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Hilda Baker
Hylda Baker (4 February 1905 – 1 May 1986) was an English comedian, actress and music hall performer. Born and brought up in Farnworth, Lancashire, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Nellie Pledge in the Granada ITV sitcom ''Nearest and Dearest'' (1968–1973) and for her role in the 1960 film ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning''. Early life and career Baker was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian. At ten, Baker made her debut at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells, and continued to tour as a single variety act — singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By 14, she had started writing, producing and performing her own shows. Her stage act included a gossip from the North of England, with a silent, sullen companion named "Big Cynthia", almost always played by a man in drag (such as Victor Graham, and lastly by Matthew ...
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Municipal Borough Of Farnworth
The Municipal Borough of Farnworth was a local government district centred on the town of Farnworth in the Administrative counties of England, administrative county of Lancashire, England. A local board of health had been established for Farnworth in 1863, which was reconstituted as an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district in 1899, before being granted a royal charter, charter of incorporation to become a municipal borough in 1939. Following abolition of the local authority in 1974, Farnworth became an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester. History Lying within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire since the early 12th century, Farnworth constituted a Township (England), township in the civil parish, civil and ecclesiastical parish of Deane, Greater Manchester, Deane. In 1837, Farnworth became part of the Bolton Poor Law Union which took responsibility for funding the Poor Law in ...
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Malapropisms
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switchhitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Philosopher Donald Davidson has said that malapropisms show the complex process through which the brain translates thoughts into language. Humorous malapropisms are the type that attract the most attention and commentary, but bland malapropisms are common in speech and writing. Etymology The word "malapropism" (and its earlier form, "malaprop") comes from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play ''The Rivals''. Mrs. Malapro ...
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Industrial Town
An industrial city or industrial town is a town or city in which the municipal economy, at least historically, is centered around industry, with important factories or other production facilities in the town. It has been part of most countries' industrialization process. Air pollution and toxic waste have contributed to the lower life expectancy in some industrial cities. Industrial cities are distinguished from port cities or other transportation hubs, which deal in services. In the United States, which had much sparsely populated land, the industry typically preceded the town; the town grew up around a factory, mine, or source of water power. As the industry grew, and it and its employees needed goods and services, the town grew with and often around it, until in some cases the town became a city. It is a capitalistic and typically unplanned expansion. Examples are Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the mill towns of New England. In countries with strong central planning, such as Chin ...
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British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, distribution, and education. It is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and partially funded under the British Film Institute Act 1949. Purpose It was established in 1933 to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and their impact on society, to promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British and world cinema and to establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history and heritage of the United Kingdom. BFI activities Archive The BFI maint ...
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She Knows Y'Know
''She Knows Y'Know'' is a 1962 black and white British comedy film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring comedienne Hylda Baker. The film takes its title from Hylda Baker's best known catch-phrase. The British Film Institute, BFI describes the film, which was made on a low-budget, as a "low life comedy, unfolded against an industrial town backdrop". Plot In the Northern England, North of England in the 1950s, the lives of two very different families become entwined. The Worswicks are a working class family led by domineering mother Hylda (Hylda Baker) with husband Joe (Cyril Smith) and academically bright son Leslie (Peter Myers). Neighbours the Smallhopes are aspiring middle class, led by mother Euphemia (Joan Sanderson), husband Clarence (Neil Wilson), with attractive daughter Marilyn (Linda Castle), whose sudden pregnancy is the catalyst for unfolding dramas involving both families. Cast * Hylda Baker as Hylda Worswick * Cyril Smith (actor), Cyril Smith as Joe Worswick * ...
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British Comedy
Throughout film, television, and radio, British comedy has become known for its consistently peculiar characters, plots, and settings, and has produced some of the most renowned comedians and characters in the world. History British comedy history is measured in centuries. Shakespeare incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play ''The Comedy of Errors''. The quarrelsome couple Punch and Judy made their first recorded appearance in Britain in 1662, when Samuel Pepys noted a "pretty" puppet play being performed in Covent Garden, London. The various episodes of Punch and Judy are performed in the spirit of outrageous comedy — often provoking shocked laughter — and are dominated by the anarchic clowning of Mr. Punch. Satire has been a major feature of comedy in the British isles for centuries. The pictorial satire of William Hogarth was a precursor to the development of political cartoons in 18th century England. The medium developed under the ...
