|
Leonard Henry (comedian)
Leonard Henry Ruming (15 March 1890 – 6 January 1973), known as Leonard Henry, was an English comedian, actor, and radio broadcaster. Biography Born in Lambeth, London, he first performed as a comic entertainer in concert parties in 1912. He made his first radio broadcast in 1926, and thereafter appeared regularly on the BBC. He also played in pantomimes, variety shows, and Shakespeare plays. He was known for monologues containing comic '' non sequiturs'', funny voices and noises, and increasingly outlandish lists, for instance of those attending a function. He was the first person to blow a raspberry on British radio,Denis Gifford, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , pp.113-114 and was also reputed to be able to make an impromptu joke on any subject suggested by his audience. He wrote and starred in his own revues, including ''Humouresque'' and ''April Foolishness'', and was a regular performer in ''Charlot's Hour'', the first regular we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area experienced some slight growth in the medieval period as part of the manor of Lambeth Palace. By the Victorian era the area had seen significant development as London expanded, with dense industrial, commercial and residential buildings located adjacent to one another. The changes brought by World War II altered much of the fabric of Lambeth. Subsequent development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has seen an increase in the number of high-rise buildings. The area is home to the International Maritime Organization. Lambeth is home to one of the largest Lusophone, Portuguese-speaking communities in the UK, and is the second most commonly spoken language in Lambeth after English language, English. History Medieval The origins of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Command Performance
A Royal Command Performance is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commissioned theatrical performances, the first Royal Command Performance to bear that name was staged at Windsor Castle in 1848 by order of Queen Victoria. From then on, command performances were frequently staged, often calling upon the leading actors from the London theatres, until the death of Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert in 1861. There were no further command performances until they recommenced in 1881. These included plays, revues, comic operas and other musical theatre. King Edward VII called for several performances each year. In 1911 a Great "Gala" performance was given by the theatrical profession at Her Majesty's Theatre, His Majesty's Theatre in London in celebration of the Coronation of George V and Mary, coronation of King ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1973 Deaths
Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam. * January 17 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines. * January 20 – Richard Nixon is sworn in for a second term as President of the United States. Nixon is the only person to have been sworn in twice as President ( 1969, 1973) and Vice President of the United States ( 1953, 1957). * January 22 ** George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier to win the heavyweight world boxing championship. ** A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707 flight from Jeddah crashes in Kano, Nigeria; 176 people are killed. * January 27 – U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. February * February 8 – A militar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1890 Births
Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 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 Roman Empire * Plague (possibly smallpox) kills as many as 2,000 people per day in Rome. Farmers are unable to harvest their crops, and food shortages bring riots in the city. China * Liu Bian succeeds Emperor Ling, as Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty. * Dong Zhuo has Liu Bian deposed, and installs Emperor Xian as emperor. * Two thousand eunuchs in the palace are slaughtered in a violent purge in Luoyang, the capital of Han. By topic Arts and sciences * Galen publishes his ''"Treatise on the various temperaments"'' (aka ''O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Since 2018 the programme has been presented by Lauren Laverne. More than 3,000 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest. An example of a guest who falls into both categories is Bob Monkhouse, who appeared with his co-writer Denis Goodwin on 12 December 1955 and in his own right on 20 December 1998. When ''Desert Island Discs'' marked its 75th year in 2017, ''The Guardian'' called the show a radio classic. In Februar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Housewives' Choice
''Housewives' Choice'' was a BBC Radio record request programme, broadcast every morning between 1946 and 1967 on the BBC Light Programme. It played a wide range of mostly popular music intended to appeal to housewives at home during the day. Like many other BBC radio shows of the era of very limited broadcasting competition, it achieved massive audiences, and is very closely identified with the time in the public mind.Elrick, Geroge. ''Housewives Choice'' (1991) Theme The distinctive theme music was "In Party Mood" by Jack Strachey. This music, much like "Puffin' Billy", the theme to ''Junior Choice,'' has latterly been used frequently in other media as a signifier for 1950s Middle England, for example in a number of TV adverts and in the Comic Strip's parodies of the Famous Five, ''Five Go Mad in Dorset'' and ''Five Go Mad on Mescalin''. Conception and presentation The programme was conceived by the Controller of the Light Programme, Norman Collins, who had heard a simi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was, in part, due to its distribution partnerships with American companies United Artists, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American International Pictures and Seven Arts Productions as well as fellow European fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Public Life Of Henry The Ninth
''The Public Life of Henry the Ninth'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Bernard Mainwaring and starring Leonard Henry, Betty Frankiss, and George Mozart. This film was the first film made by Hammer Productions, and was Henry's film debut. It is set largely in the bar of the Henry VIII public house, with the title alluding to the 1933 Oscar-winning film ''The Private Life of Henry VIII''. Originally released in 1935 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was released again in 1940, this time by Exclusive. It is on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list of lost films. Cast * Leonard Henry as Henry * Betty Frankiss as Maggie * George Mozart as Draughts Player * Wally Patch as Landlord * Aileen Latham as Liz * Mae Bacon as Landlady * Herbert Langley as Police Constable * Dorothy Vernon as Mrs. Fickle Critical reception ''The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it mer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the 1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35 mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels. "Short" was an abbreviation for either term. The increasingly rare industry term "short subject" carries more of an assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film. Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers with either a low budget or no budget at all. They are usually funded by film grants, nonprofit organizations, sponsor, or personal funds. Short films are generally used for industry experience and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Entertainment
Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like. In Great Britain In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment would be considered light by today's standards, as great pains were taken not to offend audiences—which is not to say that they always succeeded in this. Singers, magicians and comedians were drafted from the music hall circuit to fill the schedules. Stage acts were transferred directly to screen and in the case of productions such as ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' the broadcasts actually came from large theatres. Many future household names, including The Beatles, were given their first public airings during these programmes, which attempted to cater for varying tastes through staging variety acts. Bruce Forsyth was one of several hosts for the show and went on himself to present the studio-based '' Generation Game'' which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concert Party (entertainment)
A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is the collective name for a group of entertainers, or Pierrots, popular in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The variety show given by a Pierrot troupe was called a Pierrot show. Concert parties were travelling shows of songs and comedy, often put on at the seaside and opening with a Pierrot number. History In 1891, the singer and banjoist Clifford Essex, inspired by Michel Carré fils' pantomime ''L'enfant prodigue'' (1890), which he had seen at the Prince of Wales' Theatre (of the latter known as the Scala Theatre) in London, resolved to create a troupe of English Pierrot entertainers. Thus began the tradition of seaside Pierrots in pointed hats and black or coloured costumes who sang, danced, juggled, and joked on the piers of Brighton, Margate and Blackpool from the 1890s until the 1950s.See Pertwee. The style of performance attracted artists from music hall and variety theatre. Some performers, such as Nevi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
