Brian Tesler
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Brian Tesler
Brian Tesler (born 19 February 1929) is a British television producer and executive. His career encompassed British television's post-war evolution from a single-channel BBC to the beginning of today’s multitude of cable and satellite channels. He worked as a producer for Independent Television, as well as the BBC. Tesler joined BBC Television as a trainee Light Entertainment producer in 1952 and was put in charge of the Department's output of panel games, both finding and producing them, which he proceeded to do by introducing ''Guess My Story'', ''Find the Link'', ''The Tall Story Club'' and ''The Name's the Same''. He devised the ''Billy Cotton Band Show'', inventing Billy Cotton's "Wakey! Wakey!" catchphrase, and worked with The Television Toppers who were the dancers on the early series of the show. He devised British Television's first request show ''Ask Pickles'' with Wilfred Pickles. He worked with stage and screen stars such as Gracie Fields, Julie Andrews, Tony Benne ...
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BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936. The BBC's domestic television channels have no commercial advertising and collectively they accounted for more than 30% of all UK viewing in 2013. The services are funded by a television licence. As a result of the 2016 Licence Fee settlement, the BBC Television division was split, with in-house television production being separated into a new division called BBC Studios and the remaining parts of television (channels and genre commissioning, BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer) being renamed as BBC Content. History of BBC Television The BBC operates several television networks, television stations (although there is generally very little distincti ...
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Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', ''Celebrity Squares'', ''Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout''''. Early life and career Monkhouse was born on 1 June 1928 at 168 Bromley Road, Beckenham, Kent, the son of chartered accountant Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse (1894–1957) and Dorothy Muriel Monkhouse (''née'' Hansard, 1895–1971). Monkhouse had an elder brother, John, who was born in 1922. Monkhouse's grandfather John Monkhouse (1862–1938) was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. In a 2015 documentary, it was revealed that Monkhouse and his older brother suffered from physical and verbal abuse by their mother. Bob Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in Worthing, Sussex, and Dulwich College in south London, from which he was expelled for climbing the clock tower. While st ...
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Dave King (actor)
Dave King (born David Kingshott; 23 June 1929 – 15 April 2002)Obituary: Dave King
''The Guardian'', 18 April 2002
was an English comedian, actor and vocalist of .Thedeadrockstarsclub.com
– accessed March 2011
He is remembered for screen roles such as the corrupt policeman 'Parky' in the British gangster film '''' (1980) and Clifford Duckworth in ...
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Harry Secombe
Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, most notably Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Bumble in '' Oliver!'' (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs. Early life Secombe was born in St Thomas, Swansea, the third of four children of Nellie Jane Gladys (née Davies), a shop manageress, and Frederick Ernest Secombe, a commercial traveller and office worker for a Swansea wholesale grocery business. From the age of 11 he attended Dynevor School, a state grammar school in central Swansea. His family were regular churchgoers, belonging to the congregation of St Thomas Church. A member of the choir, from the age of 12 Secombe would perform a sketc ...
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Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation and catchphrases including "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" (pronounced "Ay-thang-yaw") and "Before your very eyes". Askey achieved prominence in the 1930s in the BBC's first radio comedy series ''Band Waggon'' and subsequently starred in several Gainsborough Pictures comedy films during the Second World War including ''Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt'' (1940) and ''The Ghost Train (1941 film), The Ghost Train'' (1941). His Novelty song, novelty recordings for His Master's Voice include "The Bee Song" (1938), a lasting part of his act. From the 1950s, Askey was a prominent television presence and made regular appearances on the BBC's long-running music hall programme ''The Good Old Days (UK TV series), The Good Old Days''. Askey was made an ...
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Dickie Henderson
Richard Matthew Michael Henderson, OBE (30 October 1922  – 22 September 1985) was an English entertainer. Early years He was born in London. His father, Dick Henderson (1891–1958), was a music hall comedian and singer famous for his short, rotund appearance, bowler hat and beautiful singing voice. He was well known for making the original British recording of the popular song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". His two sisters Winifred and Teresa ('Triss') known as "the Henderson Twins", were also performers in the style of the Andrews Sisters. Henderson was privately educated in both Hollywood, when his father was touring in vaudeville, and Britain, at St Joseph's College, Beulah Hill, London. Career In America, Henderson broke into show business, aged 10, when he was offered a role as the son of Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard in the Frank Lloyd film version of Noël Coward's play, ''Cavalcade'' (1933). He was also in the running for the part of David Copperfield in Geo ...
