Michael Bilton
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Michael Bilton
Robert Michael Bilton (14 December 1919 – 5 November 1993) was an English actor best known for his roles in the British television sitcoms ''To the Manor Born'' (playing the gardener and sometime butler Ned) and '' Waiting for God'' (playing Basil, a septuagenarian satyr). Early life He attended Hymers College, Hull. In the Second World War he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and was wounded at the Battle of El Alamein. After his recovery he began his acting career in repertory theatre. Career He had a strong comedic bent and featured in ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''One Foot in the Grave'' and ''Grace and Favour'' (1992). He also appeared in ''Brideshead Revisited'', '' Pennies From Heaven'', '' The Saint'', '' The Avengers'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Quatermass II'', ''The Champions'', the doorman at a hotel in ''Terry and June'', in the '' Doctor Who'' stories, ''The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve'', ''Pyramids of Mars'' and ''The Deadly Assassin'', ''Wodehouse Pla ...
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Cottingham, East Riding Of Yorkshire
Cottingham is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England with average affluence. It lies north-west of the centre of Kingston upon Hull, and south-east of Beverley on the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds. It has two main shopping streets, Hallgate and King Street, which cross each other near the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, and a market square called Market Green. Cottingham had a population of 17,164 residents in 2011, making it larger by area and population than many towns. However, it is one of the villages claiming to be the largest village in England. History Origin of name "Cottingham" is thought to derive from both British and Saxon root words: "Cot" from ''Ket'', relating to the deity Ceridwen; ''ing'' a water meadow; and ''ham'' meaning home; the name corresponding to "habitation in the water meadows of Ket". The name has also been suggested to derive from a man's name "Cotta" plus ''-inga-'' (OE belon ...
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Second Battle Of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis powers, Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, General (United Kingdom), General Claude Auchinleck had been relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army (United Kingdom), Eighth Army. Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive. The British victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis sin ...
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The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve
''The Massacre'' (also known as ''The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve'') is the completely missing fourth serial of the third season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 February 1966. In this serial, the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companion Steven (Peter Purves) arrive in France in 1572, during the events leading up to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. The two of them become separated, leaving the Doctor's journey largely unaccounted for while Steven is caught up in a Huguenots plot to assassinate the Catholic Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici (Joan Young). This serial marks the first appearance of Jackie Lane as companion-to-be Dodo Chaplet. It is also notable for being the first time the lead actor (Hartnell) played a dual role as the Doctor and the villain (the First Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise), although unlike future instances, they never met on-screen. A ...
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Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS. The TARDIS exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. With various companions, the Doctor combats foes, works to save civilisations, and helps people in need. Beginning with William Hartnell, thirteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; in 2017, Jodie Whittaker became the first woman to officially play the role on television. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which a Time Lord "transforms" into a new body when the current one is too badly harmed to heal normally. Each acto ...
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Terry And June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford, who live in Purley. Most of the 65 episodes were written by John Kane, with seven other writers also contributing some episodes. The theme tune, Bell Hop by John Shakespeare, was also used for the radio series Never Too Late which starred Dame Thora Hird and Joe Gladwin and ran for two series (1981 and 1982). Production Terry Scott and June Whitfield began their television partnership in '' Scott On'' in 1968. On 7 May 1974, a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot called "Happy Ever After" aired on BBC1 with Scott and Whitfield playing Terry and June Fletcher, a middle-class couple whose grown-up children have just left home. This was commissioned into a series of the same name, and five series and two Christmas specials w ...
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The Champions
''The Champions'' is a British espionage thriller/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure television series. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company, and consists of 30 episodes broadcast in the UK on ITV during 1968–1969. The series was broadcast in the US on NBC, starting in summer 1968. Plot Agents Craig Stirling, Sharron Macready and Richard Barrett work for a United Nations law enforcement organization called 'Nemesis', based in Geneva. Barrett is a codebreaker, Stirling a pilot, and Macready a recently widowed scientist and doctor. In the pilot episode, the team is escaping by air from a spying mission in China. Their stolen plane, damaged by gunfire during the getaway, crashes in the Himalayas. They are rescued by an advanced civilization living secretly in the mountains of Tibet, who save their lives, granting them enhanced abilities, including extrasensory powers to communicate with one another over distances (telepathy) and ...
