Joan Hickson
Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number of ''Miss Marple'' stories on audiobooks. Biography Born in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, Hickson was a daughter of Edith Mary (née Bogle) and Alfred Harold Hickson, a shoe manufacturer. After boarding at Oldfield School in Swanage, Dorset, she went on to train at RADA in London. She made her stage debut in 1927, then worked for several years throughout the United Kingdom, achieving success playing comedic, often eccentric characters in the West End of London. She played the role of the cockney maid Ida in the original production of '' See How They Run'' at the Q Theatre in 1944, and then at the Comedy Theatre in January 1945. She made her first film appearance in 1934. The numerous supporting roles she played during her career included s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire (later Commonwealth) and the Viceroy of India. Nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most Commonwealth countries ceased recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire when they ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Carry On Nurse
''Carry On Nurse'' is a 1959 British comedy film, the second in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). Of the regular team, it featured Joan Sims (in her ''Carry On'' film debut), Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey, with Hattie Jacques and Leslie Phillips. The film was written by Norman Hudis based on the play ''Ring for Catty'' by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale. It was the top-grossing film of 1959 in the United Kingdom and, with an audience of 10.4 million, had the highest cinema viewing of any of the "Carry On" films. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also highly successful in the United States, where it was reported that it played at some cinemas for three years. Plot The journalist Ted York (Terence Longdon) is rushed to Haven Hospital with appendicitis. The ambulance gets there at top speed, but only because the driver wants to know the result of a horse race. Ted is given a bed and is instantly smitten with Nurse Denton (Shirley Eaton). The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Tony Hatch
Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his musical abilities, his mother – also a pianist – enrolled him in the London Choir School in Wansunt Road, Bexley, Kent when he was 10. Instead of continuing at the Royal Academy of Music, he left school in 1955 and found a job with Robert Mellin Music in London's Tin Pan Alley. Not long after working as a tea boy, he was writing songs (under the name Mark Anthony) and entered the recording industry when he joined The Rank Organisation's new subsidiary Top Rank Records; there he worked for future Decca Records A&R man Dick Rowe. While he served his National Service, he became involved with the Band of the Coldstream Guards. On his return in 1959, Hatch began producing Top Rank artists such as Bert Weedon, the then unknown Ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Card (musical)
''The Card'' is a musical with a book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall and music and lyrics by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. Based on Arnold Bennett's 1911 comedic novel of the same name, it chronicles the rise of Denry Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley through initiative, guile, and luck. Cameron Mackintosh's West End production opened on 24 July 1973 at the Queen's Theatre where it ran for 130 performances. Directed by Val May and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, it starred Jim Dale, Millicent Martin, Joan Hickson, Marti Webb, and Eleanor Bron. The 1994 revival at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London, starred Peter Duncan, Jessica Martin, Hayley Mills, and Jenna Russell and was extensively re-worked by the original authors with lyricist Anthony Drewe.Koenig, RhodTHEATRE / Plain dealer:The Card in Regent's Park'The Independent'', 3 August 1994 Amendments were made to the libretto, existing songs were re-written and others dropped and new ones in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Blithe Spirit (play)
''Blithe Spirit'' is a comic play by Noël Coward, described by the author as "an improbable farce in three acts". The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric Mediumship, medium and clairvoyant Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his wilful and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost. The play was first seen in the West End theatre, West End in 1941 and ran for 1,997 performances, a new record for a non-musical play in London. It also did well on Broadway theatre, Broadway later that year, running for 657 performances. The play was Blithe Spirit (1945 film), adapted for the cinema in 1945; a Blithe Spirit (2020 film), second film version followed in 2020. Coward directed a musical theatre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"."Noel Coward at 70" ''Time'', 26 December 1969, p. 46 Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as '' [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Clockwise (film)
