Christopher Strauli
Christopher Strauli (born 13 April 1946) is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is known for appearing as Norman Binns in the British Yorkshire Television sitcom '' Only When I Laugh''. Early life and education Strauli was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Felixstowe Grammar School in Felixstowe, Suffolk. After teacher-training college he gave up a career as a mathematics and science teacher to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Career Following his education spent some years at the Bristol Old Vic, before earning some minor and supporting television roles. Since 1969, Strauli has appeared in at least two films and over twenty-five television productions. Strauli played Bunny Manders, the assistant to A.J. Raffles, the gentleman thief in the Yorkshire Television series '' Raffles'' (1975–1977). He later appeared as feeble hospital patient Norman Binns in the ITV sitcom '' Only When I Laugh'', occupying a bed in a ward ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harpenden
Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Harpenden is a commuter town, with a direct rail connection through Central London and property prices well over triple the national average. History There is evidence of pre-Roman Belgic farmers in the area. In 1867 several items were found including a bronze escutcheon, rams-head shaped mounts, and a bronze bowl. There are Roman remains in land around Harpenden, for instance the site of a mausoleum in the park at Rothamsted. A tumulus near the river Lea was opened in the 1820s and it contained a stone sarcophagus of Romano-Celtic origin. Five objects dating from around 150 AD, were inside including a glass jug with a Mediterranean stamp and samian ware dishes used for libations. Up to the 13th century the area of the parish cons ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Bolam
James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Figgis in '' Only When I Laugh'', Trevor Chaplin in ''The Beiderbecke Trilogy'', Arthur Gilder in ''Born and Bred'', Jack Halford in ''New Tricks'' and the title character of Grandpa in the CBeebies programme '' Grandpa in My Pocket''. Early life Bolam was born on 16 June 1935 in Sunderland, County Durham, England. His father, Robert Alfred Bolam, was from Northumberland, and his mother, Marion Alice Drury, from County Durham. After attending Bede Grammar School, Sunderland, Bolam attended Bemrose School in Derby. Bolam trained as an articled clerk to chartered accountant, before becoming an actor, and formally trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, where he won the gold medal and the Margaret Rawlings Cup. Lacking fun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Down To Earth (2000 TV Series)
''Down to Earth'' was a light-hearted BBC One television drama series first broadcast in 2000 about a couple who start a new life on a Devon farm. The early episodes of the series were based on a series of books written by Faith Addis about their real-life move from London to Devon. The music in the series was composed by Sheridan Tongue and Tony Hadley, and had the song "After All this Time" as its opening and closing credits in series 2 and 3. Plot The first series starred Pauline Quirke as Faith Addis, a teacher, and Warren Clarke as her long-suffering husband Brian, as they encountered various misfortunes and difficulties in adjusting to their new rural lifestyle, which is not helped by their uncooperative children's attitude to moving to a new location. The series was generally light in tone, although took a tragic turn following Brian's death in a road accident in series three. In 2003 the Addis family leave the farm for good. They are replaced by the Brewer family. Matt B ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Doctors (2000 TV Series)
''Doctors'' is a British medical soap opera, first broadcast on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff of both an NHS doctor's surgery and a university campus surgery, as well as the lives of their families and friends. Initially, only 41 episodes of the programme were ordered, but due to the positive reception, the BBC ordered it as a continuing soap opera. ''Doctors'' was filmed at the Pebble Mill Studios until 2004; production then relocated to the BBC Drama Village. Episodes are filmed three months prior to transmission. The soap is typically broadcast on weekdays at 1:45 pm on BBC One and takes three annual transmission breaks across the year; at Easter, during the summer and at Christmas. Since its inception, ''Doctors'' has consistently won the share of viewers in its daytime time slot, and as of 2022, it averages at 1.6 million live viewers in its daytime broadcast. The program ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bergerac (TV Series)
''Bergerac'' is a British crime drama television series. Set in Jersey, it ran from 18 October 1981 to 26 December 1991. Produced by the BBC in association with the Australian Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Jim Bergerac, who is initially a detective sergeant in Le Bureau des Étrangers ("The Foreigners' Office", a fictional department dealing with non-Jersey residents), within the States of Jersey Police, but later leaves the force and becomes a private investigator. Westward Studios executive producer Brian Constantine said the Bergerac reboot was in the final stages of development, possibly airing 2024. Background The series ran from 1981 to 1991. It was created by producer Robert Banks Stewart after an earlier detective series, '' Shoestring,'' starring Trevor Eve, came to an abrupt end. Like ''Shoestring'', the series begins with a man returning to work after a particularly bad period in his life: Eddie Shoestring fro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fortunes Of War (TV Series)
