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Players' Theatre
The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of World War II German bombing prompted a move in October 1940 to a basement at 13 Albemarle Street, Piccadilly and then after the cessation of hostilities, to Villiers Street, Charing Cross, opening on 14 February 1946. Other intermediate locations of the theatre include the Arts Theatre and the St John's Wood private residence of a member, Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley). Overwhelmed by debt, the theatre closed in 2002, although the Players' Theatre Club continues to perform music hall shows in other venues. Appearing at the Players' Theatre were Leonard Sachs (who was often the chairman), Patricia Hayes, Hattie Jacques, James Robertson Justice, Peter Ustinov, Clive Dunn, Ian Carmichael, Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Vida Hope, and Denis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Villiers Street
Villiers Street is a street in London connecting the Strand with the Embankment. It is partly pedestrianised; traffic runs northbound only up to John Adam Street, where vehicles must turn right. It was built by Nicholas Barbon in the 1670s on the site of York House, the property of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whom the street commemorates. A watergate in nearby Embankment Gardens is the only remnant of the mansion and shows the original position of the north bank of the River Thames. John Evelyn lived here in the 17th century and the Irish writer Richard Steele, who founded ''The Spectator'' and '' The Tatler'' magazines, lodged here from 1712. The Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, now a part of the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, was founded here in 1834. Prior to 1865, Villiers Street ran down the hill directly to a wharf by the river, known as Villiers Wharf. This was swept away in 1865 by the construction of the Victoria Embankment, with its sewers, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Sterndale-Bennett
Joan Sterndale-Bennett (5 March 191427 April 1996) was a British stage and film actress, best known as a character comedian for her work at the Players' Theatre in London. Career Born into a musical family, her father Thomas Case Sterndale Bennett was a songwriter, entertainer and a grandson of the composer William Sterndale Bennett. Her mother Christine Bywater was a professional oratorio singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and later with the American choreographer Buddy Bradley, she started with repertory in 1933 in ''Strange Orchestra'' at Worthing before moving to London's West End. From 1938 she appeared in the Herbert Farjeon reviews ''Nine Sharp'', ''Diversion'', ''Light and Shade'', ''In Town Again'' and the pantomime ''The Glass Slipper''. In that same year at the invitation of Leonard Sachs she joined the Players Theatre which was to be the start of a forty-year association at the home of traditional music hall in London and which provided ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force Club
The Royal Air Force Club, or RAF Club in short-form, is a club located at 128 Piccadilly, London. Membership is open to men and women who hold, or have held, commissions in the RAF, PMRAFNS, Reserve Forces and Commonwealth and friendly foreign air forces. The Chairman is Air Marshal Dame Sue Gray CB, OBE, RAF. History The Royal Flying Corps Club, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force Club, opened at 13 Bruton Street in 1917. It became the Royal Air Force Club in 1918 shortly after the first Lord Cowdray donated funds to obtain a permanent building which would house the Club. The buildings, still in use today, were acquired by the middle of 1919 (the Piccadilly frontage was originally the Ladies Lyceum Club, while the rear half, facing Old Park Lane, was stables). Between 1919 and 1921 extensive reconstruction took place supervised by architect Maurice Webb and largely financed by Lord Cowdray. On 2 January 1922 the Club was fully opened to Members although it was not off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabard Street
A tabard is a type of short coat that was commonly worn by men during the late Middle Ages and early modern period in Europe. Generally worn outdoors, the coat was either sleeveless or had short sleeves or shoulder pieces. In its more developed form it was open at the sides, and it could be worn with or without a belt. Though most were ordinary garments, often work clothes, tabards might be emblazoned on the front and back with a coat of arms (livery), and in this form they survive as the distinctive garment of officers of arms. In modern British usage, the term has been revived for what is known in American English as a cobbler apron: a lightweight open-sided upper overgarment, of similar design to its medieval and heraldic counterpart, worn in particular by workers in the catering, cleaning and healthcare industries as protective clothing, or outdoors by those requiring high-visibility clothing. Tabards may also be worn by percussionists in marching bands in order to protec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Museum Of Comedy
St George's, Bloomsbury, is a parish church in Bloomsbury, London Borough of Camden, United Kingdom. It was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and consecrated in 1730. The church crypt houses the Museum of Comedy. History The Commissioners for the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711 realised that, due to rapid development in the Bloomsbury area during the latter part of the 17th and early part of the 18th centuries, the area (then part of the parish of St Giles in the Fields) needed to be split off and given a parish church of its own. They appointed Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil and former assistant of Sir Christopher Wren, to design and build this church, which he then did between 1716 and 1731. This was the sixth and last of his London churches. St George's was consecrated on 28 January 1730 by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London. Its construction—which cost £31,000—was completed in 1731. The Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope was baptised at the church in 1824. The wedding of F. B. ... [...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, fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daphne Anderson
