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Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills (22 January 1911 – 1 December 2005) was an English actress and writer, married for 64 years to actor Sir John Mills. Her novel '' Whistle Down the Wind'' was adapted as a film, starring her teenaged daughter, actress Hayley Mills. Background Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai International Settlement, Shanghai, China, where her father, Colonel Francis Hayley Bell, served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service with postings to various Treaty Ports. Her mother was Agnes (née McGowan). Her father, a Boer War veteran, served, from 1925 to 1928, as Customs Commissioner for Kowloon (within Hong Hong, although this position had no connection with the British colonial administration). During this period Mary attended school in Hong Kong and frequently spent weekends of leisure at the Commissioner's official country bungalow near Fan Ling Golf Club. The family later (1930) moved to Tianjin (then known as Tientsin). In the run-up to World War II, Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowing through it. With a population of 24.89 million as of 2021, Shanghai is the most populous urban area in China with 39,300,000 inhabitants living in the Shanghai metropolitan area, the second most populous city proper in the world (after Chongqing) and the only city in East Asia with a GDP greater than its corresponding capital. Shanghai ranks second among the administrative divisions of Mainland China in human development index (after Beijing). As of 2018, the Greater Shanghai metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product ( nominal) of nearly 9.1 trillion RMB ($1.33 trillion), exceeding that of Mexico with GDP of $1.22 trillion, the 15th largest in the world. Shanghai is one of the world's major centers for f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Freeze (1993 Film)
''The Big Freeze'' is a 1993 featurette-length film written and directed by Eric Sykes. The action centres on mishaps involving a father and son plumbing team attending to business in sub-zero temperatures at a retirement home in Finland. Like other Sykes directorial vehicles, the piece is a silent comedy with a star cast - here including Bob Hoskins, John Mills, Donald Pleasence and Spike Milligan. Synopsis A silent comedy. Two accident-prone plumbers go to fix the plumbing at a home for retired gentle-folk on the coldest day of the year in Finland. Everything that can go wrong for these plumbers goes wrong. Cast * Bob Hoskins as Sidney * Eric Sykes as Mr. Blick * Eila Roine as Matron * Donald Pleasence as Soup slurper * Raija Laakso as Louise * Sonja Lumme as Pretty Nurse * John Mills as Dapper Man * Spike Milligan as Der Schauspieler * Sylvi Salonen as The Flapper * Hellin Auvinen-Salmi as Old Lady * Helinä Viitanen as Zimmer Lady * Erkki Thil as Film Director * Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.English Heritage listing accessed 28 April 2007 Designed by the architect for owner , it became the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street when it opened its doors on 21 February 1901, with the American musical comedy ''< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Of Mice And Men (play)
''Of Mice and Men'' is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States. Steinbeck based the novella on his own experiences working alongside migrant farm workers as a teenager in the 1910s (before the arrival of the Okies that he would describe in '' The Grapes of Wrath''). The title is taken from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse", which reads: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley". (The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry.) While it is a book taught in many schools, ''Of Mice and Men'' has been a frequent target of censors for vulgarity, and what some consider offensive and racist language; consequently, it appears on the American Library Association's list of the ''Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Draws A Horse (play)
''Tony Draws a Horse'' is a comedy play by the British writer Lesley Storm. It was later adapted into a 1950 film of the same title. It premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse before transferring to the West End where it ran for 363 performances between 26 January 1939 and 6 January 1940, initially at the Criterion Theatre before moving to the Strand Theatre and then the Comedy Theatre. Actors to appear in the London version included Nigel Patrick, Cyril Raymond, Stewart Granger, James Harcourt, John Turnbull, Anthony Holles and Diana Churchill. It also ran for 13 performances as ''Billy Draws a Horse'' at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (other) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ....Wearing p.730 References Bibliography * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1930-1939: A C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molly Blake
Molly Suzanne Blake ( McClenaghan; 14 August 1917 – 9 June 2011) "Molly Suzanne Blake", funeral notice copied from ''The Times'' at ''Legacy.com'' Retrieved 10 January 2021 was a British illustrator, BBC children's television presenter and children's author. Career Blake studied at the in London. Her parents were the actress, dancer and broadcaster |
Richmond Hill, London
