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George Cole (actor)
George Edward Cole, OBE (22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for playing Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV comedy-drama show ''Minder'' and Flash Harry in the early ''St Trinian's'' films. Early life Cole was born in Tooting, London. He was given up for adoption at ten days of age and adopted by George and Florence Cole, a Tooting council employee and charwoman (cleaner) respectively. He attended secondary school in nearby Morden. He left school at 14 to be a butcher's boy and had an ambition to join the Merchant Navy but landed a part in a touring musical and chose acting as a career. He recalled during that year (1939) he was in Dublin on the day of Britain's entry into World War II when he witnessed an effigy of Neville Chamberlain being publicly burned without interference from the local police. Career Aged 15, Cole was cast in the film ''Cottage to Let'' (1941) opposite Scottish actor Alastair Sim. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rona Anderson
Rona Anderson (3 August 1926 – 23 July 2013) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actress. She appeared in TV series and on the stage and films throughout the 1950s. She appeared in the films '' Scrooge'' and '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' and on TV in ''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' and ''Dixon of Dock Green''. Biography Rona Anderson was born in Edinburgh to James and Evelyn (née Thomson) Anderson. She was educated in her home town and briefly in Ottawa during the war. She trained for the stage at the Glover Turner-Robertson School in Edinburgh. In 1951, she married fellow actor Gordon Jackson, with whom she had appeared in ''Floodtide'' (1949) and remained with him until his death from bone cancer on 15 January 1990. Stage work Anderson had an English accent despite being brought up in Scotland. She made her first appearance on the stage at the Garrison Theatre in April 1945 in a production of ''Peg o' My Heart''. From 1945 through 1949, she played various parts with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; a number of other nations have since adopted the title. Previously it had been known as the Mercantile Marine or Merchant Service, although the term "Merchant Navy" was already informally used from the 19th century. History The Merchant Navy has been in existence for a significant period in English and British history, owing its growth to trade and imperial expansion. It can be dated back to the 17th century, when an attempt was made to register all seafarers as a source of labour for the Royal Navy in times of conflict. That registration of merchant seafarers failed, and it was not su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The length and nature of national service depends on the country in question. In some instances, national service is compulsory, and citizens living abroad can be called back to their country of origin to complete it. In other cases, national service is voluntary. Many young people spend one or more years in such programmes. Compulsory military service typically requires all citizens to enroll for one or two years, usually at age 18 (later for university-level students). Most conscripting countries conscript only men, but Norway, Sweden, Israel, Eritrea, Morocco and North Korea conscript both men and women. Voluntary national service may require only three months of basic military training. The US equivalent is Selective Service. In the Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry V (1944 Film)
''Henry V'' is a 1944 British Technicolor epic film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same title. The on-screen title is ''The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France'' (derived from the title of the 1600 quarto edition of the play, though changing the spelling from "Agin Court"). It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas Bower, and Alan Dent. The score is by William Walton. The film was made near the end of World War II and was intended as a morale booster for Britain. Consequently, it was partly funded by the British government. The film was originally "dedicated to the 'Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture. The film won Olivier an Academy Honorary Award for "his Outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen." Plot (The action mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Demi-Paradise
''The Demi-Paradise'' (also known as ''Adventure for Two'') is a 1943 British comedy film made by Two Cities Films. It stars Laurence Olivier as a Soviet Russian inventor who travels to England to have his revolutionary propeller manufactured, and Penelope Dudley-Ward as the woman who falls in love with him. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald and Filippo Del Giudice from a screenplay by de Grunwald. The music score was by Nicholas Brodszky and the cinematography by Bernard Knowles. The film was shot at Denham Studios with sets designed by the art director Carmen Dillon. The film is a gentle satire on the values the English hold so dear. It was designed to encourage sympathy between Britain and the Soviet Union. The film's title is a reference to John of Gaunt's famous speech in '' Richard II'' which begins: :This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, :This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, :This other Eden, demi-paradise Plot summary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the United Kingdom, British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End theatre, West End success in Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'', and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bridie
James Bridie (3 January 1888 in Glasgow – 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor.Daniel Leary (1982) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: Modern British Dramatists 1900-1945'', Stanley Weintraub Ed., Gale, Detroit Ronald Mavor (1988) ''Dr. Mavor and Mr. Bridie: Memories of James Bridie'', Canongate and The National Library of Scotland He took his pen-name from his paternal grandfather's first name and his grandmother's maiden name. Life He was the son of Henry Alexander Mavor (1858–1915), an electrical engineer and industrialist, and his wife Janet Osborne. He went to school at Glasgow Academy and then studied medicine at the University of Glasgow graduating in 1913, later becoming a general practitioner, then consultant physician and professor after serving as a military physician during World War I, seeing service in France and Mesopotamia. He came to prominence with h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry Evening Telegraph
The ''Coventry Telegraph'' is a local English tabloid newspaper. It was founded as ''The Midland Daily Telegraph'' in 1891 by William Isaac Iliffe, and was Coventry's first daily newspaper. Sold for half a penny, it was a four-page broadsheet newspaper. It changed its name to the ''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' on 17 November 1941. On 2 October 2006, the ''Telegraph'' simply became the ''Coventry Telegraph'', reflecting its switch to a morning publication. The newspaper became a part of the then Mirror Group (prior to its merger with Trinity to become Trinity Mirror), in 1997. In April 2022, the publication had a paid daily circulation of just over 6,183 copies. Trinity Mirror is now known as Reach plc. Historical copies of the ''Coventry Telegraph'', dating back to 1914, are available to search and view in digitised form at the British Newspaper Archive. History The only day the newspaper was unable to publish was 15 November 1940, owing to the blitz raid on the city. From 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or born within earshot of Bow Bells, although it most commonly refers to the broad variety of English native to London. Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation, also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider southeastern England. In multicultural areas of London, the Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English—a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. Words and phrases Etymology of Cockney The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in passus VI of William Langland's ''Piers Plowman'', where it is used to mean "a small, misshapen egg", from Middle English ''coken'' + ''ey'' ("a cock's egg"). Concurrently, the mythical land of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alastair Sim
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella '' A Christmas Carol'', released in 1951 as ''Scrooge'' in Great Britain and as ''A Christmas Carol'' in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances. After a series of false starts, including a spell as a jobbing labourer and another as a clerk in a local government office, Sim's love of and talent for poetry reading won him several prizes and led to his appointment as a lecturer in elocution at the University of Edinburgh in 1925. He also ran his own private elocution and drama school, from which, with the help of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cottage To Let
''Cottage to Let'' is a 1941 British spy thriller film directed by Anthony Asquith starring Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim and John Mills. Filmed during the Second World War and set in Scotland during the war, its plot concerns Nazi spies trying to kidnap an inventor. The film was shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London, with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. The film includes the first appearance of George Cole, superbly confident as a cocky young evacuee. Plot John Barrington (Leslie Banks) is a talented inventor, currently working on a bombsight for the Royal Air Force. who prefers to work in his own country house in the Highlands of Scotland near Loch Tay. His eccentric wife (Jeanne de Casalis) has agreed to take in child evacuees from London to be accommodated in a nearby cottage they own. However, also arriving is Charles Dimble (Alastair Sim) to whom the cottage has been let by the letting agency. To compound the confusion, Mrs. Barrington had also agreed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
