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Decline And Fall
''Decline and Fall'' is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel; an earlier attempt, titled '' The Temple at Thatch'', was destroyed by Waugh while still in manuscript form. ''Decline and Fall'' is based, in part, on Waugh's schooldays at Lancing College, undergraduate years at Hertford College, Oxford, and his experience as a teacher at Arnold House in north Wales. It is a social satire that employs the author's characteristic black humour in lampooning various features of British society in the 1920s. The novel's title is a contraction of Edward Gibbon's ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'' The title alludes also to the German philosopher Oswald Spengler's ''The Decline of the West'' (1918–1922), which first appeared in an English translation in 1926 and which argued, among other things, that the rise of nations and cultures is inevitably followed by their eclipse. Waugh read both Gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium in the fifteenth century. Volume I was published in 1776 and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, and VI in 1788–1789.The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. The six volumes cover the history, from 98 to 1590, of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and then of the Roman State Church, and the history of Europe, and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire among other things. Thesis Gibbon offers an explanation for the fall of the Roman Empire, a task made difficult by a lack of comprehensive written sources, though he was not the only historian to attempt it. According to Gib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decline and Fall'' (1928) and ''A Handful of Dust'' (1934), the novel ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1945), and the Second World War trilogy ''Sword of Honour'' (1952–1961). He is recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century. Waugh was the son of a publisher, educated at Lancing College and then at Hertford College, Oxford. He worked briefly as a schoolmaster before he became a full-time writer. As a young man, he acquired many fashionable and aristocratic friends and developed a taste for country house society. He travelled extensively in the 1930s, often as a special newspaper correspondent; he reported from Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia at the time of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935 Italian invasi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Bennett
Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information in the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. The sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day. Born into a modest but upwardly mobile family in Hanley, in the Staffordshire Potteries, Bennett was intended by his father, a solicitor, to follow him into the legal profession. Bennett worked for his father, before moving to another law firm in London as a clerk, aged 21. He became assistant editor and then editor of a women's magazine, before becoming a ful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna David
Joanna David (born Joanna Elizabeth Hacking; 17 January 1947) is an English actress, best known for her television work. Life David was born in Lancaster, England, to Davida Elizabeth (''née'' Nesbitt) and John Almond Hacking. In 1971, she began a relationship with Edward Fox, with whom she has two children: Emilia (born 1974) and Frederick "Freddie" (born 1989). They married in 2004. She is a vice-president of the Theatrical Guild. Career Her first major television role was as Elinor Dashwood in the BBC's 1971 dramatisation of ''Sense and Sensibility'' followed a year later by ''War and Peace'', in which she played Sonya. David also appeared in the TV series ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (BBC), and in two episodes of ''Colditz'', ("Missing, Presumed Dead" and "Odd Man In", 1972) as Cathy Carter, the wife of Flt. Lt. Simon Carter (played by David McCallum). In 1975, she played Theo Dane in the BBC's television adaptation of ''Ballet Shoes'' by Noel Streatfeild. 32 years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Hardwicke
Edward Cedric Hardwicke (7 August 1932 – 16 May 2011) was an English actor, who had a distinguished career on the stage and on-screen. He was best known for playing Captain Pat Grant in ''Colditz'' (1972-73), and Dr. Watson in Granada Television's ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1986-94). Early life Hardwicke was born in London, the son of actors Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Helena Pickard. He began his film career in Hollywood at the age of 10, in Victor Fleming's film ''A Guy Named Joe'' which starred Spencer Tracy. He returned to England, attended Stowe School, and fulfilled his national service as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and trained as an actor. Career Hardwicke played at the Bristol Old Vic, the Oxford Playhouse and the Nottingham Playhouse before in 1964 joining Laurence Olivier's National Theatre. He performed regularly there for seven years. He appeared with Olivier in William Shakespeare's ''Othello'' and I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Sachs
Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in ''Fawlty Towers''. Sachs had a long career in acting and voice-over work for television, film and radio. He was successful well into his eighties, with roles in numerous films such as '' Quartet'', and as Ramsay Clegg in '' Coronation Street''. Early life Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina (née Schrott-Fiecht), a librarian, and Hans Emil Sachs, an insurance broker. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran, with Austrian ancestry. The family moved to Britain in 1938 to escape the Nazis. They settled in north London, and he lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life. In 1960, Sachs married the actress, writer, and fashion designer Melody Lang, who took his surname. He adopted her two s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Broadbent
James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film ''Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for his leading role as Lord Longford in the television film ''Longford'' (2006). Broadbent received four BAFTA Film Award nominations and won for his performance in ''Moulin Rouge!'' (2001). He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, Broadbent first came to prominence in the 1980s, chiefly appearing in television comedy including playing Roy Slater in the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses''. He appeared in the Terry Gilliam films ''Time Bandits'' (1981) and ''Brazil'' (1985) before a breakthrough role in Mike Leigh's independent comedy drama '' Life Is Sweet'' (1990). His notable film roles since include ''The Borrowers'' (1997), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alistair McGowan
Alistair Charles McGowan (born 24 November 1964) is an English impressionist, comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for ''The Big Impression'' (formerly ''Alistair McGowan's Big Impression''), which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes – winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003. He has also worked extensively in theatre and appeared in the West End in ''Art'', ''Cabaret'', ''The Mikado'' and '' Little Shop of Horrors'' (for which he received a ''Laurence Olivier Award'' nomination). As a television actor, he played the lead role in BBC1's ''Mayo''. He wrote the play ''Timing'' (nominated as Best New Comedy at the whatsonstage.com awards) and the book ''A Matter of Life and Death or How to Wean Your Man off Football'' with former comedy partner Ronni Ancona. He also provided voices for ''Spitting Image''. He made his debut broadcast as a tennis commentator for BBC Sport at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. In 2012, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and ''The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Phillips
Robin Phillips OC (28 February 1940 – 25 July 2015) was an English actor and film director. Life He was born in Haslemere, Surrey in 1940 to Ellen Anne (née Barfoot) and James William Phillips. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic, where a contemporary was Patrick Stewart, and worked as an actor and director for many years in the United Kingdom, finishing as artistic director at the Greenwich Theatre from 1973 to 1975. He was hired as artistic director at the Stratford Festival in Canada in 1975, where he spent six seasons directing many productions and cultivating new talent. Maggie Smith, Richard Monette, Martha Henry and Brian Bedford, among others, were prominently featured during his tenure, and many of his Shakespearean, classical, and contemporary productions won widespread acclaim. Includes 24min video. In a review of Phillips' 1977 Stratford production of Richard III with Bedford in the title role, ''The Globe and Mail'' theatre critic John Fraser wrote: "The product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decline And Fall
''Decline and Fall'' is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel; an earlier attempt, titled '' The Temple at Thatch'', was destroyed by Waugh while still in manuscript form. ''Decline and Fall'' is based, in part, on Waugh's schooldays at Lancing College, undergraduate years at Hertford College, Oxford, and his experience as a teacher at Arnold House in north Wales. It is a social satire that employs the author's characteristic black humour in lampooning various features of British society in the 1920s. The novel's title is a contraction of Edward Gibbon's ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'' The title alludes also to the German philosopher Oswald Spengler's ''The Decline of the West'' (1918–1922), which first appeared in an English translation in 1926 and which argued, among other things, that the rise of nations and cultures is inevitably followed by their eclipse. Waugh read both Gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Mitchell (comedian)
David James Stuart Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) is a British comedian, actor, writer and television personality. He is part of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb. Mitchell and Webb starred in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Peep Show'', in which Mitchell plays Mark Corrigan. Mitchell won the British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance in 2009 for his performance. The duo have written and starred in several sketch shows including '' Bruiser'', '' The Mitchell and Webb Situation'', '' That Mitchell and Webb Sound'' and also '' That Mitchell and Webb Look''. The pair also starred in the UK version of Apple's " Get a Mac" advertising campaign. Their first film, '' Magicians'', was released in 2007. In 2013, the duo starred in the short-lived TV series ''Ambassadors''. Since 2017, Mitchell has starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama '' Back,'' alongside Webb. Mitchell starred as Owen in ''Think the Unthinkable'', and in the Ben Elton-penned BBC Two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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