Richmond Hill in Richmond, London, is a hill that begins gently in its townside (north and north-east) through the former fields, orchards and vineyard to a point just within Richmond Park, the deer park emparked and enclosed by Charles I. Topography The straight southwest slope is steepest, falling away to Petersham meadows by the Thames and is a backdrop to Kingston and Richmond Bridges. Other returns to the flood plain are more complex across and beyond the park due to semi-natural ponds and dry and wet running vales feeding an easterly draining brook. The park has further upland – Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath – beyond. On, and gently scaling the steep fluvial terrace, is residential street Richmond Hill. It is built up only on its higher (northeast) side – from the Richmond Bridge corner of town centre to the hilltop fronted by a cinema, homes, eateries and hotel-restaurants. It is one-way along its bulk. Unique scenery The hill offers t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wick
The Wick is a Grade I listed Georgian house in Richmond, Greater London, located at the corner of Nightingale Lane and Richmond Hill. The house, designed in 1775 by architect Robert Mylne for Lady St. Aubyn, was for many years the family home of actor Sir John Mills, who sold it to Ronnie Wood of the rock band Faces (and later of the Rolling Stones) in 1971. From 1996 it was owned by Pete Townshend of the Who who sold it in 2021 for £15,000,000 Description The Georgian-style house, built of plum brick and stone on the site of the ''Bull's Head'' tavern, overlooks the River Thames and is near Richmond Park, the largest urban park in the United Kingdom. It was designed by architect Robert Mylne in 1775 for Lady St. Aubyn, and includes oval dining and drawing rooms, three storeys and a basement with modillion, cornice and balustrading above. The porch is built with entablature and Tower of the Winds piers with a fanlight above, and a line of medallions embellishes the front ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whistle Down The Wind (1996 Musical)
''Whistle Down the Wind'' is a musical with music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who also co-wrote its book with Patricia Knop and Gale Edwards, and its lyrics were written by Jim Steinman. It is based on the 1961 film '' Whistle Down the Wind'', whose source novel of the same name was written by Mary Hayley Bell in 1959. The musical premièred in 1996 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., and a concept album was released in 1998. It was produced in the West End in 1998 and has been revived several times since then and toured extensively. History US premiere The show premièred at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 12 December 1996, starring Davis Gaines as the Man and Irene Molloy as Swallow. It drew mostly negative reviews, and the Broadway opening that had been scheduled for 17 April 1997, was subsequently cancelled. Lloyd Rose, the ''Washington Post'' reviewer wrote that the musical "...is just dull...Steinman and Lloyd Webber's differing styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were successful outside of their parent musicals, such as "Memory" from ''Cats,'' " The Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You" from '' The Phantom of the Opera'', " I Don't Know How to Love Him" from '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', " Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from '' Evita'', and " Any Dream Will Do" from ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.'' In 2001, ''The New York Times'' referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" in 2008, lyricist Don Black writing "Andrew more or less sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Of The Antarctic (film)
''Scott of the Antarctic'' is a 1948 British adventure film starring John Mills as Robert Falcon Scott in his ill-fated attempt to reach the South Pole. The film more or less faithfully recreates the events that befell the ''Terra Nova'' Expedition in 1912. The film was directed by Charles Frend from screenplay by Ivor Montagu and Walter Meade with "additional dialogue" by the novelist Mary Hayley Bell (Mills' wife). The film score was by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who reworked elements of it into his 1952 '' Sinfonia antartica''. The supporting cast included James Robertson Justice, Derek Bond, Kenneth More, John Gregson, Barry Letts and Christopher Lee. Much of the film was shot in Technicolor at Ealing Studios in London. Landscape and glacier exteriors from the Swiss Alps, Norway, and pre-war stock footage of Graham Land were used but no actual scenes were done in Antarctica. Plot Captain Scott is given the men, but not the funds, to go on a second expedition to the Antarc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sky West And Crooked
''Sky West and Crooked'' (known in the United States as ''Gypsy Girl'') is a 1966 British romantic drama film starring Hayley Mills. The film was directed by her father, John Mills, and was co-written by her mother, Mary Hayley Bell. The title derives from a West Country term for someone who is "not quite right in the head". Plot In a small, isolated village on the West side of England, seven-year-old Brydie White is running with a playmate, Julian, who trips and falls. He is accidentally killed by his father's loaded shotgun that he was playing with. Brydie is injured with a wound to her head causing some intellectual disability. Ten years later, Brydie (Hayley Mills) can remember the boy but cannot remember the accident. She regularly visits Julian's grave but is not sure why she does. She has an argument with the old gravedigger who aggressively tells her that her dog is not allowed in the graveyard. She is rescued by a young man (Ian McShane) whom the old man calls a "gy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
