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Sheila Florance
Sheila Mary Florance (24 July 1916 – 12 October 1991) was an Australian theatre, television and film actress. She was best known for her performance as elderly, alcoholic convict Lizzie Birdsworth in the television series ''Prisoner''. Florance, born in Melbourne, Victoria, married an Englishman in 1934 and sailed to London. She spent World War II in England. Her early career was based on the London stage. Her first husband died in action following the 1944 Normandy landings. Returning to Australia in 1948, where she started performing locally as a theatre actress, before entering films and television series. Florance had a reputation as a teller of extraordinary stories and in the 1950s she was known for her house parties. Florance died in 1991 from lung cancer, a week after receiving the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her final film. Biography Early life Florance was born on 24 July 1916 at 42 Carrington Grove, East St Kilda, Melbourne. She w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner (TV Series)
''Prisoner'' (known in the UK and the US as ''Prisoner: Cell Block H'') is an Australian television soap opera, which broadcast on Network Ten (originally The 0-10 Network) from February 27 (Melbourne) February 26 (Sydney) 1979 to December 1986 (Melbourne), though the series finale would not screen until September 1987 in Sydney, where it aired as a 3-hour film that was split into three 1-hour episodes at the much-later time-slot of 10.30pm, running eight seasons and 692 episodes. ''Prisoner'' was the first Australian series to feature a primarily female-dominated cast and carried the slogan "If you think prison is hell for a man, imagine what it would be like for woman!" The series, produced by the Grundy Organisation, was conceived by Reg Watson and filmed at the then Network Ten Melbourne Studios at Nunawading and on location. The series garnered an international cult following, and it was one of Australia's most successful media exports, performing particularly well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derbyshire Yeomanry
The Derbyshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as a cavalry regiment and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and provided two reconnaissance regiments in the Second World War, before being amalgamated with the Leicestershire Yeomanry to form the Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry in 1957. History Formation and early history The regiment was first formed as the Derbyshire Corps of Fencible Cavalry in 1794, as a regiment of full-time fencible soldiers for home defence. The regiment changed shortly thereafter to the Derbyshire Corps of Yeomanry Cavalry, a part-time yeomanry regiment, and was dispersed in individual troops. In 1834, the troops were regimented as the Derbyshire Yeomanry Cavalry, who sponsored the 8th and 104th (Derbyshire) Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry in 1900, for service in the South African War, and in 1901 was itself reorganized as mounted infantry as the Derbys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberdeen & Commonwealth Line02
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and has a population estimate of for the city of Aberdeen, and for the local council area making it the United Kingdom's 39th most populous built-up area. The city is northeast of Edinburgh and north of London, and is the northernmost major city in the United Kingdom. Aberdeen has a long, sandy coastline and features an oceanic climate, with cool summers and mild, rainy winters. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, which may sparkle like silver because of its high mica content. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in 1969, Aberdeen has been known as the offshore oil capital of Europe. Based upon the discovery of prehistoric villages around the mouths of the rivers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dame Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her hands ruled out a musical career. She began her professional acting career with the company of the actor-manager Ben Greet, with whom she toured the US from 1904 to 1908. In Britain she played in old and new plays on tour and in the West End theatre, West End, often appearing with her husband, the actor and director Lewis Casson. She joined the the Old Vic, Old Vic company during the First World War, and in the early 1920s George Bernard Shaw, Bernard Shaw, impressed by seeing her in a tragedy, wrote ''Saint Joan (play), Saint Joan'' with her in mind. She starred in it with great success. She became known as Britain's leading tragedienne, but also appeared frequently in comedy. During the Second World War, Thorndike and her husband toured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Donat
Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's '' The 39 Steps'' (1935) and '' Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor. In his book, ''The Age of the Dream Palace'', Jeffrey Richards wrote that Donat was "British cinema's one undisputed romantic leading man in the 1930s". "The image he projected was that of the romantic idealist, often with a dash of the gentleman adventurer." Donat suffered from chronic asthma, which affected his career and limited him to appearing in only 20 films. Early life Friedrich Robert Donat was born and baptised in Withington, Manchester, the fourth and youngest son of Ernst Emil Donat, a civil engineer of German origin from Prussian Poland, and his wife, Rose Alice Green. He was of English, Polish, German and French descent and was educated at Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys. His older brother was Ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"."Noel Coward at 70" ''Time'', 26 December 1969, p. 46 Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as '' |
Arts Council Of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (later merged into Creative Scotland), and the Arts Council of Wales. At the same time the National Lottery was established and these three arts councils, plus the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, became distribution bodies. History In January 1940, during the Second World War, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. Reginald Jacques was appointed musical director, with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George Dyson also involved. John Denison took over after the war. A royal charter was gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All-England Theatre Festival
The All-England Theatre Festival ("AETF") organises the only countrywide eliminating contest for one-act plays in performance throughout England. It provides an opportunity for Amateurs to compete against like-minded groups and to benefit from the adjudication they receive to improve the quality of their performance. The AETF also maintains contact with other leading bodies involved in Amateur Dramatics throughout the United Kingdom by means of its membership of the Central Council for Amateur Theatre, The Drama Festivals Consortium and the British Finals Standing Committee. The festival is also involved with the Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy Competition, in conjunction with the other 'Hosts' of the British Festival, to judge original unpublished scripts that are first produced within the relevant festivals. History British Drama League The history of the All-England Theatre Festival dates back to 1919, when the British Drama League was formed. The public inauguration of the league ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flintshire. He was the eldest of the three surviving sons of Mary (née Williams) a former maid-servant and Richard Williams, a greengrocer. He spoke only Welsh until the age of eight. Later he said he would probably have begun working in the mines at age 12 if he had not caught the attention of Sarah Grace Cooke, the model for Miss Moffat in ''The Corn Is Green''. She was a teacher of French at the grammar school in Holywell, Flintshire in 1915, where Williams had gone on a scholarship. Over the next seven years she encouraged him in his studies and helped pay for him to stay with a French friend of hers in Haute-Savoie in France, where he spent three months perfecting his French. When he was 17 she helped him win a scholarship to Christ Church ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the centrepiece of the Memorial Pegasus museum at nearby Ranville. It was replaced in 1994 by a modern design which, like the old one, is a bascule bridge. On 6 June 1944, during the Second World War, the bridge was, along with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the Orne River (another road crossing, later renamed Horsa Bridge), the objective of members of D Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a glider-borne force who were part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division during Operation Tonga in the opening minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Under the command of Major John Howard, D Company was to land close by the bridges in six Airspeed Horsa gliders and, in a ''coup-de-main'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escoville
Escoville is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France, with a population of 803 people as of 2017. Population Geography Escoville is located 5 kilometers north of Troarn, 11 kilometers northeast of Caen, 14 kilometers south of Cabourg, and 35 kilometers from Deauville. Escoville is part of the urban area of Caen. Typonymy The name of the locality is attested under the name ''Escoldivilla'' in 1109, ''Ecovilla'' in 1128, and ''Escoville'' in 1208. Albert Dauzat and his successor, Ernest Nègre, consider that the first unit ''Escold-'' represents the Germanic personal name ''Ascald(us)'',NPAG, I, 42b. also written as ''Ascolt''. Note: the evolution ''As- > Es-'' is not certified in the old forms. Perhaps there should be a recourse to an Anglo-Scandinavian anthroponym ''Skoldr/Skoldi''? The prefix ''-esc'' results more often from the regular evolution of ''sk-''. A similar processus is found, for example, in the word ''école'', t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
