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The Tempest (1979 Film)
''The Tempest'' is a 1979 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Directed by Derek Jarman, produced by Don Boyd, with Heathcote Williams as Prospero, it also stars Toyah Willcox, Jack Birkett, Karl Johnson and Helen Wellington-Lloyd from Jarman's previous feature, ''Jubilee'' ( 1977). Plot The magician Prospero tosses and turns in his sleep while a violent storm tosses a ship on the ocean. Prospero awakens with a start as lightning strikes the ship, and summons his servant, the spirit Ariel. Ariel tells Prospero the details of the storm, which was an illusion he created at Prospero's command to lead the King of Naples (Alonso) and his crew to the island and trap them there. Prospero's daughter, Miranda, wakes up and joins her father in his study and they discuss their pasts. Caliban, Prospero's other servant, interrupts their conversation, and Prospero stomps on his fingers and threatens to punish him. Caliban explains that he is the rightful owner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home in Northwood, Middlesex, England, the son of Elizabeth Evelyn (''née'' Puttock) and Lancelot Elworthy Jarman. His father was a Royal Air Force officer, born in New Zealand. After a prep school education at Hordle House School, Jarman went on to board at Canford School in Dorset and from 1960 studied at King's College London. This was followed by four years at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (UCL), starting in 1963. He had a studio at Butler's Wharf, London, in the 1970s. Jarman was outspoken about homosexuality, his public fight for gay rights, and his personal struggle with AIDS. On 22 December 1986, Jarman was diagnosed as HIV positive and discussed his condition in public. His illness prompted him to move to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Birkett
Jack Birkett (11 June 1934 – 10 May 2010) was a British dancer, mime artist, actor and singer, best known for his work on stage as a member of Lindsay Kemp's theatre company, and in the films of Derek Jarman. He was often billed as Orlando or The Incredible Orlando. Most of his best-known work was done when he was totally blind. Life and career Birkett was born in Leeds, England. His mother came from a Romani family, his father left home when he was six. He attended Coldcotes School in Gipton until the age of 14, developing a passion for ballet. He worked as an art model for David Hockney and others before finding work at the Grand Theatre in Leeds in 1950 as a stage hand and lighting technician. Soon afterwards, he moved to London, working as a dancer and singer in touring shows and musicals, including the UK tour of ''Oklahoma!'' in 1952. With Kemp In 1956, Birkett met Lindsay Kemp, when they were both doing ballet classes with Marie Rambert at the Mercury Theatre, Nott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and Victorian novelist George Eliot, (born Mary Ann Evans), at Nuneaton. Other significant towns include Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Atherstone. The county offers a mix of historic towns and large rural areas. It is a popular destination for international and domestic tourists to explore both medieval and more recent history. The county is divided into five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon. The current county boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. The historic county boundaries included Coventry, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull, as well as much of Birmingham and Tamworth. Geography Warwickshire is bordered by Leicestershire to the nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoneleigh Abbey
Stoneleigh Abbey is an English country house and estate situated south of Coventry. Nearby is the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. The Abbey itself is a Grade I listed building. History In 1154 Henry II granted land in the Forest of Arden to a group of Cistercians from Staffordshire. There are various traces remaining of the original Abbey buildings, most notably the 14th-century Gatehouse. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the estate was acquired by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London in 1558. Charles I gave Leigh the barony for his offering hospitality when the gates of Coventry were closed to the king during the English Civil War. A house was built (which now forms the north and east wings of the present house) on the site of the monastic buildings. It was the home of the Leigh family from 1561 to 1990. In due course the Leigh family became the largest land owner in Warwickshire. Between 1714 and 1726 a new palatial four-storey fifteen-bay wing was built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claire Davenport
Claire Bernice Davenport (24 April 1933 – 25 February 2002) was an English character actress well known for her large physique. Life and career Davenport was born on 24 April 1933 in Sale, Cheshire, and began acting in 1961 with a theatre role in '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' at the Playhouse in Oxford. Her film work includes roles in ''Return of the Jedi'' (as Yarna d'al' Gargan, originally billed as "Fat Dancer"), '' The Return of the Pink Panther'', ''Adventures of a Plumber's Mate'', ''Carry On Emmannuelle'', '' The Tempest'' and ''The Elephant Man''. On television, she appeared on ''Remington Steele'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Minder'', ''George and Mildred'', '' Robin's Nest'', ''Fawlty Towers'' and at least three episodes of ''On the Buses'', among others. She also made a cameo appearance in an episode of ''Mind Your Language''. Among the last of her television appearances was a 1993 episode of ''The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer''. . Death Davenport stopped working afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisabeth Welch
Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was American-born, but was based in Britain for most of her career. Early life According to her birth certificate, Welch was born at 223 West 61st Street in New York City. Her father was chief gardener of an estate in Englewood, New Jersey. Her father was of indigenous American and African American ancestry; her mother was of Scottish and Irish descent. Welch was brought up in a Baptist-Christian family, and began her singing in a church choir. She first intended to go from high school into social work, but instead chose to become a professional singer. She started her career in New York in 1922, but in 1929 she went on to Europe – first to Paris and then to London. Professional career After her first appearance in America in ''Liza'' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Campbell
Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1970s for his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy ''Illuminatus!'' and his 22-hour staging of Neil Oram's play cycle '' The Warp''. The ''Guinness Book of Records'' listed the latter as the longest play in the world. ''The Independent'' said that, "In the 1990s, through a series of sprawling monologues packed with arcane information and freakish speculations on the nature of reality, he became something approaching a grand old man of the fringe, though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible." ''The Times'' labelled Campbell a one-man whirlwind of comic and surreal performance. Michael Coveney, in an obituary in ''The Guardian'', described him as "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in the British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Biggins
Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter. Early life Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of William and Pamela Biggins. He was brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, attended St Probus school where he took elocution lessons and participated in local drama groups. His first lead stage role was at the age of 17 in a Stage '65 production of Molière's ''Le Médecin malgré lui'', leading to work with a local repertory theatre company. Career Television One of Biggins' earliest roles was on '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' in Series 2, as the character Mr. Donaldson in the episode " An Object of Value" (1972). He appeared as the regular character Lukewarm in the situation comedy ''Porridge'' (1974–1977) starring Ronnie Barker. Other comedy shows he appeared in include ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' (1973) and ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' (1973, 1978). He played Nero in the BBC's version of ''I, Claudius'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Meyer
David Meyer (born 24 July 1947) is an English actor. He is the twin of Anthony Meyer who has often appeared alongside him in film. He is best known for his role as a knife-throwing circus performer and assassin in the 1983 James Bond film ''Octopussy'', for Shakespearean roles such as Hamlet and Ferdinand, and for portraying Isaac Newton on stage. Meyer, as part of Shakespeare's Globe, has appeared in numerous productions on stage in London in recent decades, and in 2017 played Saturn in James Wallace's production of '' The Woman in the Moon'' at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Early career Between August 1972 and 24 November 1972 and 23 January 1973 and August 1973, David Meyer played a Fairy in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', with his twin brother Anthony Meyer playing the role until 13 January 1973. The tour included performances at the Aldwych Theatre in London. In October 1974, Meyer starred in the Lindsay Kemp Broadway play ''Flowers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stormy Weather (song)
"Stormy Weather" is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. Also in 1933, for the first time the entire floor revue from Harlem's Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities. The revue was originally called ''The Cotton Club Parade of 1933'' but for the road tour it was changed to ''Stormy Weather Revue''; it contained the song "Stormy Weather", which was sung by Adelaide Hall. In September 1933, the group Comedian Harmonists released their German cover version, titled "''Ohne Dich''" ("Without You") with lyrics that are quite different. The song has since been performed by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Clodagh Rodgers, Reigning Sound, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, The Spaniels and others. Leo Reisman's o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque involved music, dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be designed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts. Masquers who did not speak or sing were often courtiers: the English queen Anne of Denmark frequently danced with her ladies in masques between 1603 and 1611, and Henry VIII and Charles I of England performed in the masques at their courts. In the tradition of masque, Louis XIV of France danced in ballets at Versailles with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Development The masque tradition developed from the elaborate pageants and cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sceptre
A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The ''Was'' and other types of staves were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt. For this reason they are often described as "sceptres", even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called ''mks''-staff. The staff with the longest history seems to be the ''heqa''-sceptre (the "shepherd's crook"). The sceptre also assumed a central role in the Mesopotamian world, and was in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This is valid throughout the whole Mesopotamian history, as illustrated by both literary and administrative texts and iconography. The M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
