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Bernard Samson
Bernard Samson is a fictional character created by Len Deighton. Samson is a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – usually referred to as "the Department" in the novels. He is a central character in three trilogies written by Deighton, set in the years 1983–1988, with a large gap between 1984 and 1987. The first trilogy comprises the books ''Berlin Game'', '' Mexico Set'' and ''London Match'', the second comprises '' Spy Hook'', ''Spy Line'' and ''Spy Sinker'', and the third and final trilogy comprises ''Faith'', '' Hope'' and ''Charity''. The plot of the entire trilogy of trilogies revolves around Samson's wife Fiona, also an intelligence officer, and which side she is really working for, after she has defected to the East Germans in the first trilogy, leaving a distraught Bernard with their two children. Her defection also causes some of his superiors to question his loyalty. Samson undergoes sacrifice in hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin Game
''Berlin Game'' is a 1983 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the first novel in the first of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). ''Berlin Game'' is part of the ''Game, Set and Match'' trilogy, being succeeded by '' Mexico Set'' and ''London Match'', and followed by the ''Hook, Line and Sinker'' trilogy and the final ''Faith, Hope and Charity'' trilogy. Deighton's novel ''Winter'' (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters. Plot summary The time is the early 1980s. A highly placed agent in East Germany codenamed "Brahms Four" wants to come to the West. Brahms Four is one of Britain's most reliable, most valuable agents behind the Iron Curtain, and that he should be urgently demanding safe passage to the West sends a ripple of panic through the SIS. Bernard Samson, a former field agent, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer is the anti-hero protagonist of a number of films based on the unnamed main character, a secret agent, in the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in three of the four films based on the four published novels featuring this character, ''The Ipcress File'' (1965), ''Funeral in Berlin'' (1966) and ''Billion Dollar Brain'' (1967). Caine also starred as this character in two other films not directly based on Deighton's novels. ''The Times'' called Caine "the epitome of Sixties cool in his first outing as the secret agent Harry Palmer". A trailer for his second role as Palmer described him as possessing "horn rims, cockney wit and an iron fist". The character's thick horn-rimmed glasses, girls, and disregard for authority was cited by Mike Myers as an influence for ''Austin Powers''; Caine would later star in ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002), with his portrayal of Nigel Powers, father of secret agent Austin Powers, a spoof of Palme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game, Set And Match
''Game, Set and Match'' is a 1988 television serial directed by Ken Grieve and Patrick Lau and written by John Howlett. It is based on the books ''Berlin Game'' (1983), '' Mexico Set'' (1984), and ''London Match'' (1985) by Len Deighton. The two directors worked separately on different episodes. Filmed on location in Berlin and Mexico, the project included a large international cast with 3,000 extras and a budget of $8 million. While critically acclaimed, the ratings for the series were a disaster. Ian Holm was nominated for a BAFTA award for his portrayal of Bernard Samson. It was aired in 1989 in the United States as part of the PBS show ''Mystery!'' Plot synopsis The series focuses on Bernard Samson (Ian Holm), beginning with his search for the "mole" that threatens the Brahms Network in East Germany. Samson is sent to Berlin to bring out a Brahms agent. He is then sent to Mexico to try to persuade a KGB major (Gottfried John) to defect, using his childhood friend Werner Vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart. Granada's parent company Granada plc later bought several other regional ITV stations and, in 2004, merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc. Granada Television was particularly noted by critics for the distinctive northern and "social realism" character of many of its network programmes, as well as the high quality of its drama and documentaries. In its prime as an independent franchisee, prior to its parent company merging with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc, it was the largest Independent Television producer in the UK, accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. Granada Television was founded by Sidney Bernstein at Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Martin
