|
Ranald Graham
Ranald Ian Mackenzie Graham (3 January 1941 – 29 August 2010) was a Scottish writer, director and producer, best known for his writing work on the British television series ''The Sweeney'', '' The Professionals'' and ''Dempsey and Makepeace''. Early life Graham was born in Sandakan, North Borneo (now Sabah) on 3 January 1941 to Scottish parents. Just over a year later, on 19 January 1942, the Japanese landed at Sandakan as part of the invasion of Borneo that had commenced on 16 December 1941 when the Japanese took Miri and Seria in Sarawak. For the first few months the European civilians were interned in various private houses in Sandakan; in May 1942 they were transferred to the prison camp on Berhala Island in Sandakan Harbour. Here Graham, his older sister Sheena and their mother were separated from their father. After eight months, the women and children were sent from Berhala Island to Batu Lintang camp in Kuching, Sarawak arriving at the camp after a nine-day difficult s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandakan
Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the state in the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. In 2010, the city had an estimated population of 157,330 while the overall municipal area had a total population of 396,290. The population of the municipal area had increased to 439,050 by the 2020 Census. Before the founding of Sandakan, Sulu Archipelago was the source of dispute between Spain and the Sultanate of Sulu for economic dominance in the region. By 1864, Spain had blockaded the Sultanate possessions in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sultanate of Sulu awarded a German consular service ex-member a piece of land in the Sandakan Bay to seek protection from Germany. In 1878, the Sultanate sold north-eastern Borneo to an Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is located in Duffus to the north-west of Elgin. Pupils are accepted subject to an interview plus references and exam results. It is one of the last remaining full boarding schools in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1934 as the British Salem School by German-Jewish educator Kurt Hahn based on the model of Schule Schloss Salem, that he had founded in Germany in 1919. Gordonstoun has an enrollment of around 500 full boarders as well as about 100 day pupils between the ages of 6 and 18. With the number of teaching staff exceeding 100, there is a low student-teacher ratio compared to the average in the United Kingdom. There are eight boarding houses (formerly nine prior to the closure of Altyre house in summer 2016) including two 17th-century bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strange New World (film)
''Strange New World'' is an American made-for-television science fiction film which first aired on July 13, 1975 on ABC. It stars John Saxon as Captain Anthony Vico (PAX team leader), Kathleen Miller as Dr. Allison Crowley (team navigator and communications expert), and Keene Curtis as Dr. William Scott (team physician/medical doctor). ''Strange New World'' was originally a TV pilot and the third attempt to create a series around a post-apocalyptic future created by Gene Roddenberry. The first two, '' Genesis II'' and ''Planet Earth'' (the latter also starring Saxon in the lead role), explored Earth after a nuclear war and focused on an organization called PAX that was working to bring peace and order to the world. Roddenberry was closely involved with the previous two incarnations, but not with ''Strange New World'' and he is not credited. Character names, as well as some of the main points of the concept were changed to avoid any potential litigation. The title of the film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldwide for over 60 years. As a Jewish youth, he lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance during most of World War II, giving his first major performance to 3,000 troops after the liberation of Paris in August., ''Wallenberg lecture'', 30 April 2001 Following the war, he studied dramatic art and mime in Paris. In 1959, he established his own pantomime school in Paris, and he subsequently set up the Marceau Foundation to promote the art in the U.S. Among his various awards and honors, he was made "Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur" (1998) and was awarded the National Order of Merit (1998) in France. He won the Emmy Award for his work on television, was elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, and was declared a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Castle
William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Orphaned at 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in the theater. He came to the attention of Columbia Pictures for his talent for promotion and was hired. He learned the trade of filmmaking and became a director, acquiring a reputation for the ability to churn out competent B-movies quickly and on budget. He eventually struck out on his own, producing and directing Thriller (genre), thrillers, which, despite their low budgets, he effectively promoted using film promotion, gimmicks, a trademark for which he is best known. He was also the producer for ''Rosemary's Baby (film), Rosemary's Baby''. Personal life Castle was born in New York City, the son of Saidie (Snellenberg) and William Schloss. His family was Jewish. His mother died when he was nine. When his father followed a year later, he was left an orphan at the age of 11 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanks (film)
