Angus Loughran
Angus Loughran (born 24 November 1966) is a British sports commentator and pundit. He appears regularly on television, newspapers and websites, usually concentrating on horse racing and football, such as ''The Daily Telegraph'' and online bookmaker Easyodds, writing tipping sections every day. He has also provided English language football commentary for Eurosport and ESPN. He is currently a commentator for BT Sport on their coverage of the Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. He first worked for Ladbrokes, providing racing commentary into their betting shops, but rose to fame as "Statto", the resident statistician on the BBC Two television show ''Fantasy Football League''. Clad in a dressing gown and pyjamas, he would stand in the corner of the set and provide facts and figures on each of the guests' fantasy football teams, while being made fun of by hosts Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. He also appeared in the Rowan Atkinson comedy film '' Bean'' in 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sport
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, through casual or organized participation, improve participants' physical health. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest (a ''match'') is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Baddiel
David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has also written the children's books '' The Parent Agency'', ''The Person Controller'', ''AniMalcolm'', ''Birthday Boy'', ''Head Kid'', and ''The Taylor TurboChaser''. Early life David Lionel Baddiel was born on 28 May 1964 in Troy, New York, the son of a Welsh father and German mother. He moved to England with his family when he was four months old. His parents were both Jewish: his father, Colin Brian Baddiel, came from a working-class Swansea family and worked as a research chemist with Unilever before being made redundant in the 1980s, after which he sold Dinky Toys at Grays Antique Market. His mother, Sarah, was born in Nazi Germany; a swastika appeared on her birth certificate. She was five months old when she was taken to England by her ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sporting Index
Sporting Index is a British-based company specialising in sports spread betting. It claims an estimated UK market share of over 70%. The company is best known for spread betting; offering a wide variety of sports, politics and showbiz events, as well as a portfolio of unique virtual games. The betting firm also provides a Fixed Odds service. Business-to-business trading and risk management services are also offered to international betting and gaming operators under the Sporting Solutions brand. History Sporting Index was founded in April 1992 with 5 members of staff and a handful of clients. Their first bet was taken on a buy of Tory seats in the 1992 election. This was the first time Sports bettors were about to 'cash out' by opening and closing positions. In July 2001 Sporting Index launched the first fully interactive internet-based sports spread betting website. Since 2004 Sporting Index has also hosted casino and sports related virtual games based on the concept of spread ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manchester Civil Justice Centre
Manchester Civil Justice Centre is a governmental building in Manchester, England. Completed in 2007, it houses Manchester's county court and the Manchester District Registry of the High Court, the city's family proceedings court, the district probate registry, and the regional and area offices of the Court Service. The Civil Justice Centre was the first major court complex built in Britain since George Edmund Street's Royal Courts of Justice in London completed in 1882. Its distinctive architecture has been nicknamed the "filing cabinet" because of its cantilever floors at the end of the building. The design takes inspiration from Expressionist architecture, as well as the artistic Futurist movement of the 1920s which promotes dynamic lines and a sense of fluid movement. Commissioned by the former Department for Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice), the building was funded as a Public–private partnership and is the centrepiece of the Spinningfields deve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor. Bankrupt is not the only legal status that an insolvent person may have, and the term ''bankruptcy'' is therefore not a synonym for insolvency. Etymology The word ''bankruptcy'' is derived from Italian ''banca rotta'', literally meaning "broken bank". The term is often described as having originated in renaissance Italy, where there allegedly existed the tradition of smashing a banker's bench if he defaulted on payment so that the public could see that the banker, the owner of the bench, was no longer in a condition to continue his business, although some dismiss this as a false etymology. History In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Test Cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last for up to five days. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term "test match" was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context. Test cricket did not become an officially recognised format until the 1890s, but many international matches since 1877 have been retrospectively awarded Test status. The first such match took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in March 1877 between teams which were then known as a Combined Australian XI and James Lillywhite's XI, the latter a team of visiting English professionals. Matches between Australia and England were first called "test matches" in 1892. The first definitive list of retrospective Tests was written by South Australian jour ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chris Tavaré
Christopher James Tavaré (;), (born 27 October 1954) is a retired English international cricketer who played in 31 Test matches and 29 One Day Internationals between 1980 and 1989. His style of play was characterised by long periods at the crease and a relatively slow rate of run-scoring. Life and career Tavaré was born at Orpington in Kent and educated at Sevenoaks School and St John's College, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in zoology. He played cricket for Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and Somerset County Cricket Club as an attacking right-handed batsman. He was part of the Kent sides which shared the 1977 County Championship with Middlesex, and won the Championship outright in 1978, as well as the 1978 Benson & Hedges Cup. He impressed on his international debut in 1980, managing 82 not out in a one-day international against a strong West Indies team, winning the man of the match award in a losing cause. However he adapted his natural game ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manchester United F
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (''castra'') of ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unpla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the grounds of the Benedictine monastery, Ampleforth Abbey. The school is in a valley with sports pitches, wooded areas and lakes. Its affiliated preparatory school, St Martin's Ampleforth, which lay across the valley at Gilling Castle, closed in 2020. The school is known as the Catholic Eton and has boarding fees of £39,900 per annum. The school passed an ISI inspection in 2020 and a subsequent inspection for material change, however failed an Ofsted inspection a week later, resulting in an admissions ban from the DfE. The ban was overturned in April 2021 following another Ofsted inspection which reported that they were satisfied with Ampleforth's safeguarding arrangements. History The college began as a small school for 70 boys founded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Loughran
James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD (born 30 June 1931, Glasgow, Scotland) is a conductor. Early life Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law. When he sought the advice of one of the Scottish National Orchestra's conductors, Karl Rankl, on how to develop his musical career, Rankl suggested that he gain experience by working in the German opera house system. Loughran therefore obtained a position as a répétiteur with the Bonn Opera in 1958, where he came into contact with Peter Maag, and subsequently worked in the same capacity with the Netherlands Opera and in Italy, in Milan. Loughran began his conducting career with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra after winning the 1961 Philharmonia Orchestra's Conducting Competition judged by Otto Klemperer, Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Adrian Boult and the orchestra. In Bournemouth, Loughran worked alongside the orchestra's chief conductor Cons ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties of the conductor are to interpret the score in a way which reflects the specific indications in that score, set the tempo, ensure correct entries by ensemble members, and "shape" the phrasing where appropriate. Conductors communicate with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, usually with the aid of a baton, and may use other gestures or signals such as eye contact. A conductor usually supplements their direction with verbal instructions to their musicians in rehearsal. The conductor typically stands on a raised podium with a large music stand for the full score, which contains the musical notation for all the instruments or voices. Since the mid-19th century, most conductors have not played an instrument when conducting, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blackball (film)
''Blackball (also known as National Lampoon's Blackball)'' is a 2003 British sports comedy film, based on the game of lawn bowls. The screenplay was written by Tim Firth, and the film was directed by Mel Smith. The film features James Cromwell as a master bowls player, and Paul Kaye as a naturally talented player who have differing social backgrounds; who are placed together by Vince Vaughn to play for England against Australia. Its fictional plot is based on the bowls player Griff Sanders, who was also referred to as "The Bad Boy of Bowls". Background In addition to the main character being modelled after Griff Sanders, the film also spoofs Bjørge Lillelien's infamous commentary from Norway's 2–1 defeat of England at football in 1981. This theme was first riffed by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner on their TV show ''Fantasy Football League'', and the other commentator for the match was Angus Loughran, who played 'Statto' on ''Fantasy Football''. ''Blackball'' was filmed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |