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Ronnie Taylor (scriptwriter)
Ronnie Taylor (28 June 1921 – 9 September 1979) was an English television and radio comedy scriptwriter, producer and director. Early life Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Taylor left school at 14 to join his family's firm of insurance brokers. He taught himself to play the piano and guitar and became involved with amateur dramatics/musicals. He formed a vocal group and wrote sketches and songs and became a founder member of "The Kordites". In 1941, he joined RAF Signals and served in North Africa and Italy where he also wrote and produced service entertainment. BBC After the war he auditioned at BBC Manchester for Bowker Andrews and was initially mistaken as the tuner for the studio Bechstein piano. He was offered a 13-week job writing continuity for Gracie Fields. Fields introduced Taylor to her protégé variety performer Norman Evans and Taylor was contracted to write the radio series ''Over the Garden Wall'', for which Evans is best remembered. He wrote radio series for 'Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leigh is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, Leigh was originally the centre of a large ecclesiastical parish covering six vills or townships. When the three townships of Pennington, Greater Manchester, Pennington, Westleigh, Greater Manchester, Westleigh and Bedford, Greater Manchester, Bedford merged in 1875, forming the Leigh Local Board District, Leigh became the official name for the town, although it had been applied to the area of Pennington and Westleigh around the parish church for many centuries. The town became an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district in 1894 when part of Atherton was added. In 1899 Leigh became a municipal borough. The first town hall was built on King Street and replaced by the present building in 1907. Originally an agricultural area (noted for dairy farming), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lime Grove Studios
Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and when it first opened was described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for the production of films". Many Gainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. Its sister studio was Islington Studios, also used by Gainsborough; films were often shot partly at Islington and partly at Lime Grove. In 1949, the complex was purchased by the BBC, who used it for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993. Gaumont-British Picture Corporation In 1922, Isidore Ostrer along with brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of Gaumont-British from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake OBE (born Ethel McGlinchy; 20 January 1904 – 28 February 1990) was a British actress whose professional career spanned almost 73 years during the 20th century. Drake was born in Herne Bay, Kent. Her first professional role in a film was in Fred Paul's ''Masks and Faces'' (1917), and her last role was as Madame de Rosemonde in Miloš Forman's ''Valmont'' (1989). Drake was a lifelong friend of Noël Coward and Laurence Olivier. Early life Born Ethel McGlinchy, the actress's Irish father, a caterer, was an actor manqué. She passed an entrance test to the Academy of Dramatic Art (later to become RADA) in December 1913. (It was the high-ups at the ADA who decided McGlinchy was too difficult to pronounce and too hard to remember for a stage name so she changed it, ultimately by deed-poll, to Drake which was the second of her father's Christian names and to Fabia which was the second of her baptismal names, chosen because she was born on St Fabian's Day) (Pope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylvia Syms
Sylvia May Laura Syms (born 6 January 1934) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1957), ''Ice Cold in Alex'' (1958), ''No Trees in the Street'' (1959), ''Victim'' (1961), and ''The Tamarind Seed'' (1974). In 2006 she portrayed The Queen Mother in the Stephen Frears movie ''The Queen'', about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and days leading up to Diana's funeral. She remains active in films, television and theatre. Personal life Syms was born in Woolwich, London, England, the daughter of Daisy (''née'' Hale) and Edwin Syms, a trade unionist and civil servant. She grew up in Well Hall, Eltham"Well Hall" entry of ''London Gazetteer'' by Russ Willey, (Chambers 2006) (online extrac and was educated at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, on whose council she later served. Her daughter Beatie Edney is also an actress, and she is the aunt of musicians Nick and Alex Webb. Caree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Crowther
Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host. Biography Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of Leslie Frederick Crowther (died 1955), of Twickenham, Middlesex, and Ethel Maraquita (died 1951), née Goulder. At the end of 1944, he moved to London with his parents, but was evacuated for a few months to the Isle of Bute until just after the Second World War ended. Crowther's stage experience began in the mid-1940s. As a youngster he showed promise as a pianist, and in 1944 won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He attended the respected Cone-Ripman Drama School in London, where he met his future wife, and whilst there competed (in 1947) at the Star Junior Ballroom Championships partnering Pamela Cochran, and then at 16, he appeared as a member of the Ovaltineys Concert Party of the Air on Radio Luxembourg. He also a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated Television
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the " Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands. ATV was awarded its first franchise by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide the Independent Television service at weekends for the London region. This service started on Saturday, 24 September 1955, the second ITA franchise to go on air, and was extended until Sunday, 28 July 1968. ATV was also awarded the franchise to provide the weekdays Independent Television service for the Midlands region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cilla Black
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her singles " Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" both reached number one in the UK in 1964. She had 11 top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart between then and 1971, and an additional eight hits that made the top 40. In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest-selling single by a female artist in the 1960s. "You're My World" was also a modest hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own BBC variety show, '' Cilla'' (1968–1976). After a brief time as a comedy actress, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Val Doonican
Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the United Kingdom where he had five successive Top 10 albums in the 1960s as well as several hits on the UK Singles Chart, including " Walk Tall", "Elusive Butterfly" and "If the Whole World Stopped Lovin.'" ''The Val Doonican Show'', which featured his singing and a variety of guests, had a long and successful run on BBC Television from 1965 to 1986. Doonican won the Variety Club of Great Britain's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times. Early life and career Doonican was born on 3 February 1927 in Waterford, Ireland, the youngest of the eight children of Agnes (née Kavanagh) and John Doonican. He was from a musical family and played in his school band from the age of six. When his father died in 1941, the teenage Doonican had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Roadhouse
John Roadhouse (13 January 1921 – 11 April 2009) was a British musician who specialised in saxophone. Biography Roadhouse was born in Sheffield, but lived in Moss Side, Manchester from an early age. He taught himself how to play the saxophone. Originally an aircraft fitter with Metropolitan-Vickers at Trafford Park, he began to play with local dance groups during his spare evenings. He got his first big break when he became a member of the Teddy Foster Orchestra in 1948. He later went on to join the BBC Northern Variety Orchestra in 1953. In 1962 he helped establish the ABC Television Orchestra with musical director Bob Sharples and ABC's Supervisor of Light Entertainment Ronnie Taylor. He opened up his music store, Johnny Roadhouse Music in 1955 on Oxford Road in the Chorlton-on-Medlock area of Manchester. His store became a cornerstone for Manchester music and was used by several famous musicians and groups including Paul McCartney, Oasis and The Smiths. In his retireme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Sharples
Robert Sharples (2 July 19138 September 1987), known as Bob Sharples, was a British musical conductor, composer and bandleader, whose work encompassed films and well-known British television programmes in the 1960s and 1970s.Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 9 September 1987 p. 34 Early life and pre-war big bands Sharples was born in Bury, Lancashire, England, under the birth name Robert Standish. He began playing piano at the age of seven and organ at eleven. He studied orchestration, composition and conducting with Hamilton Harty in Manchester before moving to London to enter the world of jazz, where he played in nightclubs and began writing arrangement for big band leaders such as Ambrose, Jack Harris, Roy Fox and Carroll Gibbons. In 1934 he joined the Freddy Platt band at the Carlton Ballroom, Rochdale along with Geoff Love; Sharples played piano, and Love played trombone. He also played with Teddy Foster's big band, which was formed in 1945. Decca After the war and into the 1950s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Clitheroe
James Robinson Clitheroe (24 December 1921 – 6 June 1973) was an English comic entertainer. He is best remembered for his long-running BBC Radio programme, ''The Clitheroe Kid'' (1956–72). Early years Jimmy Clitheroe was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England on Christmas Eve, 1921 to weavers Emma Pye and James Robert Clitheroe, who had married in 1918. His place of birth was his maternal grandparents' home at 58 Wilkin Street (now called Highfield Road). His childhood was spent in the mill village of Blacko, near Nelson, living at 14 Spout Houses, a row of terraced houses below Blacko Tower. He attended the Council School up to the age of 12, when he transferred to Barrowford Board School for his final two years, in an era when education was compulsory only up to the age of 14. An only child, he was named after his mother's younger brother, James Robinson Pye, who had been born in Clitheroe in 1894 and was killed in action in the First World War. According to newspapers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ABC Weekend TV
ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of the " Big Four" companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period. Originally created as Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd, ABC was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies, in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television, which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) — owner of ABC Cinemas — which initially did not wish to become involved with the new broadcasting system, but was persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the manager of its Pathé News subsidiary Howard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
