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Peter Bull
Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', '' Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''. Biography He was the fourth and youngest son of William Bull, later Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Hammersmith. Bull was educated at Winchester College. His first professional stage appearance was in '' If I Were You'' at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1933. He was a friend of Alec Guinness, whom he first met at during training in the Second World War, and later ; he served as an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, later commanding Landing Craft (Flak) 16 in the Mediterranean. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Returning to acting after the war, he both narrated and had a small on-screen role in '' Scrooge'' (1951); and portrayed the captain of the ship that Katharine Hepburn's and Humphre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a third-level military decoration awarded to officers; and, since 1993, Naval rating, ratings and other ranks of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the British Merchant Navy have been included. Additionally, the award was formerly awarded to members of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The DSC is "awarded in recognition of an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy at sea." Since 1979, it can be awarded posthumously. History The award was originally created in 1901 as the Conspicuous Service Cross, for award to warrant officer, warrant and subordinate officers, including midshipman, midshipmen, ineligible for the Distinguished Service Order. It was renamed the Distinguished Service Cross in October 1914, eligibility being extended to all naval officers (commissioned and warrant) below the rank of lieutenant commander.Abbott & Tamplin, pages 107-109. From March 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paxos (island)
Paxos ( gr, Παξός) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, lying just south of Corfu. As a group with the nearby island of Antipaxos and adjoining islets, it is also called by the plural form Paxi or Paxoi ( gr, Παξοί, pronounced in English and in Greek). The main town and the seat of the municipality is Gaios. The smallest of the seven main Ionian Islands (the Heptanese), Paxos has an area of , while the municipality has an area of and a population of about 2300. Paxos lies some 15 km from the southern tip of Corfu, and at about the same distance from the town of Parga on the mainland. It is connected by ferry lines from Igoumenitsa and Corfu with Gaios. The island is hilly, the highest point having an elevation of 230 m. In Greek mythology, Poseidon created the island by striking Corfu with his trident, so that he and his wife Amphitrite could have some peace and quiet. History Although it was possibly inhabited from prehistoric times, the Phoenicians are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered by three municipalities with the islands of Othonoi, Ereikoussa, and Mathraki.https://corfutvnews.gr/diaspasi-deite-tin-tropologia/ The principal city of the island (pop. 32,095) is also named Corfu. Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology, and is marked by numerous battles and conquests. Ancient Korkyra took part in the Battle of Sybota which was a catalyst for the Peloponnesian War, and, according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time. Thucydides also reports that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers of fifth century BC Greece, alo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teddy Bear
A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, became a popular children's toy and has been celebrated in story, song, and film. Since the creation of the first teddy bears which sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs, "teddies" have greatly varied in form, style, color, and material. They have become collector's items, with older and rarer teddies appearing at public auctions. Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children and are often given to adults to signify affection, congratulations, or sympathy. History The name ''teddy'' ''bear'' comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who was often referred to as "Teddy" (though he loathed being referred to as such). The name originated from an incident on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. Location At Ossington Street/Kensington Palace Gardens, the Bayswater Road becomes Notting Hill Gate, continuing westward until it becomes Holland Park Avenue, just before it reaches Ladbroke Grove. Notting Hill Gate is distinct from Notting Hill, although the two are often confused, with "Notting Hill" being used as an abbreviation of "Notting Hill Gate" and "Notting Hill Gate" suggesting to outsiders that it is the full description of Notting Hill. In fact, however, the street named Notting Hill Gate is well to the south of the hill (with its summit at the junction of Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Gardens) which gives its name to the area known (long before the establishment of the Notting Hill toll gate) as Notting Hill. Character Notting Hill Gate is home ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Moffatt (actor)
Albert John Moffatt (24 September 1922 – 10 September 2012) was an English character actor and playwright, known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio in twenty-five productions and for a wide range of stage roles in the West End from the 1950s to the 1980s. Moffatt's parents wished him to follow a career in a bank, but Moffatt secretly studied acting and made his stage debut in 1944. After five years in provincial repertory theatre he made his first London appearance in 1946. In the early 1950s he was cast in small parts in productions headed by John Gielgud and Noël Coward, and achieved increasingly prominent roles over the next decade. He was a member of the English Stage Company, the Old Vic, and the National Theatre companies. His range was considerable, embracing the classics, new plays, revue and pantomime. Moffatt began broadcasting on radio in 1950 and on television in 1953. His most enduring role was that of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dr Strangelove
''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. The film was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick and stars Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Slim Pickens. The film is loosely based on Peter George's thriller novel '' Red Alert'' (1958). The story concerns an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It separately follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Royal Air Force (RAF) exchange officer as they attempt to prevent the crew of a B-52 plane (who were following orders from the general) from bombing the Soviets and starting a nuclear war. The film is often considered one of the best comedies ever made, as well as one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense. It became increasingly minimalist as his career progressed, involving more aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of repetition and self-reference. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, Beckett wrote in both French and English. During the Second World War, Beckett was a member of the French Resistance group Gloria SMH (Réseau Gloria). Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation". He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pozzo (Waiting For Godot)
Pozzo is a character from Samuel Beckett's play '' Waiting for Godot''.Fletcher, J., "The Arrival of Godot" in ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1969), pp. 34–38 His name is Italian for "well" (as in "oil well"). On the surface he is a pompous, sometimes foppish, aristocrat (he claims to live in a manor, own many slaves and a Steinway piano), cruelly using and exploiting those around him (specifically his slave, Lucky and, to a lesser extent, Estragon). He wears similar clothes to Vladimir and Estragon (i.e. a bowler and suit), but they are not in the dire condition theirs are. ''Godot'''s antagonist While by no means a villain in a conventional sense of the word, Pozzo is sometimes considered (nominally) the "antagonist" of ''Waiting for Godot''. Although he is not technically in opposition to the so-called heroes of the play (Vladimir and Estragon) he does bring chaos into their sheltered world. Upon his first entrance, he immediately goes about attempt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
