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The Plank (1979 Film)
''The Plank'' is a 30-minute, British slapstick comedy film for television from 1979, which was written and directed by Eric Sykes. This version, which is a remake of the 1967 film '' The Plank'', also written and directed by Sykes, was produced by Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network. Although not literally a silent film, it has little spoken dialogue. Instead the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal noises and sound effects. The soundtrack was composed by Alan Braden, and performed by Alan Braden and his orchestra. Sveriges Television in Sweden used to show the film several times around Christmas and New Year during the 1980s and 1990s. Outline When two builders find that a floorboard is missing, they buy a replacement floorboard and return with it through the streets, causing unexpected chaos. This was the third version of ''The Plank''; the basic idea had originated in an episode called "Sykes and a Plank", which Eric Sykes had written for his BBC t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus, and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, most notably through his collaboration on ''The Goon Show'' scripts. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series. Early life Sykes was born on 4 May 1923 in Oldham, Lancashire; his mother died three weeks later, leaving him and his two-year-old brother Vernon motherless. Their father was a labourer in a cotton mill and a former army sergeant. When Sykes was two, his father remarried and he gained a half- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximately 26,433, with about 85,000 in the agglomeration Vevey-Montreux as 2019. Located in the centre of a region named ''Riviera'' (french: Riviera vaudoise), Montreux has been an important tourist destination since the 19th century due to its mild climate. The region includes numerous Belle Époque palaces and hotels near the shores of Lake Geneva. Montreux railway station is a stop on the Simplon Railway and is a mountain railway hub. History The earliest settlement was a Late Bronze Age village at Baugy. Montreux lies on the north east shore of Lake Geneva at the fork in the Roman road from Italy over the Simplon Pass, where the roads to the Roman capital of Aventicum and the road into Gaul through Besançon separated. This made it an i ... [...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] |
Pat Gorman
William Patrick "Pat" Gorman (10 May 1933 – 9 October 2018) was a British actor who, despite never appearing in a starring role, appeared in minor roles in a large number of films and television productions, including ''The Elephant Man'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Fawlty Towers'', ''I, Claudius'' and ''Blake's 7''. He also played the killer in the television series '' The Nightmare Man''. He appeared in minor roles in 83 episodes of the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' between 1964 and 1985: only six other actors appeared in more in the show's original run. These roles include: a Silurian in '' The Silurians'' (1970); a Primitive in ''Colony in Space'' (1971); a Sea Devil in ''The Sea Devils'' (1972). and a pilot in ''The Armageddon Factor ''The Armageddon Factor'' is the sixth and final serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 20 January to 24 February 1979. It was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenny Lynch
Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was appointed an OBE in the 1970 New Year Honours list. Early life Lynch grew up in Stepney, East London, as one of 13 children; his sister Gladys (stage name Maxine Daniels) was a jazz singer of some note. His father was born in Barbados and his mother was mixed-raced British and Jamaican. After leaving school at 15 and working various jobs, he did national service in the Royal Army Service Corps and was the regimental featherweight boxing champion. Career Before Lynch had several UK hit singles in the early 1960s, he released "Twist Me Pretty Baby" with Bert Weedon in 1962 (HMV-45 POP 989); the label's credit reads "Shouts by Kenny Lynch". Two top ten hits were " Up on the Roof", in January 1963; and " You Can Never Stop Me Loving You" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Edwards
James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC (23 March 19207 July 1988) was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in ''Take It from Here'' and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in ''Whack-O!''. Early life Edwards was born in Barnes, Surrey, the son of a professor of mathematics. He had four brothers and four sisters. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, at King's College School in Wimbledon and as a choral scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, where he sang in the college choir. Second World War Edwards served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, was commissioned in April 1942, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and ended the war as a flight lieutenant. He served with No. 271 Squadron RAF, based in Doncaster, who took part in the D-Day landings. His Dakota was shot down at Arnhem in 1944, resulting in facial injuries requiring plastic surgery, that he disguised with a large handlebar moustache that b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Castle
Roy Castle (31 August 1932 – 2 September 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. In addition to being an accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could play many other instruments. Following a versatile career as a performer on stage, television and film, he became best known to British television viewers as the long-running presenter of the children's series ''Record Breakers''. Early career Castle was born in Scholes, near Holmfirth, West Riding of Yorkshire. The son of a railwayman, he was a tap dancer from an early age and trained at Nora Bray's school of dance with Audrey Spencer who later ran a big dance school, and after leaving Holme Valley Grammar School (now Honley High School) he started his career as an entertainer in an amateur concert party. As a young performer in the 1950s, he lived in Cleveleys near Blackpool and appeared there at the local Queen's Theatre, turning professional in 1953 as a stooge for Jimmy Clither ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Drake
Charles Edward Springall (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006), known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer. With his small stature (5' 1"/155 cm tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally known for his "Hello, my darlings!" catchphrase. Early life Born Charles Edward Springall in the Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, he took his mother's maiden name for the stage and, later, film and television, achieving success as a comedian. Career Drake made his first appearance on stage at the age of eight, and after leaving school toured working men's clubs. After serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Drake turned professional and made his television début in ''The Centre Show'' in 1953. He then joined his wartime comrade Jack Edwardes to form a double act, named 'Mick and Montmorency'. In 1954 he appeared with Bob Monkho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Murphy (actor)
Brian Trevor John Murphy (born 25 September 1932) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known as the henpecked husband George Roper in the popular sitcom ''Man About the House'' and its spin-off series ''George and Mildred'', and as Alvin Smedley in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Other notable roles include Stan the shopkeeper in the 90s children's series '' Wizadora'' and in '' The Booze Cruise'' comedy drama series. Life and career Murphy was born on 25 September 1932 in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, the son of grocer's assistant Gerald Murphy and his wife Mabel, both of whom later became restaurateurs. His two brothers Ken and Eric died during active service in the Second World War. He was called up to do his national service at RAF Northwood, where he met future '' The Good Life'' actor Richard Briers. On leaving the RAF the two aspiring actors both performed in productions by the Dramatic Society at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, now London South Bank University. Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-nonsense characters, but was also a prolific television and radio performer. Jacques started her career in 1944 with an appearance at the Players' Theatre in London, but came to national prominence through her appearances on three highly popular radio series on the BBC: with Tommy Handley on ''It's That Man Again''; with ventriloquist Peter Brough on ''Educating Archie''; and then with Tony Hancock on ''Hancock's Half Hour''. After the Second World War Jacques made her cinematic debut in ''Green for Danger'' (1946), in which she had a brief, uncredited role. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in 14 ''Carry On'' films, playing various roles including the formidable hospital matron. On television she had a long professional partnership with Eric S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Dors
Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was promoted by her first husband, Dennis Hamilton, mostly in sex film-comedies and risqué modelling. After it was revealed that Hamilton had been defrauding her, she continued to play up to her established image, and she made tabloid headlines with the parties reportedly held at her house. Later, she showed talent as a performer on TV, in recordings, and in cabaret, and gained new public popularity as a regular chat-show guest. She also gave well-regarded film performances at different points in her career. According to David Thomson, "Dors represented that period between the end of the war and the coming of Lady Chatterley in paperback, a time when sexuality was naughty, repressed and fit to burst." Early life Diana Mary Fluck was born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Dorning
Robert Dorning (13 May 1913 – 21 February 1989) was a musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer and stage, film and television actor. He is known to have performed in at least 77 television and film productions between 1940 and 1988. Origins Robert Dorning was born at 108 Croppers Hill in St Helens, Lancashire, England, on 13 May 1913. His father was Robert John Dorning who worked in a local pit as a coal miner haulier and his mother was Mary Elizabeth Dorning, formerly Howard. He was educated at Cowley Grammar School in St Helens, where he also learnt to play violin and saxophone. After leaving school, Dorning studied drama and dance in Liverpool with the intention of becoming a ballet dancer. During the 1930s he had a brief career as a musical comedian in theatre, before choosing acting as his profession. Film roles His first known film role was in the crime drama, ''They Came By Night'' (1940). However, his acting career was interrupted by World War II and Dorning serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
