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Nora Batty
Nora Batty (née Renshaw) is a fictional character in the world's longest-running sitcom, ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Nora became a national icon, recognised by her wrinkled stockings, pinny and distinctive style of hair curlers. She appeared in 245 of the 295 episodes. Fictional character biography Early life Nora was one of five siblings: Madge, who emigrated to Australia; Billy, who also emigrated but spent all his time dying; Clara, who only comes for Christmas; and Stella ( Barbara Young), who came to housesit for Nora when she went to care for Madge in Australia.Series 28 to 30 She married Wally Batty (Joe Gladwin), a railway engineer, in World War II (45 episodes 1975-87). Later years Wally and Nora never had any children, Nora wore the trousers and frequently man-handled her husband, turning him shell-shocked very early on. The two managed to live together, but Wally did run away to stay with his mother once in 1972. Nora was a strict person on the exterior, but if yo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Last Of The Summer Wine
''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that ''Last of the Summer Wine'' would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010. Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series—including the pilot and all films and specials—have been released on DVD. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One (until 18 July 2010 when the 31st and final series started on 25 July of that year), Gold (UK TV channel), Gold, Yesterday (TV channel), Yesterday, and Drama (British TV channel), Drama. It is also seen in more than 25 countries, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Gladwin
Joseph Gladwin (22 January 1906 – 11 March 1987) was an English actor, best known for his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street, Stan Hardman in Nearest and Dearest, and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, ''Last of the Summer Wine'' (1975–87). Biography Gladwin was born at 44 Tatton Street in the Ordsall district of Salford, Lancashire, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (née Dooley) Gladwin. His father was a coal dealer. Gladwin was baptised on 28 January 1906 at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church, Ordsall, and educated at the parish school. He married Lily Anne Wynne on 30 December 1933 at Mount Carmel Church. Gladwin was appointed a Papal Knight (of the Order of St. Gregory the Great) for his charity work. Before his professional career took off, Gladwin performed with The Decoys during World War II, a Concert Party based in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester. This Concert Party (ENSA) entertained the troops in hospitals and elsewhere. At the time, Gl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossroads (soap Opera)
''Crossroads'' (later known as ''Crossroads Motel'' and ''Crossroads King's Oak'') is a British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ... soap opera that ran on ITV (TV network), ITV over two periods – the original 1964 to 1988 run, followed by a short revival from 2001 to 2003. Set in a fictional motel (hotel in the revival) in the Midlands, ''Crossroads'' became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences during this time, with ratings as high as 15 million viewers. It was created by Hazel Adair (actress and screenwriter), Hazel Adair and Peter Ling and produced by Associated TeleVision, ATV (until the end of 1981) and then by ATV's successor, ITV Central, Ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Owen (actor)
William John Owen Rowbotham, (14 March 1914 – 12 July 1999) was an English actor and songwriter. He was the father of actor Tom Owen. He is best known for portraying Compo Simmonite in the Yorkshire-based BBC comedy series ''Last of the Summer Wine'' for over a quarter of a century. He died on 12 July 1999, his last appearance on-screen being shown in April 2000. Early life and career Born at Acton Green, London to a working-class family (his father a staunchly left-wing tram-driver), Owen made his first film appearance in 1945, but did not achieve lasting fame until 1973, when he took the co-starring role of William "Compo" Simmonite in the long-running British sitcom ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Compo is a scruffy working-class pensioner, often exploited by the bossy characters played by Michael Bates, Brian Wilde, Michael Aldridge and Frank Thornton for dirty jobs, stunts and escapades, while their indomitably docile friend Norman Clegg, played by Peter Sallis, follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compo Simmonite
William Simmonite, better known by his nickname of Compo (from unemployment compensation, as in the phrase "he's on the compo", according to series writer Roy Clarke), was a character in the world's longest-running sitcom, ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Fictional character biography Early life Compo was born into a poor, lower-class family in Holmfirth. He claims that his mother, a rag-and-bone woman, said that after he was born the sun began to shine and that a swallow began to sing. Mentions of his father suggest Compo was born illegitimate from a brief liaison; Foggy states of Compo's father that "he was away before you got a good look at him... in fact, he was away before your mother got a good look at him". Having rigged Compo up to look like a kamikaze pilot, and impressed with the likeness, Clegg jokingly suggests Compo's father to have been Japanese, to which Compo replies "Japanese? With a name like Withenshaw?" indicating this to have been his father's surname and that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Thomas (actress)
