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The Big Time (TV Series)
''The Big Time'' was a British documentary and reality television series made by the BBC, consisting of 15 original episodes which ran from 1976 to 1980. A revised, extended repeat of episode 12 was broadcast in 1981. Devised and produced by Esther Rantzen and narrated initially by Rantzen but later by John Pitman, Paul Heiney and Norma Shepherd, each programme followed a member of the public placed in the limelight as a result of their skill and documenting how they fared. Their progress was filmed and sundry professionals in their fields advised the amateur as they progressed. Some of the exploits included an amateur musician conducting an orchestra at the Fairfield Halls; a housewife becoming a TV presenter; a cookery competition winner becoming head chef for the day at The Dorchester hotel and preparing a banquet lunch for former Prime Minister Edward Heath; an amateur wrestler taking on professional John Naylor on a bill at the Albert Hall on 26 March 1980 (the amateur wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Rantzen
Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes and founded the charities Childline, a helpline for children, which she set up in 1986, and The Silver Line, designed to combat loneliness in older people's lives, which she set up in November 2012. Rantzen has been recognised for her contribution to television and society. She was awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting in 1991 and a CBE for services to children in 2006, and in the 2015 New Year Honours was made a Dame for services to children and older people through Childline and The Silver Line. She is patron for a number of charities, including the charity Operation Encompass, and is a trustee for the charity Silver Stories. Early life and family Rantzen was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, to Katherine Flora Rantzen (''née' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Pace
Norman John Pace (born 17 February 1953) is an English actor and comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Gareth Hale. Both former teachers, they fronted several television programmes jointly, most notably ''Hale and Pace'', ''Pushing Up Daisies'', ''h&p@bbc'' and ''Jobs for the Boys''. Early life He grew up in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. He attended the Magnus Grammar School. He then went to Avery Hill College, now the Avery Hill Campus of the University of Greenwich, in Eltham where he gained a BEd in 1975. Work with Gareth Hale As straight actors they also fronted the original TV dramatisation of '' Dalziel and Pascoe'', and in 1989 they guest-starred together in the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Survival''. Also in 1989, Hale and Pace won the Golden Rose of Montreux. In 2007 they appeared in the Christmas special of ''Extras'' playing themselves. In 2018 he was acting in the comedy TV series ''Benidorm'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Parkinson
Norman Parkinson (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was an English portrait and fashion photographer. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved his subjects out of the studio and used outdoor settings. While serving as a Royal Air Force photographer in World War II, he started with '' Vogue'' magazine, discovering several famous models. He became an official royal photographer in 1969, taking photographs for Princess Anne's 19th birthday and the Investiture portrait of Charles III as Prince of Wales. Many other royal portraits included official portraits of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for her 75th birthday. He was known for using elements of humour in his photographs. Parkinson received many honours during his life including the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, a Google Doodle, and a British postage stamp. Biography Parkinson (birth name Ronald William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Hartnell
Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell (12 June 1901 – 8 June 1979) was a leading British fashion designer, best known for his work for the ladies of the British royal family, royal family. Hartnell gained the Royal Warrant of Appointment (United Kingdom), Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1940, and Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II in 1957. Princess Beatrice also wore a dress designed for Queen Elizabeth II by Hartnell for Wedding of Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, her wedding in 2020. Early life and career Hartnell was born in Streatham, southwest London. His parents were then publicans and owners of the Crown & Sceptre, at the top of Streatham Hill. Educated at Mill Hill School, Hartnell became an undergraduate at Magdalene College, Cambridge and read Modern Languages. Hartnell's main interests were in performing in, and designing for, productions at Cambridge Univers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and documentaries. BBC Two has a remit "to broadcast highbrow, programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence, and is therefore free of commercial advertising. It is a comparatively well-funded Public broadcasting, public-service channel, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public-service channels worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched (starting on 21 April 1964), and from 1 July 1967, Europe's first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour. It was envisaged as a home for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Merton
Paul James Martin (born 9 July 1957), known by the stage name Paul Merton, is an English comedian who is best known as one of the two regular panellists on the television show '' Have I Got News for You''. Known for his improvisation skill, Merton's humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy. He has been ranked by critics, fellow comedians and viewers to be among Britain's greatest comedians. He made his breakthrough in the late 1980s as a regular performer on the original British version of the comedy improvisation show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', and has been a team captain on '' Have I Got News for You'' since it began in 1990. He was also the host of '' Room 101'' from 1999 to 2007, replacing original host Nick Hancock. Merton appears as a panellist regularly on Radio 4's ''Just a Minute'', first appearing in 1989, and became the only remaining regular panellist in 2009 following the death of Clement Freud. He has also appeared as one of the Comedy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, often in supporting roles. In 1939 he received an Academy Awards, Academy Award nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of King Louis XVI in ''Marie Antoinette (1938 film), Marie Antoinette''. In ''Movie Encyclopedia'', film critic Leonard Maltin describes Morley as "recognisable by his ungainly bulk, bushy eyebrows, thick lips and double chin, ... particularly effective when cast as a pompous windbag." Ephraim Katz in his ''International Film Encyclopaedia'' describes Morley as "a rotund, triple-chinned, delightful character player of the British and American stage and screen." In his autobiography, ''Responsible Gentleman'', Morley said his stage career started with managements valuing his a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bramble
''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. It is a diverse genus, with the estimated number of ''Rubus'' species varying from 250 to over 1000, found across all continents except Antarctica. Most of these plants have woody stems with prickles like roses; spines, bristles, and gland-tipped hairs are also common in the genus. The ''Rubus'' fruit, sometimes called a bramble fruit, is an aggregate of drupelets. The term ''cane fruit'' or ''cane berry'' applies to any ''Rubus'' species or hybrid which is commonly grown with supports such as wires or canes, including raspberries, blackberries, and hybrids such as loganberry, boysenberry, marionberry and tayberry. The stems of such plants are also referred to as ''canes''. Description Bramble bushes typically grow as shrubs (though ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tax Exile
A tax exile is a person who leaves a country to avoid the payment of income tax or other taxes. The term refers to an individual who already owes money to the tax authorities or wishes to avoid being liable in the future for taxation at what they consider high tax rates, instead choosing to reside in a foreign country or jurisdiction which has no taxes or lower tax rates. In general, there is no extradition agreement between countries which covers extradition for outstanding tax liabilities. Going into tax exile is a form of tax mitigation or avoidance. A tax exile normally cannot return to their home country without being subject to outstanding tax liabilities. This may prevent the individual from leaving the country until these taxes owing have been paid. Most countries tax individuals who are resident in their jurisdiction. Though residency rules vary, most commonly individuals are resident in a country for taxation purposes if they spend at least six months (or some other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten Of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy officer and close relative of the British royal family. He was born in the United Kingdom to the prominent Battenberg family. He was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a second cousin of King George VI. He joined the Royal Navy during the First World War and was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, in the Second World War. He later served as the last Viceroy of India and briefly as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India. Mountbatten attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne, before entering the Royal Navy in 1916. He saw action during the closing phase of the First World War, and after the war briefly attended Christ's College, Cambridge. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was a Yachting, yachtsman, a musician, and an author. Born in Broadstairs, Kent, Heath was the son of a chambermaid and carpenter. He attended Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate, Kent, and became a leader within student politics while studying at Balliol College at the University of Oxford. During World War II, Heath served as an officer in the Royal Artillery. He worked briefly in the Civil Service (United Kingdom), Civil Service, but resigned in order to stand for Parliament, and was elected for Bexley (UK Parliament constituency), Bexley at the 1950 United Kingdom general election, 195 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Robson Dunford (' Robson; born 13 March 1958) is an English actress and television presenter. She is best known for playing Tracey Stubbs in the sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' (1989–1998, 2014–2020), and her appearances as a weekly panellist on the ITV series '' Loose Women'' (2012–2018, 2020–present). As a founder student of Anna Scher's Theatre School, Robson had a significant number of appearances on screen as a child actor. In 2020, Robson took an extended hiatus from Loose Women after suffering with a serious bout of "OCD", she returned to the show as a guest in 2020 then a full-time panellist the following week. Early life Linda Patricia Mary Robson was born on 13 March 1958 in Islington, North London to an English father and an Irish mother. She has two sisters. She was educated at Ecclesbourne Primary School, where Anna Scher started her Theatre School in 1968 with Robson and Pauline Quirke being amongst the founding students. Later she a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
