Sid James
Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen. He was best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series. Born to a middle-class Jewish family in South Africa, James started his career in his native country before finding his greatest success in the UK. Beginning his screen career playing bit parts in films from 1947, he was cast in numerous small and supporting roles into the 1950s. He appeared in the film ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' in 1951, starring Alec Guinness. His profile was raised as Tony Hancock's co-star in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first in the radio series and later when it was adapted for television and ran from 1954 to 1960. Afterwards, he became known as a regular performer in the Carry On films, appearing in 19 films of the series, with the top billing roles in 17 (in the other two he was cast below Frankie Howerd). His starring roles in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 Imperial Conference through the Balfour Declaration of 1926, recognising Great Britain and the Dominions as "autonomous within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". Their full legislative independence was subsequently confirmed in the 1931 Statute of Westminster. Later India, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) also became dominions, for short periods of time. With the dissolution of the British Empire after World War II and the formation of the Commonwealth of Nations, it was decided that the term ''Commonwealth country'' shou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Small Back Room
''The Small Back Room'', released in the United States as ''Hour of Glory'', is a 1949 film by the British producer-writer-director team of Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar (actor), David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the 1943 The Small Back Room (novel), novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin. The theme is the unsung heroes of the last war, the 'backroom boys', gradually coming into their own. Staff (January 26, 1949"Film Reviews: The Small Back Room"''Variety (magazine), Variety'' p.22 Plot Sammy Rice (David Farrar (actor), David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "Boffin, back room" team in London as a bomb disposal expert during the World War II, Second World War. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has bee ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Powell And Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. Their collaborations—24 films between 1939 and 1972—were mainly derived from original stories by Pressburger with the script written by both Pressburger and Powell. Powell did most of the directing while Pressburger did most of the work of the producer and also assisted with the editing, especially the way the music was used. Unusually, the pair shared a writer-director-producer credit for most of their films. The best-known of these are ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' (1943), ''A Canterbury Tale'' (1944), ''I Know Where I'm Going!'' (1945), '' A Matter of Life and Death'' (1946), ''Black Narcissus'' (1947), '' The Red Shoes'' (1948), and ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (1951). In 1981, Powell and Pressburger were recognised for thei ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Black Memory
''Black Memory'' is a 1947 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Michael Atkinson, Myra O'Connell and Michael Medwin. It featured the first screen appearance of Sid James, known for the ''Carry On'' films. Also making her film acting debut in ''Black Memory'' was the Welsh-born actor, playwright, screenwriter and film director Jane Arden. Premise When his father is wrongly convicted and hanged for murder, son Danny poses as a juvenile delinquent, and ten years later manages to clear his father's name. Cast * Michael Atkinson as Danny Cruff * Myra O'Connell as Joan Davidson * Michael Medwin as Johnnie Fletcher * Sid James (credited as Sydney James) as Eddie Clinton * Frank Hawkins as Alf Davidson * Jane Arden as Sally Davidson * Winifred Melville as Mrs. Davidson * Michael Conry as Carl Broach * Betty Miller as Mrs. Cruff * Arthur Brander as Rutford * Gerald Pring as Hawkins, the headmaster * Valerie Hulton as Miss Philpotts * Maurice Nicholas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Night Beat (1947 Film)
''Night Beat'' is a 1947 British Brit-noir, crime thriller drama film directed by Harold Huth and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Ronald Howard, Hector Ross, Christine Norden and Sid James. Following the Second World War, the two comrades go their separate ways; one joins the Metropolitan Police while the other begins a police career but becomes a racketeer in post-war London. ''Sky Movies'' described the film as a "British thriller that examines a challenging issue of its times: the problems encountered by servicemen when trying to adjust to civilian life." Cast *Anne Crawford as Julie Kendall *Maxwell Reed as Felix Fenton * Ronald Howard as Andy Kendall *Christine Norden as Jackie *Hector Ross as Don Brady * Fred Groves as PC Kendall *Sid James as Nixon (as Sidney James) *Nicholas Stuart as Rocky *Frederick Leister as Magistrate *Michael Medwin as Spider * Robert Cawdron as Police recruit *Robert Raglan as Detective Sergeant (uncredited) Critical reception ''The Radio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Repertory
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing her support from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre opened its first season in September of 1908. The opening of the Gaiety was followed by the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow and the Liverpool Repertory Theatre. Previously, regional theatre relied on mostly London touring ensembles. During the time the theatre was being run by Annie Horniman, a wide variety of types of plays were produced. Horniman encouraged local writers who became known as the Manchester School of playwrights. They included Allan Monkhouse, Harold Brighouse, writer of '' Hobson's Choice'', and Stanley Houghton, who wrote '' Hindle Wakes''. Actors who performed at the Gaiety early in their careers included Sybil Thorndike and Basil Dean. From the 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South African Army
The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the Army, who is subordinate to the Chief of the SANDF. Formed in 1912, as the Union Defence Force in the Union of South Africa, through the amalgamation of the South African colonial forces following the unification of South Africa. It evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando (militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. Following the ascension to power of the National Party, the Army's long-standing Commonwealth ties were afterwards cut. The South African Army was fundamentally changed by the end of Apartheid and its preceding upheavals, as the South African Defence Force became the SANDF. This process also led to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises. Opposition politicians and civil society often criticise the SABC, accusing it of being a mouthpiece for whichever political party is in majority power, thus currently the ruling African National Congress; during the apartheid era it was accused of playing the same role for the National Party government. Company history Early years Radio broadcasting in South Africa began in 1923, under the auspices of South African Railways, before three radio services were licensed: the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies (AS&TS) in Johannesburg, the Cape Peninsular Publicity Association in Cape Town and the Durban Corporation, which began broadcasting in 1924. These merged into the African Broadcasting Company in 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orange Free State (province)
The Province of the Orange Free State ( af, Provinsie Oranje-Vrystaat), commonly referred to as the Orange Free State ( af, Oranje-Vrystaat), Free State ( af, Vrystaat) or by its abbreviation OFS, was one of the four provinces of South Africa from 1910 to 1994. After 27 April 1994 it was dissolved following the first non-racial election in South Africa. It is now called the Free State Province. Its predecessor was the Orange River Colony which in 1902 had replaced the Orange Free State, a Boer republic. Its ''outside'' borders were the same as those of the modern Free State Province; except for the bantustans ("homelands") of QwaQwa and one part of Bophuthatswana, which were contained on land ''inside'' of the provincial Orange Free State borders. Districts in 1991 Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census. * Zastron: 14,122 * Rouxville: 11,904 * Bethulie: 9,333 * Smithfield: 7,946 * Wepener: 12,964 * Dewetsdorp: 13,521 * Reddersburg: 6,070 * Edenburg: 6,96 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kroonstad
Kroonstad (Afrikaans directly translated "Crown City") is the third largest city in the Free State (after Bloemfontein and Welkom) and lies two hours' drive on the N1 from Gauteng. Maokeng is an area within Kroonstad, and is occasionally used as a synonym of the town itself. It is the second-largest commercial and urban centre in the Northern Free State (after Welkom), and an important railway junction on the main line from Cape Town to Johannesburg. ''Maokeng'' is Sesotho and means "place of the thorn trees (mimosa trees)". History Kroonstad was established in 1855 by the Irish pioneer Joseph Orpen, and was the first founded after the independence of the Orange Free State. While ' means "crown", this was in fact the name of a horse that had drowned in the nearby ford. A lover of animals, Orpen had witnessed the incident, and named the infant settlement in honour of the unfortunate creature. Similarly, the ford in question came to be known as ''Kroondrift''. During the Seco ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |