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Bad Lads' Army
''Lads' Army'' (known in later series as ''Bad Lads' Army'', ''Bad Lads' Army: Officer Class'' and ''Bad Lads' Army: Extreme'') is a reality game show that constitutes a historically derived social experiment. Shown on ITV, the series is based on the premise of subjecting today's delinquent young men to the conditions of conscripts to British Army National Service of the 1950s to see if this could rehabilitate them. The programme was derived from an earlier one called simply ''Lads' Army'' (a play on ''Dad's Army'') in which a number of volunteers underwent four weeks of basic training for 1950s National Service. Unlike the three sequel series (the ones whose titles began with "Bad"), the original programme's experiment was merely to see if 18- to 24-year-old members of the modern British public could cope with the 1950s training, and how they compared to the public of that period. The success of the original series led to the experiment being repeated with the recruits having ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reality Television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as ''The Real World'', then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series '' Survivor'', '' Idols'', and '' Big Brother'', all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves. Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, and traditional game shows are generally not clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Section (military Unit)
A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of between 6 and 20 personnel. NATO and US doctrine define a section as an organization "larger than a squad, but smaller than a platoon." As such, two or more sections usually make up an army platoon or an air force flight. Land Forces NATO Standard NATO symbol for a ''section'' consists of two dots (●●) placed above a framed unit icon. Australian Army At the start of World War I, the Australian Army used a section that consisted of 27 men including the section commander, a sergeant. During World War II, a rifle section comprised ten soldiers with a corporal in command and a lance-corporal as his second-in-command. The corporal used an M1928 Thompson submachine gun, while one of the privates used a Bren gun. The other eight soldiers all used No.1 Mk.3 Lee–Enfield rifles with a bayonet and scabbard. They all carried two or three No.36 Mills bomb grenades. After World War II, and during the Vietnam War, a rifle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nosher Powell
George Frederick Bernard Powell (15 August 1928 – 20 April 2013), credited as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, or Fred Powell, was an English actor, stuntman and boxer. He is best known for his work in the ''James Bond'' film series, most notably '' From Russia with Love'' (1963). Life and career Powell was born in Camberwell, London, England. His younger brother, Dinny Powell (Dennis Powell, born 1932 in Camberwell) followed a similar career, acting and stunt co-ordinating many films, as have his sons Greg Powell and Gary Powell. Powell was given the nickname of "Nosher" while he served in the army. "Nosh" means food in Cockney slang and was given to Powell due to his large physique. He disliked his birth name Frederick or Freddie and chose to use Nosher Powell as his screen name. Powell began his career as a heavyweight boxing champion in the worlds of unlicensed fighting and the professional arena. He also worked as a sparring partner for Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Manning
Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English comedian and nightclub owner. Manning gained a high profile on British television during the 1970s, appearing on shows such as '' The Comedians'' and ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club''. His act became controversial as attitudes changed, with the result that Manning was rarely seen on television in the last few decades of his career. However, he continued to perform at live venues until his death. Early life Manning was born in Harpurhey, Lancashire, and raised in Ancoats, both poor districts of Manchester, the second of three brothers and two sisters. He had Russian Jewish ancestry on his father's side, as well as roots in Ireland, and was brought up a "strict Catholic". He claimed, in an interview with ''The Daily Telegraph''s Allison Pearson, that his paternal grandfather came from Sebastopol, and changed the family name from Blomberg. He left school aged 14, worked in a tobacco factory and joi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', '' The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alternative'', '' The Fist of God'', ''Icon'', '' The Veteran'', '' Avenger'', ''The Afghan'', '' The Cobra'' and '' The Kill List''. Forsyth's works frequently appear on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. By 2006, he had sold more than 70 million books in more than 30 languages. Early life The son of a furrier, Forsyth was born in Ashford, Kent. He was educated at Tonbridge School and later attended the University of Granada in Spain. Career Military and journalism Before becoming a journalist, Forsyth completed his National Service in the Royal Air Force as a pilot, for which he flew the de Havilland Vampire. He joined Reuters in 1961 and in 1965 the BBC, for which he served as an assist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Daniels
Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994. Daniels was known for his catchphrase "You'll like this... not a lot, but you'll like it!", and for his marriage to his assistant, Debbie McGee. He was awarded the "Magician of the Year" Award by the Academy of Magical Arts in 1982, the first magician from outside the United States to receive it. He also won the Golden Rose of Montreux in 1985. He was a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. He has been described as "The Godfather of Magic" and has been repeatedly credited with inspiring many top professional magicians to start in the profession. Daniels was outspoken on matters including politics, current affairs, magic, entertainment, and fellow celebrities. Towards the end of his life he a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but it was a few years later, when he narrated ''Roobarb'' (1974–76) and '' Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk'' (1976–77) and played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78), that he became a household name. He starred as Martin in ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–89), and had a leading role as Hector in '' Monarch of the Glen'' (2000–05). From the late 1980s, with Kenneth Branagh as director, he performed Shakespearean roles in ''Henry V'' (1989), ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Hamlet'' (1996) and ''As You Like It'' (2006). Early life Briers was born on 14 January 1934 in Raynes Park, Surrey, the son of Joseph Benjamin Briers and his second wife Morna Phyllis, daughter of Frederick Richardson, of the Indian Civil Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer. Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius'', King Richard IV in the first series of ''Blackadder'', Prince Vultan in ''Flash Gordon'', Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of '' Cats'' at the New London Theatre, Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter in ''Henry V'', Boss Nass in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' and the voice of Clayton in Disney's ''Tarzan''. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts and charity. Early life Blessed was born on 9 October 1936 at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, Yorkshire, the son of William Blessed, a socialist coal miner at Hickleton Main Colliery (and himself the son of a coal miner) and cricketer for the Yorkshire second team, and Hilda (née Wall). Bless ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Roache
William Patrick Roache (born 25 April 1932) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ken Barlow in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' since it was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. He is listed in the ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest-serving television star in a continuous role. Early life Roache was born in the Basford suburb of Nottingham the son of Joseph William Vincent Roache, a doctor, and Hester Vera, daughter of Albert and Mary Zillah Waddicor. Albert Waddicor was a violent drunk, but his wife was a successful businesswoman, who ran a restaurant and tea rooms at Alton Towers, which had been opened as a tourist attraction - but not at that time a theme park – after the death of the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury. Roache grew up in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, where he attended a Steiner school set up by his grandfather, a physician and surgeon, in the family's garden. His grandfather was a Freemason who was interested in such things as theosophy, esote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Roadshow''. Early life Aspel was born on 12 January 1933 in Battersea in London. During the Second World War, he was evacuated from the area and spent nearly five years in Chard, Somerset. He attended Emanuel School after passing his eleven-plus in 1944 and served as a conscript during his National Service, in the ranks of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, from 1951 to 1953. Career Aspel worked as a drainpipe-layer and gardener and sold advertising space for the '' Western Mail'' newspaper in Cardiff. He worked as a teaboy at William Collins publishers in London and then entered National Service. He took up a job at the David Morgan department store in Cardiff until 1955, before working as newsreader for the BBC in Cardiff in 1957. He also a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughton in '' White Mischief'' (1987). Early life Ackland was born in North Kensington, London on 29 February 1928, the son of Major Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid, Ruth Izod (died 1957), whom he married. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy were married on 18 August 1951, when Ackland was 23 and she 22. She was an actress and Ackland wooed her when they appeared on stage together in Pitlochry, Scotland. The couple struggled initially as Ackland's acting career was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Officer (armed Forces)
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextual qualification, the term typically refers only to a force's ''commissioned officers'', the more senior members who derive their authority from a commission from the head of state. Numbers The proportion of officers varies greatly. Commissioned officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel. In 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13.7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, and about 17.2% of the United States armed forces. Historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers (partly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