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Max Bygraves
Walter William Bygraves (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves (adopted in honour of Max Miller), was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. He made twenty ''Royal Variety Performance'' appearances and presented numerous programmes, including ''Family Fortunes'' between 1983 and 1985. His catchphrase "I wanna tell you a story" became an integral part of his act, although it had originated with comedian Mike Yarwood impersonating Bygraves. Early life Bygraves was born to Henry and Lillian ( McDonnell) Bygraves (who wed in 1919) in Rotherhithe in London, where he grew up in a two-room council flat in Park Buildings, Paradise Street with his five siblings, his parents and a grandparent. His father was a professional flyweight boxer, known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker. Brought up Catholic, he attended St Joseph's ...
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Val Parnell
Valentine Charles Parnell (14 February 1892 – 22 September 1972) was a British television managing director and presenter, actor and theatrical impresario. A former staple of stage production, his career in television started with the launch of the ITV network in 1955. Life and career Parnell was born in London, the son of Fred Russell, a ventriloquist, and began his theatrical career at age 13 working as an office boy for a music-hall circuit. In 1945, after George Black's death he took over as managing director of the Moss Empires music hall and variety circuit, in charge of some of London's most well-known theatres, including the London Palladium, The Victoria Palace and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He adopted a controversial, but very successful, policy of presenting high-priced, big-name American acts at the top of the bill. Among many, the list included Carmen Miranda, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, the Andrews Sisters w ...
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Johnnie Ray
John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in the development of the genre. Born and raised in Dallas, Oregon, Ray, who was partially deaf, began singing professionally at age fifteen on Portland radio stations. He gained a local following singing at small, predominantly African-American nightclubs in Detroit, where he was discovered in 1949 and subsequently signed to Okeh Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. He rose quickly from obscurity in the United States with the release of his debut album ''Johnnie Ray'' (1952), as well as with a 78 rpm single, both of whose sides reached the ''Billboard'' magazine's Top ...
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Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", "This Ole House", and " Sway". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly because of problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her '' White Christmas'' co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002. Early life Rosemary Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, the daughter of Marie Frances (née Guilfoyle) and Andrew Joseph Clooney. She was one of five children. Her father was of Irish and German descent, and her mother was of English and Irish ancestry. She was raised Catholic. When Clooney was 15, her mother a ...
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Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium''. He went on to host several game shows, including ''The Generation Game'', ''Play Your Cards Right'', ''The Price Is Right'' and ''You Bet!''. He co-presented ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2004 to 2013. In 2012, ''Guinness World Records'' recognised Forsyth as having the longest television career for a male entertainer. Early life Forsyth was born on Victoria Road in Edmonton, Middlesex on 22 February 1928, the son of Florence Ada (''née'' Pocknell) and John Thomas Forsyth-Johnson. His family owned a car repair garage and, as members of the Salvation Army, his parents played brass instruments; his mother was a singer. His great-grandfather Joseph Forsyth Johnson (1840–1906) was a landscape architect who work ...
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Tonight At The London Palladium
''Tonight at the London Palladium'' is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End theatre, West End. Originally produced by Associated Television, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network from 1955 to 1969, it went by its original name ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' from 25 September 1955 until the name was changed to ''The London Palladium Show'' from 1966 to 2 February 1969. It underwent three revivals, first from 28 October 1973 to 28 October 1974 where it retained its ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' title, second in 2000 under the title ''Tonight at the London Palladium'', and third from 2014 until 2015 under the title ''Sunday Night at the Palladium'', dropping ''London''. From 2016, the show is called ''Tonight at the London Palladium'' and is presented by Bradley Walsh. A one-off ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' was screened to mark Bruce Forsyth's 70th birthday in February 1998. History ...
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