1917 in Budapest, Hungary, the middle of three daughters, her parents were Vilmos, a soldier, and Jolie Gabor. Her parents were both of Jewish ancestry, while her mother escaped Hungary during the same time period of the Nazi occupation of Budapest, Gabor left the country in 1941, three years prior to the takeover. Gabors elder sister, Magda, eventually became an American socialite and her sister, Eva, became an American actress. The Gabor sisters were first cousins of Annette Lantos, wife of California Congressman Tom Lantos, according to Gabor, she was discovered by operatic tenor Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1934, following her time as a student at a Swiss boarding school. Tauber invited Gabor to sing the role in his new operetta, Der singende Traum. This would mark her first stage appearance, in 1936, she was crowned Miss Hungary. In 1944, she co-wrote a novel with writer Victoria Wolf titled, according to Gabor, the fictional story was derived, in a small part, from Gabors life experiences. The book was bought by an American magazine. In 1949, Gabor declined an offer to play the role in a film version of the classic book Lady Chatterleys Lover. According to an article written the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 1949 and her more serious film acting credits include Moulin Rouge, Lovely to Look At and Were Not Married
10.
Bob Hoskins
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Robert William Bob Hoskins was an English actor. He also directed two feature films and he was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the same role. In 2009, Hoskins won an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his appearance on the BBC One drama The Street, in 2012, Hoskins retired from acting due to his battle with Parkinsons disease, and he died from pneumonia on 29 April 2014, at age 71. Hoskins was born in Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, on 26 October 1942 to Robert Hoskins, a bookkeeper and lorry driver, and Elsie Hoskins, from two weeks old, he was brought up in Finsbury Park, London. He left school at the age of 15 with a single O-Level and worked as a porter, lorry driver and he started on a 3-year accountancy course but dropped out. In 1968, Hoskins acting career began at the Victoria Theatre and he portrayed a servant named Peter in a production of Romeo and Juliet. In 1969, he worked at the Unity Theatre in London, One evening, he was waiting in the Unity Theatre bar for his friend, the actor Roger Frost, to finish an audition. Whilst drinking at the bar, he was given a script and told and he got the part, with Frost ending up his understudy. Frost recalled, Bob was a natural and he just got up on stage and was brilliant. His first major role was in On the Move, an educational series intended to tackle adult illiteracy, in which he portrayed Alf Hunt. According to eventual producer George Auckland, up to 17 million people watched the series, Hoskins breakthrough television role came in the original BBC version of Dennis Potters innovative 6-part fantasy-drama Pennies from Heaven as adulterous sheet music salesman Arthur Parker. Later, he portrayed Iago in Jonathan Millers BBC Television Shakespeare production of Othello and he also delivered comic turns in Terry Gilliams Brazil and as Mario in Super Mario Bros. He had a role as Pink Floyds manager in The Wall. He was slated to be a replacement in The Untouchables if Robert De Niro had not decided to portray Al Capone. In 1988, Hoskins played private investigator Eddie Valiant in the Disney, Touchstone, Hoskins was nominated for a Golden Globe award for this performance and won a British Evening Standard award. He returned to television in productions for the BBC, including Flickers, David Copperfield as Wilkins Micawber and he portrayed Nikita Khrushchev as a political commissar in Enemy at the Gates. Hoskins received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Mrs Henderson Presents, Hoskins also directed two films, both of which he starred in, The Raggedy Rawney and Rainbow. In 2009, he made a return to television in Jimmy McGoverns drama serial The Street, for this role, he received his only Emmy when he won Best Actor at the 2010 International Emmys
11.
