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Yangtse Incident (1957 Film)
''Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst'' (1957) is a British war film that tells the story of the British sloop caught up in the Chinese Civil War and involved in the 1949 Yangtze Incident. Directed by Michael Anderson, it stars Richard Todd, William Hartnell, and Akim Tamiroff. It was based upon the book written by Lawrence Earl. The film was known in the US by the alternative titles ''Battle Hell'', ''Escape of the Amethyst'', ''Their Greatest Glory'' and ''Yangtze Incident''. Non-English language titles include the direct German translation of ''Yangtse-Zwischenfall'', and ''Commando sur le Yang-Tse'' in France. In Belgium it was known as ''Feu sur le Yangtse'' (French) and ''Vuur op de Yangtse'' (Flemish/Dutch), both meaning ''"Fire on the Yangtse"''. The film was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Plot On 19 April 1949, the Royal Navy frigate HMS ''Amethyst'' sails up the Yangtze River on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books cowritten with Charles Rodda. Life Ambler was born in Charlton, South-East London, into a family of entertainers who ran a puppet show, with which he helped in his early years. Both parents also worked as music hall artists. He later studied engineering at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute in Islington (now City, University of London) and served a traineeship with an engineering company. However, his upbringing as an entertainer proved dominant and he soon moved to writing plays and other works. By the early 1930s, he was a copywriter at an advertising agency in London. After resigning, he moved to Paris, where he met and in 1939 married Louise Crombie, an American fashion correspondent. Ambler was then politically a staunch anti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanking
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. The city has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a total recorded population of 9,314,685 . Situated in the Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports. The city is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. Nanjing has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Foster (actor)
John Barry Foster (21 August 1927 – 11 February 2002) was an English actor who had an extensive career in film, radio, stage and television over almost 50 years. He was best known for portraying the title character in the British crime series ''Van der Valk'' (1972–1992) and Bob Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Frenzy'' (1972). Early life Foster was born on 21 August 1927 in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, the son of a toolsetter. His family moved to Hayes, Middlesex when he was a few months old. He received his formal education at Southall County School. After leaving school, Foster trained as a plastics organic chemist at the local EMI Central Research Laboratories, while unsuccessfully submitting ideas to advertising agencies. Having been "called to the Colours" under the National Service Act 1948, Foster served with the Royal Air Force. He subsequently trained as an actor, having won a scholarship to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He arrived there ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Coleman
Richard Coleman (20 January 1930 – 16 December 2008) was a British film, television and stage actor. Early life Richard Coleman was born Ronald Coleman in Peckham, London in 1930. He was educated at Wilson's Grammar School, Peckham. After three years' National Service in the R.A.F., he worked as a salesman in a West End gentleman's outfitters. While there he became interested in amateur dramatics, joining "The Taverners", a group which visited local inns and public houses, giving performances of Shakespeare. Bob and Frances Fish, who ran The Taverners, recognised Coleman's potential and entered him in 1951 for the Leverhulme Scholarship to RADA, which he won. To make ends meet during the Academy's vacations, he was forced to do a variety of jobs, including working on the Thames River Bus and selling razors. He graduated from RADA in 1953 with the Principal’s Medal. He adopted the stage name Richard Coleman, to avoid confusion with the film star Ronald Colman. He then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Leech
Richard Leeper McClelland (24 November 1922 – 24 March 2004), known professionally as Richard Leech, was an Irish actor. Richard Leeper McClelland was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Isabella Frances (Leeper) and Herbert Saunderson McClelland, a lawyer. He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Dublin, and qualified as a doctor in 1945. He worked in that profession from 1945–6, then became a full-time actor. His numerous film credits include '' The Dam Busters'' (1955) (playing Dinghy Young), ''Night of the Demon'' (1957), '' Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst'' (1957), ''Ice Cold in Alex'' (1958), ''Tunes of Glory'' (1960), ''Young Winston'' (1972), ''Gandhi'' (1982) and the acclaimed ''The Shooting Party'' (1985). On television Richard Leech appeared in ''Dickens of London'', ''The Barchester Chronicles'', ''Smiley's People'', three episodes of '' The Avengers'' in different roles, ''Redcap'', ''Danger Man'', '' The Doctors'', '' The New Avengers' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Urquhart (actor)
