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Fred Russell (ventriloquist)
Thomas Frederick Parnell OBE (29 September 1862 – 14 October 1957), known professionally as Fred Russell, was an English ventriloquist. Usually credited as being the first to use a knee-sitting figure, he is known as "The Father of Modern Ventriloquism". Biography Russell was born in London, and began his career as a journalist, but from 1882 began performing his hobby of ventriloquism in public. In 1896, when he was editor of the '' Hackney and Kingsland Gazette'', he was offered a professional engagement at London's Palace Theatre and took up his stage career permanently. His act, based on the cheeky-boy dummy "Coster Joe", broke from the prevailing format of a family of dummies, establishing a precedent for performers such as Edgar Bergen and Paul Winchell. According to ''The Times'' obituary, he changed his name because of the political flavour of " Parnell". In 1910, Russell published a book on his craft entitled ''Ventriloquism and Kindred Arts''. His act remained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Variety Performance
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal family. The evening's performance is presented as a live variety show, usually from a theatre in London and consists of family entertainment that includes comedy, music, dance, magic and other speciality acts. The ''Royal Variety Performance'' traditionally begins with the entrance of the members of the royal family followed by singing of the national anthem, God Save the King, which was also performed by the participating acts as a traditional end to Royal Variety Performances; with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of which, As If We Never Said Goodbye opened that year's show instead, sung by that year's host, Jason Manford. Background and founding The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was called the Roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Officers Of The Order Of The British Empire
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," from Latin ''officium'' "a service, a duty" the late Latin from ''officiarius'', meaning "official." Examples Ceremonial and other contexts *Officer, and/or Grand Officer, are both a grade, class, or rank of within certain chivalric orders and orders of merit, e.g. Legion of Honour (France), Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Holy See), Order of the British Empire ( UK), Order of Leopold (Belgium) *Great Officer of State *Merchant marine officer or licensed mariner *Officer of arms * Officer in The Salvation Army, and other state decorations Corporations * Bank officer *Corporate officer, a corporate title **Chief executive officer (CEO) **Chief financial officer (CFO) **Chief operating officer (COO) *Executive officer Education *Chief academic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1957 Deaths
1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1950s decade. Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricket), dismissed for having ''handled the ball'', in Test cricket. * January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns. * January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar. * January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars. * January 15 – The film ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1862 Births
Year 186 ( CLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 939 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 186 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Peasants in Gaul stage an anti-tax uprising under Maternus. * Roman governor Pertinax escapes an assassination attempt, by British usurpers. New Zealand * The Hatepe volcanic eruption extends Lake Taupō and makes skies red across the world. However, recent radiocarbon dating by R. Sparks has put the date at 233 AD ± 13 (95% confidence). Births * Ma Liang, Chinese official of the Shu Han state (d. 222) Deaths * April 21 – Apollonius the Apologist, Christian martyr * Bian Zhang, Chinese official and gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenilworth Court
Kenilworth Court is a Edwardian residential building in Putney in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it has had several notable residents. Location The building is on the south side of the Lower Richmond road, bordered with Waterman street and Kingsmere close, it lies within the Putney Embankment Conservation Area. Kenilworth Court contains four postcodes, SW15 1EN, SW15 1EW, SW15 1HA and SW15 1HB. Architecture and history Kenilworth Court was designed by architect R. C. Overton, it was built from 1902 and completed by 1905. The building has Dutch gables, bracketed stone balconies, stone architraves over the windows and iron railings, with 'Kenilworth Court' displayed over the entrance to each block. There are 150 portered flats spread between eight mansion blocks. The central courtyard had a tennis court before World War II, it was then used for growing vegetables and is now managed garden. It was originally built as rented family accommodation, but between the 1950s an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west London, England, northwest of Charing Cross. It includes the neighbourhoods of Alperton, North Wembley, Preston, London, Preston, Sudbury, London, Sudbury, Tokyngton and Wembley Park. The population was 102,856 in 2011. Wembley was for over 800 years part of the Civil parish, parish of Harrow on the Hill#History, Harrow on the Hill in Middlesex. Its heart, Wembley Green, was surrounded by agricultural manorialism, manors and their hamlets. The small, narrow, Wembley High Street is a conservation area (United Kingdom), conservation area. The railways of the London & Birmingham Railway reached Wembley in the mid-19th century, when the place gained its first church. Slightly south-west of the old core, the main station was originally called Sudbu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous ''Music Hall'' and subsequent, more respectable ''Variety'' differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so, that during the 1850s some public houses were demolished, and specialised music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Artistes' Federation
The Variety Artistes' Federation (VAF) was a trade union representing variety performers in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded on 18 February 1906, after discussions between the show business social club and charity the Grand Order of Water Rats (GOWR); the Music Hall Artists Railway Association, which negotiated concessions on rail fares for travelling performers; and the Terriers, another club for variety performers. It was formed in response to grievances by performers that some managers expected them to perform matinées, as well as two evening performances six days a week, without any additional payment, and that some performers were having to make long journeys without notice because of changes to schedules.Roger Wilmut, ''Kindly Leave the Stage: The Story of Variety 1919-1960'', Methuen, 1985, , p.49 Within weeks the union had 4,000 members. It launched a weekly newspaper, ''The Performer'', and in early 1907 staged its first industrial action, which becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Order Of Water Rats
The Grand Order of Water Rats is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organisation based in London. Founded in 1889 by the music hall comedians Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, the order is known for its high-profile membership and benevolent works (primarily within the performing industries). Origin In 1889, two British music hall performers, Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, owned a trotting pony called "Magpie". As the pony was a regular race winner, its owners decided that they would use the profits to help performers who were less fortunate than themselves.Charlie Chester, ''The Grand Order of Water Rats: A Legend of Laughter'' – W.H. Allen, London (1984) pg 12 One day, as Elvin was driving the pony back to its stables in the pouring rain, a passing bus driver called out, "Wot yer got there, mate?" "Our trotting pony!" replied Elvin. Observing the bedraggled, soaked condition of the pony, the driver shouted back, "Trotting pony? Looks more like a bleedin' water r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a Master of Ceremonies, compère (master of ceremonies) or Television presenter, host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s. While still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the ''Royal Variety Performance'', and South Korea with ''Running Man (South Korean TV series), Running Man'', the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had a major effect on late night television whose la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and southeast of the Arabian Sea; it is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with India and Maldives. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is its legislative capital, and Colombo is its largest city and financial centre. Sri Lanka has a population of around 22 million (2020) and is a multinational state, home to diverse cultures, languages, and ethnicities. The Sinhalese are the majority of the nation's population. The Tamils, who are a large minority group, have also played an influential role in the island's history. Other long established groups include the Moors, the Burghers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