Mata Hari
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Margaretha Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. She was the eldest of four children of Adam Zelle and his first wife Antje van der Meulen, despite rumours, Zelle had no Asian or Middle Eastern ancestry and both her parents were Dutch, with her mother additionally being of Frisian descent. Soon after Margarethas father went bankrupt in 1889, her parents divorced and her father remarried in Amsterdam on 9 February 1893 to Susanna Catharina ten Hoove, by whom he had no children. The family fell apart, and Margaretha moved to live with her godfather, Mr. Visser, subsequently, she studied to be a kindergarten teacher in Leiden, but when the headmaster began to flirt with her conspicuously, she was removed from the institution by her offended godfather. A few months later, she fled to her uncles home in The Hague. At 18, Zelle answered an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper placed by Dutch Colonial Army Captain Rudolf MacLeod, Zelle married MacLeod in Amsterdam on 11 July 1895. He was the son of Captain John Brienen MacLeod and Dina Louisa, the marriage enabled her to move into the Dutch upper class, and her finances were placed on a sound footing. They moved to Malang on the east side of the island of Java, traveling out on SS Prinses Amalia in May 1897, the marriage was an overall disappointment. MacLeod was an alcoholic and regularly beat his wife, who was twenty years younger and he also openly kept a concubine, a socially accepted practice in the Dutch East Indies at that time. The disenchanted Zelle abandoned him temporarily, moving in with Van Rheedes and she studied the Indonesian traditions intensively for several months and joined a local dance company during that time. In 1897, she revealed her name of Mata Hari, Malay for sun. At MacLeods urging, Zelle returned to him, but his behavior did not change and she escaped her circumstances by studying the local culture. In 1899, their children fell violently ill from complications relating to the treatment of syphilis contracted from their parents, some sources maintain that one of MacLeods enemies may have poisoned a supper to kill both of their children. After moving back to the Netherlands, the couple separated on 30 August 1902. The divorce became final in 1906, Zelle was awarded custody of Jeanne. MacLeod was legally required to pay support, which he never did, making very difficult for Zelle. During a visit of Jeanne with her father, MacLeod decided not to return Jeanne to her mother, Zelle did not have resources to fight the situation and accepted it, believing that while McLeod had been an abusive husband, he had always been a good father. Jeanne later died at the age of 21, also possibly from complications relating to syphilis, in 1903, Zelle moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus horse rider using the name Lady MacLeod, much to the disapproval of the Dutch MacLeods
12.
Dora Bryan
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Dora May Broadbent, OBE, known as Dora Bryan was an English actress of stage, film and television. Bryan was born in Parbold, Lancashire at 14 Mill Lane and her father was a salesman and she attended Hathershaw County Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire. Her career began in pantomime before World War II, during which she joined ENSA in Italy to entertain British troops, Bryan made her stage debut as a child in a pantomime in Manchester and, encouraged by her mother, joined the Oldham Repertory while still a teenager. After spending six years honing her craft there, she moved to London to develop her stage career, cast in a production of Noël Cowards Private Lives, the actress was encouraged to adopt a stage name by Coward himself. Recognised for her speaking voice, which became a trademark of her performances, she followed many of her theatre contemporaries into film acting. She often played women of easy virtue—for example in The Fallen Idol, one of her earliest films and she appeared in similarly stereotypical female roles in other films, for example The Cockleshell Heroes, The Green Man and Carry On Sergeant. She appeared in a role in 1955 on the BBC radio series Hancocks Half Hour. In 1961 she appeared in A Taste of Honey, the film won four BAFTA awards, director Tony Richardson won Best British Screenplay and Best British Film, while Bryan won Best Actress and co-star Rita Tushingham was named Most Promising Newcomer. In 1963 she recorded the Christmas song All I want for Christmas is a Beatle and she played the Headmistress in The Great St Trinians Train Robbery, and in 1968 she starred in her own British TV series, According to Dora. It was Bryans first venture into West End musical comedy, in which she played Lily Bell, the shows hit songs, sung by Bryan, included Why Did You Call Me Lily. You Never Know With Men, and It Would Cramp My Style, Bryan appeared in the Anglo-Argentine Hitchcockian thriller, Apartment Zero. The film was featured in the 1988 Sundance Film Festival and was directed by Martin Donovan and starred Hart Bochner, Bryan plays the role of one of two eccentric characters described by the Washington Post as two. Tea-and-crumpet gargoyle-featured spinsters who snoop the corridors, throughout her career she also remained a versatile and popular stage performer, often appearing in musicals such as Gentleman Prefer Blondes and Hello, Dolly. She also headlined a number of stage such as The Dora Bryan Show, My Name Is Dora and An Evening with Dora Bryan. She made her Broadway debut as Mrs. Pierce in Pygmalion, starring Peter OToole and she appeared in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinters The Birthday Party. In 1999 she made an appearance in the Victoria Wood sitcom dinnerladies and she received a BAFTA nomination in 2002 for this role. A few years later in 2005 her role in Last of the Summer Wine came to an end, at about the same time she stopped making films. Her last film appearance was in Gone to the Dogs opposite Antony Booth and her autobiography According To Dora was published in 1987 and has since been updated and republished
13.
