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John Hollingsworth
John Hollingsworth (20 March 191629 December 1963) was a British orchestral conductor prominent in the concert hall, the ballet and opera theatre, and the film studio. He was Sir Malcolm Sargent's assistant conductor at The Proms, where he conducted over 60 times including some world and British premieres. He also conducted at the Royal Opera and Sadlers Wells, and became associated with music for British horror films of the 1950s and early 1960s. Career John Ernest Hollingsworth was born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1916. He was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, and the Guildhall School of Music. When he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in 1937, at the age of 21, he was the youngest man up to that time ever to conduct that orchestra. He later set similar records with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra. Still only 23 when World War II broke out, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force and served as assistant conductor of the Royal A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated included the Ballets Russes, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Royal Choral Society, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Sargent was held in high esteem by choirs and instrumental soloists, but because of his high standards and a statement that he made in a 1936 interview disputing musicians' rights to tenure, his relationship with orchestral players was often uneasy. Despite this, he was co-founder of the London Philharmonic, was the first conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic as a full-time ensemble, and played an important part in saving the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from disbandment in the 1960s. As chief conductor of London's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin ( rus, link=no, Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, Aleksandr Porfir’yevich Borodin , p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr pɐrˈfʲi rʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈdʲin, a=RU-Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.ogg, links=no; 12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Romantic music, Romantic composer and chemist of Georgians, Georgian-Russians, Russian extraction. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as "The Five (composers), The Five", a group dedicated to producing a "uniquely Russian" kind of Russian classical music, classical music.Gerald Abraham, Abraham, Gerald. ''Borodin: the Composer and his Music''. London, 1927. Borodin is known best for his symphony, symphonies, his two string quartets, the symphonic poem ''In the Steppes of Central Asia'' and his opera ''Prince Igor''. A physician, doctor and chemist by profession and training, Borodin made important early contributions to organic chemistry. Although he is presently know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadler's Wells Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet is the late Dam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Office Of Information
The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a trading fund, recovering its costs from the other departments, executive agencies and publicly funded bodies which used its services. It was established in 1946 as the successor to the wartime Ministry of Information, when individual government departments resumed responsibility for information policy. It worked with Whitehall departments and public bodies to produce information campaigns on issues that affected the lives of British citizens, from health and education to benefits, rights and welfare. COI celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2006 with several events including a film season at the National Film Theatre and a poll to find Britain's favourite public information film on the BBC website. From 2010, governmental spending on marke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet is the late Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet (1948 Film)
''Hamlet '' is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. ''Hamlet'' was Olivier's second film as director and the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed (the 1936 ''As You Like It'' had starred Olivier, but had been directed by Paul Czinner). ''Hamlet'' was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the first sound film of the play in English. Olivier's ''Hamlet'' is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. However, it proved controversial among Shakespearean purists, who felt that Olivier had made too many alterations and excisions to the four-hour play by cutting nearly two hours' worth of content. Milton Shulman wrote in ''The Evening Standard'': "To some it will be one of the greatest films ever made, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the United Kingdom, British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End theatre, West End success in Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'', and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantata ''Belshazzar's Feast'', the Viola Concerto, the First Symphony, and the British coronation marches ''Crown Imperial'' and '' Orb and Sceptre''. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with Edith Sitwell, ''Façade'', which at first brought him notoriety as a modernist, but later became a popular ballet score. In middle age, Walton left Britain and set up home with his young wife Susana on the Italian island of Ischia. By this time, he had ceased to be regarded as a moderni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
They Made Me A Fugitive
''They Made Me a Fugitive'' (released in the United States as ''I Became a Criminal'') is a 1947 British film noir set in postwar England.''Variety'' film review; 2 July 1947, page 13.''Harrison's Reports'' film review (14 February 1948), page 26 Based on the Jackson Budd novel ''A Convict Has Escaped'', the black-and-white film was directed by Alberto Cavalcanti (credited as just Cavalcanti), with brooding and atmospheric cinematography by noted cameraman Otto Heller. The script was written by playwright Noel Langley. Plot Clem Morgan, demobilised from the Royal Air Force and unemployed after the war, helps in the stealing and transporting of black market goods in coffins to crime boss Narcy's (short for Narcissus) headquarters in a funeral parlour. Clem finds the activity harmless enough, until one day he finds drugs in the latest coffin. Clem objects and tells his girlfriend, Ellie, that he will quit after one last job that night, the looting of a warehouse. Narcy betrays him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
When The Bough Breaks (1947 Film)
''When the Bough Breaks'' is a 1947 film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Patricia Roc and Rosamund John. It is an adaptation of an original storyline by Herbert Victor on adoption and the competing ties of one child's birth and foster family. Plot After learning that her husband is a bigamist who already had a wife, new mother Lily Gardner (Patricia Roc) resolves to raise her baby, Jimmy, on her own under her maiden name of Lily Bates rather than give him up for adoption. Each day Lily leaves Jimmy at a day nursery while she works as a shopgirl at a department store, and then cares for Jimmy herself at night. Frances Norman (Rosamund John), a middle-class married woman who works at the day nursery to be around children after losing her own baby, is drawn to Jimmy. When Lily, under stress from her demanding schedule, becomes ill with flu, Frances persuades Lily to let her and her husband look after Jimmy temporarily. When Lily recovers, she visits Jimmy at the Normans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Piece Of Cake (film)
''A Piece of Cake'' is a 1948 British fantasy comedy film directed by John Irwin and starring and co-written by the husband and wife team of Cyril Fletcher and Betty Astell as well as Laurence Naismith and Jon Pertwee. It was made at Highbury Studios as a second feature for release by the Rank Organisation. Plot Set in the austere post–World War II British world of rationing, Cyril dreams up an ode to an imaginary character named Merlin Mound who can provide anything one can wish. Merlin becomes real and grants his host's wishes; not by conjuring the items out of thin air, but obtaining them from other people's ownership, which leads to trouble. Cast * Cyril Fletcher as Cyril Clarke * Betty Astell as Betty Clarke * Laurence Naismith as Merlin Mound * Jon Pertwee as Mr Short * Sam Costa as Les Millins * Miki Hood as Mrs Short * Tamara Lees as Dinner Guest * Audrey White as Dinner Guest * Philip Saville as Dinner Guest * Ethel Coleridge as Mrs Fiddle * Johnnie Schofield as Wind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brief Encounter
''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life''. Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey, it follows a passionate extramarital affair in England shortly before World War II. The protagonist is Laura, a married woman with children, whose conventional life becomes increasingly complicated after a chance meeting at a railway station with a married stranger with whom she subsequently falls in love. The film premiered in London on 13 November 1945, and was theatrically released on 25 November to widespread critical acclaim. It received three nominations at the 19th Academy Awards, Best Director, Best Actress (for Johnson), and Best Adapted Screenplay. Many critics, historians, and scholars cite the film as one of the greatest of all time. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it as the second-greatest British film of all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
