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Tom Vernon
Tom Vernon (23 April 1939 – 11 September 2013) was a British broadcaster and writer, best known as the titular "Fat Man" of a number of popular travelogues. Early life Thomas Bowater Vernon was born on 23 April 1939 in Stepney, London, the son of a Bengal Lancer and colonial administrator for Nigeria. His mother was a hospital matron. He attended schools in Shropshire, Sussex, Dorset and Kent. At Gillingham Grammar School he was head boy, and was the first pupil from the school to go to Cambridge University. After school, Vernon studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge. At university, he joined the drama society, Pembroke Players, and amateur theatre group, Cambridge Footlights. After graduating Vernon worked briefly as a teacher and then a Public Relations Officer for the Royal Shakespeare Company before joining the British Humanist Association. Humanist career Vernon was the Press and Public Relations Officer for the British Humanist Association, an orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stepney
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name applied to a much larger manor and parish. Stepney Green is a remnant of a larger area of Common Land formerly known as Mile End Green. The area was built up rapidly in the 19th century, mainly to accommodate immigrant workers and displaced London poor, and developed a reputation for poverty, overcrowding, violence and political dissent. It was severely damaged during the Blitz, with over a third of housing totally destroyed; and then, in the 1960s, slum clearance and development replaced most residential streets with tower blocks and modern housing estates. Some Georgian architecture and Victorian era terraced housing survive in patches: for example Arbour Square, the eastern side of Stepney Green, and the streets around Matlock Street. Et ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Humanist Association
Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. It seeks to act as a representative body for non-religious people in the UK. The charity also supports humanist and non-religious ceremonies in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Crown dependencies and maintains a national network of accredited celebrants for humanist funeral ceremonies, weddings, and baby namings, in addition to a network of volunteers who provide like-minded support and comfort to non-religious people in hospitals and prisons. Its other charitable activities include providing free educational resources to teachers, parents, and institutions; a peer-to-peer support service for people who face difficult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaleidoscope (UK Radio Series)
''Kaleidoscope'' was a BBC Radio 4 arts programme which ran for 25 years from 1973. It ended with the major schedule changes that occurred in April 1998, when it was replaced by '' Front Row''. History When originally launched on 2 April 1973, as part of a re-organisation of the Radio 4 schedules under network controller Tony Whitby, it was intended to be a nightly review of what was new in theatre, books, cinema, painting, architecture, and scientific advance, but the programme had dropped its science coverage by the beginning of May 1974. In the schedules ''Kaleidoscope'' started out being broadcast between 22.30 and 23.00 each weekday night (allowing it to include live reviews of first nights). Early presenters were alternately Kenneth Robinson and Brian J. Ford. The programme subsequently ran in a variety of slots over the years, including mid-evening, in the lead up to the 22.00 news, and in mid-afternoon (the latter starting out as a repeat of the previous night's edition). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Badel
Alan Fernand Badel (; 11 September 1923 – 19 March 1982) was an English stage actor who also appeared frequently in the cinema, radio and television and was noted for his richly textured voice which was once described as "the sound of tears". Early life Badel was born in Rusholme, Manchester, and educated at Burnage High School. He fought in France and Germany during the Second World War, serving as a paratrooper on D-Day. He partially lost his hearing when a shell exploded near him. Career In his early career, he played leading parts, including Romeo and Hamlet, with the Old Vic and Stratford companies. Badel's earliest film role was as John the Baptist in the Rita Hayworth version of '' Salome'' (1953), a version in which the story was altered to make Salome a Christian convert who dances for Herod in order to save John rather than have him condemned to death. He portrayed Richard Wagner in ''Magic Fire'' (1955), a biopic about the composer. He also played the role of K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for education, and for other social ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vasectomy
Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and thereby prevent fertilization of a female through sexual intercourse. Vasectomies are usually performed in a physician's office, medical clinic, or, when performed on an animal, in a veterinary clinic. Hospitalization is not normally required as the procedure is not complicated, the incisions are small, and the necessary equipment routine. The leading potential complication is post-vasectomy pain syndrome. There are several methods by which a surgeon might complete a vasectomy procedure, all of which occlude (i.e., "seal") at least one side of each vas deferens. To help reduce anxiety and increase patient comfort, those who have an aversion to needles may consider a "''no-needle''" application of anesthesia while the ' no-scalpel' or 'op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Oliver (writer, Broadcaster)
Michael Edgar Oliver (20 July 1937 – 1 December 2002) was a BBC broadcaster, writer and journalist on classical music. Born in Hammersmith, the son of a music-loving plumber, Oliver was educated at St Clement Danes Grammar School, then in North Kensington, at Isleworth Polytechnic and at the London School of Printing. As a conscientious objector, rather than perform national service Oliver opted to work in a hospital, both in the mortuary and the kitchen. Later, as a member of CND, he was arrested during a demonstration, and for refusing to pay the fine spent some time in Brixton Prison. Before becoming a broadcaster, he pursued, as he put it, "a dozen other trades and professions" during the 1950s and 60s including selling radiators, and working for the Cambridge University Press while spending as much time as possible attending concerts. His other occupation was librarianship. Oliver presented BBC Radio 3's ''Music Weekly'' programme (1975–90), and also was a presen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio London
BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky UK, Sky channel 0152 (in the London area only), Freeview (UK), Freeview channel 721 and online. The station's output is generally similar to that of other BBC Local Radio stations and targets a broad, mainstream audience. While previous incarnations of the station offered a more diverse range of programmes for London's various Ethnic group, ethnic, religious, social and cultural communities, specialist programming now remains in a smaller form and is mostly broadcast at weekends. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 671,000 listeners and a 1.1% share as of September 2022. History 1970–1988: Radio London Local radio arrived in London as part of the second wave of BBC local stations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and ''The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Today (BBC Radio 4)
''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC News and is the highest-rated programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks. In-depth political interviews and reports are interspersed with regular news bulletins, as well as ''Thought for the Day''. It has been voted the most influential news programme in Britain in setting the political agenda, with an average weekly listening audience around 7 million. History ''Today'' was launched on the BBC's Home Service on 28 October 1957 as a programme of "topical talks" to give listeners an alternative to listening to light music. The programme's founders were Isa Benzie and Janet Quigley. Benzie gave the programme its name, and served as its first ''de facto'' editor. It was initially broadcast as two 20-minute ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abortion Act 1967
The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS). It was introduced by David Steel as a Private Member's Bill, but was backed by the government, who appointed the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Sir John Peel, to chair a medical advisory committee that reported in favour of passing the bill. After a further heated political and moral debate, under a free vote, it was passed on 27 October 1967, coming into effect on 27 April 1968. The Act made abortion legal on a wide number of grounds in all of Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) up to 28 weeks' gestation. The Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortion was illegal unless the doctor acted "only to save the life of the mother", or if continuing the pregnancy would have resulted in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Happy Human
The Happy Human is an icon that has been adopted as an international symbol of secular humanism. Created by Dennis Barrington, the figure was the winning design in a competition arranged by Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) in 1965. Various forms of it are now used across the world by humanist organisations of all sizes including Humanists UK, Humanists International and The American Humanist Association (AHA). The trademark is still held by Humanists UK, which freely licenses use of the symbol by bona fide Humanist organisations worldwide. Origins The Happy Human was created in response to a Humanists UK competition in 1965, after many years of discussion as to what a logo should look like. After some time without progress, radio presenter Margaret Knight backed a popular movement among Humanists UK's membership to commission such a logo, triggering publicity officer Tom Vernon to announce the competition. Of the several hundred designs from a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
