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The Optimists Of Nine Elms
''The Optimists of Nine Elms'', also known as ''The Optimists'', is a 1973 British drama film starring Peter Sellers and directed by Anthony Simmons, who also wrote the 1964 novel upon which the film is based. The film is about an old street musician (played by Sellers) who strikes up a friendship with two children - Liz, played by Donna Mullane, and her younger brother Mark, played by John Chaffey. Neither of the child actors was featured in future films. A young Keith Chegwin also played a small role. Mullane was recruited for her role by the film crew when they were scouting locations and saw her as she was walking home from school. Plot The story revolves around Sam, a dignified, former music hall artist who now works with his elderly trained dog Bella, busking in the West End of London. He lives in a run down goods yard alongside a derelict canal in Nine Elms. Two young children, Liz and Mark, stumble upon his yard whilst out walking. He chases them away, but his manner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Simmons (writer)
Anthony Simmons (16 December 1922 – 22 January 2016) was a British writer and film director. He was associated with, though separate from, the Free Cinema movement; he said he was greatly influenced by Humphrey Jennings and by Michelangelo Antonioni’s movie ''Il Grido'' (1957). Early life Simmons was born in West Ham, the fourth of five children – three boys and two girls – to parents of Polish extraction, Miriam (née Corb) and Joseph Simmons (originally Anzulowsky), from a family of market traders. He was named Isidore but adopted the forename Anthony in his teens. After attending West Ham Grammar School, Simmons gained a law degree from the London School of Economics, where his course was interrupted by wartime service. Career Simmons asserted: "I wasn’t aiming to be a film director. I was a lawyer aiming to be a writer. But I felt that if I wrote films it was more immediate. It’s quicker. You haven’t got to spell out the words, you just make the image and tell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal gas was introduced to Great Britain in the 1790s as an illuminating gas by the Scottish inventor William Murdoch. Early gasworks were usually located beside a river or canal so that coal could be brought in by barge. Transport was later shifted to railways and many gasworks had internal railway systems with their own locomotives. Early gasworks were built for factories in the Industrial Revolution from about 1805 as a light source and for industrial processes requiring gas, and for lighting in country houses from about 1845. Country house gas works are extant at Culzean Castle in Scotland and Owlpen in Gloucestershire. Equipment A gasworks was divided into several sections for the production, purification and storage of gas. Retort ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, ''Entertainment Weekly'' recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including ''One Week'' (1920), '' The Playhouse'' (1921), '' Cops'' (1922), and ''The Electric House'' (1922). He then moved to feature-leng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or born within earshot of Bow Bells, although it most commonly refers to the broad variety of English native to London. Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation, also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider southeastern England. In multicultural areas of London, the Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English—a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. Words and phrases Etymology of Cockney The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in passus VI of William Langland's ''Piers Plowman'', where it is used to mean "a small, misshapen egg", from Middle English ''coken'' + ''ey'' ("a cock's egg"). Concurrently, the mythical land of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilary Pritchard
Hilary Pritchard (1942–1996) was a Manx film and television actress. Career Television roles included parts in '' The Avengers'' episode "Take-Over" and three episodes of the BBC's department store sitcom ''Are You Being Served?''. Pritchard also appeared as the "dumb blonde" in live comedy sketches in the TV consumer programme ''That's Life!'', and playeTanyain an episode of '' Doctor At Large'' (1971). She was originally hired to voice Princess Yum-Yum in ''The Thief and the Cobbler'', but was later replaced by Sara Crowe Sara Crowe is a Scottish film and stage actress who mainly plays comedy roles. Biography Career After beginning her career on stage and in television, Crowe began to take film roles, including a part in ''Carry On Columbus'' and as the 'first ... for unknown reasons. Filmography Film Television References External links * 1942 births British film actresses Manx actresses 1996 deaths British television actresses 20th-century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Ashton
Pat Ashton (28 February 1931 – 23 June 2013) was an English actress. Her engaging cockney, blonde persona is best remembered for appearances in English TV-sitcom film spin-offs ''On the Buses'' (1971) and ''Mutiny on the Buses'' (1972). She was married to Geoff Godwin 1953–1985. Early life Ashton was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. Trained from childhood as a singer and tap-dancer, she performed in the 1950s at seaside resorts around England in summer season shows. In the early 1960s, she toured Europe with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in ''Oh, What a Lovely War!''. Early West End appearances included ''Half a Sixpence'' and ''The Matchgirls''. Career Ashton's first television break was taking the role of Fanny Cornforth opposite Oliver Reed in Ken Russell's '' Danté's Inferno (1967)'', a film for the '' Omnibus'' series on the life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The part later led to a small role in Russell's 1971 film '' The Devils''. In 1970, Ashton's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Purchase