Jonathan Cecil
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Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil, more commonly known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film and television actor. Cecil was born in London, England, the son of Lord David Cecil and his other grandfather was the literary critic Sir Desmond MacCarthy. He was the great-grandson of former Conservative Prime Minister The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, at Oxford, his friends included Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett. In a production of Ben Jonsons Bartholomew Fair, he played a lunatic called Troubadour and a woman who sells pigs. Of his early acting at Oxford, Cecil said I was still stiff and awkward, but this was effective for comedy parts, playing sort of comic servants in plays. After that he spent eighteen months in repertory at Salisbury, of which he commented, You learnt how to make an entrance. His parts at Salisbury included the Dauphin in Saint Joan, Disraeli in Portrait of a Queen, Trinculo in The Tempest, in film and television, Cecil almost always played upper class English characters. His screen work included the roles of Cummings in The Diary of a Nobody, Captain Cadbury in the Dads Army episode Things that Go Bump in the Night, Bertie Wooster in Thank You, P. G. Wodehouse, Ricotin in Federico Fellinis And the Ship Sails On and he has been called one of the finest upper-class-twits of his era. In 2009 he appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders and he also worked in radio, where his credits included The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and The Brightonomicon. He also appeared in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately, playing characters with very bad foreign accents and he narrated audio books of many of P. G. Wodehouses books, performing voice characterisations for each character, and becoming possibly the most known narrator to ever perform the series, Cecil wrote occasionally for The Spectator and The Times Literary Supplement. In one piece he noted Handsome young male actors of the school have tended, in my experience, to be somewhat vapid. I write this in no spirit of envy — comic and character actors, like proverbial blondes, most of my experience has been in comedy, that’s the way life has taken me. If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t do parts with more depth, Cecil died from pneumonia on 22 September 2011 at Charing Cross Hospital in London, aged 72. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge
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Percy Herbert (actor)
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Percy Herbert was an English character actor who worked predominantly during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, becoming one of the most recognisable faces in post-war British cinema. He served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during the Second World War, after the war, he was helped by Dame Sybil Thorndike to secure an interview with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won a scholarship. His acting career began in the theatre, which included working at John Gielguds Old Vic Company, however, he was equally at home in comedies, fantasy and drama. He also acted on television, he was a regular on the short-lived American series Cimarron Strip, other television work includes Danger Man, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green and Worzel Gummidge. Herbert died of an attack on 6 December 1992 aged 72. Percy Herbert at the Internet Movie Database
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Peter Bull
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Peter Cecil Bull DSC was a British character actor. He was the fourth and youngest son of William Bull, later Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet, Bull was educated at Winchester College. His first professional appearance was in If I Were You at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1933. During his service, he achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, returning to acting after the war, he both narrated and had a small on-screen role in Scrooge, and portrayed the German ships captain in The African Queen. Bull was also the first actor to portray Pozzo in the English-language version of Samuel Becketts Waiting For Godot when it opened on 3 August 1955. Bulls performance as the Soviet Ambassador, Alexi de Sadesky, in Dr Strangelove is probably the best-known of his many film and he was cast as Thwackum, one of Blifils two tutors, in the 1963 film Tom Jones. In the 1970s, he ran a small shop just off Notting Hill Gate, selling zodiac-related items. Bull wrote a book on the subject of teddy bears, Bear With Me and he was also the author of a non-fiction book about his experiences during World War II as commander of a Tank Landing Craft, To Sea in a Sieve. Peter Bull at the Internet Movie Database Peter Bull at the Internet Broadway Database Peter Bull at Find-A-Grave
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David Battley
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David John Battley was a British actor specialising in laconic, lugubrious comedy roles. David Battley, elder son of John Battley, post-WW2 Labour MP, was born in Battersea, born with a hole in the heart, he was initially taught at home before attending a special school. He later enrolled at Camberwell Art School but left before completing the course and he earned a living working for the family printing firm, Battley Brothers, before applying to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Battley was known for his dry, ironic delivery on television and he found steady work as a character actor and comic stooge. Battley also appears as the Executioner in Alice in Wonderland and his best-known work in the mid-1970s was as comic foil to Monty Python team member Eric Idle in the BBC series Rutland Weekend Television. Idle praised Battleys dry, poker-faced style on the show, Battley played the Paul McCartney role in the original RWT sketch of The Rutles, a parody of The Beatles, but did not appear in the American TV film All You Need Is Cash, based on the sketch. Titanic, The London Connection and Krull, among his last roles were a golf course employee in the episode Tee Off, Mr. Bean of the comedy series Mr. Bean and a Doctor examining new regimental recruits in Sharpes Regiment. – Writer Thats Your Funeral – Percy Rentadick – Desk Sergeant Dont Just Lie There, – Country yokel The Old Curiosity Shop – Codlin The London Connection – Peters S. O. S. Titanic – Chief Boots, S. Stebbing Krull – Ergo Vigo – Cinema Manager Out of Depth – Donald David Battley at Find a Grave David Battley at the Internet Movie Database
17.
