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Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson. History Half Man Half Biscuit were formed by two friends from Birkenhead, Neil Crossley and singer, guitarist and songwriter Nigel Blackwell who was (in his own words) at the time "still robbing cars and playing football like normal people do". In 1979, Blackwell was editing a football fanzine (''Left For Wakeley Gage''); he met Crossley when he went to see the latter's band play.Kendal, Mark (2004) "Britain's Greatest Living Rock And Roll Satirist", '' The Word'', Unknown Issue, p. 42-46 In 1984, when Half Man Half Biscuit were formed, Crossley moved to bass and the two were joined by Nigel's brother Simon Blackwell (lead guitar) and his friend Paul Wright ( drums), both previou ...
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Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 88,818. Birkenhead Priory and the Mersey Ferry were established in the 12th century. In the 19th century, Birkenhead expanded greatly as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out as well as the first street tramway in Britain. The Mersey Railway connected Birkenhead and Liverpool with the world's first tunnel beneath a tidal estuary; the shipbuilding firm Cammell Laird and a seaport were established. In the second half of the 20th century, the town suffered a significant period of decline, with containerisation causing a reduction in port activity. The Wirral Waters development is planned to regenerate much of the dockland. Topo ...
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UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the relevance of the chart dwindled in the 1990s as major-label ownership blurred the boundary between independent and major labels. Separate independent charts are currently published weekly by the Official Charts Company. History In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered commercially attractive to those companies. By 1978, labels like Cherry Red, Rough Trade, and Mute had started up, and a support structure soon followed, including independent pressing, distribution and promotion. These labels got bigger and bigger, and by 1980 they were having Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart. Chart success was limite ...
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Rooney (UK Band)
Rooney were a British DIY lo-fi band that released three EPs and three albums between 1997 and 2000, notably the debut album ''Time on Their Hands'' which received much support from John Peel. Initially a solo project by Paul Rooney, an artist and musician, the project became a gigging band when Colin Cromer and Ian S Jackson joined in 1999 prior to the band's first and only John Peel session that year. The project ended in 2002 when Paul Rooney decided to focus on other performance projects and gallery works. Rooney were musically reminiscent of lo-fi contemporaries such as Arab Strap, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and Spare Snare, earlier bands like Sebadoh and (early) Pavement, along with northern English post-punk (particularly Half Man Half Biscuit and The Fall). History Artist Paul Rooney recorded the first Rooney EP (this is not the US band of the same name), ''Got Up Late'', in October 1997 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, using a mini-disc four-track recorder wit ...
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Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
"Non, je ne regrette rien" (, Piaf's pronunciation , meaning "No, I do not regret anything") is a French song composed in 1956 by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. Édith Piaf's 1960 recording spent seven weeks atop the French Singles & Airplay Reviews chart. Background The song's composer, Charles Dumont, states in the book ''Édith Piaf, Opinions publiques'', by Bernard Marchois (TF1 Editions 1995), that Michel Vaucaire's original title was "Non, je ne trouverai rien" (No, I will not find anything) and that the song was meant for the French singer Rosalie Dubois. However, thinking of Piaf, he changed the title to "Non, je ne regrette rien" (No, I Regret Nothing). According to journalist Jean Noli, in his book ''Édith'' (Éditions Stock 1973), when Dumont and Vaucaire visited Piaf's home at Boulevard Lannes in Paris, on 24 October 1960, she received them in a very impolite and unfriendly manner. Dumont had tried to offer Piaf his compositions on several occasi ...
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Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and variations of this name include Ditte, Dita, and Edie. It was a common first name prior to the 16th century, when it fell out of favour. It became popular again at the beginning of the 19th century, and in 2016 it was ranked at 488th most popular female name in the United States, according to the Social Security online database. It became far less common as a name for children by the late 20th century. The name Edith has five name days: May 14 in Estonia, January 13 in the Czech Republic, October 31 in Sweden, July 5 in Latvia, and September 16 in France, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. Edith * Edith of Polesworth (died c. 960), abbess *Edith of Wessex (1025–1075), Queen of England * Edith of Wilton (961–984), English nun *Edith the F ...