Mel Martin (born March 1947) is an English actress. Early life Her father was the artist Frank Vernon Martin, who died in 2005. Career Her breakthrough role was as the star of LWT's ''Love For Lydia'' (1977), adapted from the novel by H E Bates. She has appeared in British television programmes beginning with ''Special Branch'' (1969), ''Mystery and Imagination: Sweeney Todd'' (1970), then ''The Pallisers'', ''Love For Lydia'', '' Bergerac'', ''Cover Her Face'', ''Lovejoy'', ''Cadfael'', ''When the Boat Comes In'', ''Inspector Morse'' and ''The Men's Room'' (1991), as well as films such as ''Quincy's Quest'' (1979), '' Business As Usual'' (1987), ''White Hunter Black Heart'' (1990) and ''Tom's Midnight Garden'' (1999). She starred as Fiona Samson, the double agent and wife of Bernard Samson (played by Ian Holm) in the television adaptation of Len Deighton's trilogy ''Berlin Game'', '' Mexico Set'' and ''London Match'' (broadcast as ''Game, Set and Match''). She portrayed Viv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delilah
Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved by Samson, a Nazirite who possesses great strength and serves as the final Judge of Israel. Delilah is bribed by the lords of the Philistines to discover the source of his strength. After three failed attempts at doing so, she finally goads Samson into telling her that his vigor is derived from his hair. As he sleeps, Delilah orders a servant to cut Samson's hair, thereby enabling her to turn him over to the Philistines. Delilah has been the subject of both rabbinic and Christian commentary; rabbinic literature identifies her with Micah's mother in the biblical narrative of Micah's Idol, while some Christians have compared her to Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. Scholars have noted similarities between Delilah and other women in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution of the monarchy. He is sometimes considered as an Israelite version of the popular Near Eastern folk hero also embodied by the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles. The biblical account states that Samson was a Nazirite, and that he was given immense strength to aid him against his enemies and allow him to perform superhuman feats, including slaying a lion with his bare hands and massacring an entire army of Philistines using only the jawbone of a donkey. However, if Samson's long hair were cut, then his Nazirite vow would be violated and he would lose his strength. Samson is betrayed by his lover Delilah, who, sent by the Philistines officials to entice him, orders a servant to cut his hair while he is sleeping and turns him over to hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unreliable Narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unreliable narrators are almost by definition first-person narrators, arguments have been made for the existence of unreliable second- and third-person narrators, especially within the context of film and television, and sometimes also in literature. Sometimes the narrator's unreliability is made immediately evident. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to the character's unreliability. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. In some cases, the reader discovers that in the foregoing narrative, the narrator h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter (Deighton Novel)
''Winter'' is a 1987 novel by Len Deighton, which follows the lives of a German family from 1899 to 1945. At the same time the novel provides an historical background to several of the characters in Deighton's nine novels about the British intelligence agent Bernard Samson, who grew up in the ruins of Berlin after the Second World War. Plot summary The narrative starts on the eve of the year 1900 with Harald Winter, a German businessman with two sons, Peter and Paul, two very different brothers, whose lives are inextricably linked with Germany in the years leading up to the Second World War. One a scholar and one a romantic, their lives diverge, leading one into the inner mechanisms of the Nazi Party and one into exile in America, the birthplace of their mother. From their sheltered childhood through their violent coming of age in the Great War, from the chaos of 1920s Berlin to the spreading power of Hitler they are wrenched apart by conflicting ideals and ambitions. Their sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackwell Publishing
Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing in 2007.About Wiley-Blackwell John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Wiley-Blackwell is now an imprint that publishes a diverse range of academic and professional fields, including , , , |
Zwingli
Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly center of Renaissance humanism. He continued his studies while he served as a pastor in Glarus and later in Einsiedeln, where he was influenced by the writings of Erasmus. In 1519, Zwingli became the Leutpriester (people's priest) of the Grossmünster in Zürich where he began to preach ideas on reform of the Catholic Church. In his first public controversy in 1522, he attacked the custom of fasting during Lent. In his publications, he noted corruption in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, promoted clerical marriage, and attacked the use of images in places of worship. Among his most notable contributions to the Reformation was his expository preaching, starting in 1519, through the Gosp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
