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Charlie Drake
Charles Edward Springall (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006), known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer. With his small stature ( tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally known for his "Hello, my darlings!" catchphrase. Early life Born Charles Edward Springall in the Elephant and Castle, Southwark, south London, he took his mother's maiden name for the stage and, later, film and television, achieving success as a comedian. Aged eight, he won a chorus place in a Harry Champion music hall production. He left school and home aged fourteen to become an electrician's mate while attempting to break into showbusiness. Career Drake made his first appearance on stage at the age of eight, and after leaving school toured working men's clubs. After serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Drake turned professional and made his televis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant And Castle
Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The name is derived from a local coaching inn. The major traffic junctions here are connected by a short road called Elephant and Castle, which is part of the A3. Traffic runs to and from Kent along the A2 ( New Kent Road and Old Kent Road), much of the south of England on the A3, to the West End via St George's Road, and to the City of London via London Road and Newington Causeway at the northern junction. Newington Butts and Walworth Road adjoin the southern junction. It forms part of the London Inner Ring Road and the boundary of the London congestion charge zone. The subterranean River Neckinger, which originates in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, flows east under the area towards St Saviour's Dock where it enters the Thames. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Drake (TV Series)
''Charlie Drake'' is a British comedy television showed which aired on the BBC from 1958 and 1960.Vahimagi p.51 It starred the comedian Charlie Drake in a series of stand alone half-hour shows, sometimes billed as ''Charlie Drake In...''. It was followed by '' The Charlie Drake Show''. Cast Drake was the only performer who appeared in all twenty two episodes, but a number of other actors made guest appearances including Sam Kydd, Patricia Bredin, Howard Lang, Michael Balfour, Ian Fleming, Jocelyn Lane, Denis Shaw, Geoffrey Sumner, Diane Clare, Ann Firbank, Hugh Lloyd, Gibb McLaughlin, Beatrice Varley, Rita Webb, Tutte Lemkow and Sandra Dorne Sandra Dorne (born Joan Smith; 19 June 1924 – 25 December 1992) was a British actress. Career Also known as Sandra Holt, Dorne was often known in the 1950s as the B-film Diana Dors. As a platinum blonde, she was a regular female lead .... References Bibliography * Vahimagi, Tise . ''British Television: An Illustrated Guid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Is Your Life (British TV Series)
''This Is Your Life'' is a British biographical television series, based on the 1952 American series. In the show, the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life in a studio, with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities were featured on the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It briefly returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by Trevor McDonald. The surprise element was an important part of the show; if the guest heard about the project beforehand, it would be cancelled. History The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was first presented by Ralph Edwards to the first subject, Eamonn Andrews, who was the presenter from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mister Ten Per Cent
''Mister Ten Per Cent'' is a 1967 British comedy film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Charlie Drake, Derek Nimmo and Wanda Ventham. It was written by Mira Avrech, Charlie Drake, Norman Hudis and Lew Schwarz. It was the last in a series of four films featuring Drake produced by the Associated British Picture Corporation, the previous being '' Sands of the Desert'' (1960), '' Petticoat Pirates'' (1961) and '' The Cracksman'' (1963). Plot Percy Pointer, a construction worker and amateur dramatist, writes a drama ''Oh My Lord'' and hopes to have it professionally produced. A dishonest producer agrees to back the play, hoping that it will be a disaster, so that he can claim insurance on its failure. To Percy's distress, the first audience see the play as a slapstick comedy, not the drama he intended it to be. The play is a hit and audiences love it. But Percy is upset by the turn of events and attempts to ruin the production. It then emerges that in his ignorance of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cracksman
''The Cracksman'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Charlie Drake. Plot Honest but naive locksmith Ernest Wright believes that everybody is equally honest. First, he is duped by a debonair con man into opening a car. He is caught but given probation. Next, the same man fools him into breaking into a house, and again he is caught while the villain escapes. After release from jail he gets tricked into opening a safe, for which he receives a three-year jail sentence. On arrival in prison, he finds he has a reputation as a master thief. On release, he is manipulated by two gangs into a safe-cracking scheme but, with the help of undercover policewoman Muriel, he helps trap the crooks and clear his name. Portions of the film satirise the films '' Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962) and '' Dr. No'' (1962), Drake's 1961 hit song '' My Boomerang Won't Come Back'', and the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. Cast * Charlie Drake as Ernest W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petticoat Pirates