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Chiswick Empire
The Chiswick Empire was a theatre facing Turnham Green in Chiswick that opened in 1912 and closed and was demolished in 1959. A venue for touring artists, some of the greatest names in drama, variety and music hall performed there including George Formby, Laurel and Hardy, Chico Marx, Peter Sellers and Liberace. Early history In 1910 the theatre owner and manager Oswald Stoll made a proposal to build a music hall on a site on Chiswick High Road, facing Chiswick's Turnham Green. There followed a public debate with many local people opposed to Stoll's plan, arguing that such a venue would be unsuitable in one of the more select residential areas in the town. Others were concerned that a music hall would encourage working-class people to waste their money: "having too many music halls is a great blow to thrift – a great weakness of the English race was their want of thrift" suggested one local resident. However, the new theatre had enough local support for a 2,000 signature petiti ...
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Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical '' Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End. Best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for ''Oliver!'', Bart was described by Andrew Lloyd Webber as "the father of the modern British musical". In 1963 he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for ''Oliver!'', and the 1968 film version of the musical won a total of 6 Academy Awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture. Some of his other compositions include the theme song to the James Bond film '' From Russia with Love'', and the songs " Living Doll" by Cliff Richard, "Far Away" by Sh ...
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Oliver! (film)
''Oliver!'' is a 1968 British period musical drama film based on Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. Directed by Carol Reed from a screenplay by Vernon Harris, the picture includes such musical numbers as "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", " As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", and "Where Is Love?". It stars Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Jack Wild, and Mark Lester in the title role. Filmed at Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey, it was a Romulus production by John Woolf and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. At the 41st Academy Awards for 1968, ''Oliver!'' was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Reed, and an Honorary Award for choreographer Onna White. At the 26th Golden Globe Awards, the film won two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy a ...
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Up The Junction (film)
''Up the Junction'' is a 1968 British "kitchen sink" drama film, directed by Peter Collinson and starring Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta, Maureen Lipman and Liz Fraser. It is based on the 1963 book of the same name by Nell Dunn and was adapted by Roger Smith. The film's soundtrack was by Manfred Mann. The film followed Ken Loach's BBC TV adaptation of 1965, but returned to the original book. It generated less controversy and impact than the Loach version. Plot The film is set in London in the 1960s and it begins with wealthy young heiress Polly Dean (Suzy Kendall) leaving a large house in privileged Chelsea in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce. The Rolls-Royce then moves across the Thames near Battersea Power Station, where Polly gets out of the car and walks away alone with the opening credits following. She moves to a working-class community in Battersea, where she takes a job in Macrindles confectionery factory in an attempt to distance herself from her money ...
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Karel Reisz
Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' (1960), a classic of kitchen sink realism, and the romantic period drama ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981). Early life Reisz was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia of Jewish extraction.Milne, Tom"Obituary: Karel Reisz"''Guardian.co.uk'', 28 November 2002 (Retrieved: 3 July 2009) His father was a lawyer. He was a refugee, one of the 669 rescued by Sir Nicholas Winton. He came to England in 1938, speaking almost no English, but eradicated his foreign accent as quickly as possible. After attending Leighton Park School, he joined the Royal Air Force toward the end of the war; his parents were murdered at Auschwitz. Following his war service, he read Natural Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and began to write for fi ...
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Our House (1960 TV Series)
''Our House'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1960 to 1962. The main writer of the programme, which starred many actors known for their roles in the ''Carry On'' films, was Norman Hudis, who wrote the first six ''Carry On'' films from 1958 to 1962. ''Our House'' is based on the premise of nine people of differing backgrounds sharing a house together. Production ''Our House'' was created by Norman Hudis, who was also the main writer. Two other writers contributed to the series, Brad Ashton and Bob Block. It was produced by Ernest Maxin. Episodes were recorded in front of a live audience at Teddington Studios. The theme music was composed by Maxin and performed by Johnny Gregory. Cast *Hattie Jacques - Georgina Ruddy * Charles Hawtrey - Simon Willow *Frederick Peisley - Herbert Keene *Leigh Madison - Marcia Hatton *Trader Faulkner - Stephen Hatton ''(series 1)'' *Joan Sims - Daisy Burke ''(series 1)'' *Norman Rossington - Gordon Brent ''(series 1)'' *Frank Pettingell ...
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