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Margi Clarke
Margi Clarke (born 25 May 1954) is an English actress and radio and television presenter. She had a leading role in the film ''Letter to Brezhnev'' (1985), a low-budget film which had an international release. Later, Clarke played Jackie Dobbs in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (1998–1999, 2008–2010). Early life and career Clarke was born and raised in Kirkby, Liverpool. Her career as a presenter began in 1978 on the late-night television magazine show ''What's On'', broadcast only in the Granada region. She was known as Margox in the early 1980s when performing in punk bands. In 1983, Clarke appeared as Fran in two early episodes of the Liverpool-set Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'', credited as Margi MacGregor. She featured in the low-budget film ''Letter to Brezhnev'' (1985), the screenplay being adapted by her brother from his own play. It concerns two working-class Liverpool young women who meet two Russian sailors; the other lead part was played by Ale ...
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Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near Caversham Bridge. The Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of a historic house. Headliners and most supporting acts typically play at both sites, with Reading's Friday line up becoming Leeds' Saturday line-up, Reading's Saturday line-up playing at Leeds on Sunday, and Leeds' Friday line-up attending Reading on Sunday. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold. The Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals, is the world's oldest popular music festival still in existence. Many of the biggest bands in the UK and internationally have played at the festival over five decades ...
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Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. Glastonbury is attended by around 200,000 people, thus requiring extensive security, transport, water, and electricity-supply infrastructure. While the number of attendees is sometimes swollen by gatecrashers, a record of 300,000 people was set at the 1994 festival, headlined by the Levellers who performed on The Pyramid Stage. Most festival staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for ...
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Trumpton
''Trumpton'' is a British stop-motion children's television series from the producers of '' Camberwick Green''. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967, it was the second series in the ''Trumptonshire'' trilogy, which comprised ''Camberwick Green'', ''Trumpton'' and ''Chigley''. As with the other two series, ''Trumpton'' continued to be repeated well in to the 1980s as a part of the BBC's children's schedules. ''Trumpton'' was narrated by Brian Cant, and animation was by Bob Bura, John Hardwick and Pasquale Ferrari. Scripts were by Alison Prince; all other production details were identical to ''Camberwick Green''. Story and structure The action takes place in the fictional town of Trumpton, a short distance from the equally fictional village of Camberwick Green, the focus of the first series in the ''Trumptonshire Trilogy''. Each episode begins with a shot of Trumpton Town Hall clock: The townsfolk then appear going about their daily business: the mayor, Mr Troop ...
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New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a free publication, before becoming an online brand which includes its website and radio stations. As a 'rock inkie', ''NME'' was the first British newspaper to include a singles chart, adding that feature in the edition of 14 November 1952. In the 1970s, it became the best-selling British music newspaper. From 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism then became closely associated with punk rock through the writings of Julie Burchill, Paul Morley, and Tony Parsons. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998. The magazine's website NME.com was launched in 1996, and became the world's biggest standalone music site, with ...
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Unemployment Benefits
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens. Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary. Unemployment benefits are generally given only to those registering as becoming unemployed through no fault of their own, and often on conditions ensuring that they seek work. In British English unemployment benefits are also colloquially referred to as "the dole"; receiving benefits is informally called "being on the dole". "Dole" here is an archaic expression meaning "one's allotted portion", from the synonymous Old English word ''dāl''. History The first modern unemployment b ...
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DHSS
The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. History Until 1968 the social security responsibilities had been split between the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, and the health responsibilities by the Ministry of Health. In 1988 the department was split again into a separate Department of Health and the Department of Social Security. In 2001 the Department for Work and Pensions was formed from the Department of Social Security, absorbing the employment functions which had previously been the responsibility of the Department for Education and Employment since the dissolution of the Department of Employment in 1995. Ministers * Minister of State for Health and Social Security Impact Even two and a half decades after its abolition, the initials "DHSS" continue to be use ...
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