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Quatermass II
''Quatermass II'' is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the ''Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...'' series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives. The serial sees Bernard Quatermass, Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange meteorite showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering a conspiracy involving Extraterrestrial life, alien infiltration at the highest levels of the British government. As even some of Quatermass's closest colleagues fall victim to the alien influence, he is forced to use his own unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused ...
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The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. Patrick McGoohan played the lead role as Number Six. The series was created by McGoohan with possible contributions from George Markstein. Episode plots have elements of science fiction, allegory, and psychological drama, as well as spy fiction. It was produced by Everyman Films for distribution by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. A single series of 17 episodes was filmed between September 1966 and January 1968, with exterior location filming in Portmeirion, Wales. Interior scenes were filmed at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, north of London. The series was first broadcast in Canada beginning on 5 September 1967, in the UK on 29 September 1967, and in the US on 1 June 1968. Although the show was sold as a thril ...
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The Avengers (TV Series)
''The Avengers'' is a British Spy fiction, espionage television series, created in 1961, that ran for 161 episodes until 1969. It initially focused on David Keel (Ian Hendry), aided by John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Hendry left after the first series; Steed then became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson). Dresses and suits for the series were made by Pierre Cardin. The series ran from 1961 until 1969, screening as one-hour episodes for its entire run. The pilot episode, "Hot Snow (The Avengers), Hot Snow", aired on 7 January 1961. The final episode, "Bizarre", aired on 21 April 1969 in the United States, and on 17 May 1969 in the United Kingdom. ''The Avengers'' was produced by ABC Weekend TV, a contractor within the ITV (TV network), ITV network. After a merger with Rediffusion London in July 1968 ...
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The Saint (TV Series)
''The Saint'' is a British mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the United Kingdom on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels over the years. In the television series, Templar was played by Roger Moore. Templar helps those whom conventional agencies are powerless or unwilling to protect, often using methods that skirt the law. Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal is his nominal nemesis who considers Templar a common criminal, but often grudgingly tolerates his actions for the greater good. NBC picked up the show as a summer replacement in its evening schedule in 1966 because of the strong performance in the United States of the first two series in first-run syndication. The programme, therefore, ended its run with both trans-Atlantic primetime scheduling and colour episodes. It also proved popular beyond the UK and US, eventually airing in over 60 countries ...
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Pennies From Heaven (TV Series)
''Pennies from Heaven'' is a 1978 BBC musical drama serial written by Dennis Potter. The title is taken from the song " Pennies from Heaven" written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston. It was one of several Potter serials (another being ''The Singing Detective'') to mix the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, and the earliest of his works where the characters burst into extended performances of popular songs. Overview Hoskins became an established actor in the United Kingdom following his role in this serial. The serial was directed by Piers Haggard and produced by Potter collaborator Kenith Trodd. The series also featured Nigel Havers as Conrad Baker (the suave salesman), Jenny Logan as Irene (Joan's friend), Freddie Jones as Mr. Warner (Eileen's headmaster), Michael Bilton as Eileen's dad, Will Stamp as the Barman, Tudor Davies as the cafe customer (Davies was also choreographer for the series), and Peter Bowles as the Prosecuting Counsel. ''Pennies'' was the ...
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Brideshead Revisited (TV Serial)
''Brideshead Revisited'' is a 1981 British television serial starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. It was produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. Most of the serial was directed by Charles Sturridge, with certain sequences directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who handled the initial phases of the production. The serial is an adaptation of the novel ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1945) by Evelyn Waugh. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder—including his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle. The screenplay was written by Derek Granger (the series' producer) and others. Although the credits attribute the screenplay to John Mortimer, Mortimer's script was not used.Jones, Alice"Life after Brideshead" ''The Independent''. 1 October 2008. Charles Sturridge declared that 95% of the dialogue was from Waugh's original t ...
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