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Gordon Williams (writer)
Gordon M. Williams (20 June 1934 – 20 August 2017) was a Scottish author. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He wrote for television and was the author of more than 20 novels, including ''From Scenes Like These'' (1968), shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, ''Walk Don't Walk'' (1972) and ''Big Morning Blues'' (1974). Other novels include ''The Camp'' (1966), ''The Man Who Had Power Over Women'' (1967) and ''The Upper Pleasure Garden'' (1970). He was a ghostwriter for the autobiographies of association footballers Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and manager Tommy Docherty. Williams' National Service with the RAF in Germany informed his second published novel, ''The Camp''. In 1971, his novel ''The Siege of Trencher's Farm'' was controversially filmed as '' Straw Dogs''. Sam Peckinpah's cinematic treatment marked a watershed in the depiction of sexual violence in the cinema though the most controversial scenes are absent from the book. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paisley, Renfrewshire
Paisley ( ; sco, Paisley, gd, Pàislig ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. Paisley serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area, and is the largest town in the historic county of the same name. It is often cited as "Scotland's largest town" and is the fifth largest settlement in the country, although it does not have city status. The town became prominent in the 12th century, with the establishment of Paisley Abbey, an important religious hub which formerly had control over other local churches. By the 19th century, Paisley was a centre of the weaving industry, giving its name to the Paisley shawl and the Paisley pattern. The town's associations with political radicalism were highlighted by its involvement in the Radical War of 1820, with striking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Duellists
''The Duellists'' is a 1977 British historical drama film and the feature film directorial debut of Ridley Scott. It won the Best Debut Film award at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. The basis of the screenplay is the Joseph Conrad short story "The Duel" (titled "Point of Honor" in the United States) published in ''A Set of Six''. A novelization of the film by Gordon Williams, which included historical contexts and slightly expanded the plot, was published by Fontana Books in Great Britain in 1977 and by Pocket Books () in the United States in 1978. Plot Strasbourg 1800 In Strasbourg in 1800, Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud of the French 7th Hussars, a fervent Bonapartist and obsessive duellist, nearly kills the nephew of the city's mayor in a duel. Under pressure from the mayor, Brigadier-General Treillard orders one of his officers, Lieutenant Armand d'Hubert of the 3rd Hussars, to place Feraud under house arrest. When d'Hubert delivers the order, Feraud takes it as a personal i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational church, Congregational Union. In 1861 the firm became Jackson, Walford and Hodder; but in 1868 Jackson and Walford retired, and Thomas Wilberforce Stoughton joined the firm, creating Hodder & Stoughton. Hodder & Stoughton published both religious and secular works, and its religious list contained some progressive titles. These included George Adam Smith, George Adam Smith's ''Isaiah'' for its ''Expositor’s Bible'' series, which was one of the earliest texts to identify multiple authorship in the Book of Isaiah. There was also a sympathetic ''Life of Francis of Assisi, St Francis'' by Paul Sabatier (theologian), Paul Sabatier, a French Protestant pastor. Matthew Hodder ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canongate Books
Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was named the British Book Awards Publisher of the Year in 2003 and 2009. Origins Canongate was founded in 1973 by Stephanie Wolfe Murray and her husband Angus Wolfe Murray. Originally a speciality press focusing on Scottish-interest books, generally with small print runs, its most major author was Alasdair Gray. In 1994 it was purchased from the receiver in a management buyout led by Jamie Byng, using funds provided by his stepfather Christopher Bland and his father-in-law Charlie McVeigh, and began to publish more general works, including the '' Pocket Canons'' editions of books of the Bible, as well as the ''Payback Press'' and '' Rebel Inc.'' imprints. Byng is now the Publisher and Managing Director of the company. In June 2010 it was anno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secker & Warburg
Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, by Fredric Warburg and Roger Senhouse. The firm became renowned for its political stance, being both anti-fascist and anti-communist, a position that put them at loggerheads with the ethos of many intellectuals of the time. When George Orwell parted company with Communist Party sympathizer Victor Gollancz over his editing of ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' (1937), he took his next book ''Homage to Catalonia'' to Secker & Warburg, who published it in 1938. They also published, after 18 months of rejections and setbacks, ''Animal Farm'' (1945), and Orwell's subsequent books.Orwell, Sonia, and Ian Angus (eds), ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose (1945–1950)''. Penguin, 1970. Orwell a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allison & Busby
Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May 1967, A & B in its first two decades published writers including Sam Greenlee, Michael Moorcock, H. Rap Brown, Buchi Emecheta, Nuruddin Farah, Rosa Guy, Roy Heath, Aidan Higgins, Chester Himes, Adrian Henri, Michael Horovitz, C. L. R. James, George Lamming, Geoffrey Grigson, Jill Murphy, Andrew Salkey, Ishmael Reed, Julius Lester, Alexis Lykiard, Colin MacInnes, Arthur Maimane, Adrian Mitchell, Ralph de Boissière, Gordon Williams, Alan Burns, John Clute, James Ellroy, Giles Gordon, Clive Sinclair, Jack Trevor Story, John Edgar Wideman, Val Wilmer, Margaret Thomson Davis, Dermot Healy, Richard Stark, B. Traven, Simon Leys, and others. Among the imprint's original titles are '' The Spook Who Sat by the Door'' (1969), '' Behold the Man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stein & Day
Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until closing in 1989. History Stein and Day's first book was Elia Kazan's ''America America'', published in 1962, which was a bestseller and was adapted into a film by Kazan. The success of many of Stein and Day's books was attributable in part to the amount of publicity work that Stein and Day did for each book Stein worked with Kazan daily for five months on Kazan's first novel '' The Arrangement'', which was #1 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list for 37 consecutive weeks. The firm relocated from Manhattan to Briarcliff Manor, New York in 1975, and published about 100 books a year until the company declared bankruptcy in 1987, selling its backlist in 1988. Stein and Day's demise was the subject of Stein's book ''A Feast for Lawyers''. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acker Bilk
Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was a British clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat. Bilk's 1962 instrumental tune " Stranger on the Shore" became the UK's biggest selling single of 1962. It spent more than 50 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at number two, and was the second No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist. Early life Bilk was born in Pensford, Somerset, in 1929. He earned the nickname "Acker" from the Somerset slang for "friend" or "mate". His parents tried to teach him the piano but, as a boy, Bilk found it restricted his love of outdoor activities, including football. He lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which he said affected his eventual clarinet style. On leaving school Bilk joined the workforce of W.D. & H.O. Wills's cigarette fac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Trades Council
The London Trades Council was an early labour organisation, uniting London's trade unionists. Its modern successor organisation is the Greater London Association of Trades (Union) Councils History Leading figures in the London trade union movement convened occasional meetings of the "Metropolitan Trades Delegates" from 1848, meeting at the Old Bell Inn by the Old Bailey. The London builders' strike of 1859 required ongoing co-ordination, and it was determined to organise a trades council. The formation of the London Trades Council was organised at George Potter's Building Trades Conference and led by George Odger's Operative Bricklayers' Society. The unions agreed to demand a maximum working day of nine hours from their employers. The employers refused, resulting in strike action and a lockout. Eventually the unions conceded, but the solidarity built prompted the formation of a citywide body able to co-ordinate future action.{{cite book , last1=Jacobs , first1=Julius , ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Herald (Glasgow)
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in 1992. Following the closure of the ''Sunday Herald'', the ''Herald on Sunday'' was launched as a Sunday edition on 9 September 2018. History Founding The newspaper was founded by an Edinburgh-born printer called John Mennons in January 1783 as a weekly publication called the ''Glasgow Advertiser''. Mennons' first edition had a global scoop: news of the treaties of Versailles reached Mennons via the Lord Provost of Glasgow just as he was putting the paper together. War had ended with the American colonies, he revealed. ''The Herald'', therefore, is as old as the United States of America, give or take an hour or two. The story was, however, only carried on the back page. Mennons, using the larger of two fonts available to him, put it in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory's Girl
''Gregory's Girl'' is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of Cumbernauld. ''Gregory's Girl'' was ranked No. 30 in the British Film Institute's list of the top 100 British films of the 20th century, and No. 29 on ''Entertainment Weekly''s 2015 list of the 50 best high school movies. Plot Gregory Underwood is an awkward teenager who plays on his school football team. They are not doing very well, so the coach holds a trial to find new players. Dorothy shows up and, despite the coach's sexist misgivings, proves to be a very good player. She subsequently takes Gregory's place as centre forward, and Gregory in turn replaces his friend Andy as goalkeeper. Gregory is all for her making the team, as he finds her very attractive. However, he has to compete for her attention with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Forsyth
William David Forsyth (born 29 July 1946). known as Bill Forsyth, is a Scottish film director and writer known for his films ''Gregory's Girl'' (1981), '' Local Hero'' (1983) and '' Comfort and Joy'' (1984) as well as his adaptation of the Marilynne Robinson novel, ''Housekeeping'' (1987). Biography William David Forsyth was born on 29 July 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland. After leaving Knightswood School at the age of 17, he spent eight years making short documentary films, having formed Tree Films with fellow Scotsman Charles Gormley. Forsyth first came to attention with a low-budget film, '' That Sinking Feeling'', made with youth theatre actors and featuring a cameo appearance by the Edinburgh gallery owner Richard Demarco. The relative success of the film was carried to a far higher level by his next film ''Gregory's Girl'' in 1981. This featured some of the same young actors, in particular John Gordon Sinclair, as well as the acting debut of Clare Grogan. The film was a major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_(18738290228)_(cropped).jpg "Click for more on -> The Duellists")