''Fortunes of War'' is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels '' Fortunes of War''. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson met filming the TV series and married in real life. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. Cast * Emma Thompson as Harriet Pringle * Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle * Charles Kay as Dobson * Mark Drewry as Dubedat * Ronald Pickup as Prince Yakimov * Alan Bennett as Lord Pinkrose * Harry Burton as Sasha Drucker * Rupert Graves as Simon Boulderstone * James Villiers as Inchcape * Robert Stephens as Castlebar * Esmond Knight as Liversage * Michael Cochrane as Clifford Episodes The Balkans: September 1939 Newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle arrive in Bucharest, as does the impoverished Prince Yakimov, who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harold Cottam
Harold Thomas Cottam (27 January 1891 – 30 May 1984) was a British wireless operator on the RMS ''Carpathia'' who fortuitously happened to receive the distress call from the sinking RMS ''Titanic'' on 15 April 1912. Cottam's decision to awaken Captain Arthur Henry Rostron and relay ''Titanic''s message in spite of the scepticism of the officer on watch allowed ''Carpathia'' to arrive at the scene hours before any other ship and is "credited with saving hundreds of lives." He was a personal friend of the ''Titanic'''s junior wireless operator and survivor Harold Bride. Early life and career Cottam was born on 27 January 1891 in Southwell, Nottinghamshire to William Cottam and his wife Jane. He had four younger brothers. At 17, Cottam left home to study eleven months at the British College of Telegraphy in London, becoming the school's youngest graduate in 1908. Afterward, he obtained a posting with the Marconi Company as second wireless operator on the RMS ''Empress of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class. Wood started her career in 1974 by appearing on, and winning, the ATV talent show ''New Faces''. She established herself as a comedy star in the 1980s, winning a BAFTA TV Award in 1986 for the sketch series '' Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' (1985–87), and became one of Britain's most popular stand-up comics, winning a second BAFTA for '' An Audience with Victoria Wood'' (1988). ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Full House (British TV Series)
''Full House'' is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 1985 to 1986. It was the last sitcom to be jointly co-created by the sitcom writing team of Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, however, it was mainly written by Mortimer alone, with Mortimer writing 12 episodes alone, along with a further 3 with Cooke, while another veteran sitcom writer, Vince Powell, contributed another 3. It starred Christopher Strauli, Sabina Franklyn, Brian Capron and Natalie Forbes, with Diana King, who was later replaced by Joan Sanderson. It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network. Plot The show revolved around two young couples, the Hatfields and the McCoys. Paul Hatfield (played by Strauli) and his wife Marsha (played by Franklyn), married for three years, and up to then living with Paul's mother (played in the first two series by King and then by Sanderson in the third), finally find their ideal home. However, they are unable to meet the mortgage repayments, so they invi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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BBC Television Shakespeare
The ''BBC Television Shakespeare'' is a series of British television adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985, it spanned seven series and thirty-seven episodes. Development began in 1975 when Messina saw that the grounds of Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's ''As You Like It'' for the ''Play of the Month'' series. Upon returning to London, however, he had come to envision an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. When he encountered a less than enthusiastic response from the BBC's departmental heads, Messina bypassed the usual channels and took his idea directly to the top of the BBC hierarchy, who greenlighted the show. Experiencing financial, logistical and creative problems in the early days of production, Messina persevered and served as executive produ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rising Damp
Structural dampness is the presence of unwanted moisture in the structure of a building, either the result of intrusion from outside or condensation from within the structure. A high proportion of damp problems in buildings are caused by ambient climate dependent factors of condensation and rain penetration. Capillary penetration of fluid from the ground up through concrete or masonry is known as "rising damp" and is governed by the shape and porosity of the construction materials through which this evaporation-limited capillary penetration takes place. Structural damp, regardless of the mechanisms through which it takes place, is exacerbated by higher levels of humidity. Dampness control is fundamental to the proper functioning of any building. Controlling moisture is important to protect occupants from adverse health effects and to protect the building, its mechanical systems and its contents from physical or chemical damage. Symptoms Dampness tends to cause secondary damag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Beckinsale
Richard Arthur Beckinsale (6 July 1947 – 19 March 1979) was an English actor. He played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom ''Porridge'' (along with its sequel series ''Going Straight'') and Alan Moore in the ITV sitcom ''Rising Damp''. He is the father of actresses Samantha and Kate Beckinsale. Early life Beckinsale was born in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, the youngest of three children, to an Anglo-Burmese father, Arthur John Beckinsale, and an English mother, Maggie Barlow. Beckinsale stated in 1977 that he may have been a distant relative of the actor Charles Laughton. While attending College House Junior School in Chilwell, Beckinsale appeared in his first of many school plays, playing Dopey in ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'' As a teenager at Alderman White Secondary Modern School, he played the lead in ''Tobias and the Angel'' and also appeared as Hsieh Ping-Kuei in ''Lady Precious Stream'', which earned him a positive review in the ''Nottingham Evening Post''. Beckinsal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |