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Les Dawson
Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife. Early life Les Dawson was born at Collyhurst, Manchester, on 2 February 1931, the only child of bricklayer Leslie Dawson, Sr. (2 August 1905 - 10 April 1970) and Julia Nolan (14 January 1908 - 29 September 1957) who was of Irish descent. His first job was in the parcels department of the Manchester Co-op. He worked briefly as a journalist on the ''Bury Times''. Career Early in life, Dawson wrote poetry and kept it secret. It was not expected that someone of his working class background would have literary ambitions. In a BBC Television documentary, he spoke of his love for canonical figures in English literature, in particular the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb, whose florid style influenced Dawson's. He did, moreover, appear with The Nelson Players in Nelso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collyhurst
Collyhurst is an inner city area of Manchester, England, northeast of the city centre on Rochdale Road (A664) and Oldham Road (A62), bounded by Smedley, Harpurhey and Monsall to the north, Miles Platting to the east, Ancoats to the south, and the River Irk to the west. Prominent buildings include two Roman Catholic churches, St Patrick's and St Malachy's. Collyhurst sandstone Much of the red sandstone used for building in Manchester and the surrounding area, including stone for the Roman fort at Castlefield, St Ann's Church in the city centre, Manchester Cathedral and the original buildings of Chetham's Hospital, came from Collyhurst Quarry. Geologists use the term Collyhurst Sandstone for this type of soft red sandstone, which occurs in North West England. It is a fine to medium grained sedimentary rock, created from desert sands blown into dune formations during the Early Permian period when the area which now constitutes the British Isles was within the desert belts to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panel Game
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ''Match Game'' and '' Blankety Blank''; or do both, such as on ''Wait Wait Don't Tell Me''. The genre can be traced to 1938, when ''Information Please'' debuted on U.S. radio. The earliest known television panel show is '' Play the Game'', a charades show in 1946. The modern trend of comedy panel shows can find early roots with ''Stop Me If You've Heard This One'' in 1939 and '' Can You Top This?'' in 1940. While panel shows were more popular in the past in the U.S., they are still very common in the United Kingdom. Format While many early panel shows stuck to the traditional quiz show format in which celebrities tried to get the right answers and win, the primary goal of modern panel shows is to entertain the audience with comedy, with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wilson (Scottish Actor)
Richard Wilson (born Iain Carmichael Wilson; 9 July 1936) is a Scottish actor, theatre director and broadcaster. He is most famous for playing Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom ''One Foot in the Grave''. Another notable role was as Gaius, the court physician of Camelot, in the BBC drama '' Merlin''. Early life Wilson was born in Greenock, Scotland. He went to the Lady Alice Primary school in Greenock. He studied science subjects at Greenock Academy, then completed his National Service with the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in Singapore. Career Wilson worked in a laboratory at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow as a research assistant before switching to acting at age 27. He trained at RADA and then appeared in repertory theatres in Edinburgh ( Traverse Theatre), Glasgow and Manchester (Stables Theatre). Wilson initially turned down the role of Victor Meldrew and it was almost offered to Les Dawson before Wilson changed his mind. Wilson was awarded the OBE in the 1994 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Grand Knockout Tournament
''The Grand Knockout Tournament'' (also known as ''It's a Royal Knockout'') was a one-off charity event which took place on 15 June 1987, and was shown on British television on 19 June 1987 (BBC1, repeated on 27 December 1987), in addition to airing on American TV via the USA Network on 12 August 1987, and European satellite channel Superchannel on 6 March 1988 (repeated on Christmas Day 1988). It followed the format of ''It's a Knockout'' (the British version of ''Jeux sans frontières''), a slapstick TV gameshow which was broadcast in the UK until 1982. The event was staged on the lakeside lawn of the Alton Towers stately home and theme park. However, the event used its own specially created immersing set, meaning that the location was not very recognisable in the TV broadcast. Although regarded as a failure, a similar show, without royal involvement was made the following year at Walt Disney World in Florida, featuring teams of celebrities representing the United Kingdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Edward, Earl Of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar, (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964) is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibling of King Charles III. Edward is 13th in line of succession to the British throne. Born at Buckingham Palace, Edward studied at Heatherdown School and earned his A-Levels at Gordonstoun before spending a part of his gap year teaching at the Whanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. After a brief stint in the Royal Marines, Edward worked as a theatre production assistant at the Really Useful Theatre Company before assisting in television production. He later formed his own company, Ardent Productions. Edward stepped down from the company in 2002 to begin full-time duties as a working member of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Good Old Days (UK TV Series)
''The Good Old Days'' is a BBC television light entertainment programme produced by Barney Colehan which ran for 30 years from 20 July 1953 to 31 December 1983. It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed in the style of the original artistes. The audience dressed in period costume and joined in the singing, especially " Down at the Old Bull and Bush" which closed the show each week. The show was compered throughout its whole run (except for the first two shows) by Leonard Sachs, who introduced the acts from a desk situated at the side of the stage. In the course of its run it featured about 2,000 performers. Each show was up to an hour long. The orchestra pit was deliberately visible in front of the main stage. The orchestra leader for many years was Bernard Herrmann (not the American film composer, but a flautist and later conductor with the BBC N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. The Radio 2 about page says: "With a repertoire covering more than 40 years, Radio 2 plays the widest selection of music on the radio—from classic and mainstream pop to a specialist portfolio including classical, country, folk, jazz, soul, rock 'n' roll, gospel and blues." Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between and from studios in Wogan House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are broadcast on FM radio, digital radio via DAB, digital television and BBC Sounds. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 14.4 million with a listening share of 16.1% as of September 2022. History 1967–1986 The network was launched at 5:30am on Saturday 30 September 1967, repla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Listen To Les
''Listen to Les'' was a long-running comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 2 starring Les Dawson. Dawson performed various deadpan monologues and played in a number of recurring character sketches including'' "At Home with the Desponds"'', ''"The Sophisticates"'' and ''"Cissy and Ada"'' supported by other performers including Daphne Oxenford, Colin Edwynn and Roy Barraclough Roy Senior Barraclough (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English comic actor. He was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy, the devious, mournful landlord of the Rovers Return in the long-running British TV soap ''Coronation Street'' .... Every show ended with Dawson calling upon the studio audience to join him in a singalong with a popular or classic song, which he would deliberately play badly at the piano, to great comic effect. BBC Radio comedy programmes {{BBC-radio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blankety Blank
''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 until 1983, then by Les Dawson from 1984 until 1990. A revival hosted by Paul O'Grady (as Lily Savage) was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002 as ''Lily Savage's Blankety Blank''. David Walliams hosted a one-off Christmas Special for ITV on 24 December 2016, with Bradley Walsh hosting a 2020 Christmas Special of the show for the BBC, which in turn led to a second revival series that premiered on 2 October 2021. The show is based on the American game show '' Match Game'', with contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panellists to fill-in-the-blank questions. Format Main game Two contestants compete. The object of the game is to match the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Les Dawson Show
''The Les Dawson Show'' was a variety show that aired on BBC1 intermittently from 1978 through 1989. The show starred comedian Les Dawson (1931–1993), who had previously starred in the ITV sketch comedy programme ''Sez Les'' (1969–76), followed by ''Dawson and Friends'' (1977). ''The Les Dawson Show'' also featured sketch comedy, as well as stand-up comedy, guest appearances, dance numbers, and musical performances. Overview Series 1–2 In the first series, transmitted in 1978, Dawson co-hosted the show with Scottish singer-songwriter Lulu. In addition to comedy sketches and songs by Dawson, Lulu, and guests artists, each episode featured performances by the Dougie Squires Dancers, with choreography by Dougie Squires. The musical director at this time was John Coleman, and the arranger was Alan Roper. Episodes of this first series aired fortnightly rather than weekly. No new episodes of the show aired for more than three years. Then, in May 1981, BBC1 transmitted a ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He was educated at Westminster City School which was then a voluntary aided grammar school and later read English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society (CULES). Career Hamilton first came to notice while performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the 1970s. In the mid-1970s he sustained himself by taking jobs at Harrods and the Post Office before joining the BBC in 1976. His early radio work, mostly on BBC Radio 4 included '' Week Ending'', '' The News Huddlines'' and '' The Million Pound Radio Show'' (with Nick Revell). He has since appeared regularly in ''Chelmsford 123'', '' Have I Got News for You'', ''The News Quiz'', '' QI'', and '' If I Ruled the World''. Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was primarily the historic county of Yorkshire and parts of neighbouring counties served by the Emley Moor transmitter. Following a reorganisation in 1974 the transmission area was extended to include Lincolnshire, northwestern Norfolk and parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, served by the Belmont transmitter. Two consortia applied for the franchise, ''Telefusion Yorkshire Ltd'' and ''Yorkshire Independent Television'', the former having large financial backing (supported by the Blackpool-based ''Telefusion'' television rental chain) and the latter having the better plans but fewer resources. On 1 January 2007, the company transferred its programme production business to ITV Studios Limited. As a consequence, Yorkshire Television Limited ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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