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Gerald Campion
Gerald Theron Campion (23 April 1921 – 9 July 2002) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation ('' Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School'') of books by Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton). Biography His father Cyril Theron Campion (1894–1961) – a playwright and screenwriter – and Blanche Louise Tunstall née Bear (1890–1933) – a cousin-german of Charlie Chaplin – married in 1920 in London. Campion was born in Bloomsbury, London, an only child. He won a place at RADA at age 15, and appeared in numerous films and television programmes – mostly comedies. In 1937, he appeared in Tavs Neiiendam's radio play ''Inspiration to a Poet'' on the BBC Home Service. His only major success was as Bunter, a juvenile role he played successfully despite being much older than his character (he was 40 when the series ended). Campion later reprised the role (now Lord Bunter of Hove, who had succeeded in betting shops a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest museum in the United Kingdom, and several educational institutions, including University College London and a number of other colleges and institutes of the University of London as well as its central headquarters, the New College of the Humanities, the University of Law, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Medical Association and many others. Bloomsbury is an intellectual and literary hub for London, as home of world-known Bloomsbury Publishing, publishers of the ''Harry Potter'' series, and namesake of the Bloomsbury Set, a group of British intellectuals which included author Virginia Woolf, biographer Lytton Strachey, and economist John Maynard Keynes. Bloomsbury began to be developed in the 17th century under the Earls of Sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greyfriars School
Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove (or lower fourth form), whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters also featured on a regular basis. Time is frozen in the Greyfriars stories; although the reader sees the passing of the seasons, the characters' ages do not change and they remain in the same year groups. From 1908 to 1940, the stories appeared in ''The Magnet'', in a total of 1,683 weekly issues. After 1940, the stories continued to appear in book form until Hamilton's death in 1961. ''Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School'' was broadcast as a BBC television series from 19 February 1951 to 22 July 1961. A comic strip was published in ''Knockout'' (drawn by Frank Minnitt) from 1939 to 1958, and then drawn by various other artists until ''Knockout'' merged with '' V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Of The Form (film)
''Top of the Form'' is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Ronald Shiner, Anthony Newley and Harry Fowler. The film draws inspiration from Will Hay's 1937 classic ''Good Morning, Boys''. The film was released in black-and-white. It was made at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Maurice Carter. The film earned billings of £143,000. Plot summary This story explores a bookmaker Ronnie Fortescue (Ronald Shiner), who becomes headmaster of a boys' school, and of his and his pupil's adventures in passing examinations and on a subsequent free trip to Paris. Once in Paris, headmaster and pupils become embroiled in gambling casinos, and in a plot to steal the French Crown Jewels. Cast *Ronald Shiner as Professor Ronnie Fortescue *Anthony Newley as Percy *Harry Fowler as Albert *Jacqueline Pierreux as Yvette *Alfie Bass as Arty Jones *Mary Jerrold as Mrs. Bagshot *Richard Wattis as Willoughby Gore *Howard Marion-Craw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pickwick Papers (1952 Film)
''The Pickwick Papers'' is a 1952 British historical comedy drama film written and directed by Noel Langley and starring James Hayter, James Donald, Nigel Patrick and Joyce Grenfell. It is based on the Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel of the same name. It was made by Renown Pictures who had successfully released another Dickens adapation '' Scrooge'' the previous year. The film was made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. Shot in black-and-white, the film's sets were designed by the art director Frederick Pusey with costumes by Beatrice Dawson. It premiered at the Gaumont Cinema at Haymarket in London on 14 November 1952. In 1954, the Soviet Union paid £10,000 for the distribution rights, and it became the first British film to be shown in the Soviet Union after the Second World War, premiering on 29 July 1954 in a number of cities with a dubbed soundtrack. The film was followed a month later by a Russian reprint of Dickens' book, in 150,000 copies. Cast * Jame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miranda (1948 Film)
''Miranda'' is a 1948 black and white British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin and written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the play of the same name from which the film was adapted. The film stars Glynis Johns, Googie Withers, Griffith Jones, Margaret Rutherford, John McCallum and David Tomlinson. Denis Waldock provided additional dialogue. Music for the film was played by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Muir Mathieson. The sound director was B. C. Sewell. The film is a light comedy fantasy about a beautiful and playful mermaid Miranda and her effect on the men and women she meets, as she outrageously flirts with and flatters every man she meets. Glynis Johns and Margaret Rutherford reprised their roles in the 1954 colour sequel, ''Mad About Men''. Plot summary As his wife is uninterested in fishing, Dr. Paul Martin goes on a holiday on the Cornwall coast without her. There, Miranda, a mermaid, catches him by pulling on his fishing line and making him f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Take My Life
