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Spike Mullins
Dennis Jeremiah (Spike) Mullins (2 October 1915 – 18 April 1994) was a comedy performer and writer. He wrote for a number of established performers, such as Max Bygraves and Harry Secombe, Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd. Perhaps his most famous work is scripting Ronnie Corbett's seated monologues during The Two Ronnies TV series in the UK. He also worked, together with Barry Cryer as a writer for the groundbreaking British TV programme The Frost Report, where Corbett first met his later performing partner, Ronnie Barker. Early life Mullins was born in London during World War I to working class parents. The Mullins family lived near a film studio, and the infant Spike was frequently used in silent movies. While still in his teens, he signed on as galley boy on a cargo ship, After four years, he returned home to work as a stevedore, which he did until the outbreak of World War II, At this point he joined the RAF. After his release from the RAF in 1945, he did a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Bygraves
Walter William Bygraves (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves (adopted in honour of Max Miller), was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. He made twenty ''Royal Variety Performance'' appearances and presented numerous programmes, including ''Family Fortunes'' between 1983 and 1985. His catchphrase "I wanna tell you a story" became an integral part of his act, although it had originated with comedian Mike Yarwood impersonating Bygraves. Early life Bygraves was born to Henry and Lillian ( McDonnell) Bygraves (who wed in 1919) in Rotherhithe in London, where he grew up in a two-room council flat in Park Buildings, Paradise Street with his five siblings, his parents and a grandparent. His father was a professional flyweight boxer, known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker. Brought up Catholic, he attended St Joseph's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and influence, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books and musicals. The Pythons' influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Regarded as an enduring icon of 1970s pop culture, their sketch show has been referred to as being "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy". Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was conceived, written and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach aided by Gil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 Deaths
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Mandela casts his vote in the 1994 South African general election, in which he was elected South Africa's first president, and which effectively brought Apartheid to an end; NAFTA, which was signed in 1992, comes into effect in Canada, the United States, and Mexico; The first passenger rail service to utilize the newly-opened Channel tunnel; The 1994 FIFA World Cup is held in the United States; Skulls from the Rwandan genocide, in which over half a million Tutsi people were massacred by Hutus., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 1994 Winter Olympics rect 200 0 400 200 Northridge earthquake rect 400 0 600 200 Sinking of the MS Estonia rect 0 200 300 400 Rwandan genocide rect 300 200 600 400 Nelson Mandela rect 0 400 200 600 1994 FIFA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1915 Births
Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ** WWI: British Royal Navy battleship HMS ''Formidable'' is sunk off Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, by an Imperial German Navy U-boat, with the loss of 547 crew. ** Battle of Broken Hill: A train ambush near Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, is carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who are killed, together with 4 civilians. * January 5 – Joseph E. Carberry sets an altitude record of , carrying Capt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois as a passenger, in a fixed-wing aircraft. * January 12 ** The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote. ** '' A Fool There Was'' premières in the United States, starring Theda Bara as a '' femme fatale''; she quickly become ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Comedy Writers
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Fortunes
''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show ''Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, ''All Star Family Fortunes'', followed from 2006 to 2015. In 2020, the original version of the show returned after 18 years with Gino D'Acampo as host. The game involves two families providing answers to 'everyday questions' that were surveyed by 100 members of the British public before the show (e.g., 'Name something usually done in the dark.') to win cash prizes (and sometimes mystery prizes for giving a correct answer). The top answers to the surveys are displayed on a large electronic board, christened by Bob Monkhouse as "Mr. Babbage". Monkhouse was responsible for changing the name of the show to ''Family Fortunes'' as he felt that "feud" sounded too aggressive. Hosts and presentation ''Family Fortunes'' was first hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse (1980–83), followed by singer and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Up The Elephant And Round The Castle
