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The Sea, The Sea
''The Sea, the Sea'' is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1978, it was her nineteenth novel. It won the 1978 Booker Prize. In 2022, the novel was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Plot summary ''The Sea, the Sea'' is a tale of the strange obsessions that haunt a self-satisfied playwright and director as he begins to write his memoirs. Murdoch's novel exposes the motivations that drive her characters – the vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises they present to the world. Charles Arrowby, its central figure, decides to withdraw from the world and live in seclusion in a house by the sea. While there, he encounters his first love, Mary Hartley Fitch, whom he has not seen since his love affair with her as an adolescent. Although she is almost unrecognisable in old age, and outside his theatrical world, he becomes obsessed by her, idealising his for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iris Murdoch
Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, ''Under the Net'' (1954), was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Her 1978 novel ''The Sea, the Sea'' won the Booker Prize. In 1987, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Her other books include '' The Bell'' (1958), ''A Severed Head'' (1961), '' The Red and the Green'' (1965), ''The Nice and the Good'' (1968), ''The Black Prince'' (1973), '' Henry and Cato'' (1976), '' The Philosopher's Pupil'' (1983), ''The Good Apprentice'' (1985), '' The Book and the Brotherhood'' (1987), '' The Message to the Planet'' (1989), and '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Thousand (Greek)
The Ten Thousand ( grc, οἱ Μύριοι, ''oi Myrioi'') were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Battle of Cunaxa and back to Greece (401–399 BC) was recorded by Xenophon, one of their leaders, in his work ''Anabasis''. Campaign Between 401 and 399 BC, the Ten Thousand marched across Anatolia, fought the Battle of Cunaxa, and then marched back to Greece. Xenophon stated in ''Anabasis'' that the Greek heavy troops routed their opposition twice at Cunaxa at the cost of only one Greek soldier wounded. Only after the battle did they hear that Cyrus had been killed, making their victory irrelevant and the expedition a failure. The Ten Thousand found themselves far from home with no food, no employer, and no reliable allies. They offered to make their Persian ally Ariaeus king, but he refused on the grounds that he was not of royal bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Williams (actor)
Simon Williams (born 16 June 1946) is a British actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. Frequently playing upper middle class or aristocratic upper class roles, he is also known for playing Charles Cartwright in the sitcom '' Don't Wait Up'' and Charles Merrick in medical drama '' Holby City''. Since 2014, he has played the character of Justin Elliott in the long-running BBC Radio 4 series ''The Archers''. Early life and education Simon Williams was born in Windsor in 1946; his parents were actor Hugh Williams and actress and model Margaret Vyner. His sister Polly married his ''Don't Wait Up'' co-star and friend Nigel Havers. His brother is the poet Hugo Williams. Williams was educated at Harrow School. He trained in repertory at Worthing, Birmingham and Bath, and later joined the Theatre Workshop. Career Williams has appeared on stage in many productions, and has also directed a number of plays. He first appeared on televisi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maggie Steed
Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Australian author * Maggie Alphonsi (born 1983), English rugby union player * Maggie Anderson (born 1948), American poet * Maggie Anderson (activist) (born 1971), American activist * Maggie Atkinson (born 1956), English educator * Maggie Baird (born 1959), American actress * Maggie Bandur (born 1974), American television writer * Maggie Barrie (born 1996), Sierra Leonean sprinter * Maggie Barry (born 1959), New Zealand politician * Maggie Batson (born 2003), American actress * Maggie Baylis (1912–1997), American graphic designer * Maggie Beer (born 1945), Australian cook * Maggie Behle (born 1980), American Paralympic alpine skier * Maggie Bell (born 1945), Scottish vocalist * Maggie Benedict (born 1981), South African actress * Maggie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre productions, including the Shakespeare plays ''The Winter's Tale'', ''Macbeth'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'', and ''Richard II''. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's '' The Real Thing'', receiving the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Irons's break-out role came in the ITV series '' Brideshead Revisited'' (1981) which is frequently ranked among the greatest British television dramas as well as greatest literary adaptations. It would earn him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His first major film role came in the romantic drama '' The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas, such as ''Moonlighting'' (1982), '' Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and '' The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Brooks
