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Hancock's Half Hour
''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James, Bill Kerr and,at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Williams. The television series also featured Sidney James with regular appearances from John Le Mesurier, Hugh Lloyd, Warren Mitchell, Liz Fraser and Patricia Hayes. In the final television series, renamed simply ''Hancock'', the supporting cast included established actors such as Jack Watling and Patrick Cargill. Hancock played an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wally Stott
Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an English composer and conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for ''The Goon Show'' and ''Hancock's Half Hour''. She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and encouragement of the Canadian light music composer Robert Farnon. Morley transitioned in 1972 and thereafter lived openly as a transgender woman. Later in life, she lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. Morley won three Emmy Awards for her work in music arrangement. These were in the category of Outstanding Music Direction, in 1985, 1988 and 1990, for '' Christmas in Washington'' and two television specials starring Julie Andrews. Morley also received eight Emmy nominations for composing music for television series such as ''Dynasty'' and ''Dallas''. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song Score: first fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell (born Warren Misell; 14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015) was an English actor best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in television, film and stage productions from the 1960s to the 1990s. He was a BAFTA TV Award winner and twice a Laurence Olivier Award winner. In the 1950s, Mitchell appeared on the radio programmes '' Educating Archie'' and ''Hancock's Half Hour''. He also performed minor roles in several films. In the 1960s, he rose to prominence in the role of Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part'' (1965–75), created by Johnny Speight, which won him a Best TV Actor BAFTA in 1967. He reprised the role in the television sequels '' Till Death...'' ( ATV, 1981) and '' In Sickness and in Health'' (BBC, 1985–92), and in the films '' Till Death Us Do Part'' (1969) and '' The Alf Garnett Saga'' (1972). Mitchell's other film appearances include '' Three Crooked Men'' (1958), '' Carry On Cleo'' (1964), '' The Spy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Look Back In Anger
''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet impassive upper-middle-class wife Alison. The supporting characters include Cliff Lewis, an amiable Welsh lodger who attempts to keep the peace; and Helena Charles, Alison's snobbish friend. Osborne drew inspiration from his personal life and failing marriage with Pamela Lane while writing ''Look Back in Anger'', which was his first successful outing as a playwright. The play spawned the term " angry young men" to describe Osborne and those of his generation who employed the harshness of realism in the theatre in contrast to the more escapist theatre that characterised the previous generation. This harsh realism has led to ''Look Back in Anger'' being considered one of the first examples of kitchen sink drama in theatre. The play was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Osborne
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and entrepreneur, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in post-war theatre. Born in London, he briefly worked as a journalist. before starting out in theatre as a stage manager and actor.. He lived in poverty for several years before his third produced play, '' Look Back in Anger'' (1956), brought him national fame. Based on Osborne's volatile relationship with his first wife, Pamela Lane, it is considered the first work of kitchen sink realism, initiating a movement which made use of social realism and domestic settings to address disillusion with British society in the waning years of the Empire.Heilpern, pp. 93–102 The phrase “ angry young man”, coined by George Fearon to describe Osborne when promoting the play, came to embody the predominantly working class and left-wing writers within this movement. Osborne was considered its leading figure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Cole (actor)
George Edward Cole (22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for playing Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV comedy-drama show ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and Flash Harry (St Trinian's), Flash Harry in the early ''St Trinian's'' films. Early life Cole was born in Tooting, south London. He was placed for adoption at ten days old and adopted by George and Florence Cole. They lived in Tooting, moving five miles away to a council flat in Morden when Cole was five years old. The senior George suffered from epilepsy, a double hernia, and the after-effects of gas poisoning during the First World War. He had several jobs which were curtailed by his ill-health, including pulling a heavy roller for Tooting council. In Cole's opinion, the exertion contributed to his father's death. Cole attended secondary school in nearby Morden. He left school at 14 to be a butcher's boy and had an ambition to join the Merchant Navy (Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Wilmut
Roger Wilmut (born 1942) is a British writer and compiler of books on British comedy. Wilmut attended Warwick School, and began his 'day job' as studio technician for the BBC on leaving school in 1961. Wilmut claims to have drifted into a career as a writer "by accident". Wilmut's books include ''The Goon Show Companion'', '' Tony Hancock: Artiste'', ''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' (a history of Oxbridge comedy in the sixties and seventies) and ''Didn't You Kill My Mother-in-law'' (a history of the 1980s alternative comedy movement in the UK). Early life Wilmut was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire in 1942. His parents moved there when they were married in 1940 and his father, who had been teaching in Caterham, Surrey, got a post at King Edward VI School in Stratford. Wilmut's mother was a keen theatregoer, and as a result he saw many of the Shakespeare productions at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from the late 1950s to about the early 1970s. Wilmut attended Warwick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Situation Comedy
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home, workplace, or community. Unlike sketch comedy, which features different characters and settings in each Sketch comedy, skit, sitcoms typically maintain plot continuity across episodes. This continuity allows for the development of storylines and characters over time, fostering audience engagement and investment in the characters' lives and relationships. History The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners. These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term ''sitcom'' emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s. While the format is still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the '' Royal Variety Performance'', the Philippines with ''Eat Bulaga!'' and '' It's Showtime'', and South Korea with '' Running Man'', the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had a major effect on late night television whose late-night talk shows and NBC's vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home, workplace, or community. Unlike sketch comedy, which features different characters and settings in each Sketch comedy, skit, sitcoms typically maintain plot continuity across episodes. This continuity allows for the development of storylines and characters over time, fostering audience engagement and investment in the characters' lives and relationships. History The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners. These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term ''sitcom'' emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheam
Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to two large parks, Nonsuch Park and Cheam Park. Nonsuch Park contains the listed Nonsuch Mansion. Parts of Cheam Park and Cheam Village are in a conservation area. Cheam is bordered by Worcester Park to the northwest, Morden to the northeast, Sutton to the east, Epsom, Ewell and Stoneleigh to the west and Banstead and Belmont to the south. History The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the boundary of Cheam. The modern London Road at North Cheam follows the course of the Roman road through the area. It is designated A24. The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred. Cheam is mentioned in the Charters of Chertsey Abbey in 727, which mentions Cheam being given to the monastery of Chertsey in 67 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Cargill
Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''. Early life Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After education at Haileybury College, he made his debut in the Bexhill Amateur Theatrical Society. However, he was aiming for a military career and was selected for training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Cargill became a commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. Career After the Second World War ended, Cargill returned to Britain to focus on a stage career, and joined Anthony Hawtrey's company at Buxton, Croydon and later the Embassy Theatre (London), Embassy Theatre at Swiss Cottage in London. He became a supporting player in John Counsell (theatre director), John Counsell's repertory at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor alongside Brenda Bruce and Beryl Reid and scored a huge hit in the revue ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
