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Sam Youd
Sam Youd (16 April 1922 – 3 February 2012), was a British writer, best known for science fiction written under the name of John Christopher, including the novels ''The Death of Grass'', ''The Possessors'', and the young-adult novel series ''The Tripods''. He won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1971 and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1976. Youd also wrote under variations of his own name and under the pseudonyms Stanley Winchester, Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, William Vine, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols, and Anthony Rye. Biography Sam Youd was born in Huyton, Lancashire (though Youd is an old Cheshire surname). Youd was educated at Peter Symonds' School in Winchester, Hampshire, then served in the Royal Corps of Signals from 1941 to 1946. A scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation made it possible for him to pursue a writing career, beginning with ''The Winter Swan'' (Dennis Dobson, 1949), published under the name Christopher Youd. He wrote science fictio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huyton
Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which it formed Huyton with Roby Urban District between 1894 and 1974. Historically in Lancashire, Huyton was an ancient parish which in the mid-19th century contained Croxteth Park, Knowsley and Tarbock, in addition to the township of Huyton-with-Roby. It was part of the hundred of West Derby, an ancient subdivision of Lancashire covering the south-west of the county. History Medieval Huyton was first settled about 600–650 AD by Angles. The settlement was founded on a low hill surrounded by inaccessible marshy land. The first part of the name may suggest a landing-place, probably on the banks of the River Alt. Both Huyton and Roby are mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, Huyton being spelt ''Hitune''. Industrial development Huyton-with-Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially owning 53% of the joint venture, and Pearson PLC initially owning the remaining 47%. Since 18 December 2019, Penguin Random House has been wholly owned by Bertelsmann. Penguin Books has its registered office in City of Westminster, London.Maps ." City of Westminster. Retrieved 28 August 2009. Its British division is Penguin Books Ltd. Other separate divisions are located in the |
SyFy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launched on September 24, 1992, the channel broadcasts programming relating to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. As of January 2016, Syfy is available to 92.4 million households in America. History In 1989, in Boca Raton, Florida, communications attorneys and cable TV entrepreneurs Mitchell Rubenstein and his wife and business partner Laurie Silvers devised the concept for the Sci-Fi Channel, and signed up 8 of the top 10 cable TV operators as well as licensing exclusive rights to the British TV series ''Doctor Who'' (which shifted over from PBS to Sci-Fi Channel), ''Dark Shadows'', and the cult series ''The Prisoner''. In 1992, the channel was sold by Rubenstein and Silvers to USA Networks, then a joint venture between Para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walden Media
Walden Media, LLC or Walden Media is an American film investor, distributor, and publishing company. Its films are based on children's literature, biographies or historical events, as well as documentaries and some original screenplays. The corporate headquarters of Walden Media are located in Los Angeles, California. The company is owned by the Christian conservative Philip Anschutz, who has said he expects their movies "to be entertaining, but also to be life affirming and to carry a moral message." Walden Media operates Walden Pond Press, a joint venture with HarperCollins, which publishes middle grade books. Company history Walden Media was founded in 2000 by Micheal Flaherty and Cary Granat as a movie, television, publishing and Internet enterprise whose goal is to teach and entertain kids. Granat was president of Miramax's Dimension Films division,Jensen, Jeff"The Family Business" ''Entertainment Weekly'', 28 April 2006: 58–61. and Flaherty came from the world of educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Wächter
''Die Wächter'' is a 1970 dystopian novel '' The Guardians'' (German title: ''Die Wächter'') by the English author John Christopher. He portrays the fate of Rob Randalls, a boy living in a two-class society. The novel was awarded the German youth literature prize in 1976. Plot summary England of the 21st century is divided into two regions. One is the frantic and advanced Konurba, the other is the region in which humans live under pre-WWI conditions. The people of the two regions do not know each other because a fence marks the border of both sides. That is why both sides' population is suspicious of each other. Rob Randall, a boy from Konurba, lives together with father ever since his mother died. After his father died in an accident, the boy is sent to a public boarding school. But because of dominantly brutal customs Rob runs away from the boarding school. He decides flee to the region his mother grew up in. After arriving there Rob meets the son of country aristocrats, Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empty World
''Empty World'' is a 1977 apocalyptic fiction novel written by John Christopher aimed at an adolescent audience. It was Christopher's eleventh such novel. It's centered around Neil Miller and his struggle to come to terms with the loss of his parents in a car crash and the subsequent Calcutta Plague that decimates the adult population. The novel is set in England in the late 1970s. Plot 15-year-old Neil Miller's world explodes when he and his family are involved in a car accident that kills his parents. Sent to live with his grandparents in a small village named Winchelsea, England, Neil suffers from post traumatic stress. Soon, a devastating illness, called the Calcutta Plague, makes headlines, killing thousands of people in India in a matter of months. The virus begins spreading across the world, making its way to the small village where Neil lives. It is a strange illness as it only affects the adults and none of the children, and once again Neil finds himself an orphan afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tripods (TV Series)