''Take My Life'' is a 1947 British crime film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt and Marius Goring. It was adapted from Winston Graham's 1947 novel of the same name. It was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location at York railway station. The film's sets were designed by the art directors John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton Plot Nicholas "Nicky" Talbot attends the London debut of his wife, opera singer Philippa Shelley, at Covent Garden. After her successful performance, Nicky runs into former girlfriend Elizabeth Rusman backstage, a musician in the orchestra, who asks for his help. She gives him her address (and keeps his personalised pencil) before Philippa appears. At home, Nicky and a jealous Philippa quarrel over Elizabeth. When Philippa throws an object that strikes her husband in the forehead, he leaves in a huff. The scene then shifts to a courtroom, where the prosecuting counsel reveals that Nicky is on trial for the strangulation of Eliza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ghost Of St
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Drum (1938 Film)
''The Drum'' (released in the U.S. as ''Drums'') is a 1938 British Technicolor film based on the 1937 novel '' The Drum'' by A. E. W. Mason. The film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by Alexander Korda. It stars Sabu Dastagir, Raymond Massey, Roger Livesey and Valerie Hobson. Korda’s company ''London Films'' made three films in the 1930s about the British Empire: ''Sanders of the River'' (1936), ''The Drum'' and ''The Four Feathers'' (1939). Plot During the British Raj, Captain Carruthers (Roger Livesey) works under cover to track smuggled shipments of arms on the restless Northwest Frontier of India, the modern day Afghanistan-Pakistan border (the Durand Line). He fears a full-scale rebellion is brewing. To forestall this, the British governor (Francis L. Sullivan) signs a treaty with the friendly, peace-loving ruler of Tokot, a key kingdom in the region, which is described as four days' march northward from Peshawar. In real life the British held a fort at Abaza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquitaine
Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is situated in the southwest corner of Metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain, and for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative center. It is composed of the five departments of Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes and Gironde. Gallia Aquitania was established by the Romans in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. History Ancient history There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-Metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties. Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes, following the withdrawal of the Romans. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine. Rochester Cathedral in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wittersham
Wittersham is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It is part of the Isle of Oxney. History The Domesday Book of 1086 does not mention Wittersham, but it does assign the manor of Palstre to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Palstre was only one of four places in the Weald, apparently, that had a church. The Domesday Book entry reads:- "In Oxenai hundred, Osbern Paisforiere holds Palestrei, from the Bishop. It is taxed at three yokes. Arable land for two ploughs. In demesne, nine smallholders have half a plough. There is a church, 2 servants, of meadow, 5 fisheries at twelve pence, woodland for the pannage of 10 hogs. In the time of Edward the Confessor, it was worth forty shillings, now sixty shillings. Edwy the priest held it for King Edward." An early variation of the village name may be ''Wyghtresham''. Manor Early in the 18th century, the manor came into the ownership of Thomas Brodnax or May of Godmersham Park, Kent. May changed his na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Rajna
Thomas Rajna (21 December 1928 – 16 July 2021) was a British pianist and composer of Hungarian birth. He had been domiciled in Cape Town in South Africa since 1970. Biography Rajna was born in Budapest, Hungary. He started to play the piano and compose at an early age and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he won the Liszt Prize in 1947. That year he left Hungary to settle in London and enrolled at the Royal College of Music. He soon appeared at the Proms under such conductors as Carlo Maria Giulini, Colin Davis and John Pritchard, also becoming a frequent broadcaster at the BBC. In 1963 he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first commercial recording was the complete piano solo works of Igor Stravinsky. After that he recorded music by Alexander Scriabin, Robert Schumann and Olivier Messiaen, the piano part of Igor Stravinsky's ''Petrushka'' with the New Philharmonia under Erich Leinsdorf, and Béla Bartók's ''Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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