Tony Allen (comedian)
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Tony Allen (comedian)
Tony Allen (born 4 March 1945) is an English comedian and writer. Best known as one of the original " alternative comedians", Tony Allen's artistic career had taken many radical turns before he temporarily abandoned his Speakers' Corner "Full-Frontal Anarchy Platform" in May 1979 for the stage of London's Comedy Store. Two months later he founded Alternative Cabaret with Alexei Sayle and ran a regular "Alt Cab" Club night in the back bar of the Elgin pub on Ladbroke Grove. Plays In 1973, Allen was co-founder with John Miles of Rough Theatre and co-wrote and performed in all five of its productions. The most memorable was ''Dwelling Unit Sweet Dwelling Unit'' (1973)—which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4's ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' (1977)—and ''Free Milk and Orange Juice'' (1976), which had a short run at the ICA. During the seventies Allen wrote three more radio plays including an Afternoon Theatre play, ''Two Fingers Finnegan Comes Again'', co-written with Vernon Mag ...
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Hayes, Middlesex
Hayes is a town in west London, historically situated within the county of Middlesex, and now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded as 83,564 in the 2011 census. It is situated west of Charing Cross, or east of Slough. The Grand Union Canal flows through the heart of Hayes, accompanied by the Great Western Main Line and significant industry, a town centre, residential areas and country parks. Hayes has a long history. The area appears in the ''Domesday Book'' (1086). Landmarks in the area include the Grade II* listed Parish Church, St Mary's – the central portion of the church survives from the twelfth century and it remains in use (the church dates back to 830 A.D.) – and Barra Hall, a Grade II listed manor house. The town's oldest public house – the Adam and Eve, on the Uxbridge Road – though not the original seventeenth-century structure, has remained on the sam ...
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Heathcote Williams
John Henley Heathcote-Williams (15 November 1941 – 1 July 2017), known as Heathcote Williams, was an English poet, actor, political activist and dramatist. He wrote a number of book-length polemical poems including ''Autogeddon'', ''Falling for a Dolphin'' and ''Whale Nation'', which in 1988 was described by Philip Hoare as "the most powerful argument for the newly instigated worldwide ban on whaling." Williams invented his idiosyncratic "documentary/investigative poetry" style which he put to good purpose bringing a diverse range of environmental and political matters to public attention. His last published work, ''American Porn'' was a critique of the American political establishment and the election of President Donald Trump; its publication date was the day of Trump's inauguration (20 January 2017). In June 2015 he published a book-length investigative poem about the "Muslim Gandhi", Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, ''Badshah Khan''. As well as being a playwright and screenwrit ...
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The Young Ones (TV Series)
''The Young Ones'' is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC Two for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers. ''The Young Ones'' helped bring alternative comedy to British television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. The show became a notable icon of 1980s British popular culture, and it received its own game and a home-media release while becoming the first non-music-related programme to appear on MTV in the United States in 1985. The show wa ...
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London Daily News
The ''London Daily News'' was a short-lived London newspaper owned by Robert Maxwell. It was published from 24 February to 23 July 1987. History The ''London Daily News'' was intended to be a "24-hour" paper challenging the local dominance of the ''Evening Standard''. "For the city that never sleeps, the paper that never stops", ran the promotional slogan. The ''Standard''’s owners, Associated Newspapers, responded by reviving the ''Evening News'' at a lower price to squeeze the ''London Daily News'' out of the market. A price war ensued finishing with the ''London Daily News'' selling at 10p and the ''Evening News'' at 5p. Maxwell was dismissive when he heard about the cut-price ''Evening News''. He told the BBC: "The ''Evening Standard'' and Lord Rothermere are so worried about their monopoly – which the ''London Daily News'' is finally breaking – and so scared about the huge demand for our paper, that they've brought out a cheapo ''Evening News'', which is really a joke ...
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Alas Smith And Jones
''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring comedy duo and namesake Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that originally ran for four series and two Christmas specials on BBC2 from 1984 to 1988, and later as ''Smith and Jones'' for six series on BBC1 until 1998. A spin-off from ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'', the show also had a brief run in the United States on A&E and PBS in the late 1980s, as well as on CBS in the early 1990s during their late-night block. History Background The show's creation followed the ending of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' in 1982. Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson followed individual career paths, whilst Smith and Jones opted to form a double act instead. The first post-''Not…'' appearance as a duo was in a short sketch in the BBC1 comedy special ''The Funny Side of Christmas'' in 1982, where Jones played a complete stranger who annoyed hospital patient Smith to the extent that Smith's character walked out in a r ...
