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Dave Spikey
Dave Spikey (born David Gordon Bramwell, 6 October 1951) is an English comedian, actor, writer and film producer. He is best known for his stand-up comedy, writing and starring in the British comedy programme ''Phoenix Nights'', presenting ''Bullseye'' and ''Chain Letters'', and serving as team captain for the first four series of ''8 Out of 10 Cats''. Biography Early career Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Spikey spent his early career working as a biomedical scientist in the haematology laboratory at Bolton General Hospital. It was during this period in the 1980s that he scripted and performed in a number of amateur pantomimes with a group of like-minded health workers called the Bolton Health Performers. Early in his career Spikey won a talent show called Stairway to the Stars with a routine about juggling on a motorbike, judged by comedian Larry Grayson who took him aside to tell him he had potential and his routine was fantastic. Spikey was inspired to pursue a part-time co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farnworth
Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Irwell and River Croal. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,939. History Toponymy Farnworth derives from the Old English ''fearn'', fern and ''worth'' an enclosure. Farnworth was recorded as Farneworth and Farnewrth in 1278 and 1279 and Ffornword in a land survey of 1282. Middle Ages Farnworth was originally a hamlet in Barton. In the 13th century it was held by the Lords of Barton and Manchester. By 1320 Adam Lever, Richard Hulton and Richard Redford held the manor as tenants. Later the manor was acquired by the Hultons of Over Hulton. In 1666 there were 91 hearths in Farnworth liable to pay tax. The commons were enclosed in 1798. There was a watermill on the River Croal. Industrial Revolution The town expanded rapidly in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV Central
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV (TV Network)
ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies which provided regional television services and also shared programmes between each other to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel. The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry St
Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian film * "Jerry", a song from the album ''Young and Free'' by Rock Goddess * Tom and Jerry (other) People * Jerry (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Harold A. Jerry, Jr. (1920–2001), New York politician * Thomas Jeremiah (d. 1775), commonly known simply as "Jerry", a free Negro in colonial South Carolina Places * Branche à Jerry, a tributary of the Baker River in Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada * Jerry, Washington, a community in the United States Other uses * Jerry (company) * Jerry (WWII), Allied nickname for Germans, originally from WWI but widely used in World War II * Jerry Rescue (1851), involving American slave William Henry, who called himself "Jerry" See also * Geri ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel Four
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence-funded BBC One and BBC Two, and a single commercial broadcasting network ITV. The network's headquarters are based in London and Leeds, with creative hubs in Glasgow and Bristol. It is publicly owned and advertising-funded; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. Until 2010, Channel 4 did not broadcast in Wales, but many of its programmes were re-broadcast there by the Welsh fourth channel S4C. In 2010, Channel 4 e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
''Phoenix Nights'' is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Club" episode of the spoof documentary series '' That Peter Kay Thing'', and in turn was followed by the spin-off ''Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere''. It was produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation Entertainments, and broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. The show was written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey. All three writers star in the show, with Kay also directing in the second series. All the music was written by Toni Baker and Peter Kay. Additional material was provided by Paddy McGuinness. Two series have been produced, which were first broadcast in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The first series transmission dates were brought ahead to January 2001 due to the success of Kay's first home video stand-up release ''Live at the Top of the Tower'', released in November 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Comedy Awards
The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1990–2014) The awards were shown live on ITV in December from 1990 to 2006, after which the broadcast of the British Comedy Awards 2007 was suspended by ITV due to allegations of irregularities and deception in the awarding of the 2005 People's Choice Award and then ongoing related investigations about the 2007 British television phone-in scandal resulting in Ofcom's subsequently fining ITV a record £5.675 million for its misuse of premium-rate telephone lines. After Michael Parkinson presented the inaugural ceremony at the London Palladium in December 1990, the majority of subsequent shows were presented by Jonathan Ross, staged at London Studios, and produced by Michael Hurll Television (MHTV), whose parent company is Unique Commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vince Henderson