Robin Brooks (born 1961 in Leeds) is a British radio dramatist, some-time actor and author. Selected credits Adaptations * 2000 – '' The Art of Love'', a comedy, emphasizing Ovid's role as lover, with Bill Nighy and Anne-Marie Duff * 2004 – '' Mort'' by Terry Pratchett * 2006 – '' Small Gods'' by Terry Pratchett * 2008 – '' An Expert in Murder'' by Nicola Upson * 2008 – ''Night Watch'' by Terry Pratchett * 2009 – '' Armadale'' by Wilkie Collins * 2010 – ''I, Claudius'' by Robert Graves * 2012 – '' Ulysses'' by James Joyce * 2012 – '' Mary Stuart'' by Friedrich Schiller * 2013 – '' Eric'' by Terry Pratchett * 2013 – "Jill" by Philip Larkin * 2019 — ''One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'' by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Plays * 1998 – ''The Golden Triangle'' – a trilogy on the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, consisting of: ** ''The Awakening Conscience'' (on William Holman Hunt and his model Annie Miller, taking its title from Hunt's painting of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Crane (actor)
Sam Crane (born 1979) is an English actor. He attended Oxford University and LAMDA, where he won the Nicholas Hytner Award. He played Farinelli in Claire van Kampen's ''Farinelli and the King'' opposite Mark Rylance at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and reprised his role when the production transferred first to the Duke of York's Theatre and then to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. He is also known for playing Winston Smith in Headlong's production of ''1984'' in the West End, Fred Walters in the BBC's six-part drama series ''Desperate Romantics'' and Frederick Abberline in Ubisoft's ''Assassin's Creed Syndicate''. In 2017 he played Patrick Plunket in an episode of the Netflix series ''The Crown''. Since 13th October 2022 Sam has been playing the lead, Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, London. Background Crane is the son Richard Crane, a playwright, and theatre director Faynia Williams. He studied at Oxford University, and LAMDA. He is marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siân Phillips
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''. Early life Phillips was born on 14 May 1933 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales, the daughter of Sally (''née'' Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker who became a policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker: in the first volume of her autobiography ''Private Faces'' (1999) she notes that she spoke only Welsh for much of her childhood, learning English by listening to the radio. Phillips attended Pontardawe Grammar School and originally was known there as Jane, but her Welsh teacher called her Siân, the Welsh form of Jane. Later she took up English and philosophy at University College Cardiff. Phillips graduated from the University of Wales in 1955. She entered the RADA with a scholarship in September 1955, the same year as Diana Rigg and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce Redman
Joyce Olivia Redman (7 December 1915Jonathan Croall, "Redman, Joyce Olivia (1915–2012)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 1 April 2020. – 9 May 2012) was an Anglo-Irish actress. She received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in the 1963 film ''Tom Jones'' and the 1965 film ''Othello''. Early life Joyce Redman was born in Northumberland and grew up in County Mayo, Ireland. She was born into an Anglo-Irish family, and educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 1936. ''rada.ac.uk''. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Career Her acting roles ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wood (English Actor)
John Wood (5 July 1930 – 6 August 2011) was an English actor, known for his performances in Shakespeare and his lasting association with Tom Stoppard. In 1976, he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Stoppard's '' Travesties''. He was nominated for two other Tony Awards for his roles in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1975) and ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' (1968). In 2007, Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Wood also appeared in '' WarGames'', '' The Purple Rose of Cairo'', ''Orlando'', '' Shadowlands'', '' The Madness of King George'', ''Richard III'', '' Sabrina'', and '' Chocolat''. Early life Wood was born on 5 July 1930 in Derbyshire. He was educated at Bedford School. He did his national service as a lieutenant with the Royal Artillery. During his time of service, he was invalided out after being accidentally shot in the back. Later during his service, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Unicorn (novel)
''The Unicorn'' is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1963, it was her seventh novel. Plot ''The Unicorn'' is set in a remote area on the west coast of Ireland. The book begins with the arrival of Marian Taylor, a young English school teacher who has accepted a position as governess at an isolated country house called Gaze Castle. She is surprised to learn that there are no children at Gaze, and that she will be teaching French and Italian to the lady of the house, Hannah Crean-Smith. Part 1 describes Marian's growing awareness of the situation at Gaze Castle, as recounted to her by other characters. Her main informant is Denis Nolan, the estate's clerk. She learns that Hannah has been confined to Gaze and its grounds by her husband Peter for seven years as punishment for having been unfaithful to him and for nearly killing him. Peter had been an abusive and unfaithful husband, and was often absent. During one of these absences, Hannah had an affair with Pip Lejour, who own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
