Dennis Kirkland
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Dennis Kirkland
Dennis Kirkland (2 December 1942 – 16 February 2006) was an English television producer and director best known for his long association with comedian Benny Hill. Early life and career Born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, Kirkland started out as a child actor, appearing in television advertisements that aired on the then-new Independent Television upon its start-up in the 1950s. He then went behind-the-scenes, first as a property master for Tyne Tees Television, and then on to short stints with the Windmill Theatre and Royal Opera House in London. Later he was hired by Associated TeleVision as a floor manager, where he worked at the time Benny Hill hosted some TV programmes for ATV in 1967. Career In 1968, Kirkland joined Thames Television as a floor manager, before becoming a warm-up man on ''The Benny Hill Show''. He then moved up the ranks, directing children's shows such as ''Rainbow'' and ''The Tomorrow People'', as well as a sketch comedy show calle ...
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North Shields
North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear: it's historic administration was as part of the Castle ward in county of Northumberland. It was part of the Tynemouth County Borough, when abolished in 1974 the borough became an unparished area. It is on the northern bank of the River Tyne, opposite to South Shields on the other bank. The name derives from Middle English ''schele'' meaning "temporary sheds or huts used by fishermen". History Earliest records North Shields is first recorded in 1225, when the Prior of Tynemouth, Germanus, decided to create a fishing port to provide fish for the Priory which was situated on the headland at the mouth of the River Tyne. He also supplied ships anchored near the priory. A number of rudimentary houses or 'shiels' were erected at the mo ...
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Children's Television Series
Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evening, allowing younger children to watch them after school. The purpose of these shows is mainly to entertain or educate. The children's series are in four categories: those aimed at infants and toddlers, those aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, those for adolescents and those aimed at all children. History Children's television is nearly as old as television itself. The BBC's ''Children's Hour'', broadcast in the UK in 1946, is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children. Television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio; the BBC's '' Children's Hour'' was launched in 1922, and BBC School Radio began broadcasting in 1924. In the US in the early 1930s, adventure serials such as ...
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The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021. History 1986 to 1990 Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330 It was produc ...
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Hyponatremia
Hyponatremia or hyponatraemia is a low concentration of sodium in the blood. It is generally defined as a sodium concentration of less than 135 mmol/L (135 mEq/L), with severe hyponatremia being below 120 mEq/L. Symptoms can be absent, mild or severe. Mild symptoms include a decreased ability to think, headaches, nausea, and poor balance. Severe symptoms include confusion, seizures, and coma; death can ensue. The causes of hyponatremia are typically classified by a person's body fluid status into low volume, normal volume, or high volume. Low volume hyponatremia can occur from diarrhea, vomiting, diuretics, and sweating. Normal volume hyponatremia is divided into cases with dilute urine and concentrated urine. Cases in which the urine is dilute include adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, and drinking too much water or too much beer. Cases in which the urine is concentrated include syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). High vo ...
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Freddie Starr
Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, and came to prominence in the early 1970s after appearing on '' Opportunity Knocks'' and the Royal Variety Performance. In the 1990s, he starred in several television shows, including ''Freddie Starr'' (1993–1994), ''The Freddie Starr Show ''(1996–1998) and two episodes of '' An Audience with...'' in 1996 and 1997. In 1999, he presented the game show ''Beat the Crusher''. Early life Starr was born in Huyton in the county of Lancashire, England. One of seven children, Starr was the son of a bricklayer, who was often unemployed. According to Starr, his mother Hilda (''née'' Feihnen) was from Germany and was Jewish. A twin brother died at birth. When his father, who was also a bare-knuckled boxer, was drunk he repeatedly beat Starr up when ...