Vincent P. Henderson is an English television presenter, actor and street performer. He is known for hosting the Sky Sports Saturday morning show ''Soccer AM'', and the 1996 season of ITV's game show ''Chain Letters''. He made his television debut on the CBBC show ''Dear Mr. Barker'' in 1995. Personal life He married actress Sophie Aldred on 12 July 1997. They have two sons, Adam and William, who make occasional convention appearances with their mother. Career In 1998, he appeared in the Reeltime Pictures video release of ''Where on Earth Is... Katy Manning Because She'd Really Like to Know'' as himself. In 2000, he played the role of Mick Thompson in ''The Fearmonger'', a Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio play, alongside Aldred and McCoy. Prior to 2008, Henderson presented ''Off the Rails'' on Discovery Real Time, where he visited heritage steam railways in Britain, such as the Severn Valley Railway, the North Norfolk Railway and the Colne Valley Railway The Colne Vall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Robbins
Edward Michael Robbins (born 11 August 1955) is an English comic, actor, television presenter and radio broadcaster. He has performed as a warm-up artist for numerous pre-recorded comedy shows that have been filmed before live studio audiences including Granada Television's ''Wood and Walters'' and '' Birds of a Feather'', provided the voiceover in ''Catchphrase'' from 1994 to 1996 and returned in Roy Walker's penultimate series in 1998 and 1999, and the BBC's '' Little Britain''. He also starred in Peter Kay's ''Phoenix Nights'' (2001–02) for both series as Den Perry, the main "villain", and also the Governor in ''The Slammer''. His most recent roles were in '' Benidorm'' in 2012 as Victor St. James as well as '' Hank Zipzer'' in episode 8 playing Bob Bing The Sausage King and Diddy TV playing Larry Weinsteinberger/Bingbongberger. He guest starred as Barry Quid in Series 10 of '' Birds of a Feather'' and also in the comedy series ''The League of Gentlemen'' as Tony Cluedo, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Stewart (comedian)
Allan Stewart is a Scottish entertainer, known for his appearances in pantomime, who has performed at the Royal Variety Performance. His son, David Stewart is a songwriter known for his work with the band, BTS while his daughter Kate is a singer. Career Stewart's career began in the 1960s when he performed as a cabaret pop singer and musician. He got his break when he appeared in ''Hello, Good evening, and welcome'', an all-round entertainment show in which a trio of multi-talented young entertainers present gags, impressions, sketches and music. His next big show, his 1979 STV series, '' The Allan Stewart Tapes'', were picked up by ITV network and broadcast during spring 1980. This resulted in Thames giving Stewart his own show in 1980, followed by a full series by Scottish Television. In 1984 he appeared in ''Go For It'' alongside other impressionists, including Les Dennis and Bobby Davro, doing impressions of everyone from Esther Rantzen to Sergeant Bilko. He appeared wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew O'Connor (actor)
Andrew Mark O'Connor (born 23 March 1963 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire) is an English actor, comedian, magician, television presenter and executive producer. Television career Although he enjoyed a short stint as a child actor, appearing as Tom Brill in the BBC mini-series ''The Canal Children'' in 1976, he made his mark as a children's magician, and won the Magic Circle's ''Young Magician of the Year'' prize in 1981. After appearing in a number of variety shows on television, he was invited to join the cast of London Weekend Television's '' Copy Cats'', a showcase featuring impressionists such as Bobby Davro and Gary Wilmot, in 1985. A second series, without Wilmot, followed in 1986. O'Connor received a writing credit for each series. His own children's show, ''Andrew O'Connor's Joke Machine'' soon followed, in which he told jokes and performed magic tricks and invited children to do the same. In 1986, he began appearing in ITV's popular Saturday morning children's series, ''No. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared in 50 weeks of the year. Early life Beadle was born in Hackney, east London, on 12 April 1948. His father, a Fleet Street sports reporter, abandoned Jeremy's mother, Marji (9 July 1921 – 9 July 2002), when he learned that she was pregnant. Before Jeremy reached the age of two he was frequently hospitalised and had undergone surgery for Poland syndrome, a rare disorder that stunted growth in his right hand.James Macintyre"Jeremy Beadle, king of the TV practical jokers, dies aged 59" ''The Independent'', 31 January 2008 His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him, including a stint for the boxing promoter Jack Solomons.Beadle, ''Watch Out! My Autobiography'' Beadle did not enjoy school and was frequently in trouble. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