''Clockwise'' is an absurdist 1986 British comedy road film starring John Cleese, directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film's music was composed by George Fenton. For his performance Cleese won the 1987 Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Most urban scenes were shot in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, while rural scenes were largely shot in Shropshire. Menzies High School in West Bromwich was used to portray the fictional school within the film. Plot Brian Stimpson, headmaster of Thomas Tompion Comprehensive School, has been elected to chair the annual Headmasters' Conference meeting in Norwich. Openly careless as a young man, Stimpson is now compulsively organised and punctual and his school runs "like clockwork". Stimpson is the first headmaster of a comprehensive school to chair the Headmasters' Conference, that honour usually being reserved for heads of the more p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' is a British sitcom which was broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was the colour sequel to the mid-1960s hit ''The Likely Lads''. It was created and written, as was its predecessor, by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. There were 26 television episodes over two series, and a subsequent 45-minute Christmas special was aired on 24 December 1974. The cast was reunited in 1975 for a BBC radio adaptation of series 1, transmitted on Radio 4 from July to October that year. A feature film spin-off was made in 1976. Around the time of its release, however, Rodney Bewes and James Bolam fell out over a misunderstanding involving the press, and did not speak again before Bewes' death in November 2017. This long-suspected feud was finally confirmed by Bewes while promoting his autobiography in 2005. Even while Bewes was alive, Bolam was consistently reluctant to talk about the show, and vetoed any attempt to revive his char ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bachelor Father (UK TV Series)
''Bachelor Father'' is a British sitcom starring Ian Carmichael that aired for two series from 1970 to 1971. It was written by Richard Waring. Background ''Bachelor Father'' is loosely based on the life of Peter Lloyd Jeffock. Jeffock was a bachelor who had fostered twelve children. He later wrote an autobiography called ''Only Uncle''. Richard Waring, who wrote ''Bachelor Father'', based some of the plots on incidents told in ''Only Uncle''. Waring said that he would have kept more to ''Only Uncle'', but many of the true stories were so far-fetched, he thought the public wouldn't believe them. Cast *Ian Carmichael – Peter Lamb *Sonia Graham – Mrs Rathbone *Diana King – Norah *Ian Johnson – Ben * Briony McRoberts – Anna *Michael Douglas – Freddie *Beverley Simons – Jane *Joan Hickson – Mrs Pugsley *Gerald Flood – Harry ''(series 1)'' *Colin Gordon – Mr Gibson ''(series 1)'' *Pauline Yates – Mrs Moore ''(series 1 and 1970 special)'' *Jack May – Mr Moore ''( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Our Man At St
Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulator in Jamaica * Operation Underground Railroad, a non-profit organization that helps rescue sex trafficking victims * Operation Unified Response, the United States military's response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake * Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party The Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party (or Our Party) is a political party in the Solomon Islands. The party was established on 16 January 2010 (and officially launched a month later) by the leader of the Opposition (and former Prime Minis ..., a political party in the Solomon Islands See also * Ours (other) {{Disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor. Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (1953 film)'', ''Doctor in the House'' (1954), ''Simba'' (1955), '' Eyewitness'' (1956) and '' Doctor at Large'' (1957). He then became highly regarded as an award-winning Shakespearean and West End theatre actor and television sitcom star, winning the 1977 Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for ''King Lear'', and starring in the sitcoms '' Two's Company'' (1975–79) and ''Never the Twain'' (1981–91). Early life Sinden was born in St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon on 9 October 1923, the middle child of chemist Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes (''née'' Fuller). His elder sister Joy became an English teacher at Claverham Community College in Battle, East Sussex, and younger brother Leon (1927–2015) became an actor. They grew up ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, television and film. She came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's '' Blithe Spirit'', and Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role as the Duchess of Brighton in '' The V.I.P.s'' (1963). In the early 1960s, she starred as Agatha Christie's character Miss Marple in a series of four George Pollock films. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and a Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967. Early life Rutherford's early life was overshadowed by tragedies involving both of her parents. Her father, journalist and poet William Rutherford Benn, married Florence Nicholson on 16 December 1882 in Wandsworth, South London. One month after the marriage, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to Bethnal House Lunatic Asylum. Released ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |