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Gordon Crier
Gordon Crier (1912 – 16 September 1984) was a Scottish radio and television producer and writer. His early successes included ''Band Waggon'', the first comedy show designed for radio, broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940, co-produced by Crier and Harry S. Pepper. After the first three shows had flopped, the scriptwriter was dismissed and a team of Crier, Vernon Harris, Arthur Askey, and Richard Murdoch was brought in. They made ''Band Waggon'' the most popular radio show of the 1930s. In 1950 Crier was a founding member of the Lord's Taverners, with John Snagge, Roy Plomley, Brian Johnston, and others, a group of actors and BBC men who enjoyed watching cricket from the Tavern pub at Lord's Cricket Ground. In January 1952, Crier was arrested in Germany by the Russians, while organizing a tour by Gracie Fields, but was soon released. By 1953, Crier was working for an advertising agency, but he remained a friend of Ronnie Waldman and continued to feed ideas for programmes to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Band Waggon
''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added Diana Clare for two episodes. ''Band Waggon'' was co-produced by Gordon Crier and Harry S. Pepper and was the first comedy show to be designed for radio. Together with ''Monday Night at Eight, Monday Night at Seven'', it established the practice of broadcasting a regular comedy and music programme at the same time each week. The show ended in 1940, allowing Askey to pursue a career in film and Murdoch to join the Royal Air Force. A stage show of the same name and starring Askey and Murdoch was toured by Jack Hylton beginning in November 1938. The show with the addition of Tommy Trinder was playing at the London Palladium when the Second World War broke out. The following year, another version - with Norman Evans in place of T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the European Cricket Council (ECC) and, until August 2005, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lord's is widely referred to as the ''Home of Cricket'' and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum. Lord's today is not on its original site; it is the third of three grounds that Lord established between 1787 and 1814. His first ground, now referred to as Lord's Old Ground, was where Dorset Square now stands. His second ground, Lord's Middle Ground, was used from 1811 to 1813 before being abandoned to make way for the construction through its outfield of the Regent's Canal. The present Lord's ground is about north-west of the site of the Middle Ground. The ground can hold 31,100 spectators, the capacity h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1984 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). * January 10 ** The United States and the Vatican (Holy See) restore full diplomatic relations. ** The Victoria Agreement is signed, institutionalising the Indian Ocean Commission. *January 24 – Steve Jobs launches the Macintosh personal computer in the United States. February * February 3 ** Dr. John Buster and the research team at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer from one woman to another, resulting in a live birth. ** STS-41-B: Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' is launched on the 10th Space Shuttle mission. * February 7 – Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk. * February 8– 19 – The 1984 Winter Olympics are held i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1912 Births
Year 191 ( CXCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Bradua (or, less frequently, year 944 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 191 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 Parthia * King Vologases IV of Parthia dies after a 44-year reign, and is succeeded by his son Vologases V. China * A coalition of Chinese warlords from the east of Hangu Pass launches a punitive campaign against the warlord Dong Zhuo, who seized control of the central government in 189, and held the figurehead Emperor Xian hostage. After suffering some defeats against the coalition forces, Dong Zhuo forcefully relocates the imperial capital from Luoyang to Chang'an. Before leaving, Dong Zhuo orders his troops to loot the tombs of the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telecrime
''Telecrime'' was a British drama series that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1938 to 1939 and in 1946. One of the first multi-episode drama series ever made, it is also one of the first television dramas written especially for television not adapted from theatre or radio. Having first aired for five episodes from 1938 to 1939, ''Telecrime'' returned in 1946, following the resumption of television after the Second World War, and aired as ''Telecrimes''. A whodunit crime drama, ''Telecrime'' showed the viewer enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Most episodes were written by Mileson Horton. All seventeen episodes are lost. Aired live, their preservation was technically difficult at the time. Production The producers for the 1946 series were Gordon Crier, Stephen Harrison and Douglas Muir. Plot Each episode of ''Telecrime'' featured a crime, and in a "whodunit" storyline, the viewers were given enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Episodes The progra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Band Waggon (film)
''Band Waggon'' is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and Moore Marriott. It was based on the BBC radio show ''Band Waggon''. Plot Arthur Askey and Stinker Murdoch, two out-of-work performers, are living on the roof of the Broadcasting House in Central London. After being called in for an audition with the BBC three months before, they were forgotten about and settled down to live there waiting for their big chance. One day an item from their clothes line falls and hits Claude Pilkington, a senior figure at the BBC, who has them evicted. They are forced to pack up all their belongings and leave. While driving home that evening one of the tyres on Pilkington's car gets a puncture from broken glass lying on the road. It has been put there by the owners of the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, who hope their cabaret act will be given a contract with the BBC and have so far failed to gain an audition. Pilkington sits unwittingly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie Waldman
Ronald Hartley Waldman (13 May 1914 – 10 March 1978) was a British radio presenter and television executive for the BBC. Biography Born in London, he was the eldest son of Michael Waldman OBE JP, a sometime Mayor of Hackney, and was educated at Dame Alice Owen's School, Islington, and Pembroke College, Oxford. Career Waldman began his career as an actor and producer (1935–1938) before joining the BBC Variety department in 1938. Following wartime service in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, he became the assistant Head of Variety Productions in 1948. The British public knew him best for his work with Harry S. Pepper as presenter of the popular '' Monday Night at Eight'' radio magazine programme, which was broadcast every week live. The programme started in 1937 as "Monday Night at Seven", becoming "Monday Night at Eight" soon after the outbreak of the Second World War. It was broadcast throughout the war and continued for several years after it. Waldman's special ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. She was known affectionately as ''Our Gracie'' and ''the Lancashire Lass'' and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979. Life and work Early life Fields was born Grace Stansfield, a daughter of Frederick Stansfield (1874–1956) and his wife Sarah Jane 'Jenny' Stansfield née Bamford (1879–1953), over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Her great-grandfather, William Stansfield (b.1805), of Hebden Bridge, Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Johnston
Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until his death in January 1994. Early life Brian Alexander Johnston was born on Monday, 24 June 1912 at the Old Rectory, Little Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, the youngest of four children (elder siblings were Anne, Michael and Christopher). His paternal grandfather, Reginald Eden Johnston, had been Governor of the Bank of England between 1909 and 1911. The World War II airborne division commander Frederick 'Boy' Browning was his first cousin. On 27 August 1922, his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Evelyn Johnston, DSO, MC, who managed the family coffee business, drowned at Widemouth Sands near Bude, Cornwall at the age of 44. In 1924, his mother married one of her husband's military colleagues, Captain Marcus Scully, who became his stepfat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry S
Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show hosted by Harry Connick Jr. People and fictional characters * Harry (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Harry (surname), a list of people with the surname * Dirty Harry (musician) (born 1982), British rock singer who has also used the stage name Harry * Harry Potter (character), the main protagonist in a Harry Potter fictional series by J. K. Rowling Other uses * Harry (derogatory term), derogatory term used in Norway * ''Harry'' (album), a 1969 album by Harry Nilsson *The tunnel used in the Stalag Luft III escape ("The Great Escape") of World War II * ''Harry'' (newspaper), an underground newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland See also *Harrying (laying waste), may refer to the following historical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Plomley
Francis Roy Plomley, ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for devising the BBC Radio series ''Desert Island Discs'', which he hosted from its inception in 1942 until his death. Early life Plomley was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, the only surviving child of pharmaceutical chemist Francis John Plomley (1868–1942) and Ellinor Maud (1880–1968; née Wigg). He was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon. On leaving school he worked first briefly for an estate agent, then for a London advertising agency, and then in publishing. His original aim was to be an actor, and he did secure very minor parts in a number of films, e.g. ''To the Public Danger'' (1948), ''Double Confession'' (1950), but he soon drifted into broadcasting, coming to public notice as an announcer, and later producer, for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), starting on Radio Normandy in April 1936 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Snagge
John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge (8 May 190425 March 1996) was a British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio. Life Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in law. He then joined the BBC, taking up the position of assistant director at Stoke-on-Trent's new relay station 6ST. He broadcast his first sports commentary (of a Hull City versus Stoke City football match) in January 1927, after the BBC obtained the rights to cover major sporting events. In 1928, Snagge was transferred to London to work as one of the BBC's main announcers alongside Stuart Hibberd. From 1931 until 1980, he commentated on the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. He provided commentary for the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and again in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. At the start of the Second World War, Snagge was made the BBC's presentation director and delivered important radio announcements as the wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