''Up the Elephant and Round the Castle'' is a British television sitcom, which aired from 1983 to 1985, and was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. Starring comedian Jim Davidson, who played the role of Jim London, the show spawned a sequel, ''Home James!'', which was also made by Thames. ''Home James'' ran from 1987 to 1990. Plot Jim London is a young lovable rogue who becomes a man of property when a relative dies, leaving him a run-down Victorian property at 17 Railway Terrace in the Elephant and Castle area of south London. He gets into various problems with the police and spends most of his time getting drunk and chasing women. Cast *Jim Davidson as Jim London * John Bardon as Ernie London *Sue Nicholls as Wanda Pickles * Nicholas Day as Arnold Moggs * Brian Hall as Brian *Brian Capron as Tosh Carey *Anita Dobson Anita Dobson (born 29 April 1949) is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is best known for her role from 1985 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Davidson
James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows ''Big Break'' and ''The Generation Game''. He also developed two adult pantomime shows such as ''Boobs in the Wood'' and ''Sinderella'', to critical reception. Biography The son of a Scottish father from Glasgow and Irish mother from Cork, Davidson was born in Kidbrooke, London, and attended Kidbrooke Park Primary School, Blackheath, and St Austin's School in Charlton. Having impressed some acquaintances of his father with impressions of celebrities, he was chosen to appear in Ralph Reader's Gang Show at the Golders Green Hippodrome aged 12 and appeared on television in the ''Billy Cotton Band Show''. He also briefly attended a stage school in Woolwich. Upon leaving school, Davidson worked as a drummer for pub bands, as well as holding a job as a supermarket shelf stacker, a messenger, air ticket clerk for a travel agency, a cashi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Bostock-Smith
Colin Bostock-Smith (born 1942)"I was born in 1942, so I was exactly the right age for rock and roll when it all happened./ref> is a British television and radio comedy writer. Early career Until the age of 30, he was a journalist, noting in a review of an early performance by The Beatles ("four young men with four fringes, three guitars, and some drums") that they were "not nearly as bad as they might have been".http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/in-focus-she-loved-them-yeah-yeah-yeah-1-151119 He later edited the music newspaper ''Top Pops''. However, he always had—in his words—"this feeling that I would like to write comedy", starting in this area with contributions to the BBC Radio 4 show ''Week Ending''. Bostock-Smith has contributed to a significant number of British television comedies. In a 2008 interview, he noted that he was the sole writer of all 41 episodes of the early-1980s ITV sitcom ''Metal Mickey'', and claims to be most proud of his work on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Goodies
The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940–12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their eponymous television comedy show from 1970 until 1982, combining sketches and situation comedy. Beginnings The three actors met each other while undergraduates at the University of Cambridge, where Brooke-Taylor ( Pembroke) was a law student, Garden (Emmanuel) was studying medicine and Oddie (Pembroke) was doing English. Their contemporaries included Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle, who later became members of Monty Python, and with whom they became close friends. Brooke-Taylor and Cleese studied together and swapped lecture notes, for they were both law students, but at different colleges within the university.''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' – Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980. All three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Vosburgh
Richard Kennedy Vosburgh (27 August 1929 – 18 April 2007) was a Grammy-nominated, Tony-nominated American-born comedy writer and lyricist working chiefly in Britain. Early life Vosburgh was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He persuaded his father to let him study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (where he met his future wife, Beryl Roques) and won the Comedy Acting prize. He was soon writing for BBC Radio, starting with scripts for Bernard Braden in 1953. Career In the 60s he moved from radio to television, writing (and occasionally performing onscreen) on television comedy shows like ''The Frost Report'', ''That Was The Week That Was'', '' We Have Ways of Making You Laugh'', ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'', ''At Last The 1948 Show'' and ''How To Irritate People''. On all these shows Vosburgh worked alongside members of what was to be Monty Python and he formed lasting friendships with them. He later appeared on one episode of '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'' as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Secombe
Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, most notably Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Bumble in '' Oliver!'' (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs. Early life Secombe was born in St Thomas, Swansea, the third of four children of Nellie Jane Gladys (née Davies), a shop manageress, and Frederick Ernest Secombe, a commercial traveller and office worker for a Swansea wholesale grocery business. From the age of 11 he attended Dynevor School, a state grammar school in central Swansea. His family were regular churchgoers, belonging to the congregation of St Thomas Church. A member of the choir, from the age of 12 Secombe would perform a sketc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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