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William Tallon
William John Stephenson Tallon RVM (12 November 1935 – 23 November 2007), also known as Billy Tallon or Backstairs Billy, was a steward and member of the Queen Mother's staff at Clarence House. Early life Tallon was born above his grandfather's hardware shop in Birtley, County Durham, in 1935. A year later, the family had fallen on hard times, and moved to Coventry, where Tallon grew up in Norman Place Road in Coundon. He attended Barkers Butts Secondary Modern School. After he left school, he began training with a jeweller in Leamington Spa. The day he was to begin his apprenticeship, Tallon, then residing in Keresley, received a letter from the Controller of the Household, with a form to be completed and a travel warrant to Buckingham Palace. Having always shown an interest in the Royal Family, his book of press cuttings on King George VI and Queen Elizabeth was his greatest treasure. He enthusiastically followed the family's 1947 South African tour. Work with the Roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Victorian Medal
The Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) is a decoration established by Queen Victoria in April 1896. On 14 May 1912, King George V further confirmed the institution of the medal with an additional royal warrant. A part of the Royal Victorian Order, it is a reward for personal service to the Sovereign or the royal family, and is the personal gift of the sovereign. It differs from other grades of the order in appearance and in the way it is worn. The medal has three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold (silver gilt). Bars may be awarded to each level of Medal to denote subsequent awards. Recipients may continue to wear their original medal if they are awarded a higher level for further service. The medal may also be worn in addition to the badge of the Royal Victorian Order if this is later given to them. Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters RVM. History In creating the Royal Victorian Order in 1896, Queen Victoria decided to make a medal a part of the order as well. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The length and nature of national service depends on the country in question. In some instances, national service is compulsory, and citizens living abroad can be called back to their country of origin to complete it. In other cases, national service is voluntary. Many young people spend one or more years in such programmes. Compulsory military service typically requires all citizens to enroll for one or two years, usually at age 18 (later for university-level students). Most conscripting countries conscript only men, but Norway, Sweden, Israel, Eritrea, Morocco and North Korea conscript both men and women. Voluntary national service may require only three months of basic military training. The US equivalent is Selective Service. In the Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phyllida Law
Phyllida Ann Law (born 8 May 1932) is a British actress, known for her numerous roles in film and television. Early life Law was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Meg "Mego" and William Law, a journalist. Prior to the Second World War, her father was a journalist with the ''Glasgow Herald'' who "kept odd hours"; when the war broke out, he went into the air force and separated from his wife, later divorcing. Law would not see her father again until she was 18. Law's mother Meg worked in a dress shop in Glasgow during the war. The family also included Law's brother, James, her elder by five years, and their maternal grandmother, the wife of a Presbyterian minister, and "a fierce Presbyterian" herself whom Law "did not like as a child but can now admire." She attended Glasgow Girls High up to age seven. The war began in September 1939 and Law and her brother were evacuated to family friends outside Glasgow in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, and attended a local school there, before La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul O'Grady
Paul James O'Grady Order of the British Empire, MBE Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag queen persona Lily Savage, very popular in the 1990s. O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, most notably ''The Paul O'Grady Show''. Born to a working-class Irish migrant family in Tranmere, Merseyside, Tranmere, Cheshire, O'Grady moved to London in the late 1970s, initially working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden London Borough Council, Camden Council. He developed his drag act in 1978, basing the character of Lily Savage upon traits found amongst female relatives. Touring England as part of drag mime duo, the Playgirls, O'Grady later went solo as a stand-up comedian. Performing as Savage for eight years at a South London gay pub, the Royal Vaux ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Brown
June Muriel Brown (16 February 1927 – 3 April 2022) was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (1985–1993; 1997–2020). In 2005, she won Best Actress at the ''Inside Soap'' Awards and received the Lifetime Achievement award at The British Soap Awards. Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity, and promoted to an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours. In 2009, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, making her the second performer to receive a BAFTA nomination for their work in a soap opera, after Jean Alexander. In February 2020, at the age of 93, she announced that she had left ''EastEnders'' permanently. Early life Brown was born on 16 February 1927 in Needham Market, Suffolk, one of five children of Louisa Ann (née Butler) and Henry William Melton Brown. Her ancestry included Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Sarah Chatto
Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; born 1 May 1964) is the only daughter of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. She and her brother, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, are the only maternal first cousins of King Charles III. She is the youngest grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. At her birth, she was seventh in line of succession to the British throne; as of September 2022, she is 27th. Early life and education Sarah Armstrong-Jones was born on 1 May 1964 at Kensington Palace in London. She is the second child and only daughter of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. She was christened in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace on 13 July 1964. Lady Sarah is a godmother to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Lady Rose Gilman, and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor. She also has half-siblings on her father's side: Polly Fry (born 1960),Bloxham, Andy (31 May 2008)" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl Of Snowdon
Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', '' Vanity Fair'', and other major venues; more than 100 of his photographs are in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery. From 1960 to 1978 he was married to Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Early life Armstrong-Jones was the only son of the marriage of the Welsh barrister Ronald Armstrong-Jones (1899–1966) and his first wife, Anne Messel (later Countess of Rosse; 1902–1992). He was born at Eaton Terrace in Belgravia, central London. He was called "Tony" by his close relatives. Armstrong-Jones's paternal grandfather was Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, a Welsh psychiatrist. His paternal grandmother, Margaret Armstrong-Jones (née Roberts), was a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, and was the da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patricia Routledge
Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, (; born 17 February 1929) is an English actress, singer and broadcaster. For her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom ''Keeping Up Appearances'' (1990–1995), she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1993. Her film appearances include ''To Sir, with Love'' (1967) and '' Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River'' (1968). Routledge made her professional stage debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952 and her Broadway debut in ''How's the World Treating You'' in 1966. She won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in ''Darling of the Day'', and the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for ''Candide''. On television, Routledge came to prominence during the 1980s in monologues written by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood; appearing in Bennett's ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1982), as Kitty in '' Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' (1985–1986), and being nominat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''The Tempest'', ''King Lear'', and ''Romeo and Juliet''. He has also performed in Anton Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'' and Edmond Rostand's ''Cyrano de Bergerac (play), Cyrano de Bergerac''. He was given a Knight Bachelor, knighthood for his services to theatre by Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 and is a member of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog. In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also made numerous television appearances, starring in the 1976 adaptation of Robert Graves's ''I, Claudius (TV series), I, Claudius'', for which he won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA; in the titular role in the medieval drama series ''Cadfael (TV series), Cadfael'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Although no longer the principal residence of the monarch, it is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council, the office of the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as the London residence of several members of the royal family. Built by order of Henry VIII in the 1530s on the site of a leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less, the palace was secondary in importance to the Palace of Whitehall for most Tudor and Stuart monarchs. Initially surrounded by gardens, it was generally used as a retreat from the formal court and occasionally a royal guest house. After the destruction by fire of Whitehall, the palace increased in importance during the reigns of the early Hanoverian monarchs, but was displaced by Buckingham Palac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marlborough House
Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion in St James's, City of Westminster, London, is the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations and the seat of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It was built in 1711 for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. For over a century it served as the London residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It became a royal residence through the 19th century and first half of the 20th. The house was expanded for the Prince of Wales, the future king Edward VII, and became closely associated with the prince in the Victorian era. Queen Mary lived there when she was Princess of Wales and took a special interest in the house; she returned to live there in her widowhood. The building was leased by Queen Elizabeth II to the Commonwealth Secretariat beginning in 1965. Construction In 1708, the Duke of Marlborough was granted a 50-year lease of the site from the Crown Estate at a low rent from Queen Anne, which bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapel Royal
The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applied to the chapels within royal palaces, most notably at Hampton Court and St James's Palace, and other chapels within the Commonwealth designated as such by the monarch. Within the Church of England, some of these royal chapels may also be referred to as Royal Peculiars, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the monarch. The Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal is a royal household office that in modern times is usually held by the Bishop of London. The Chapel Royal's most public role is to perform choir, choral liturgical music, liturgical service. It has played a significant role in the musical life of the nation, with composers such as Thomas Tallis, Tallis, William Byrd, Byrd, John Bull (composer), Bull, Orlando Gibbons, Gibbons and Henry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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