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Valentine Vox
Valentine Vox (born Jack Riley; February 20, 1939) is a British born American ventriloquist and author known for his scholarly book on the history of ventriloquism, ''I Can See Your Lips Moving: the history and art of ventriloquism'', which traces the practice back some three thousand years. As a ventriloquist Vox's career spanned over 50 years appearing in venues around the world in theatre, cabaret and on television. Besides English, he has performed his act in Japanese and German languages. In 1967 Edgar Bergen described Valentine as: ''A dishonest ventriloquist — because he doesn’t move his lips''. In 1997 Vox became the director of the International Ventriloquist Association and organized annual conventions in Las Vegas from 1997 to 2003 where he brought together some of the world top ventriloquists which included Jeff Dunham, Nina Conti, Jay Johnson, Ronn Lucas, Mallory Lewis, and Paul Winchell. Vox took his name from the 1840 Victorian novel by Henry Cockton, ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He was the father of actress Candice Bergen. Early life Bergen was born in Chicago, Illinois, one of five children and the younger of two sons of Swedish immigrants Nilla Svensdotter (née Osberg) and Johan Henriksson Berggren. He lived on a farm near Decatur, Michigan until he was four, when his family returned to Sweden, where he learned the language. After his family had returned to Chicago, when he was eleven, he taught himself ventriloquism from a pamphlet called "The Wizard's Manual". He attended Lake View High School. After his father died, when Edgar was 16, he went out to work as an apprentice accountant, a furnace stoker, a player-piano operator, and a projectionist in a silent-movie house. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree-awarding examination board for students holding certificates from University College London and King's College London and "other such other Institutions, corporate or unincorporated, as shall be established for the purpose of Education, whether within the Metropolis or elsewhere within our United Kingdom". This fact allows it to be one of three institutions to claim the title of the third-oldest university in England, and moved to a federal structure in 1900. It is now incorporated by its fourth (1863) royal charter and governed by the University of London Act 2018. It was the first university in the United Kingdom to introduce examinations for women in 1869 and, a decade later, the first to admit women to degrees. In 1913, it appointe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worthington Brewery
Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington & Co. and Worthington's, was founded by William Worthington in Burton upon Trent in 1761. It is the second oldest continuously brewed British beer brand, after Whitbread. The best known Worthington beers are its Creamflow nitrokeg bitter and White Shield India Pale Ale. When William Worthington died in 1800, his brewery was one of the largest outside London. Horace Tabberer Brown, a chemist employed by Worthington, pioneered brewing science in the separation and cultivation of pure yeast strains from 1866, and the brewery was the first in the world to systematically use a laboratory in the brewing process from 1872. Worthington & Co merged with its major Burton rival Bass in 1927. Until the 1960s the Worthington brand, in bottled form, ranked alongside Bass and Guinness as one of only three beers with nationwide distribution. However, bottled beer sales declined as keg beer grew in popularity throughout the 1960s, and the Worthi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magpie (TV Series)
''Magpie'' was a British children's television programme shown on ITV from 30 July 1968 to 6 June 1980. It was a magazine format show, intended to compete with the BBC's '' Blue Peter'', but it attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture. The show's creators, Lewis Rudd and Sue Turner, named the programme ''Magpie'', as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items and also because of "mag" being evocative of "magazine" and "pie" being evocative of a collection of ingredients. Broadcast history The programme, made by Thames Television, was first transmitted on 30 July 1968, Thames Television's first day of broadcasting. It was shown weekly until 1969, after which, until it ended on 6 June 1980, it went out twice a week. It was not fully networked to all other ITV companies until the autumn of 1969. Approximately 1,000 episodes were made, each 25 minutes in duration. The first presenters were the former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Pete Brady, Susan St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc, Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned several hits for major rock and pop groups such as the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits, and Ohio Express, among others. Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968 Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England into a Jewish family. He played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963, including the High Spots, the Crevattes, the Planets and the Whirlwinds, which became a house band at his local Jewish Lads' Brigade. The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Maurice Sperling (vocals/drums), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV, releasing a recording of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Bongo (magician)
