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Neddie Seagoon
Neddie Seagoon was a character in the 1950s British radio comedy show ''The Goon Show''. He was created and performed by Welsh comedian Harry Secombe. Seagoon was usually the central character of a ''Goon Show'' episode, with most plots involving or revolving around him. An affable but gullible idiot, Neddie is often chronically poor and/or part of the Government (such as "The Strolling Prime Minister of No Fixed Address" or some other civil service title). Seagoon frequently falls prey to the schemes of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne (Sellers) and Count Jim Moriarty (Milligan), often alongside Bluebottle (Sellers), Eccles (Milligan), and Major Bloodnok (Sellers). Sharing his actor's Welsh heritage, Neddie's appearance was also based on Secombe's own likeness, exaggerated for comic effect - often described as very short, round and immensely fat. He also suffers from duck's disease (short legs), and shares Secombe's tenor voice, as used to identify him in "The Mystery of the Fake Nedd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batman (military)
A batman or an orderly is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. Before the advent of motorized transport, an officer's batman was also in charge of the officer's "bat-horse" that carried the officer's kit during a campaign. The British English term is derived from the obsolete ''bat'', meaning "pack saddle" (from French ''bât'', from Old French ''bast'', from Late Latin ''bastum'') The military term long predates the appearance of the fictional superhero Batman. Duties A batman's duties often include: * acting as a "runner" to convey orders from the officer to subordinates * maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet * driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions * acting as the officer's bodyguard in combat * digging the officer's foxhole in combat, giving the officer time to direct his unit * other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to do The action of servi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Goon Show Characters
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In the oldest known versions he is instead a member of the yeoman class. Traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green, he is said to have robbed from the rich and given to the poor. Through retellings, additions, and variations, a body of familiar characters associated with Robin Hood has been created. These include his lover, Maid Marian, his band of outlaws, the Merry Men, and his chief opponent, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff is often depicted as assisting Prince John in usurping the rightful but absent King Richard, to whom Robin Hood remains loy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no maritime experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, diligence, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London. Early life Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London, on 23 Februar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quatermass And The Pit
''Quatermass and the Pit'' is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's ''Quatermass'' serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called ''Quatermass''. Like its predecessors, ''Quatermass and the Pit'' was written by Nigel Kneale. The serial continues the loose chronology of the Quatermass adventures. Workmen excavating a site in Knightsbridge, London, discover a strange skull and what at first appears to be an unexploded bomb. Quatermass and his newly appointed military superior at the British Rocket Group, Colonel Breen, become involved in the investigation when it becomes apparent that the object is an alien spacecraft. The ship and its contents have a powerful and malignant influence over many of those who come in contact with it, including Quatermass. It becomes obvious to him that the aliens, probab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Winston Smith is a fictional character and the main protagonist of George Orwell's dystopian 1949 novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... he readercan readily identify with." Character overview Winston Smith works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they match the constantly changing current party line. This involves revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs—mostly to remove " unpersons", people who have fallen afoul of the party. Because of his proximity to the mechanics of rewriting history, Winston Smith nurses doubts about the Party and its monopoly on truth. Whenever Winston appears in front of a telescreen, he is referred to as "6079 Smith W". Winston meets a mysterious woman named Julia, a fellow member of the Outer Party who also bears resentment toward the party's ways; the two become lovers. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Histories Of Pliny The Elder
The Histories of Pliny the Elder is a parody of the occupation of Britain by the Romans, from series seven of the 1950s BBC radio comedy, ''The Goon Show'', first broadcast on 28 March 1957. Plot In the year X-L-1-1-1 B.C., Julius Caesar (sounding a lot like Hercules Grytpype-Thynne) lands on the British shore and is greeted by Ecclus. Caesar asks his second-in-command, Brutus Moriartus, to seize Ecclus and prepare him for a life of slavery. The next "Charlie Britannicus" to come along is Neddie Seagoon. Caesar remarks "Gad, he's up early. He must be one of the Early Britons." Moriartus finally has to explain that they're here to conquer Britain, and the natives must prepare themselves for "combattus", but they think he means a soccer game and arrive attired in blue jerseys and a football. For ten years Caesar rules with an iron hand—then with a wooden foot, and finally with a piece of string. He claims he's still an imperial Roman, but then asks for a "half of mild and a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caractacus
Caratacus (Brythonic ''*Caratācos'', Middle Welsh ''Caratawc''; Welsh ''Caradog''; Breton ''Karadeg''; Greek ''Καράτακος''; variants Latin ''Caractacus'', Greek ''Καρτάκης'') was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who resisted the Roman conquest of Britain. Before the Roman invasion, Caratacus is associated with the expansion of his tribe's territory. His apparent success led to Roman invasion, nominally in support of his defeated enemies. He resisted the Romans for almost a decade, mixing guerrilla warfare with set-piece battles, but was unsuccessful in the latter. After his final defeat he fled to the territory of Queen Cartimandua, who captured him and handed him over to the Romans. He was sentenced to death as a military prisoner, but made a speech before his execution that persuaded the Emperor Claudius to spare him. The legendary Welsh character Caradog ap Bran and the legendary British king Arvirargus may be based upon Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Greenslade
Wallace Frederick Powers Greenslade (1 July 1912 – 21 April 1961), also known as Bill Greenslade, was a BBC radio announcer and News presenter, newsreader. He is best remembered for being the announcer—and frequently the Double act, straight man—for the BBC radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'' for eight series from 1953 until the end of the show's run in 1960. Life Greenslade was born in Formby, Lancashire (now part of Merseyside). During the World War II, Second World War, he served for two and a half years as a lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. He also worked as a purser with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, P&O Line. In 1945 Greenslade joined the BBC, where he began in the European Service, as presentation assistant and newsreader. In 1949 he was appointed a BBC Home Service, Home Service announcer before becoming a newsreader in both radio and television from November 1955. In addition to ''The Goon Show'', he was announcer for ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A2 (two As below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the ''leggero'' tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or . History The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word ''wikt:teneo#Latin, tenere'', which means "to hold". As Fallows, Jander, Forbes, Steane, Harris and Waldman note in the "Tenor" article at ''Grove Music Online'': In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the [tenor was the] structurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Comedy
Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some simple dialogue. Radio comedy began in the United States in 1930, based on the fact that as most United Kingdom music hall comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel progressed to silent films, they moved to cinema of the United States, Hollywood and fed the radio comedy field. Another British music hall comic, George Formby, stayed in the British movie industry, and in 1940 joined the Entertainments National Service Association to entertain British World War II troops. UK radio comedy therefore started later, in the 1950s. Background and history Radio comedy began in the United States in 1930, and got a much later start in the United Kingdom becaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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