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Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly influential. During this brief period he shocked, outraged, and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies. The adjective ''Ortonesque'' refers to work characterised by a similarly dark yet farcical cynicism. Early life Joe Orton was born on 1 January 1933 at Causeway Lane Maternity Hospital, Leicester, to William Arthur Orton and Elsie Mary Orton (née Bentley). William worked for Leicester County Borough Council as a gardener and Elsie worked in the local footwear industry until tuberculosis cost her a lung. At the time of Joe's birth, William and Mary were living with William's family at 261 Avenue Road Extension in Clarendon Park, Leicester. Joe's younger brother, Douglas, was born in 1935. That year, the Ortons moved to ...
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Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a population of in . The greater Leicester urban area had a population of 559,017 in 2021, making it the 11th most populous in England, and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 13th most populous in the United Kingdom. A 2023 report ranked Leicester 16th out of the 50 largest UK cities on a range of economic measures, and the first of seven East Midlands cities. The city lies on the River Soar and is approximately north-northwest of London, east-northeast of Birmingham and northeast of Coventry. Nottingham and Derby lie around to the north and northwest respectively, whilst Peterborough is located to the east. Leicester is close to the eastern end of the National Forest, England, National Forest. Leicester has a long history exten ...
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East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire), Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland. The region has a land area of , with an estimated population in . With a Global city#GaWC World Cities, sufficiency-level world city ranking, Nottingham is the only settlement in the region to be classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. The main cities in the region are Derby, England, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Nottingham. The largest towns in these counties are Boston, England, Boston, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Coalville, Leicestershire, Coalville, Corby, Glossop, Grantham, Kettering, Loughborough, Newark-on-Trent, Northampton, Mansfield, England, Mansfield, Oakham, Swadlincote and Wellingborough. Physical feature ...
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John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Life Early life and education Betjeman was born in London to a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent. His parents, Mabel () and Ernest Betjemann, had a family firm at 34–42 Pentonville Road which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day Netherlands more than a century earlier, setting up their home and business in ...
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Blurb
A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book. With the development of the mass-market paperback, they were placed on both covers by most publishers. Now they are also found on web portals and news websites. A blurb may introduce a newspaper or a book. History In the US, the history of the blurb is said to begin with Walt Whitman's collection, ''Leaves of Grass''. In response to the publication of the first edition in 1855, Ralph Waldo Emerson sent Whitman a congratulatory letter, including the phrase "I greet you at the beginning of a great career": the following year, Whitman had these words stamped in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition. The word ''blurb'' was coined in 1906 by American humorist Gelett Burgess (1866–1951). The October 1906 first edition of his short book ''Are You a Bro ...
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Cover Art
Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album art), CD, videotape, DVD, or podcast. Cover art can include various things such as logos, symbols, images, colors, or anything that represents what is being sold or advertised. The art has a commercial function (i.e., to promote the product it is displayed on), but can also have an aesthetic function, and may be artistically connected to the product (such as with art by, or commissioned by, the creator of the product). Album cover art Album cover art has a long history dating back to the late 19th century. This art is artwork created for a music album and is one of the most representative techniques to show the changes and trends found within the music, art, culture, and technological industries. As music became popularized, so did c ...
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Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wansell. ''Terence Rattigan'' (London: Fourth Estate, 1995); He wrote ''The Winslow Boy'' (1946), '' The Browning Version'' (1948), '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (1952) and '' Separate Tables'' (1954), among many others. A troubled gay man who saw himself as an outsider, Rattigan wrote a number of plays which centred on issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships, or a world of repression and reticence. Early life Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South Kensington,Wansell, p. 13. London, of Irish extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan, a notable India-based jurist and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North-East Lanarkshire. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, ...
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Alter Ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Additionally, the altered states of the ego may themselves be referred to as ''alterations''. A distinct meaning of ''alter ego'' is found in the Literary criticism, literary analysis used when referring to fictional literature and other narrative forms, describing a key Character (arts), character in a story who is perceived to be intentionally representative of the work's author (or creator), by oblique similarities, in terms of psychology, behavior speech, or thoughts, often used to convey the author's thoughts. The term is also sometimes, but less frequently, used to designate a Hypothesis, hypothetical "twin" or "best friend" to a character in a story. Similarly, the term ''alter ego'' may be a ...
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Noel Road
Noel Road is a street in Islington, London. It runs roughly west to east from Colebrooke Row to St Peter's Street (and crosses Danbury Street), and the houses on the south side back onto the Regent's Canal. It was developed in 1841; and until 1938 was two streets, Noel Street and Hanover Street. Many of its buildings are listed with Historic England. Former residents include the novelist George Gissing, artist Walter Sickert, playwright Joe Orton, and the author Nina Bawden. In 1967, Orton was murdered in his apartment at 25 Noel Road by his long-term partner Kenneth Halliwell, who committed suicide shortly after. History The street was developed in 1841; and until 1938 was two streets, Noel Street and Hanover Street, each side of the current junction with Danbury Street. It was named after Noel Thornhill; and a Captain Noel Thornhill, nephew of Arthur John Thornhill, died in 1955, aged 73. Buildings Seven to nine, 13–53, 4–6, 12–54, 55–85, Hanover Primary School and ...
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Cadbury's
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars, Incorporated, Mars. Cadbury is internationally headquartered in Greater London, and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. It is known for its Cadbury Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk chocolate, the Cadbury Creme Egg, Creme Egg and Cadbury Roses, Roses selection box, and many other confectionery products. One of the best-known British brands, in 2013 ''The Daily Telegraph'' named Cadbury among Britain's most successful exports. Cadbury was founded in 1824 in Birmingham, England, by John Cadbury (1801–1889), a Quakers, Quaker who sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. Cadbury developed the business with his brother Benjamin, followed by his sons Richard Cadbury, Richard and George Cadbury, Georg ...
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Ascetic
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion, prayer, or meditation. Some individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions to things such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc. Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious and philosophical traditions, most notably among Ancient Greek philosophical schools (Epicureanism, Gymnosophism, Stoicism, and Pythagoreanism), Indian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism), Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), an ...
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Ronald Firbank
Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank (17 January 1886 – 21 May 1926) was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality. Biography Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was born on 17 January 1886, in Clarges Street, Westminster, the son of a member of parliament, Sir Thomas Firbank, and Lady Firbank, née Harriet Jane Garrett. He had an older brother, Joseph Sydney (born 1884), a younger brother, Hubert Somerset (born 1887), and a sister, Heather (born 1888). At the age of fourteen Firbank went briefly to Uppingham School (September 1900 to April 1901) and then on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1907. In 1909 he left Cambridge without taking a degree. Living off his inheritance, he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. Openly gay and chronically shy, h ...
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Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigside, Glanwydden, Penrhynside, and Bryn Pydew – had a population of 19,700 (rounded to the nearest 100). The town's name means "Church of Saint Tudno". Llandudno is a major seaside resort in Wales, and as early as 1861 was being called 'the Queen of the Welsh Watering Places' (a phrase later also used in connection with Tenby and Aberystwyth; the word 'resort' came a little later). Historic counties of Wales, Historically a part of Caernarfonshire, Llandudno was formerly in the district of Aberconwy within Gwynedd until 1996. History The town of Llandudno developed from Stone Age all the way through to Iron Age settlements over many hundreds of years on the slopes of the limestone headland, ...
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