''Shanks'' is a 1974 American surrealist horror film about a puppeteer able to manipulate dead bodies like puppets. Mime Marcel Marceau, in his first major film role, plays the titular Malcolm Shanks. It was the last film directed by producer-director William Castle. Plot In a film that explicitly describes itself as "a grim fairy tale" (in intertitles), Malcolm Shanks (Marceau) is a deaf (but expert lip reader), mute puppeteer who lives with his cruel sister (Tsilla Chelton) and her alcoholic husband, Mr. Barton (Philippe Clay). His skill with puppets is noticed by Mr. Walker (also Marceau) who takes him on as a lab assistant at his gothic mansion. His sister and brother-in-law make him be the breadwinner, and are outraged when he keeps $50 of his own pay. The doctor's experiments involve reanimating the dead and controlling them like puppets. He begins with a frog and a chicken. When Mr. Walker dies unexpectedly, Malcolm comes home and cradles his puppet of Mr. Walker in his a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the UK and internationally. He has also worked in radio. He has been described by ''The Guardian'' as "the great British talkshow host". Early life Parkinson was born on 28 March 1935 in the village of Cudworth, near Barnsley, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire (since 1974 included in the new metropolitan county of South Yorkshire). The son of a miner, he was educated at Barnsley Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus and in 1951 passed two O-Levels: in art and English language. He was a club cricketer, and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club, Dickie Bird, had trials for Yorkshire together with Geoffrey Boycott. He once kept Boycott out of the Barnsley Cricket Club team by scoring a century and 50 in two s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those who work in theatre and the performing arts. History The first edition of ''The Stage'' was published (under the title ''The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser'') on 1 February 1880 at a cost of three old pence for twelve pages. Publication was monthly until 25 March 1881, when the first weekly edition was produced. At the same time, the name was shortened to ''The Stage'' and the publication numbering restarted at number 1. The publication was a joint venture between founding editor Charles Lionel Carson and business manager Maurice Comerford. It operated from offices opposite the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Carson, whose real name was Lionel Courtier-Dutton, was cited as the founder. His wife Emily Courtier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tay Bridge Disaster
The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway (NBR) passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line from Burntisland bound for its final destination of Dundee passed over it, killing all aboard. The bridge—designed by Sir Thomas Bouch—used lattice girders supported by iron piers, with cast iron columns and wrought iron cross-bracing. The piers were narrower and their cross-bracing was less extensive and robust than on previous similar designs by Bouch. Bouch had sought expert advice on wind loading when designing a proposed rail bridge over the Firth of Forth; as a result of that advice he had made no explicit allowance for wind loading in the design of the Tay Bridge. There were other flaws in detailed design, in maintenance, and in quality control of castings, all of which were, at least in part, Bouch's responsibility. Bouch died less than a year after the disast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberfan Disaster
The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the Aberfan Disaster Tribunal, subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees. There were seven spoil tips on the hills above Aberfan; Tip 7—the one that slipped onto the village—was started in 1958 and, at the time of the disaster, was high. In contravention of the NCB's procedures, the tip was partly based on ground from which springs emerged. After three weeks of heavy rain the tip was saturated and approximately of spoil slipped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to (and on the fringe of) the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. As an event it "has done more to place Edinburgh in the forefront of world cities than anything else" according to historian and former chairman of the board, Michael Dale. It is an open access (or "unjuried") performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The official Fringe Programme categorises shows into sections for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights, and also presents productions from visiting companies. The Traverse is used as a venue for Edinburgh Fringe shows in August. It is also the home of the Edinburgh International Children's Festival, previously known as the Imaginate Festival. History The Traverse Theatre began as a theatre club in 15 James Court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, a former doss-house and brothel also known as Kelly's Paradise and Hell's Kitchen. It was "a long, low-ceilinged first-floor room barely 15ft wide by 8ft high"Dean Gallery (2008) ''Focus on Demarco''. Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with 60 seats salvaged from the Palace Cinema placed in two blocks on either side of the stage. The theatre is named because Terry Lane mistakenly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
