Blitz! (musical)
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Blitz! (musical)
''Blitz!'' is a musical by Lionel Bart. The musical, described by Steven Suskin as "massive", was set in the East End of London during the Blitz (the aerial bombings during World War II). The story drew on Bart's childhood memories of London's Jewish East End during the Blitz and, like most musicals, centred on a romance between a young couple, in this case a Jewish woman and a Cockney man, although the largest role and main point-of-view character is that of Mrs Blitztein, the young woman's mother.Suskin 2005, Mandelbaum 2005. Steven Suskin describes it as "''Abie's Irish Rose'' set against the burning of Atlanta." Bart himself described the play as "…three human stories inside an epic canvas; the major human conflictthe major plotpersonifies the spirit of London and how that spirit developed during the period of the piece."Mandelbaum 2005 Production history ''Blitz!'' opened in London on 8 May 1962 at the Adelphi Theatre, while Bart's enormous West End success ''Oliver!'' wa ...
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Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical '' Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End. Best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for ''Oliver!'', Bart was described by Andrew Lloyd Webber as "the father of the modern British musical". In 1963 he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for ''Oliver!'', and the 1968 film version of the musical won a total of 6 Academy Awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Some of his other compositions include the theme song to the James Bond film '' From Russia with Love'', and the songs " Living Doll" by Cliff Richard, "Far Away" by Sh ...
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Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre in St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by the architect W. G. R. Sprague with an exterior in the classical style and an interior in the Rococo style. In 1973, it was renamed the Albery Theatre in tribute to Sir Bronson Albery who had presided as its manager for many years. Since September 2005, the theatre has been owned by Delfont-Mackintosh Ltd. It underwent major refurbishment in 2006, and was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre when it re-opened on 1 June 2006. The building is a Grade II Listed structure. History Early years, 1903–1919 The New was the second of the three theatres in St Martin's Lane. The Trafalgar Square (now the Duke of York's) opened in 1892 and the London Coliseum in 1904. The actor-manag ...
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Diane Langton
Diane Langton (born 31 May 1947) is an English actress and singer, known for playing Marlena "Nana" McQueen in ''Hollyoaks'' from 2007 to 2009 and 2012 onwards. Career Langton has appeared in numerous television series. In the 1980s, she appeared in ''Only Fools and Horses'' as June Snell, a former girlfriend of Del Boy. She also appeared in ''The Rag Trade'' as Kathy Roberts, ''EastEnders'' as Cindy Beale's mother, Bev Williams, in ''Heartbeat'' as Ruby Rowan, Nick Berry's character's mother, and as a prostitute in an episode of ''Joking Apart''. Her other notable TV appearances have included ''Alas Smith and Jones'', '' Bergerac'', ''Minder'', ''Carry On Laughing'' and ''The Bill''. She also had her own special called ''Let There Be Langton''. She played Private Alice Easy in the 1976 film ''Carry On England''. She appeared in ''The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog'', which was recorded 1982, and broadcast by Channel 4 in 1983. Langton, who began her career as a dancer, is ...
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Jessica Hynes
Tallulah Jessica Elina Hynes (''née'' Stevenson; born 30 October 1972) is an English actress, director and writer. Known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007, she was one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom ''Spaced'' and has worked as a writer and actress for over two decades. Hynes has been nominated for a Tony, a Laurence Olivier Award, five BAFTAs (winning two) and three British Comedy Awards (winning two). Early life Hynes was born in Lewisham, south London, and grew up in Brighton, where she attended St Luke's Infant and Junior Schools and Dorothy Stringer High School. Career As a teenager Hynes was a member of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her stage début with the company in Lionel Bart's ''Blitz'' in 1990. In 1992–1993 she played a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. In the same year, she appeared in Peter Greenaway's 1993 film ''The Baby of Mâcon'', playing the first midwife. In 1994, Hynes appeared as an u ...
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National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and registered charity in London. Its aim is to develop and nurture young people through creative arts and theatrical productions. Founded in 1956 as the world's first youth theatre, the NYT has built a reputation for producing actors such as Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Timothy Dalton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, Colin Firth, Derek Jacobi, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Helen Mirren, Lysette Anthony, Rosamund Pike, Regé-Jean Page and Kate Winslet, among numerous others. The NYT holds annual acting auditions and technical theatre interviews around the United Kingdom, receiving an average of over 5,000 applicants. Currently, around 500 places are offered on summer acting and technical courses (costume, lighting and sound, scenery and prop making, and stage management), which offer participants NYT membership upon completion. Members are then eligible to audition for the company's productions, which are stag ...
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The Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally. The company's home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres as part of a £112.8-million "Transformation" project. The theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week and received a positive media response both upon opening, and following the first full Shakespeare performances. Performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre. As well as the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the RSC produces new work from living artists and develops creative links with theatre-make ...
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Amelia Bayntun
Amelia Bayntun (31 March 1919 – 19 January 1988) was an English stage and television actress. Career Bayntun started her stage career in 1937, when she joined the Bristol Unity Players. During World War II, she was in ''Stars in Battledress'' performing in Italy and Austria after the end of hostilities. In between engagements, she ran a pub with her husband, and occasionally sang as Marie Lloyd at London's Players' Theatre. In 1960 she appeared on stage in Joan Littlewood's production of '' Sparrers Can't Sing'' at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and in its later West End transfer. She played in the TV series ''Dixon of Dock Green'' in early 1962, and in the same year was chosen to play the part of Mrs Blitzein in Lionel Bart's musical ''Blitz!''. In this she became a great hit and played the part for the full 568 performances. After this she was not seen in any major role. She played in a number of ''Carry On films'' and on TV, including an episode of ''On the Buses'', us ...
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Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, he was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five UK Parliament constituency, constituencies. Ideologically an Economic liberalism, economic liberal and British Empire, imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924. Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire to Spencer family, a wealthy, aristocratic family. He joined the British Army in 1895 and saw action in British Raj, Br ...
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Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the " Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", " (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England". She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" and her UK number-one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the ...
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Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"."Noel Coward at 70"
''Time'', 26 December 1969, p. 46
Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as ''

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Bank–Monument Station
Bank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street in the City of London. Bank station, named after the Bank of England, opened in 1900 at Bank junction and is served by the Central, Northern and Waterloo & City lines, and the DLR. Monument station, named after the Monument to the Great Fire of London, opened in 1884 and is served by the District and Circle lines. The stations have been linked as an interchange since 1933. The station complex is one of the busiest on the London Underground network, with usage of the station rising by 38% since 2008. Owing to this, the station complex has been rated the Underground's worst station in passenger surveys, and is currently undergoing a substantial upgrade and expansion. The stations are in fare zone 1. History The Bank–Monument station complex was created by building links between several nearby st ...
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Petticoat Lane Market
Petticoat Lane Market is a fashion and clothing market in Spitalfields, London. It consists of two adjacent street markets. Wentworth Street Market is open six days a week and Middlesex Street Market is open on Sunday only. The modern market It is one of a number of traditional markets located to the east of the City of London. A few hundred yards to the north is Old Spitalfields Market, which has been refurbished, and across Commercial Street, to the east, lies Brick Lane Market. A half mile further east is the Columbia Road Flower Market. Petticoat Lane Market was not formally recognised until an Act of Parliament in 1936, but its long history as an informal market makes it possibly one of the oldest surviving markets in Britain. The market is open Monday to Friday on Wentworth Street; on Sunday it extends over many of the surrounding streets, with over a thousand stalls. It is closed on Saturday, and on Sunday closes at about 2 pm. The markets are well signed from local sta ...
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