''The Tripods'' is a television adaptation of John Christopher's ''The Tripods'' series of novels. It was jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia. The music soundtrack was written by Ken Freeman. Series one of ''The Tripods'', broadcast in 1984, had 13 half-hour episodes written by Alick Rowe, the author of many radio plays, and covers the first book, ''The White Mountains''; the 12-episode second series (1985) written by Christopher Penfold covers ''The City of Gold and Lead''. Although a television script had been written for the third series, it was cancelled by BBC executives Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell due to the adaptation failing in the ratings. The first series was released on both VHS and DVD. The BBC released ''Tripods — The Complete Series 1 & 2'' on DVD in March 2009. Production The series introduced several minor changes from the book, notably the shape of the Masters and Tripods, which have tentacles ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No Blade Of Grass (film)
''No Blade of Grass'' is a 1970 Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, apocalyptic science fiction film co-written, directed and produced by Cornel Wilde and starring Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, and John Hamill. It is an adaptation of John Christopher's novel ''The Death of Grass'' (1956) and follows the survivors of a plague that has hit London in the not too distant future. When London is overwhelmed by food riots caused by a global famine, a man tries to lead his family to safety to a remote valley in Westmorland. Plot The film opens with a montage of pollution, which, as implied by the narrator, is the cause of a virulent new disease arising in Asia, a virus that strikes all members of the grass family, including wheat, rice and maize. It spreads to Africa, Europe and South America, bringing starvation, anarchy and cannibalism in its wake. Hundreds of millions die. The Chinese use nerve gas on their own population, killing 300 million, in their desperate attempts to surv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited appearances in films. By the 1940s he had signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and by the mid-1940s he was a major leading man. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1945's ''A Song to Remember''. In the 1950s he moved to writing, producing and directing films, and still continued his career as an actor. He also went into songwriting during his career. Early life Wilde was born in 1912 in Privigye, Kingdom of Hungary (now Prievidza, Slovakia),''List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States, S.S. Noordam, Passengers Sailing from Rotterdam, May 4, 1920'', New York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957. iProvo, Utah, 2010. although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dialogic process. While the most common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis, other works adapted into films include non-fiction (including journalism), autobiographical works, comic books, scriptures, plays, historical sources and even other films. Adaptation from such diverse resources has been a ubiquitous practice of filmmaking since the earliest days of cinema in nineteenth-century Europe. In contrast to when making a remake, movie directors usually take more creative liberties when creating a film adaptation. Elision and interpolation In 1924, Erich von Stroheim attempted a literal adaptation of Frank Norris's novel ''McTeague'' with his film ''Greed.'' The resulting film was 9½ hours long, and was cut to four ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rye, East Sussex
is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel, and almost entirely surrounded by the sea. At the 2011 census, Rye had a population of 4,773. Its historical association with the sea has included providing ships for the service of the Crown in time of war, and being involved in smuggling. The notorious Hawkhurst Gang used its ancient inns The Mermaid Inn and The Olde Bell Inn, which are said to be connected to each other by a secret passageway. Those historic roots and its charm make it a tourist destination, with hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, tea rooms, and restaurants. Rye has a small fishing fleet, and Rye Harbour has facilities for yachts and other vessels. History The name of Rye is believed to come from the West Saxo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sword Of The Spirits
''The Sword of the Spirits'' is a trilogy of young adult novels written by Sam Youd under his pseudonym John Christopher. The stories are set in the South of England, mostly in Hampshire, in a post-apocalyptic future where, due to a worldwide ecological catastrophe, life has reverted to a militaristic, medieval setting of walled cities and perpetual warfare. Christians are a despised minority, as spiritual matters are in the hands of a priestly class of monastic "Seers" who interpret the will of the "Spirits". There are signs of the past existence of the modern world in the ruins of great cities and "high roads" which dot the harsh landscape, but the Seers have made the technology of the "ancients" anathema, and anyone dabbling in "Science" is immediately put to death. The catastrophe has also resulted in a greatly increased number of birth defects. People with dwarfism constitute a separate caste to "true" men and fulfill the mythical role of forging weaponry, along with other m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