Patricia Quinn
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Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens, is an Irish actress and singer best known for her role as Magenta in the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the original stage play from which it was adapted. Quinn was born in Belfast in Ulster to Rebecca and James Connolly Quinn and she attended the Princess Gardens Grammar School, where she developed an early talent for acting. Following stints at Belfast’s Arts Theatre and British Drama League, she left for London aged 17, in 1969 she trained at the Drama Centre London while simultaneously working as a blackjack-dealing Bunny at Mayfair’s Playboy Club. In 1971 she was in repertory for six months with the Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre and she has a son, Quinn Hawkins, from her first marriage to Don Hawkins. Her nephews, Jonny Quinn and Bradley Quinn, are members of the rock band Snow Patrol. In January 1995, Quinn married the actor Sir Robert Stephens, Quinn thus became the stepmother of Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, Stephens two actor sons from his previous marriage to Maggie Smith. Quinn had previously appeared alongside Stephens in the BBC TV adaptation of The Box of Delights in the role of Sylvia Daisy Pouncer, Stephens had been knighted prior to his death, giving Quinn the title of Lady Stephens. Quinn is known primarily for her role as Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in the films opening title sequence, the movements of her disembodied lips are synchronised with the lyrics of the title song, Science Fiction/Double Feature. She also played Elizabeth Siddal in the 1975 mini series The Love School, in I, Claudius, she took the role of the Emperor Claudius sister Livilla. Other film and TV roles included the semi-sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and she played Woman in Hawk the Slayer. She appeared in the Hammer House of Horrors episode Witching Time as Lucinda Jessop, Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life, and her latest film credit is Rob Zombies The Lords of Salem. In 2000, Quinn recorded the song Guts To Dream with London-based band The Grand, the song was due to form part of an EP titled Open Displays of Affection, but the group had disbanded before it was released. Quinn gave a copy of the unreleased CD to the winner of a Magenta costume contest at the Rocky Horror Picture Show 25th Anniversary Convention in Las Vegas, in 2002, she returned to Doctor Who, playing an alien queen in the audio play Bang-Bang-a-Boom. In September 2006, she re-launched her career as a DJ and club kitten, in April 2007, she joined Patrick Wolf at a concert in London, singing Accident and Emergency. She attended a Rocky Horror Picture Show convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in July 2011, answering questions as well as introducing a performance of the show, staged at the House of Blues. During the tribute conference, Quinn performed Science Fiction/Double Feature, answered questions on stage with Christ, official website Patricia Quinn at the Internet Movie Database Patricia Quinn as Livilla in I, Claudius Interview
18.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
19.
TV Guide
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In 1948, he printed New York City area listings magazine The TeleVision Guide. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, who then starred of the variety series The Gloria Swanson Hour. Wagner later began publishing regional editions of The TeleVision Guide for New England, five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg, who folded it into his publishing and broadcasting company Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant for the magazine until 1963. The national TV Guides first issue was released on April 3,1953. The inaugural cover featured a photograph of Lucille Balls newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr. with a photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the issues headline. The magazine was published in digest size, which remained its printed format for 52 years. The launch as a magazine with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success, with TV Guide becoming the most read. The initial cost of issue was 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold at the counters of grocery stores nationwide. Until the 1980s, the pieces included in each issue were promoted in a television commercial. Over the decades, the shape of the TV Guide logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen, at first, the logo had various colored backgrounds until the familiar red background became the standard in the 1960s with occasional changes used for special editions. The magazine was first based in an office in downtown Philadelphia, before moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor. The color section was sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. It was under Triangles ownership of WFIL-TV that Dick Clark and American Bandstand came to popularity, most listing entries in the log included program genres after the programs title, while its running time was listed in the synopses. Originally, the majority of programs listed in the log each issue featured brief synopses, except for local and national newscasts, in addition, black-and-white ads for programs scheduled to air on broadcast stations – and later, cable channels – during prime time were included within the listings. A regular feature of the section was Close-Up, which provided expanded reviews of select programs airing each day. The advent of television would become hard on TV Guide. Channels that were listed also differed, depending on the edition, as the years went on, more cable channels were added into the listings of each edition
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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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