Arthur Swinson
Arthur Horace Swinson (1915–1970) was a British Army officer, writer, playwright, and historian. A prolific playwright, he authored more than 300 works. Swinson was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, to Hugh Swinson and Lilla Fisher Swinson. He attended St Albans School. He enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in 1939 and in 1940 was commissioned into the Worcestershire Regiment. In the Far East, he fought at the 1944 Battle of Kohima as a staff captain with the British 5th Brigade, which commanded the 7th Battalion of his regiment. The diaries he kept during the battle are now lodged in the Imperial War Museum. He served until 1946, with postings in Malaya, Burma, Assam and India during World War II. In 1949, he subsequently became a writer and producer at the BBC where he produced a number of programmes for Richard Attenborough. In 1965, Swinson wrote a book about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre entitled ''Six Minutes to Sunset: The Story of General Dyer and the Amritsar Aff ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel. The modern British Army traces back to 1707, with antecedents in the English Army and Scots Army that were created during the Restoration in 1660. The term ''British Army'' was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief, but the Bill of Rights of 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The Brit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), as well as the life president of Chelsea FC. He joined the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and served in the film unit, going on several bombing raids over Europe and filming the action from the rear gunner's position. He was the older brother of broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and motor executive John Attenborough. He was married to actress Sheila Sim from 1945 until his death. As an actor, he is best remembered for his film roles in '' Brighton Rock'' (1948), ''I'm All Right Jack'' (1959), '' The Great Escape'' (1963), ''The Sand Pebbles'' (1966), ''Doctor Dolittle'' (1967), '' 10 Rillington Place'' (1971), '' Jurassic Park'' (1993), and ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1994). In 1952 he appeared on the West En ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Dramatists And Playwrights
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community * Engl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Worcestershire Regiment Officers
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ... of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see History of Worcestershire#Alfred and Edward, History of Worcestershire). Over the centuries the Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries, county borders have been modified, but it was not until 1844 that substantial changes were made. Worcestershire was abolished Local Government Act 1972, as part of local government reforms in 1974, with its northern area becoming part of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and the rest part of the county of Hereford and Worcester. In 1998 the cou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Army Personnel Of World War II
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Historians
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community * En ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1970 Deaths
Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * February 19 – Battle of Lugdunum: Emperor Septimius Severus defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Albinus commits suicide; legionaries sack the town. * Septimius Severus returns to Rome and has about 30 of Albinus's supporters in the Senate executed. After his victory he declares himself the adopted son of the late Marcus Aurelius. * Septimius Severus forms new naval units, manning all the triremes in Italy with heavily armed troops for war in the East. His soldiers embark ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1915 Births
Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ** WWI: British Royal Navy battleship HMS ''Formidable'' is sunk off Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, by an Imperial German Navy U-boat, with the loss of 547 crew. ** Battle of Broken Hill: A train ambush near Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, is carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who are killed, together with 4 civilians. * January 5 – Joseph E. Carberry sets an altitude record of , carrying Capt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois as a passenger, in a fixed-wing aircraft. * January 12 ** The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote. ** '' A Fool There Was'' premières in the United States, starring Theda Bara as a '' femme fatale''; she quickly become ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ealing Comedy
The Ealing comedies is an informal name for a series of comedy films produced by the London-based Ealing Studios during a ten-year period from 1947 to 1957. Often considered to reflect Britain's post-war spirit, the most celebrated films in the sequence include ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949), '' Whisky Galore!'' (1949), ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' (1951), ''The Man in the White Suit'' (1951) and '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). ''Hue and Cry'' (1947) is generally considered to be the earliest of the cycle, and '' Barnacle Bill'' (1957) the last, although some sources list ''Davy'' (1958) as the final Ealing comedy. History Relatively few comedy films were made at Ealing Studios until several years after World War II. The 1939 film ''Cheer Boys Cheer'', featuring the rivalry between two brewing companies, one big and modernist, the other small and traditional, has been characterised as a prototype of later films. One of the few other films that can be seen as a direct precursor t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Whisky Galore (novel)
''Whisky Galore'' is a novel written by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie. It was published in 1947. It was adapted for the cinema under the title '' Whisky Galore!''. The book has sold several million copies and has been reprinted several times. Plot summary During the Second World War, the cargo vessel ''S.S. Cabinet Minister'' is wrecked off a remote fictional Scottish island group – Great Todday and Little Todday – with fifty thousand cases of whisky aboard. Due to wartime rationing, the thirsty islanders had nearly run out of the "water of life" and see this as an unexpected godsend. They manage to salvage several hundred cases before the ship sinks. But it is not all clear sailing. They must thwart the efforts of the authorities to confiscate the liquor, particularly in the shape of misguided, pompous Home Guard Captain Paul Waggett. A cat-and-mouse battle of wits ensues. Although the wreck and the escapades over the whisky are at the centre of the story, there is a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Compton Mackenzie
Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish independence, Scottish nationalist. He was one of the co-founders in 1928 of the National Party of Scotland along with Christopher Murray Grieve, Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, R. B. Cunninghame Graham and John MacCormick. He was Knight Bachelor, knighted in 1952. Background Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his English grandfather Henry Compton (actor), Henry Compton, a well-known William Shakespeare, Shakespearean actor of the Victorian era. His father, Edward Compton (actor), Edward Compton Mackenzie, and mother, Virginia Frances Bateman, were actors and theatre company managers; h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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SS Politician
SS ''Politician'' was a cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of the Hebridean island of Eriskay in 1941. Her cargo included 22,000 cases of malt whisky and £3 million worth of Jamaican banknotes. Much of the whisky was recovered by islanders from across the Hebrides, contrary to marine salvage laws. Because no duty had been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise pursued and prosecuted those who had removed the cargo. ''Politician'' was completed in 1923 under the name ''London Merchant''. She was a general cargo ship that traded between Britain, the United States and Canada, and up and down the west coast of the US. In 1924—during the years of American prohibition—Oregon's state prohibition commissioner seized her cargo of whisky despite its having been approved and sealed by US federal authorities. After the British Embassy in Washington complained to the US government, the whisky was released back to the ship. During the Second World War ''Politi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |