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The Hooligan
''The Hooligan, A Character Study'' is a one-act play by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Coliseum Theatre in London on 27 February 1911 and ran for a month, being played both in the evenings and at matinees, for a total of about 42 performances. ''The Hooligan'' was Gilbert's last play, produced just over three months before his death. It is a study of a young condemned murderer in a prison cell awaiting execution, inspired by the celebrated Hawley Harvey Crippen, Crippen murder trial of 1910. Gilbert's three-dimensional portrait of the prisoner, and the play's ending plot twist, surprised audiences and critics. In the play, as in some of his earlier pieces, Gilbert shows sympathy for people who commit a crime after enduring a hard life, expressing his opinion that nurture rather than nature was often the cause of criminal behaviour. Synopsis Nat Solly, a young cockney hooligan, the son of a thief and brought up among thieves, has been condemned to death by hanging for murdering ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charity (play)
''Charity'' is a drama in four acts by W. S. Gilbert that explores the issue of a woman who had lived with a man as his wife without ever having married. The play analyses and critiques the double standard in the Victorian era concerning the treatment of men and women who had sex outside of marriage, anticipating the "problem plays" of George Bernard Shaw, Shaw and Henrik Ibsen, Ibsen.Crowther, AndrewSynopsis of ''Charity'' It opened on 3 January 1874 at the Haymarket Theatre in London, where Gilbert had previously presented his 'fairy comedies' ''The Palace of Truth'', ''Pygmalion and Galatea (play), Pygmalion and Galatea'', and ''The Wicked World''. ''Charity'' ran for about 61 performances, closing on 14 March 1874, and received tours and revivals thereafter. Gilbert created several plays for the Haymarket Theatre, managed by John Baldwin Buckstone and starring William Hunter Kendal and his wife, Madge Kendal, Madge Robertson Kendal, sister of the playwright Thomas William Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holbrook Jackson
George Holbrook Jackson (31 December 1874 – 16 June 1948) was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time. Biography Holbrook Jackson was born in Liverpool, England. He worked as a clerk, while freelancing as a writer. Around 1900 he was in the lace trade in Leeds, where he met A. R. Orage; together they founded the Leeds Arts Club. At that time Jackson was a Fabian socialist, but also influenced by Nietzsche. It was Jackson who introduced Orage to Nietzsche, lending him a copy of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' in 1900. Later they separately moved to London as journalists. In 1906, shortly after arriving in the capital, Jackson suggested founding a similar group to the Leeds Arts Club, the '' Fabian Arts Group''. This eventually led to a split from the Fabian Society, whose interest was economic and political. In 1907, Jackson and Orage bought ''The New Age'', a struggling Christian Socialist weekly magazine, with f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny Illustrated Paper
The ''Penny Illustrated Paper'' was a cheap ( 1d.) illustrated London weekly newspaper that ran from 1861 to 1913. Premises Illustrated weekly newspapers had been pioneered by the ''Illustrated London News'' (published from 1842, costing fivepence): its imitators included the ''Pictorial Times'' (1843–48), and – after the 1855 repeal of the Stamp Act – the ''Illustrated Times''. With the abolition of paper duty in 1861 it was possible to envisage an even cheaper mass-circulation illustrated weekly. History The first issue, 12 October 1861, announced itself confidently under the masthead "PENNY ILLUSTRATED PAPER: With All the News of the Week": "A new era opens upon the people. In producing a paper for the million, let us plainly say, we want be esteemed the friend of the people ... A new era is opened to us by the Repeal of the Paper Dutie The paper was apparently initially the charge of Ebenezer Farringtonbr>but the wife and sons of the recently deceased Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. History Origins The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the world's first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley. 19th century In 180 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in 2003. The company continues today as Illustrated London News Ltd, a publishing, content, and digital agency in London, which holds the publication and business archives of the magazine. History 1842–1860: Herbert Ingram ''The Illustrated London News'' founder Herbert Ingram was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, in 1811, and opened a printing, newsagent, and bookselling business in Nottingham around 1834 in partnership with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Cooke.Isabel Bailey"Ingram, Herbert (1811–1860)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 17 September 2014] As a newsagent, Ingram was struck by the reliable increase in newspaper sales when they featured pictures and shocking stories. Ingram beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the ''Domesday Book'' (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses. In the Georgian era, Brighton developed as a highly fashionable seaside resort, encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, who spent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Bradley
Ian Campbell Bradley (born 28 May 1950) is a British academic, author and broadcaster. He is Emeritus Professor of Cultural and Spiritual History at the University of St Andrews, where he was Principal of St Mary's College and honorary Church of Scotland Chaplain. The author of over 35 books, Bradley has written widely on cultural and spiritual matters, including Celtic Christianity, hymns, carols, Gilbert and Sullivan and musical theatre. Life and career Early life and education Bradley was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, on Whit Sunday 1950, the first of two sons of civil servants William Ewart Bradley and Mary Campbell Tyre. He grew up in the southeast of England and was educated at Tonbridge School and New College, Oxford, where he graduated with a "congratulatory first" in 1971 in modern history. He remained at the University of Oxford to complete a doctoral thesis on religion and politics in early nineteenth-century Britain, earning his DPhil degree. He stood as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweethearts (play)
''Sweethearts'' is a comic play billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts by W. S. Gilbert. The play tells a sentimental and ironic story of the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years. It was first produced on 7 November 1874 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, running for 132 performances until 13 April 1875. It enjoyed many revivals, thereafter, into the 1920s. The first professional production of ''Sweethearts'' in Britain in recent memory was given in 2007 at the Finborough Theatre in London, along with Arthur Sullivan's ''The Zoo''. Background This romantic comedy of manners was written for Squire Bancroft and his wife Marie (née Wilton), managers of the Prince of Wales's Theatre, and starred Mrs. Bancroft. Gilbert wanted his friend John Hare to play the male lead, to take advantage of Hare's naturally boyish appearance and of his talent for impersonating elderly men, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre of Varieties, it was designed by the theatrical architect Frank Matcham for the impresario Oswald Stoll. Their ambition was to build the largest and finest music hall, described as the "people's palace of entertainment" of its age. At the time of construction, the Coliseum was one of the few theatres in Europe to provide lifts for taking patrons to the upper levels of the house, and was the first theatre in England to have a triple revolve installed on its stage. The theatre has 2,359 seats making it the largest theatre in London. After being used for variety shows, musical comedies, and stage plays for many years, then as a cinema screening films in the Cinerama format between 1963 and 1968, the Sadler's Wells Opera Company moved into th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oswald Stoll
Sir Oswald Stoll (20 January 1866 – 9 January 1942) was an Australian-born British theatre manager and the co-founder of the Stoll Moss Group theatre company. He also owned Cricklewood Studios and film production company Stoll Pictures, which was one of the leading British studios of the Silent era.Patricia Warren ''British Film Studios: An Illustrated History'', London: B.T. Batsford, 2001, p.22 In 1912, he founded the Royal Variety Performance (originally Royal Command Performance) a now-annual charity show which benefits the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund. Biography Early life Born in Melbourne, Australia as Oswald Gray, he moved to England with his mother, Adelaide McConnell Gray after the death of his father James Oswald Gray. When his mother remarried, he took his stepfather's last name, Stoll. Entertainment career Theatre management At a young age, Stoll left school to help his mother, Adelaide, manage first the Parthenon music hall in Liverpool, and lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous ''Music Hall'' and subsequent, more respectable ''Variety'' differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so, that during the 1850s some public houses were demolished, and specialised music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