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Week Ending
''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael Barratt. The show's title was always announced as "Week Ending..." followed by the broadcast date, although the ellipsis was dropped from its billed title in ''Radio Times'' during the mid-seventies. The show was written and recorded shortly before the first broadcast (which was usually on a Friday evening) and satirised events of the week. Each show concluded with "And now here is Next Week's News", although this collection of one-liners was abandoned in the early nineties. Short gags were thereafter scattered throughout the show. Relatively few editions survive in the BBC archives, and they are rarely repeated. There is an obvious issue of topicality, but this did not prevent annual ''Year Ending'' compilations or the re-recording of sket ...
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Naked Video
''Naked Video'' is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created ''A Kick Up the Eighties'' and ''Naked Radio'' (the latter being a radio sketch show that was aired on BBC Radio Scotland, began its ten-year run on 22 January 1981, covered all aspects of Scottish society and featured a lot of topical satire material rather than parody). The series originally starred Ron Bain, Gregor Fisher, Andy Gray, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Helen Lederer and Jonathan Watson, but they were later joined by Kate Donnelly and Louise Beattie. The series' producer was Colin Gilbert and its script editor was Philip Differ. ''Naked Radio'' proved a popular part of the local schedule, and in 1985, the cast mounted the series on stage at the year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Gilbert realised the series had potential for television and ''Naked Video'' was created. It proved popular at a time w ...
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Spitting Image
''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards, including ten BAFTA Television Awards, and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series features puppet caricatures of contemporary celebrities and public figures, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and the British royal family. The series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (as an elderly gin-drinker with a Beryl Reid voice). One of the most-watched shows of the 1980s, ''Spitting Image'' satirised politics, entertainment, sport and British popular culture of the era. At its peak, the show was watched by 15 million people. The popularity of the show saw colla ...
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Tiananmen Square Protests Of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth Clearing () or June Fourth Massacre (), troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military's advance into Tiananmen Square. The protests started on 15 April and were forcibly suppressed on 4 June when the government declared martial law and sent the People's Liberation Army to occupy parts of central Beijing. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded. The popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests is sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement () or the Tiananmen Square Incident (). The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu ...
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David Hine
David Hine (born 1956) is an English comic book writer and artist, known for his work on ''Silent War'' and ''The Bulletproof Coffin''. Career Hine has been working in comics since the early 1980s. For ''Crisis'', he drew the series ''Sticky Fingers'' (written by Myra Hancock) in 1989, and wrote and drew a number of short pieces in 1990 and 1991. For '' 2000 AD'' he drew ''Tao De Moto'' in 1991 (again written by Hancock) and wrote and drew the futuristic police series ''Mambo'' from 1994 to 1996. He wrote and drew the black and white horror comic '' Strange Embrace'', originally published as a mini-series by Atomeka Press in 1993, and later as a collected graphic novel by Active Images in the US, reprinted again as a colour series by Image Comics. Hine is currently best known as a writer on Marvel Comics titles, like '' X-Men: The 198'' and '' Civil War: X-Men''. One of his projects there was ''Silent War'' a six-issue mini-series featuring the Inhumans with art by Frazer Irv ...
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Revolver (Fleetway Comics)
''Revolver'' is the title of a short-lived British comic book magazine published by Fleetway Publications in the early 1990s. Founded by Steve MacManus and edited by Peter Hogan, ''Revolver'' was a spin-off from '' 2000AD''. ''Revolver'' attempted to take advantage of the 1960s revival which was sweeping British culture in the early 1990s, including the explosion of the British music scene at the time. The title of the magazine referred to its revolving, diverse content;Greg S. Baisden, Jean-Paul Jennequin, Jacques Dutrey, Nick Hasted, and Brad Brooks. "NEWSWATCH International: All Change at Fleetway", ''The Comics Journal'' #130 (July 1989), p. 45. it also alluded to the Beatles' album of the same name. ''Revolver'' gained a small following, but not enough for it to last beyond its seventh issue. It was given the 1991 UK Comic Art Award for Best New Publication."British Awards Announced", ''The Comics Journal'' #142 (June 1991), p. 17. Publication history ''Revolver'' was publ ...
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Crisis (Fleetway)
''Crisis'' was a British comic magazine published from September 1988 to October 1991 as an experiment by Fleetway to see if intelligent, mature, politically and socially-aware comics were saleable in the United Kingdom. The magazine was initially published fortnightly, and was one of the most visible components of the late-1980s British comics boom, along with ''Deadline'', ''Revolver'', and '' Toxic!''. History Conceived by editor Steve MacManus, ''Crisis'' would offer to make the work creator-owned, which might lead to the chance for royalties and greater copyright control, which was a departure from the way they had done business up until then. They also planned to turn the stories into American comic books which would sell better on the other side of the Atlantic, although ultimately only the first few titles got this treatment and the title moved to shorter stories after issue #14. David Bishop ''Thrill Power Overload'', page 127 As a '' 2000 AD'' spin-off, it was init ...
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