''Petticoat Pirates'' is a 1961 British comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Charlie Drake, Anne Heywood, Cecil Parker, John Turner and Thorley Walters. The film had its premiere on 30 November 1961 at the Warner Theatre in London's West End. Plot Wren Officer Anne Stevens and the 150 girls under her command are piqued. On the grounds that Wrens can do anything that men can do, at least as well or better, they demand the right to serve at sea in warships. When their request is turned down by the authorities they board a frigate, imprison the skeleton crew, and set off to sea, where they unintentionally become embroiled in a training exercise between British and US fleets... Cast Production It was Anne Heywood's first film after leaving the Rank Organisation. Reception Box office According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962. Critical ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Two sequences ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sands Of The Desert
''Sands of the Desert'' is a 1960 British adventure comedy film directed and written by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Charlie Drake (his first lead role in a feature film), Peter Arne, Sarah Branch and Raymond Huntley. Plot Charlie Sands, a British travel agent is sent to run a holiday camp in the Arabian Peninsula after his predecessor is assassinated because the property is sitting on a potential oilfield. Cast Box office ''Kine Weekly'' called it a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960. Critical reception ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Charlie Drake's original comedy talent, as exploited by his television shows, here vanishes beneath a heavy, studio-bound hash-up of slapstick and obvious jokes about sheikhs, harems and mirages. Unconvincing model work, a sentimental sub-plot and the wooden playing of the heroine are further insurmountable difficulties besetting the comedian's attempts to lighten the mixture by his impish mannerisms of gait and speech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Worker (TV Series)
''The Worker'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1965 to 1978. Co-written by and starring comedian Charlie Drake, the programme revolved around a man who has been dismissed from nearly 1,000 jobs. Cast * Charlie Drake - Charlie * Percy Herbert - Mr Whittaker ''(series 1)'' * Henry McGee - Mr Pugh ''(series 2 onwards)'' * Frank Williams - Vicar Plot Charlie, although willing to work, has been dismissed from the 980 jobs that the local Labour Exchange has found him over the previous 20 years. Mr Whittaker, and later Mr Pugh, is the clerk at the exchange who tries to find Charlie a suitable job. Episodes The first two series of ''The Worker'', a total of thirteen 35 minute episodes, aired in 1965 on Saturdays at 8.25pm. The next two series - by now in colour - broadcast from 1969 to 1970, with the first airing on Mondays at 9.30pm and the second on Thursdays at 9.00pm. This time the twelve episodes were 30 minutes long. A short special as part of ''All-Star Comedy Carniv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slapstick And Old Lace
''Slapstick and Old Lace'' is a British television sketch show which originally aired on ITV in 1971. Starring Charlie Drake Charles Edward Springall (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006), known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer. With his small stature ( tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular ..., it was his follow-up to his hit television comedy '' The Worker'' which had lasted from 1965 to 1970. Also appearing in the show were Anna Dawson and Henry McGee. The title is a reference to the play '' Arsenic and Old Lace''. In 1976 Drake appeared in a stage show of the same name, which failed due to the extraordinary hot summer during which audience numbers dramatically fell.Goldman p.329 References Bibliography * Lawrence Goldman. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008''. OUP Oxford, 2013. * Howard Maxford. ''Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company''. McFarland, 2018. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who Is Sylvia? (TV Series)
''Who Is Sylvia?'' is a 1967 British television sitcom which aired on ITV.Maxford p.240 It stars Charlie Drake as a man in search of wife who enlists the help of a marriage bureau run by Mrs. Proudpiece ( Kathleen Byron) with predictably disastrous results. Actors who appeared in episodes of the series include Leslie Dwyer, Ballard Berkeley, Victor Maddern, Pauline Collins, Sally Bazely, Austin Trevor, Justine Lord, Martin Benson, Shirley Stelfox, Henry McGee, George Woodbridge, Petra Markham, Michael Balfour and Wally Patch. 5 out of the 7 episodes made survive, The two episodes which are lost are episodes 5 and 6. Cast * Charlie Drake Charles Edward Springall (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006), known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer. With his small stature ( tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular ... as Charles Rameses Drake * Kathleen Byron as Mrs. Proudpiece References Bibliography ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1812 Overture
''The Year 1812, Solemn Overture'', Op. 49, popularly known as the ''1812 Overture'', is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece commemorates Russia's successful defense against the French invasion of the nation in 1812. The overture's first public performance, under the baton of Ippolit Al'tani, took place in Moscow on , under a tent, near the still unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialised the 1812 defence of Russia.Felsenfeld, Daniel. Tchaikovsky: A Listener's Guide', p. 54. Amadeus Press, 2006. The fifteen-minute overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes, and a brass fanfare finale. It has also become a common accompaniment to fireworks displays on the United States' Independence Day. The ''1812 Overture'' went on to become one of Tchaikovsky's most popular works, along with his ballet scores to ''The Nutcracker'', '' The Sleeping Beauty'', and ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
