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Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill (born 17 December 1944) is an English actor. He is well recognized for playing King Théoden in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in ''Titanic'', and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film ''True Crime''. Hill was also known for playing roles in television dramas, including Yosser Hughes, the troubled "hard man" whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's ''Boys from the Blackstuff'' in the 1980s, and more recently, as the Duke of Norfolk in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's ''Wolf Hall''. Early life Hill was born in Blackley, Manchester. He was brought up in a Catholic family of miners. Hill attended Xaverian College, and then Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama at the same time as Richard Griffiths. He graduated with a diploma in theatre in 1970. Career In 1976, Hill was seen as Police Constable Cluff in the Granada Television series ''Crown Court'', the episode entitled "The Jolly Swag ...
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Blackley
Blackley is a suburban area of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is approximately north of Manchester city centre, on the River Irk. History The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæclēah = "dark wood" or "dark clearing". In the 13th and 14th centuries Blackley was referred to as ''Blakeley'' or ''Blakelegh''. By the Middle Ages, Blackley had become a park belonging to the lords of Manchester.' Its value in 1282 was recorded as £6 13s 4d, a sum approximately equivalent in buying power to £333,500 today. The lords of Manchester leased the land from time to time. In 1473, John Byron held the leases on Blackley village, Blackley field and Pillingworth fields at an annual rent of £33 6s 8d. The Byron family continued to hold the land until the beginning of the 17th century when Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of landowners. By the middle of the 17th century, Blackley was a rural village o ...
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Wolf Hall
''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012, ''The Observer'' named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels". The book is the first in a trilogy; the sequel ''Bring Up the Bodies'' was published in 2012. The last book in the trilogy is ''The Mirror and the Light'' (2020), which covers the last four years of Cromwell's life. Summary In 1500, Thomas Cromwell, a young boy roughly 15 years of age, runs away from home because his abusive father nearly beats him to death. He decides to seek his fortune in France as a soldier. By 1527 the ...
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Gratus
Gratus was a Roman soldier and member of the Praetorian Guard, who played a part in the accession of Claudius to the imperial throne. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Caligula in AD 41, Claudius fled and hid himself in the palace near a room Suetonius names as the ''Hermaeum''. Anthony Barrett suggests that this may have been the ''Aula Isiaca'', a room in the east wing of the palace decorated with Art of ancient Egypt, Egyptian motifs. Josephus describes how Gratus discovered him and drew him from his hiding place: But when Gratus, who was one of the soldiers that belonged to the palace, saw him, but did not well know by his countenance who he was, because it was dark, though he could well judge that it was a man who was privately there on some design, he came nearer to him; and when Claudius desired that he would retire, he discovered who he was, and owned him to be Claudius. So he said to his followers, "This is a Germanicus; come on, let us choose him for ou ...
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I, Claudius (TV Series)
''I, Claudius'' (stylized as ''I·CLAVDIVS'') is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' 1934 novel ''I, Claudius'' and its 1935 sequel ''Claudius the God''. Written by Jack Pulman, it stars Derek Jacobi as Claudius, with Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Margaret Tyzack, John Hurt, Patricia Quinn, Ian Ogilvy, Kevin McNally, Patrick Stewart, and John Rhys-Davies. The series covers the history of the early Roman Empire, told from the perspective of the elderly Emperor Claudius who narrates the series. Among many other productions and adaptations, Graves' Claudius novels have also been adapted for BBC Radio 4 broadcast (2010) and for the stage (1972). Plot summary and episodes ''I, Claudius'' follows the history of the early Roman Empire, narrated by the elderly Roman Emperor Claudius, from the year 24 BC to his death in AD 54. The series opens with Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, attempting to find an heir, and his wife, Livia, plotting to elevat ...
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HMS Bounty
HMS ''Bounty'', also known as HM Armed Vessel ''Bounty'', was a small merchant vessel that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787 for a botanical mission. The ship was sent to the South Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them to the West Indies. That mission was never completed owing to a 1789 mutiny led by acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian, an incident now popularly known as the mutiny on the ''Bounty''. The mutineers later burned ''Bounty'' while she was moored at Pitcairn Island. An American adventurer helped land several remains of ''Bounty'' in 1957. Origin and description ''Bounty'' was originally a collier, ''Bethia,'' reputedly built in 1784 at Blaydes Yard in Hull, Yorkshire in England. The Royal Navy purchased her for £1,950 on 23 May 1787 (), refit, and renamed her ''Bounty.'' The ship was relatively small at 215 tons, but had three masts and was full-rigged. After conversion for the breadfruit expedit ...
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The Bounty (1984 Film)
''The Bounty'' is a 1984 British historical film, historical Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, and produced by Bernard Williams with Dino De Laurentiis as executive producer. It is the fifth film version of the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, mutiny on the ''Bounty''. The supporting cast features Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson and Edward Fox (actor), Edward Fox. The screenplay by Robert Bolt was based on the book ''Captain Bligh and Mr Christian'' (1972) by Richard Hough. The film was made by Dino De Laurentiis Productions and Bounty Productions Ltd. and distributed by Orion Pictures Corporation and Thorn EMI, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment. The music score was composed by Vangelis and the cinematography designed by Arthur Ibbetson. Plot The film is set as flashbacks from the court martial at Portsmouth of Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh for the loss of to mutineers, led by hi ...
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Roger Donaldson
Roger Lindsey Donaldson (born 15 November 1945) is an Australian-born List of New Zealand film makers, New Zealand film director, producer and writer whose films include the 1981 relationship drama ''Smash Palace'', and a run of titles shot in the United States, including the Kevin Costner films ''No Way Out (1987 film), No Way Out'' (1987) and ''Thirteen Days (film), Thirteen Days'' (2000), and the 1997 disaster film ''Dante's Peak''. He has worked twice each with actors Kevin Costner, Pierce Brosnan, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Madsen. Also worked with actors Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Greenwood, Dexter Fletcher, Bernard Hill, Laurence Olivier, Edward Fox (actor), Edward Fox, Al Pacino and many more. Life and career Donaldson was born in Ballarat, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia where he attended Ballarat High School. At 20, in 1965 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he established a small photography, still photography business and began maki ...
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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 ...
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Gandhi (film)
''Gandhi'' is a 1982 period biographical film based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of nonviolent non-cooperative Indian independence movement against the British Empire during the 20th century. A co-production between India and United Kingdom, it is directed and produced by Richard Attenborough from a screenplay written by John Briley. It stars Ben Kingsley in the title role. The film covers Gandhi's life from a defining moment in 1893, as he is thrown off from a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment and concludes with his assassination and funeral in 1948. Although a practising Hindu, Gandhi's embracing of other faiths, particularly Christianity and Islam, is also depicted. ''Gandhi'' was released by Columbia Pictures in India on 30 November 1982, in the United Kingdom on 3 December, and in the United States on 8 December. It was praised for a historically accurate portrayal of the life of Gandhi, the Indian independence movement and the ...
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Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election, elected Member of Parliament for Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), Finchley in 1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his H ...
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Play For Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were (with a few exceptions noted below) between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including '' Rumpole of the Bailey'', subsequently became television series in their own right. History The strand was a successor to ''The Wednesday Play'', the 1960s anthology series, the title being changed when the day of transmission moved to Thursday to make way for a sport programme. Some works, screened in anthology series' on BBC2, like Willy Russell's ''Our Day Out'' (1977), were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of ''The Wednesday Play'', Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, transferred to the new series. Shubik continued with the series until ...
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Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.24 million. On the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of the newly-created Lancashire County Council in 1889. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was also home to both the Cunard and White Star Lines, and was the port of registry of the ocean li ...
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