Bruce Purchase (2 October 1938 – 5 June 2008) was a New Zealand actor known for his roles on stage and television. Born in Thames, New Zealand, he won a scholarship to study acting in England, training at RADA, and went on to become a founding actor-member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre. He also performed regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His TV credits included ''Callan'', ''The First Churchills'', '' Clayhanger'', '' A Picture of Katherine Mansfield'', ''Doomwatch'', ''Fall of Eagles'', ''I, Claudius'', '' The New Avengers'', '' Doctor Who'' (in the serial ''The Pirate Planet''), ''Blake's 7'', ''Quatermass'' and ''The Tripods''. His films included '' Macbeth'' (1971), ''Mary, Queen of Scots'' (1971), '' The Optimists of Nine Elms'' (1973), ''Soft Beds, Hard Battles'' (1974), ''Meetings with Remarkable Men'' (1979), ''Pope John Paul II'' (1984), '' Wallenberg: A Hero's Story'' (1985), ''Playing Away'' (1987), '' Lionheart'' (1987) and '' Another Life'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Graham Cox
Michael Graham Cox (6 January 1938 – 30 April 1995) was an English actor. Career Born at Wolverhampton, and educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School, Cox moved to London after graduating in Music with German from Bristol University in the 1960s. First living at a flat in Oxford Street, he soon settled at Randolph Crescent W9, later being relocated by The Paddington Church Commissioners to a garden flat around the corner at 32 Clifton Gardens close to his favourite pubs The Warrington, The Prince Alfred, and The Warwick Castle, where he frequently socialised with friends including Jane Morgan, Tony Osoba, Michael Aspel and John Inman. He is best remembered for voicing Boromir in the 1978 film ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the same character in the 1981 radio serialisation, as well as voicing Bigwig in the feature film ''Watership Down''. But his 'Palmer' in Ken Russell's 1969 'Women in Love' is arguably his career highlight. In 1982 he appeared as Wally Brabham in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patricia Brake
Patricia Ann Brake (25 June 1942 – 28 May 2022) was an English actress. From the age of 16, Brake trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, before joining the Salisbury Playhouse. She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where (among other roles) she played Hermia in a production of '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', directed by Peter Hall, which also featured Judi Dench, Diana Rigg, Ian Richardson and Ian Holm. This was followed by a period in the West End. She began appearing on television in such series as ''Emergency – Ward 10'', ''No Hiding Place'' and ''A Sharp Intake of Breath'' with David Jason, and also had film roles in '' My Lover, My Son'' (1970), '' The Optimists of Nine Elms'' (1973). Brake played Ingrid Fletcher, the daughter of Norman Stanley Fletcher, in the BBC sitcom '' Porridge'', and its sequel ''Going Straight''. In 2015, she guest-starred in the BBC ongoing drama ''Casualty'' and in '' Midsomer Murders'' for ITV. Alongside her extensive body o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Yates
Marjorie Yates (born 13 April 1941) is a British actress best known for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 drama '' Shameless''. Yates was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and studied at the Bournville College of Art. An early TV role was in Colin Welland's ''Play for Today'' ("'Kisses At Fifty", BBC, 1972) alongside Bill Maynard and she went on to feature in several BBC's single play strands, including other 'Plays for Today' ''Better Than The Movies'' (1972), ''The Bouncing Boy'' (1972), ''A Helping Hand'' (1975), ''Daft Mam Blues'' (1977), ''Marya'' (1979), ''The Other Side'' (1979)', ''Pasmore'' (1980), Alan Bennett's ''Marks'' (1982) and ''June'' (1990). Other roles followed with a part in ''Putting on the Agony'' (Granada, 1973) in which she had the lead role as Marilyn. The role was followed throughout the 1970s with minor parts in a number of television productions including ''Z-Cars'' and '' The Brothers'' in 1974 and ''The Sweeney'' in 1976. She continued he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Daker
Colin David Daker (born 29 September 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series ''Boon''. He also played Tommy Mackay in ''Only Fools and Horses'' and Jarvis in '' Porridge''. He has made two appearances in ''Minder'', the first in the second episode of the second series (''Who's Wife Is It Anyway'') in which he played Alex, an owner of an antique shop; his second appearance being in the second episode of the sixth series (''Life In The Fast Food Lane'') in which he played Sir Ronald Bates, the tyrannical owner of a fast food chain. He also appeared in ''Kill Two Birds'', a 1976 episode of '' Thriller'' as Charlie Draper, a released prisoner who finds himself embroiled in an attempt to recover stolen loot, as Dave Ryman, an ex-colleague of James Hazell, in a 1978 episode (''Hazell and the Rubber-Heel Brigade'') of the series '' Hazell'', and as Jim Brent, father of baby David, in ''That's My Boy'', a 1977 episode of ''Rising Damp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dustcart
A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, recycling center or transfer station. In Australia they are commonly called rubbish trucks, or garbage trucks, while in the U.K. dustbin lorry or bin lorry is commonly used. Other common names for this type of truck include trash truck in the United States, and refuse truck, dustcart, junk truck, bin wagon or bin van elsewhere. Technical names include waste collection vehicle and refuse collection vehicle (RCV). These trucks are a common sight in most urban areas. History Wagons and other means had been used for centuries to haul away solid waste. Among the first self-propelled garbage trucks were those ordered by Chiswick District Council from the Thornycroft Steam Wagon and Carriage Company in 1897 described as a steam motor tip-car, a new design of body specific for "the collection of dust and house refuse". The 1920s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
