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Brassed Off
''Brassed Off'' is a 1996 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mark Herman and starring Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe's own struggles against pit closures. It has been generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry in Britain, and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances. In the United States, the film was promoted simply as a romantic comedy involving McGregor and Fitzgerald's characters. Context The film is set ten years after the year-long strike in 1984–85 by the National Union of Mineworkers in Britain. Before the privatisation of British Coal, a wave of pit cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Herman
Mark Herman (born 1954) is an English film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing the 2008 film ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas''. Life and career Herman was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Woodleigh School, North Yorkshire and thereafter at Sedbergh School and Bridlington Grammar School, Bridlington. Aged 27, he was late entering the film industry, studying Art at Hull Art College before taking up animation at Leeds Polytechnic, now Leeds Beckett University, from where he progressed to the National Film and Television School. There, he moved away from animation and towards writing and directing. He also wrote lyrics for the successful 1980s band The Christians on their first album, '' The Christians'', alongside fellow East Riding of Yorkshire songwriter Henry Priestman. Herman’s first feature-length project was ''Blame It on the Bellboy'' (1992), a comedy of mistaken identity starring Dudley Moore an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concierto De Aranjuez
The ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (, "Aranjuez Concerto") is a classical guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the 20th century. Inspiration and history The ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' was inspired by the gardens at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th century and rebuilt in the middle of the 18th century by Ferdinand VI. The work attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature. According to the composer, the first movement is "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes... interrupting its relentless pace"; the second movement "represents a dialogue between classical guitar and solo instruments (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn etc.)"; and the last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some are in C. It is a type of valved bugle, developed in Germany in the early 19th century from a traditional English valveless bugle. The first version of a valved bugle was sold by Heinrich Stölzel in Berlin in 1828. The valved bugle provided Adolphe Sax (creator of the saxophone) with the inspiration for his B soprano (contralto) saxhorns, on which the modern-day flugelhorn is modeled. Etymology The German word ''Flügel'' means ''wing'' or ''flank'' in English. In early 18th century Germany, a ducal hunt leader known as a ''Flügelmeister'' blew the ''Flügelhorn'', a large semicircular brass or silver valveless horn, to direct the wings of the hunt. Military use dates from the Seven Years' War, where this instrument was employed as a pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Here We Go (football Chant)
"Here We Go" is the archetypal British football chant, composed of the words "here we go" sung over and over again to the tune of John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever". Used at the time of the miners' strike as a rallying call, the song is often interpreted to precede a battle of some kind – in popular thought it is the chant of an aggressive football firm or gang; yet, unlike many football chants, it contains no explicitly offensive lyrics and is known widely. It was described by Auberon Waugh as the national anthem of the working classes. Variations The same segment of Sousa tune is sometimes employed for club-specific football chants (for example Plymouth Argyle supporters regularly sing "Ar-guy-ull, ar-guy-ull, ar-guy-ull") and as a vehicle for exhortations to the players (a team that has scored three goals might be encouraged to "Give us four" etc.), an impromptu observation on the on-field action ("Send him off") or a taunt ("You aren't good"). The supporter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department Of Trade And Industry (United Kingdom)
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was a United Kingdom government department formed on 19 October 1970. It was replaced with the creation of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on 28 June 2007. History The department was first formed on 19 October 1970 with the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology, creating a new cabinet post of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The new department also took over the Department of Employment's former responsibilities for monopolies and mergers. In January 1974, the department's responsibilities for energy production were transferred to a newly created Department of Energy. On 5 March that year, following a Labour Party victory in the February 1974 general election, the department was split into the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection. Reformation In 1983 the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "vesting day", 1 January 1947. In 1987, the NCB was renamed the British Coal Corporation, and its assets were subsequently privatised. Background Collieries were taken under government control during the First and Second World Wars. The Sankey Commission in 1919 gave R. H. Tawney, Sidney Webb and Sir Leo Chiozza Money the opportunity to advocate nationalisation, but it was rejected. Coal reserves were nationalised during the war in 1942 and placed under the control of the Coal Commission, but the mining industry remained in private hands. At the time, many coal companies were small, although some consolidation had taken place in the years before the war. Formation and organisation The NCB was one of a number of public corporations cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Coal
The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Coal Board (NCB). History The Coal Industry Act 1987 changed the NCB into the British Coal Corporation. With the passing of the Coal Industry Act 1994, the 16th and last Coal Industry Act, the industry-wide administrative functions of British Coal were transferred to the new Coal Authority from 31 October 1994. All economic assets were privatised. The English mining operations were merged with RJB Mining to form UK Coal, a monopoly. British Coal continued as a separate organisation until 31 December 1997, after which it was run as a residual legal entity by staff within the Coal Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, eventually being dissolved on 27 March 2004. List of collieries See also *Coal in the United Kingdom * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Union Of Mineworkers (Great Britain)
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in UK miners' strike (1972), 1972, Three-Day Week, 1974 and UK miners' strike (1984–85), 1984–85. After the 1984–85 strike, and the subsequent closure of most of Britain's coal mines, it became a much smaller union. It had around 170,000 members when Arthur Scargill became leader in 1981, a figure which had fallen in 2015 to an active membership of around 100. Origins The Miners' Federation of Great Britain was established in Newport, Wales, Newport, Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in 1888 but did not function as a unified, centralised trade union for all miners. Instead the federation represented and co-ordinated the affairs of the existing local and regional miners' unions whose associations remained largely autonomous. The South Wales Miners' Federation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Miners' Strike (1984–85)
The miners' strike of 1984–1985 was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures. It was led by Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against the National Coal Board (NCB), a government agency. Opposition to the strike was led by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who wanted to reduce the power of the trade unions. The NUM was divided over the action and many mineworkers, especially in the Midlands, worked through the dispute. Few major trade unions supported the NUM, primarily because of the absence of a vote at national level. Violent confrontations between flying pickets and police characterised the year-long strike, which ended in a decisive victory for the Conservative government and allowed the closure of most of Britain's collieries. Many observers regard the strike as "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history". The number of person-days of work lost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romantic Comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typical romantic comedy, the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and seemingly meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference, a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally united. A fairy-tale-style happy ending is a typical feature. Romantic comedy films are a certain genre of comedy films as well as of romance films, and may also have elements of screwball comedies. However, a romantic comedy is classified as a film with two genres, not a single new genre. Some television series can also be classified as romantic comedies. Description The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two characters meet, part ways due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 4,672 at the 2011 census. Grimethorpe is located to the east of Barnsley and south of Hemsworth; until the local government reorganisation of 1974, it was part of the Hemsworth district and constituency. At the 2011 Census the village was part of the North East ward of Barnsley MBC. For much of the 20th century Grimethorpe's economy was rooted in coal mining. Since the 1984–85 miners' strike, the downscaling of UK coal mining accelerated and international cheap open-cast mining provoked closure of its colliery in May 1993. In 1994 it was regarded as the poorest village in the country. There are new roads linking the village to some of the country's major arteries, about 50 businesses have moved in, including the online fashion retailer ASOS. History It is believed that the name Grimethorpe originates fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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