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The Raj Quartet
''The Raj Quartet'' is a four-volume novel sequence, written by Paul Scott, about the concluding years of the British Raj in India. The series was written during the period 1965–75. ''The Times'' called it "one of the most important landmarks of post-war fiction." Plot The story of ''The Raj Quartet'' begins in 1942. World War II is at its zenith, and in South East Asia, the Allied forces have suffered great losses. Burma has fallen, and the Japanese invasion of the Indian subcontinent from the east appears imminent. The year 1942 is also marked by Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi's call for the Quit India movement to the British rulers of India. ''The Raj Quartet'' is set in this tumultuous background for the British soldiers and civilians stationed in India who have a duty to manage this part of the British Empire, known as the "jewel in the crown" of the British monarch. One recurrent theme is the moral certainty of the older generation as contrasted with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewel In The Crown (novel)
''The Jewel in the Crown'' is a 1966 novel by Paul Scott that begins his ''Raj Quartet''. The four-volume novel sequence of the Quartet is set during the final days of the British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ... in India during the Second World War. The novel is written in the form of interviews and reports of conversations or research and other portions are in the form of letters (Epistolary novel, epistolary form) or diary entries. The novel focuses on the triangle of an English woman, an Indian man, and a British police superintendent, setting up the events of subsequent novels in the series. It is considered Scott's "major work." The title itself, which is also an expression for something most valuable, refers to the fact that India was considered to be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered , of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the Sun was always shining on at least one of its territories. During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Malik
Athar ul-Haque Malik (born 13 November 1952), known professionally as Art Malik, is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant Ivory television serials and films. He is especially remembered for his portrayal of the out-of-place Hari Kumar in '' The Jewel in the Crown'' at the outset of his career. Early life Malik was born Athar ul-Haque Malik in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, the son of Zaibunisa and Mazhar ul-Haque Malik, a doctor who worked as an ophthalmic surgeon in Britain. When his father got a job as a surgeon in Moorfields Eye Hospital, Malik was brought to London in 1956, aged three. From the age of eleven, he attended Bec Grammar School in Tooting. After an unsatisfactory stint of business studies and a term studying acting at the Questors Theatre, he won a scholarship to Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Before long, he was working with the Old Vic and Royal Shak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan Wooldridge
Susan Wooldridge (born 31 July 1950) is a British actress. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for '' Hope and Glory'' (1987). Her television credits include '' Jewel in the Crown'', (1984), ''All Quiet on the Preston Front'' (1994–95), and ''Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky'' (2005). Early life Wooldridge was born in London, England, and educated at convent schools, the Central School of Speech and Drama, and L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris. She is the daughter of actress Margaretta Scott and composer John Wooldridge. Her brother is Hugh Wooldridge. Career Acting Wooldridge has been acting since 1971. Her big break came in 1984 with '' The Jewel in the Crown'', in which she played the pivotal character of Daphne Manners whose affection for the handsome Hari Kumar doomed him. For this role she received a BAFTA nomination and the ALVA Award for Best Actress. She has appeared in many British and co-British film productions, including ''The Shou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV (TV Network)
ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies which provided regional television services and also shared programmes between each other to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel. The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart. Granada's parent company Granada plc later bought several other regional ITV stations and, in 2004, merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc. Granada Television was particularly noted by critics for the distinctive northern and "social realism" character of many of its network programmes, as well as the high quality of its drama and documentaries. In its prime as an independent franchisee, prior to its parent company merging with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc, it was the largest Independent Television producer in the UK, accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. Granada Television was founded by Sidney Bernstein at Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewel In The Crown (TV Series)
''The Jewel in the Crown'' is a 1984 British television serial about the final days of the British Raj in India during and after World War II, based upon the ''Raj Quartet'' novels (1965–1975) by British author Paul Scott. Granada Television produced the series for the ITV network. Plot The serial opens in the midst of World War II in the fictional Indian city of Mayapore, against the backdrop of the last years of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement. Hari Kumar is a young Indian man who was educated at Chillingborough, a British public school; he identifies as English rather than Indian. The bankruptcy of his father, a formerly successful businessman, forces him to return to India to live with his aunt. Working as a journalist, Kumar now occupies a lower social status in India, and lives between two worlds, British and Indian. Numerous Anglo-Indians discriminate against him, and he is held in some suspicion by Indian independence activists. During this tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staying On
''Staying On'' is a novel by Paul Scott, which was published in 1977 and won the Booker Prize. Plot summary ''Staying On'' focuses on Tusker and Lucy Smalley, who are briefly mentioned in the latter two books of the Raj Quartet, ''The Towers of Silence'' and ''A Division of the Spoils'', and are the last British couple living in the small hill town of Pankot after Indian independence. Tusker had risen to the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army, but on his retirement had entered the world of commerce as a 'box wallah', and the couple had moved elsewhere in India. However, they had returned to Pankot to take up residence in the Lodge, an annexe to Smith's Hotel. This, formerly the town's principal hotel, was now symbolically overshadowed by the brash new Shiraz Hotel, erected by a consortium of Indian businessmen from the nearby city of Ranpur. We learn about life as an expat in Pankot principally by listening to Lucy's ponderings, for it is she who is the loquacious on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and contributes to ''The Guardian'', ''CounterPunch'', and the ''London Review of Books''. He read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford. He is the author of many books, including ''Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power'' (1970), ''Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State'' (1983), ''Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity'' (2002), ''Bush in Babylon'' (2003), ''Conversations with Edward Said'' (2005), ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis Of Hope'' (2006), ''A Banker for All Seasons'' (2007), ''The Duel'' (2008), ''The Obama Syndrome'' (2010), and '' The Extreme Centre: A Warning'' (2015). Early life Ali was born and raised in Lahore, Punjab in British India (later part of Pakistan). He is the son of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, ''Midnight's Children'' (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize. After his fourth novel, ''The Satanic Verses'' (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a '' fatwa'' calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. On 12 August 2022, a man stabbed Rushdie after rushing onto the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS), the IPS is one of the All India Services – its officers are employed by both the Union Government and the individual states. The service commands and provides leadership to State police forces and Union territories' police forces, Central Armed Police Forces ( BSF, SSB, CRPF, CISF, and ITBP), the National Security Guard (NSG), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Special Protection Group (SPG), National Investigative Agency (NIA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). History British India In 1861, the British Parliament introduced the ''Indian Councils Act, 1861''. The act created the foundation of a modern and pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The Daily Telegraph'' newspaper, via Press Holdings. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture. It is politically conservative. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film and TV reviews. Editorship of ''The Spectator'' has often been a step on the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). Since 2009, the magazine's editor has been journalist Fraser Nelson. ''The Spectator Australia'' offers 12 pages on Australian politics and affairs as well as the full UK maga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