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Central Independent Television
ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the restructuring of ATV and began broadcasting on 1 January 1982. The service is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ''ITV Broadcasting Limited''. Historically Central made a major contribution to the ITV network schedule - especially in entertainment and drama - but today its main responsibility is the regional news service. History Background During the 1970s ATV, the previous Midlands licence holder, was often criticised for its lack of regional output and character. Although ATV had purpose-built a modern colour production complex in the centre of Birmingham, most of its major productions were recorded at its main studios at Elstree in Hertfordshire, a legacy of the period when the company had also served London at the week ...
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Rose D'Or
The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakeside city of Montreux. The awards stayed with the EBU for almost 40 years. The EBU re-acquired the awards in 2013 and successfully re-launched the event that year in Brussels, then relocated to Berlin from 2014 to 2018. In 2014 the event took place on 17 September in Berlin, Germany. For the first time in its 53-year history, the competition categories were extended to include radio and online video programmes in addition to the traditional focus on television. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from several countries took part. In 2019 the EBU partnered with international publishing company and digital channels business C21Media to take over the organisation of the Rose ...
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The Plank (1979 Film)
''The Plank'' is a 30-minute, British slapstick comedy film for television from 1979, which was written and directed by Eric Sykes. This version, which is a remake of the 1967 film '' The Plank'', also written and directed by Sykes, was produced by Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network. Although not literally a silent film, it has little spoken dialogue. Instead the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal noises and sound effects. The soundtrack was composed by Alan Braden, and performed by Alan Braden and his orchestra. Sveriges Television in Sweden used to show the film several times around Christmas and New Year during the 1980s and 1990s. Outline When two builders find that a floorboard is missing, they buy a replacement floorboard and return with it through the streets, causing unexpected chaos. This was the third version of ''The Plank''; the basic idea had originated in an episode called "Sykes and a Plank", which Eric Sykes had written for his BBC t ...
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Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus, and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, most notably through his collaboration on ''The Goon Show'' scripts. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series. Early life Sykes was born on 4 May 1923 in Oldham, Lancashire; his mother died three weeks later, leaving him and his two-year-old brother Vernon motherless. Their father was a labourer in a cotton mill and a former army sergeant. When Sykes was two, his father remarried and he gained a half- ...
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Jim Davidson
James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows ''Big Break'' and ''The Generation Game''. He also developed two adult pantomime shows such as ''Boobs in the Wood'' and ''Sinderella'', to critical reception. Biography The son of a Scottish father from Glasgow and Irish mother from Cork, Davidson was born in Kidbrooke, London, and attended Kidbrooke Park Primary School, Blackheath, and St Austin's School in Charlton. Having impressed some acquaintances of his father with impressions of celebrities, he was chosen to appear in Ralph Reader's Gang Show at the Golders Green Hippodrome aged 12 and appeared on television in the ''Billy Cotton Band Show''. He also briefly attended a stage school in Woolwich. Upon leaving school, Davidson worked as a drummer for pub bands, as well as holding a job as a supermarket shelf stacker, a messenger, air ticket clerk for a travel agency, a cashi ...
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Ken Dodd
Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A lifelong resident of Knotty Ash in Liverpool, Dodd's career as an entertainer started in the mid-1950s. His performances included rapid and incessant delivery of often surreal jokes, and would run for several hours, frequently past midnight. His verbal and physical comedy was supplemented by his red, white and blue "tickling stick" prop, and often introduced by his characteristic upbeat greeting of "How tickled I am!" He interspersed the comedy with songs, both serious and humorous, and with his original speciality, ventriloquism. He also had several hit singles primarily as a ballad singer in the 1960s, and occasionally appeared in dramatic roles. He performed on radio and television, and popularised the characters of the Diddy Men. He wa ...
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Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army for seven years, before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised on magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television. By the end of the 1970s, Cooper was smoking and drinking heavily, which affected his career and his health, effectively ending offers to front new programmes and relegating him to performing as a guest star on other entertainment shows. On 15 April 1984, Cooper died at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack live on television. Early life Thomas Frederick Cooper was born on 19 Marc ...
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