Robert Urquhart (16 October 1922 – 21 March 1995) was a Scottish character actor who worked on the stage, for British television, and in film. His breakthrough role was Paul Krempe in ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' in 1957, along with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Early life Urquhart was born in Ullapool, Scotland. His father was a sailor with the Merchant Navy. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. After school, he entered the Merchant Navy and went to Australia, New Zealand, South America, and South Africa as an apprentice before earning third mate's papers. He continued his service during World War II. In 1942, he left the Merchant Navy after his ship was torpedoed three times and worked in Glasgow's docklands. He won an ex-serviceman's scholarship that allowed him to train at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Career Stage Urquhart made his stage debut in 1947 at the Park Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. That same year, he was cast in Tyrone Guthr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston (6 November 1923 – 13 October 1991) was a Welsh actor whose first two films—'' The Blue Lagoon'' (1949) with Jean Simmons, and ''A Run for Your Money'' (1949) with Alec Guinness—were highly successful. Later in his career he was cast in military roles and in comedies such as the ''Doctor'' and ''Carry On'' series. Early life Houston was born in 10 Thomas Street, Tonypandy, on Tuesday 6 November 1923 in the village of Clydach Vale, near Tonypandy, Glamorgan and was the elder brother of actor Glyn Houston and a sister, Jean. His father Alexander Houston, was a professional football player from Scotland, and his mother Elsie M Jones, ran a milk round. Following the death of their mother at age 29, Donald and brother Glyn Houston were raised by their grandmother while their father had to leave Wales in order to find work. After leaving school he worked at a local colliery before deciding to start an acting career. In 1940 he performed on stage w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first Head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949. The future George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort, and was known as "Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the throne as George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward VIII, Prince Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wusong
Wusong, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a subdistrict of Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the Huangpu River from Shanghai's urban core. Name Wusong is named for the Wusong River, a former name for Shanghai's Suzhou Creek. Suzhou Creek is now a tributary to the Huangpu River, emptying into it in Puxi across from Lujiazui and just north of the Bund. The Huangpu had previously been a tributary to the Wusong, but the two reversed their importance when a flood caused it to gain a number of the Wusong's former tributaries. The location where the Huangpu and Wusong meet was generally known as ''Wusongkou'' ("mouth of the Wusong"). History Wusong housed a Qing fortress protecting the entrance to Shanghai. It was captured by the British during the Battle of Woosung on 16 June 1842, amid the First Opium War. During the steamship era, it was the point of departure for large steamers bound for Shanghai. This posit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commissar
Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eastern-bloc armies or to the people's commissars (effectively government ministers), while administrative officers are called ''commissaries''. The Russian word комисса́р, from French ''commissaire'', was used in Russia for both political and administrative officials. The title has been used in the Soviet Union and in Russia since the time of the emperor Peter the Great (). History In the 18th and 19th centuries in the Russian army ''kommissars'', then ''krigs-komissars'' (from german: Krieg 'war') were officials in charge of supply for the armed forces (see Rus. Генерал-кригскомиссар). Commissaries were used during the Provisional Government (March–July 1917) for regional heads of administration, but the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Attaché
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface ships, amphibious ships, submarines, and seaborne aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields. The strategic offensive role of a navy is projection of force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect sea-lanes, deter or confront piracy, ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of the navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Naval operations can be broadly divided between riverine and littoral applications (brown-water navy), open-ocean applications ( bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Kerans
Commander John Simon Kerans (30 June 191512 September 1985) was an officer in the Royal Navy and later a Conservative Party politician. He is also the author of the 1964 book ''The World's Greatest Sea Adventures'', Publisher: Odhams Books Ltd. The Yangtze Incident As Assistant British Naval Attaché in then Nanking, China in 1949, Lieutenant-Commander Kerans took command of when the ship came under fire on the Yangtze River during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War after the captain and 16 others were killed in the shelling. The ship was detained for ten weeks during negotiations for its release, until Kerans led a night-time escape. Kerans was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The ''Amethyst'' incident was later the subject of a film entitled '' Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst'' (1957), in which Kerans was portrayed by the British actor Richard Todd. Politics At the 1959 general election he was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