Sarah Jane Thomas (born 5 June 1952) is a British actress, born in London, best known for her television appearances as Enid Simmons in ''Worzel Gummidge'' (1980), and as Glenda Wilkinson in ''Last of the Summer Wine'' (1986–2010). Career Sarah Thomas began her television career with an episode of the drama ''Special Branch'' in 1970. Other TV appearances include ''Within These Walls'' (1974–75), The Velvet Glove (1977), ''Together'' (1980), ''Worzel Gummidge'' (1979–81), in which she played the recurring role of Enid, ''The Black Adder'' (1983), ''Miracles Take Longer'' (1984), ''Shroud for a Nightingale'' (1984), and ''Happy Families'' (1985). In 1985 she joined the cast of the internationally successful BBC television sitcom ''Last of the Summer Wine'' as Glenda, the daughter of Thora Hird's character. She stayed with the series for 25 years, until it came to an end in 2010. Her most recent television guest star roles were in episodes of '' Heartbeat'', ''The Bill'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dame Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird (28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress and comedian, presenter and writer. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 film and television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution. A three-time winner of the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, she won for '' Talking Heads: A Cream Cracker Under the Settee'' (1988), '' Talking Heads: Waiting for the Telegram'' (1998) and '' Lost for Words'' (1999). Her film credits included ''The Love Match'' (1955), ''The Entertainer'' (1960), '' A Kind of Loving'' (1962) and ''The Nightcomers'' (1971). Early life and career Hird was born on 28 May 1911 in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to James Henry Hird and Jane Mary (née Mayor). Her family background was largely theatrical: her mother had been an actress, while her father managed a number of entertainment venues in Morecambe, including the Royalty Theatre, where Hird made her first appearance, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juliette Kaplan
Marlene Juliette Kaplan (2 October 1939 – 10 October 2019) was a British actress who was most famous for playing the role of Pearl Sibshaw in the BBC comedy ''Last of the Summer Wine'', from 1985 to 2010. Early years Kaplan was born in Bournemouth to Jewish parents Pearl (née Cress), a nurse, and Jeremiah Kaplan, a sailor. She spent her early years in South Africa, where her father was from, and moved to New York City when she was nine, before returning to Bournemouth two years later. She took afternoon classes at the Hampshire School of Drama in the town in her teens. Career Kaplan worked in many British drama series, including '' Doctors'', ''Brookside'', '' EastEnders'', and '' London's Burning'', and in the film, ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' (2003). Kaplan was in ''Last of the Summer Wine'' from 1985 until the very final episode on 29 August 2010 as battle-axe Pearl Sibshaw, and did a tour around British theatres in a one actor show, performing as Pearl. She work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Freeman (actress)
Shirley Ann Pithers (12 June 1935 – 9 March 2017), better known as Jane Freeman, was an English-born Welsh actress who was best known for her work on British television, mostly notably for her role as Ivy in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Early years Freeman was born in Brentford, Middlesex, in 1935, the daughter of railway engineer Arthur Pithers and his wife, Joan Pithers, née Dewhurst. She was raised in Merthyr Tydfil following the death of her father in an accident when she was 9 years old and her mother's subsequent remarriage to Russell Evans. For a time, she used his surname and was known as Jane Evans. She graduated from the Cardiff College of Music and Drama in 1955. Career After a stay in London, Freeman joined the Osiris Repertory Theatre touring company, based in Gloucestershire. She joined the Arena Theatre, Sutton Coldfield in 1958, followed by Birmingham Rep from 1968. Her stage appearances include Margaret More in the Welsh Theatre Company's first produ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shell-shock
Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced a helplessness appearing variously as panic and being scared, flight, or an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk. During the war, the concept of shell shock was ill-defined. Cases of "shell shock" could be interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury, or as a lack of moral fibre. The term ''shell shock'' is still used by the United States’ Department of Veterans Affairs to describe certain parts of PTSD, but mostly it has entered into memory, and it is often identified as the signature injury of the war. In World War II and thereafter, diagnosis of "shell shock" was replaced by that of combat stress reaction, a similar but not identical response to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Young (actress)
Barbara Young (born 9 February 1931, Brighouse, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actress. She is known for her role as the future Emperor Nero's mother, Agrippina, in the landmark 1976 BBC serial ''I, Claudius''.Claudius Takes a New Wife , '''', 16 May 1978, p. 4. Retrieved 11 July 2011 Biography She also played Miss Scatcherd in the 1970 film of '''', Eileen Clancy in the 1975 TV series ''[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
