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Chart Throb
''Chart Throb'' is a 2006 novel by Ben Elton. It was released in hardback on 6 November 2006 in the UK, and 9 January 2007 in the US. It is a satire of ''The X Factor (UK), The X Factor''/''Pop Idol''-style reality TV programmes. Plot summary The story revolves around the occurrences during the latest series of the hit 'reality' star search programme, Chart Throb. The show was the brainchild of Calvin Simms, who assumed a Simon Cowell style role as the mean, English judge. He is accompanied by the extravagant but bitchy former rockstar-turned-transsexual reality TV star, Beryl Blenheim, and the ageing pop manager Rodney Root. Calvin's wife wants to divorce him, but as part of a bet she agrees that if he can rig the results of the new series of Chart Throb, she will leave him without taking any of his cash. Beryl Blenheim is trying to manage the scripted reality show she helms, ''The Blenheims'', whilst coping with her drug-addled wife, Serenity, and the flagging pop career of one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire. He co-wrote the sitcoms ''The Young Ones (TV series), The Young Ones'', ''Blackadder'' and ''Mr. Bean'', and was the sole writer for other sitcoms such as ''Filthy Rich & Catflap'', ''The Thin Blue Line (British TV series), The Thin Blue Line'' and ''Upstart Crow''. He has published many novels in dystopian, comedy, and Crime Fiction, crime genres, as well as written the musicals ''The Beautiful Game (musical), The Beautiful Game'' (2000), ''We Will Rock You (musical), We Will Rock You'' (2002), ''Tonight's the Night (2003 musical), Tonight's the Night'' (2003), and ''Love Never Dies (musical), Love Never Dies'' (2010). Early life and education Benjamin Charles Elton was born at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London, the son o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK'' (2004–2010; 2014–2018), and ''Britain's Got Talent'' (2007–present), as well as the American television talent competition shows ''American Idol'' (2002–2010), ''The X Factor (American TV series), The X Factor US'' (2011–2013), and ''America's Got Talent'' (2016–present). Cowell founded the British entertainment company Syco Entertainment in 2005, as well as its defunct predecessor, Syco Music (also known as S Records) in 2002. After some success in the 1980s and 1990s as a record producer, talent agent and consultant in the British music industry, Cowell came to public prominence in 2001 as a judge on ''Pop Idol'', a television show which he and its creator Simon Fuller successfully pitched to ITV (TV network), ITV Controll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Satirical Novels
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2006 British Novels
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon also has 6 edges as well as 6 internal and external angles. 6 is the second smallest composite number. It is also the first number that is the sum of its proper divisors, making it the smallest perfect number. It is also the only perfect number that doesn't have a digital root of 1. 6 is the first unitary perfect number, since it is the sum of its positive proper unitary divisors, without including itself. Only five such numbers are known to exist. 6 is the largest of the four all-Harshad numbers. 6 is the 2nd superior highly composite number, the 2nd colossally abundant number, the 3rd triangular number, the 4th highly composite number, a pronic number, a congruent number, a harmonic divisor number, and a semiprime. 6 is also th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. ''The Independent'' won the Brand of the Year Award in The Drum Awards for Online Media 2023. History 1980s Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330. It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at ''The Daily Telegraph'' who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), and has been adapted in various countries. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality.Described as "something you can't quite put your finger on" by Cheryl Cole, a judge on the UK version of ''The X Factor'', ''The Xtra Factor'', 23 November 2009 Similar to '' Got Talent'', the franchise maintains a YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ... channel, called ''X Factor Global''. The channel uploads clips of ''X Factor'' shows from around the world. The channel currently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph and Courier''. ''The Telegraph'' is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", was included in its emblem which was used for over a century starting in 1858. In 2013, ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph'', which started in 1961, were merged, although the latter retains its own editor. It is politically conservative and supports the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party. It was moderately Liberalism, liberal politically before the late 1870s.Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalismp 159 ''The Telegraph'' has had a number of news scoops, including the outbreak of World War II by rookie reporter Clare Hollingworth, desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pop Idol
''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in ''The Guardian'' wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. ''Pop Idol'' was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of ''The X Factor'' in the UK in April 2004. The show has become an international TV franchise since, spawning multiple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comic Novel
A comic novel is a Novel, novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary choice to make the thrust of the work—in its narration or plot—funny or satirical in orientation, regardless of the putative seriousness of the topics addressed. Definition Novels, books, plays, and many works of fiction or art can certainly contain and include passages or themes that are comic, humorous or Satire, satirical, but the defining characteristic of this genre is that comedy is the framework and baseline of the story, rather than an occasional or recurring motif. It is the through-line and organizing genre for the novel's tone, orientation and sensibility. A reader is not expected to 'find' or 'discover' a humorous moment within the reality of the text, rather, humor is the ongoing mood, like a comedy movie, rather th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The X Factor (UK)
''The X Factor'' is a British reality television music competition, and part of the global ''X Factor'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's British entertainment company, Thames (Talkback Thames until 2011), and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulcast on Virgin Media One in Ireland. The programme ran for around 445 episodes across fifteen series, each one primarily broadcast late in the year, until its final episode in December 2018. The majority of episodes were presented by Dermot O'Leary, with some exceptions: the first three series were hosted by Kate Thornton, while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs hosted the show for the twelfth series. Each year of the competition saw contestants of all ages and backgrounds auditioning for a place, in hopes of proving that they had singing talent. Auditionees attempted to do so before a panel of judges, each selected for their background in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blind Faith (novel)
''Blind Faith'' is an English dystopian novel by writer and comedian Ben Elton, published in 2007. Setting The story takes place in London approximately 100 years after many parts of the Earth have been subjected to rising water due to global warming. The remaining population believes that "only perverts do things in private", and obsessively blogs and uploads their lives in a sort of voluntary panopticon society. A wholesale rejection of science (which is blamed for "The Second Flood") has taken place, and religious faith is compulsory under new "Wembley Laws" (statutes passed by mob assent). Plot summary Trafford Sewell, the novel's protagonist, sets off for work on a rare "Fizzy Coff", a rare day that he must be physically present in his office as he is predominately a remote worker, and, in the short distance he has to travel, he is confronted by the numerous maudlin "tributes" to dead "kiddies", massive overcrowding, and oppressive heat that are typical of his world. His " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