William Oliver Wallace (8 December 1929 – 8 March 2009), known by his stage name Ali Bongo, was an English comedy magician and former president of The Magic Circle who performed an act in which he was known as the "Shriek of Araby". Early life Born as William Oliver Wallace in Bangalore, British India, where his father (also called William) was serving as a sergeant major with the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Young William spent his early years on a British station in Trimulgherry, Secunderabad before going to Britain with his mother Lillian, at the age of seven. After William Wallace senior had ended his army service, the family moved to Sutton Valence in Kent and young William won a scholarship to Sutton Valence School, leaving at 16 to begin his career as an entertainer. His time in National Service was spent with the Royal Army Pay Corps. He worked for Harry Stanley's Unique Magic Studio and was manager of the magic department at Hamleys toy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Goodwin (English Actor)
Harold Goodwin (22 October 1917 – 3 June 2004) was an English actor born in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, England. Acting career Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years. He appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s and 1960s, usually playing 'flat cap'-wearing working class characters from Northern England or low ranks in the military. He had significant parts in the war films '' The Dam Busters'' (playing Guy Gibson's batman, 'Crosby'), ''Bridge on the River Kwai'' and '' The Longest Day.'' He can also be seen in films such as '' The Ladykillers'', ''Sea of Sand'', '' Angels One Five'' and '' The Cruel Sea'' (in which he was the ASDIC operator). Goodwin made hundreds of appearances in British television programmes such as ''Minder'' (as ''Dunning'', episode '' Get Daley!'', 1984)'' and a notable role in '' All Creatures Great and Small''. Goodwin was a 'staple' of the popular 1980s sitcom, '' That's My Boy''. His last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was known for playing Captain Peacock in ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel ''Grace & Favour'' (''Are You Being Served? Again!'') and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. Early life Frank Thornton Ball was born in Dulwich, London, the son of Rosina Mary ( née Thornton) and William Ernest Ball. His father was an organist at St Stephen's Church, Sydenham Hill, where Frank learned to play the organ for a short while. Music proved too difficult for him, however, and he wanted to act from an early age. His father, who worked in a bank, wanted him to get a "proper" job, so he began working in insurance after leaving Alleyn's School. He soon enrolled at a small acting school, the London School of Dramatic Art, and took evening classes. After two years working at the insurance company, he was invited to become a day student at the acting sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broadcast from 9:25 Monday morning to 5:15 Friday afternoon (7:00 Friday night until 1982) at which time it would hand over to London Weekend Television (LWT). Formed as a joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation—soon taken over by EMI—owning 51%. Like all ITV franchisees, it was a broadcaster, a producer and a commissioner of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and, as one of the History of ITV#The Big Four and Big Five, "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across the ITV regions. After its loss of franchise i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Nixon (magician)
David Porter Nixon (29 December 1919 – 1 December 1978)GRO Register of Births: MAR 1920 3a 1125 EDMONTON - David P. NixonGRO Register of Deaths: DEC 1978 17 1052 SURREY SE - David Porter Nixon, DoB = 29 Dec 1919 was an English magician and television personality. At the height of his career, Nixon was the best-known magician in the UK. Early life Born in Muswell Hill, London, Nixon attended the Westcliff High School for Boys in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. His father was a lawyer whose hobby was magic and who took Nixon to watch performers such as Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant. One magician who made an early impression on the young boy was Stanley Collins, who had a gentlemanly image which influenced Nixon's later performing style. Nixon started performing magic himself after an aunt bought him an Ernest Sewell Magic Box for Christmas. On leaving school he gained a job with the ''Henley Telegraph'', the in-house magazine of the W. T. Henley Telegraph company, a publication wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Brush
Basil Brush is a fictional red fox, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips. The character has featured on children's television from the 1960s to the present day. He has also appeared in pantomimes across the UK. A mischievous character and a raconteur, Basil Brush is best known for his catchphrase "Ha Ha Ha! Boom! Boom!", used after something he finds funny, and also for speaking in a "posh" accent and manner, referring to himself as a "fella". The character claims to dislike puppets, and says his most prized possession is his brush, this being the traditional name for a fox's tail. The character of Basil Brush publicly supports Leicester City Football Club, which he refers to as "the foxes". 1962 to 1968 The original Basil Brush glove puppet was designed by Peter Firmin in 1962 for an ITV television series, and was voiced and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Peter
''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Television Centre in London until September 2011, when the programme moved to dock10 studios at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. It is currently shown live on the CBBC television channel on Fridays at 5pm. The show is also repeated on Saturdays at 11:30am, Sundays at 9:00am and a BSL version is shown on Tuesdays at 2:00pm. Following its original creation, the programme was developed by a BBC team led by Biddy Baxter; she became the programme editor in 1965, relinquishing the role in 1988. Throughout the show's history there have been 41 presenters; currently, it is hosted by Richie Driss, Mwaksy Mudenda and Joel Mawhinney. The show uses a nautical title and theme. Its content, which follows a magazine/entertainment format, featur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
