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Scarfolk
Scarfolk is a fictional northwestern English town created by writer and designer Richard Littler, who is sometimes identified as the town mayor, L. Ritter. It is trapped in a time loop set in the 1970s, and its culture, parodying that of Britain at the time, features elements of the absurd and the macabre. First published as a blog of fake historical documents parodying British public information posters of the 1970s, a collected book was published in 2014, and the ''Scarfolk Annual'' was released in 2019. Scarfolk is depicted as a bleak, post-industrial landscape through unsettling images of urban life; Littler's output belongs to the genres of hauntology and dystopian satire; his psychologically disturbing form of humour has been likened to the writings of George Orwell and J. G. Ballard. Description Scarfolk, which is forever locked in the 1970s, is a satire not only on that decade but also on contemporary events. It touches on themes of totalitarianism, suburban life, occul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarfolk Council
Scarfolk is a fictional northwestern English town created by writer and designer Richard Littler, who is sometimes identified as the town mayor, L. Ritter. It is trapped in a time loop set in the 1970s, and its culture, parodying that of Britain at the time, features elements of the absurd and the macabre. First published as a blog of fake historical documents parodying British public information posters of the 1970s, a collected book was published in 2014, and the ''Scarfolk Annual'' was released in 2019. Scarfolk is depicted as a bleak, post-industrial landscape through unsettling images of urban life; Littler's output belongs to the genres of hauntology and dystopian satire; his psychologically disturbing form of humour has been likened to the writings of George Orwell and J. G. Ballard. Description Scarfolk, which is forever locked in the 1970s, is a satire not only on that decade but also on contemporary events. It touches on themes of totalitarianism, suburban life, occu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Information Film
Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, but the US equivalent is the public service announcement (PSA). Public information films were common place in the 1950s till the 2000s however became obsolete with the closure of the COI (Central Office of Information). Subjects The films advise the public on what to do in a multitude of situations ranging from crossing the road to surviving a nuclear attack. They are sometimes thought to concern only topics related to safety, but there are PIFs on many other subjects, including animal cruelty, protecting the environment, crime prevention, how to vote at a general election or how to fill in a census form. Many of these films were aimed at children and were shown during breaks in children's programmes during holidays and at weekends. Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year."About Penguin – company history" , Penguin Books. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its inexpensive s, sold through and other stores for sixpence, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Children Of The Stones
''Children of the Stones'' is a British television fantasy drama serial for children, produced by HTV in 1976 and broadcast on the United Kingdom's ITV network in January and February 1977. The serial was produced by Peter Graham Scott, with Patrick Dromgoole as executive producer. A novelisation by the serial's writers, Jeremy Burnham and Trevor Ray, also appeared in 1977. In the United States, it was broadcast on the Nickelodeon television channel in the early 1980s as part of the series, '' The Third Eye''. The series is today considered a landmark in quality children's drama. Overview The series follows the adventures of astrophysicist Adam Brake and his teenage son Matthew after they arrive in the small village of Milbury, which is built in the midst of a megalithic stone circle. Filmed at Avebury, Wiltshire during the hot summer of 1976, with interior scenes filmed at HTV's Bristol studios, it has sinister, discordant wailing voices heightening the tension in the in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WHSmith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery. The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London. It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business. It was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book identifier. WHSmith is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Formation In 1792, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna established the business ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Look Around You
''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in 2002, and the second series of six 30-minute episodes in 2005, both on BBC Two. The first series of ''Look Around You'' was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2003. Series one In the first series, the episodes ("modules") satirise and pay homage to early 1980s educational films and school programmes such as ITV's "Experiment" series and BBC's "For Schools and Colleges". A different scientific subject is covered in each episode. The modules were, in order of transmission: # "Calcium" (pilot, double episode) # "Maths" # "Water" # "Germs" # "Ghosts" # "Sulphur" # "Music" # "Iron" # "The Brain" The humour is derived from a combination of patent nonsense and faithful references and homages. For instance, fictional items that have a passi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture books. Early life Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire From a lower middle class background, his father was a commercial traveller and his mother was a shop assistant at T J Hughes in Liverpool. Steadman took his first job at 16 as a RADAR Operator at the De Havilland aircraft factory in the border town of Broughton near Chester but only remained for nine months, finding factory life repetitive and dull, and becoming fed up with fellow employees, citing persistent cruel practical jokes (“They were always putting stuff in your tea,”); however whilst there he became skilled in technical drawing, thus sowing the seeds of his future career. Steadman returned to England after National Service in 1954 and found work in London as a cartoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''. His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink Floyd, particularly on their 1979 album ''The Wall'', its 1982 film adaptation, and tour ( 1980–81), as well as the music video for "Welcome to the Machine". Scarfe was the production designer on the Disney animated feature ''Hercules'' (1997). Scarfe also provided the opening titles for ''Yes Minister'' and '' Yes, Prime Minister''. Early life Scarfe was born in St John's Wood, London. As Scarfe was severely asthmatic as a child, he spent many of his early years bed-ridden, so drawing became a means of entertainment as well as a creative outlet. Scarfe speculated that the dark and grotesque images that often characterise his work are a result of his loneliness and asthma. Scarfe has stated that the irreverence apparent in much of his w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher J Morris (born 15 June 1962) is an English comedian, radio presenter, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his deadpan, dark humour, surrealism, and controversial subject matter, he has been praised by the British Film Institute for his "uncompromising, moralistic drive". In the early 1990s, Morris teamed up with his radio producer Armando Iannucci to create ''On the Hour'', a satire of news programmes. This was expanded into a television spin off, ''The Day Today'', which launched the career of comedian Steve Coogan and has since been hailed as one of the most important satirical shows of the 1990s. Morris further developed the satirical news format with ''Brass Eye'', which lampooned celebrities whilst focusing on themes such as crime and drugs. For many, the apotheosis of Morris' career was a ''Brass Eye'' special, which dealt with the moral panic surrounding paedophilia. It quickly became one of the most complained-about programmes in British television history, leadi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The League Of Gentlemen
''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives of bizarre characters, most of whom are played by three of the show's four writers – Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith – who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe in 1995. The series originally aired for three series from 1999 until 2002, and was followed by a film ''The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'' and a stage production '' The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You!'', both in 2005. The BBC announced in August 2017 that three new episodes would be produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the group's first appearance on BBC Radio 4. Those aired on BBC2 on 18–20 December 2017. The series was filmed mainly in Hadfield, Derbyshire; other locations include Bacup Lancashi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known as " Monty Python", or the "Pythons". The first episode was recorded at the BBC on 7 September 1969 and premiered on 5 October on BBC1, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV. The series stands out for its use of absurd situations, mixed with risqué and innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines. Live action segments were broken up with animations by Gilliam, often merging with the live action to form segues. The overall format used for the series followed and elaborated upon the style used by Spike Milligan in his groundbreaking series '' Q...'', rather than the traditional sketch show format. The Pythons play the majority of the series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over '' The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