Daphne Anderson (née Scrutton; 27 April 1922 – 15 January 2013) was an English stage, film, and television actress, as well as a dancer and singer. She made her London theatre debut in 1938 at the Windmill Theatre. Anderson appeared in such films as ''The Beggar's Opera'', ''Hobson's Choice'' and ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''. Biography Anderson was born on 27 April 1922, in London, to parents Alan Edward Scrutton and Gladys Amy Scrutton (''née'' Juler). Her surname was originally "Scrutton", but she later changed it to "Anderson". Anderson attended Kensington High School. She married Lionel William Carter. Her aunt was the composer Mary Anderson Lucas. Theatrical career Daphne Anderson studied dancing under Zelia Raye. She made her first stage performance in 1937 at the Richmond Theatre as a chorus member in a production of ''Cinderella''. The following year, Anderson made her London theatre debut in the chorus of the ''Revudeville'' at the Windmill Theatre. She played sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Hunter
Robin Ian Hunter (4 September 1929 – 8 March 2004) was an English actor who was also a performer and writer in musicals, music hall and comedy.Newley, Patrick (16 April 2004)Robin Hunter.''The Stage'' Life and career The son of actor Ian Hunter, he made film and television appearances from the 1950s to the 1990s, which included '' Up Pompeii'', the '' Carry On''s, ''Sherlock Holmes'' and ''Poirot''. Musicals in which he performed included ''Damn Yankees'', and the scripts he wrote himself for the Aba Daba Music Hall were of a comedic turn - such as ''Botome's Dream'' (produced in Brighton) in which Shakespeare is put on trial for plagiarism, and ''Aladdin & His Microsoft Compatible Floppy Drive Laptop'' (performed at the Arches Theatre, Southwark). For many years, he and his life partner, Aline Waites - an actress, playwright and critic - collaborated on scripts for plays, revues and musical theatre of all kinds. Their ''Illustrated Victorian Songbook'' was published b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rutland
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patsy Rowlands
Patricia Amy Rowlands (19 January 1931 – 22 January 2005) was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films series, as Betty Lewis in the ITV Thames sitcom '' Bless This House'', and as Alice Meredith in the Yorkshire Television sitcom '' Hallelujah!''. Early years She was born in Palmers Green, London and attended the Sacred Heart convent school at Whetstone. While attending, an elocution teacher spotted her potential and encouraged her to pursue a career in acting. She applied for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and won a scholarship aged fifteen. Early career Rowlands began her career in the chorus of '' Annie Get Your Gun'', followed by a summer season in Torquay. She then spent several years with the Players' Theatre in London, before making her West End debut in Sandy Wilson's musical '' Valmouth''. It was at this time she met her future husband, the composer Malcolm Sircom. They divorced in 1967. Other West End th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Browning
Maurice Browning (11 May 1919 – 4 December 1983) was a British television actor. He appeared in several cult television series, including '' The Avengers'', '' The Saint'', ''The Champions'' and ''Doctor Who''. His film credits included roles in '' The Last Days of Dolwyn'' (1949), ''The Party's Over'' (1965), ''Where the Bullets Fly'' (1966) and ''The Assassination Bureau'' (1969). Browning also made an adaptation of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera ''The Mikado'' that was filmed in 1963 as ''The Cool Mikado'', and supplied the libretto for ''Twenty Minutes South'' and ''The Bright Arcade''. Filmography *'' The Last Days of Dolwyn'' (1949) - Huw *''Interpol'' (1957) - Man with tick *''Beyond the Curtain'' (1960) - Contact Man (uncredited) *''The Party's Over'' (1965) - Tutzi *''Ambush at Devil's Gap'' (1966) - Severs *''Where the Bullets Fly'' (1966) - Cherub *'' Casino Royale'' (1967) - Charly (Temple monk) (uncredited) *''The Assassination Bureau ''The Assassinat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stella Moray
Stella Moray (29 July 1923 – 6 August 2006) was an English character actress who appeared on stage, film and television in dramas, comedies and soap operas. She seldom headlined on stage but was a stalwart stand-in and understudy, and when she did take over, she did not disappoint. In the early 1980s she excelled as ''Miss Hannigan'' in the musical '' Annie'' at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, taking over the role from her friend, actress Sheila Hancock. Her television credits included parts on such British programmes as '' Coronation Street'', ''Crossroads'', ''The Bill'', ''Midsomer Murders'' and ''George and Mildred''. Her final television appearance, at the age of 81, was in April 2005 when she was cast in an episode of the BBC crime drama ''Judge John Deed''. She also appeared as Richard Beckinsale's mother in the 1973 film version of '' The Lovers''. She was born Stella Ellen Morris at Ladywood, Birmingham, Warwickshire, and was educated locally. Her ambitions t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
