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Stars In Battledress
Stars in Battledress (SiB) was an organisation of entertainers who were members of the British Armed Forces during World War II. History In Britain, during the Second World War, entertainment was considered an essential to keep morale high. In 1939 ENSA was organised by Basil Dean to send groups of entertainers to factories and military camps. The artists in ENSA were initially civilians and consequently could not be sent to areas were fighting was occurring. This did not mean that they were in places where there was no danger from enemy action—the whole of Britain was a war zone due to the air raids. Later ENSA performers were commissioned as officers. In order to get concert parties to forward areas, ''Stars in Battledress'' was formed. Talent existing in serving members of the army and ATS was transferred and sent to perform in any location, even on the edge of a battlefield. Colonel Basil Brown, together with Major Bill Alexander and Captain George Black (son of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid. Since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 (later succeeded by the United Kingdom), the British Armed Forces have seen action in a number of major wars involving the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the 1853–1856 Crimean War, the First World War, and the Second World War. Britain's victories in most of these decisive wars, allowed it to influence world events and establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. As of October 2022, the British Armed Forces consist of: the Royal Navy, a blue-water navy with a fleet of 72 commissioned ships, together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Denison
John Michael Terence Wellesley Denison (1 November 191522 July 1998) was an English actor. He often appeared with his wife, Dulcie Gray, with whom he featured in several films and more than 100 West End theatre productions. After a conventional public school and university education he studied at a drama school and made his professional début in 1938. His career was interrupted by military service during the Second World War but by the end of the 1940s he re-established himself among leading actors of his generation, and remained so until his death in 1998. He was primarily a stage actor, and appeared in a wide range of roles from Shakespeare to farce, modern drama, musicals, drawing-room comedy, and thrillers. He made some cinema films, particularly in the late 1940s and the 1950s, including ''My Brother Jonathan'', '' The Glass Mountain'', '' Angels One Five'' and the 1952 adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. He became known for his appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. In his early career, he worked as a stage comedian, which included performing at the Glasgow Empire Theatre and sharing a bill with Max Wall and Jimmy James.Cult leader's mission to return to future '' The Herald''. 15 May 1989. Retrieved 3 July 2014. As an actor, Pertwee appeared in many comedy roles, including four films in the '' |
Stella Moray
Stella Moray (29 July 1923 – 6 August 2006) was an English character actress who appeared on stage, film and television in dramas, comedies and soap operas. She seldom headlined on stage but was a stalwart stand-in and understudy, and when she did take over, she did not disappoint. In the early 1980s she excelled as ''Miss Hannigan'' in the musical ''Annie'' at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, taking over the role from her friend, actress Sheila Hancock. Her television credits included parts on such British programmes as ''Coronation Street'', ''Crossroads'', ''The Bill'', ''Midsomer Murders'' and ''George and Mildred''. Her final television appearance, at the age of 81, was in April 2005 when she was cast in an episode of the BBC crime drama ''Judge John Deed''. She also appeared as Richard Beckinsale's mother in the 1973 film version of '' The Lovers''. She was born Stella Ellen Morris at Ladywood, Birmingham, Warwickshire, and was educated locally. Her ambitions to w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where he spent his childhood before relocating in 1931 to England, where he lived and worked for the majority of his life. Disliking his first name, he began to call himself "Spike" after hearing the band Spike Jones, Spike Jones and his City Slickers on Radio Luxembourg. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer, and a principal cast member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'', performing a range of roles including the characters Eccles (character), Eccles and Minnie Bannister. He was the earliest-born and last surviving member of the Goons. He took his success with ''The Goon Show'' into television with ''Q... (TV series), Q5'', a surreal sketch show credited as a major influence on the members of ''Monty Python's Flying Circu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Marks
Alfred Edward Marks OBE (born Alfred Edward Touchinsky; 28 January 19211 July 1996) was a British actor and comedian. In his 60-year career, he played dramatic and comedy roles in numerous television programmes, stage shows and films. His self-titled television sketch show ran from 1956 to 1961. Biography Marks was born as Alfred Edward Touchinsky in Holborn, London, to Polish Jewish parents.Obituary '''' He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisabeth Kirkby
Elisabeth Wilma Burton Kirkby (born 26 January 1921), alternatively Elizabeth Kirkby, is a British Australian retired politician. Kirkby entered politics serving with the Australian Democrats in the New South Wales Legislative Council as State Parliamentary Leader from 1981 to 1998, after which she served a seat on local government, as a councillor for Temora from 1999 and 2004. Prior to her political career Kirkby worked in film, television and theatre, starting from 1938 as an assistant stage manager in her native England before becoming a radio broadcaster, producer, director and screenwriter in Malaysia. She emigrated to Australia, where she became known for her small screen role as Lucy Sutcliffe in the serial ''Number 96''. Early life Born in Bolton, Lancashire, (now part of Greater Manchester) north-west England to James Burton Kirkby and Frances Robinson Kirkby's performance career began in the United Kingdom during the second world war, where she spent three years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally. The company's home is in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has redeveloped its Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres as part of a £112.8-million "Transformation" project. The theatres re-opened in November 2010, having closed in 2007. The new buildings attracted 18,000 visitors within the first week and received a positive media response both upon opening, and following the first full Shakespeare performances. Performances in Stratford-upon-Avon continued throughout the Transformation project at the temporary Courtyard Theatre. As well as the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the RSC produces new work from living artists and develops creative links with theatre-make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griffith Jones (actor)
Griffith Jones (born Harold Jones; 19 November 1909 – 30 January 2007) was an English film, stage and television actor. Early life Born in Notting Hill, London, on 19 November 1909, Jones was the 5th child of William Thomas Jones and Harriet Eleanor J. Doughty (1878–1973), a Welsh-speaking dairy owner. In 1930, he was studying law at University College London when Kenneth Barnes, the Principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, noticed him in a student performance and offered him a career as an actor. His first professional engagement was in ''Carpet Slippers'' at the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, in 1930, while still at RADA. He won the annual RADA Gold Medal in 1932. Career His first West End production was ''Vile Bodies'' at the Vaudeville and ''Richard of Bordeaux'' (in which he appeared with John Gielgud) at the New Theatre. The following year he appeared with Laurence Olivier in ''The Rats of Norway''. In 1932 he made his film debut, in ''The Faithful H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz (7 May 1919 – 19 November 2006) was a British violinist. He was born in London to parents of Russian-Jewish ancestry. He started playing the violin when he was five years old, and took up a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 14; he was much later a professor there. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps playing the violin in Stars in Battledress. In 1946, he founded the Hurwitz String Quartet. In 1948 he became leader of the English Chamber Orchestra when it was foundedat that time known as the Goldsbrough Orchestra. He was principal violinist of the Melos Ensemble 1956-1972. Their recordings of chamber music for both woodwinds and strings were reissued in 2011, including the works for larger ensembles which were the reason to found the ensemble, such as Beethoven's Septet and Octet, Schubert's Octet and Ravel's '' Introduction and Allegro'', played with Osian Ellis (harp), Richard Adeney (flute), Gervase de P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Death Index: 1916–2005 and Edith Florence Howard (née Morrison, 1888–1962), at the City Hospital in York, England, in 1917 (not 1922 as he later claimed). His mother worked at the Rowntree's chocolate factory. For his first two and a half years, Howerd lived in a terraced house at 53, Hartoft Street. He described it as "a poorish area of the city near the River Ouse". He later said he had only one memory of living in York and that was of falling down the stairs, an experience which left him with a life-long dread of heights. He returned to York on many occasions for family holidays, however, and later in life spoke of his fondness for the city. His family moved to Eltham, London when he was a young child, and he was educated at Shooter' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960, disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including " The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career declined. Early life and career Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (then in Warwickshire), but, from the age of three, he was brought up in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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