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Bart Dickon
Bart Dickon is a character created by artist and writer Borin Van Loon. Dickon, styled as 'The Ideologically-Sound Secret Agent', first appeared in comic strip form in the British publication 'Brain Damage' (later 'The Damage') in the late eighties. This surrealist collage comic strip was entitled 'A Severed Head' (named after an Iris Murdoch novel). This continued briefly in 'Talking Turkey', then as a regular feature in the rock/culture fanzine Sun Zoom Spark (named incidentally after a Captain Beefheart song on the 'Clear Spot' album; references to Captain Beefheart lyrics occasionally appear in Bart Dickon stories). Much of the material was reworked and extended for regular publication in The Chap magazine in the late nineties. November 2005 saw the publication of the book 'The Bart Dickon Omnibus' which built upon this body of work, completed the 'A Severed Head' graphic novella and added a short story featuring Dickon and other strips. The character (not to mention the phy ... [...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), '' An Unofficial Rose'' (1962), '' 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 Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Zoom Spark
''Sun Zoom Spark'' was a mid-1990s British music magazine. It covered alternative rock and britpop music. The magazine's editorial staff was based in Galashiels, Scotland. It took its name from a track on Captain Beefheart's LP ''Clear Spot''. History The magazine originally appeared as a fanzine in October 1992 and was sold by mail order. Its unusually professional production made it an immediate success, and after four issues it began to be sold in record shops, at which point the issue numbers started again from 1. From issue 4 (July 1994) onwards, it became a full-colour national magazine sold in newsagents. In October 1995, the magazine was radically reformatted as a fortnightly inkie under the title ''The Trigger''. It ran for only a handful of issues before closing down due to poor sales. Paul Vickers had moved from Nottingham to Galashiels to work on the magazine with brothers Roger and Mike Simian. By the time the magazine shut down, Roger and Paul had begun writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock music, rock, and avant-garde music, avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdism, absurdist wordplay, and Vliet’s gravelly singing voice with a wide vocal range. Known as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise extreme, dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk music, punk-era artists. He began performing in his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964, when he joined the original Magic Band line-up. The grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chap
''The Chap'' is a British humorous men's lifestyle magazine published quarterly. It was founded in 1999 by Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood, and is still edited by Temple. The magazine proposes that men everywhere return to a more gentlemanly way of life by rejecting modern vulgarity and careless, shabby or faddish dress sense through the restoration of the lifestyle, habits, manners and traditional fashion sense of a mid-20th century (or earlier) British ''chap''. Thus it advises men to wear traditional British suits and other similar well-tailored clothing, especially those cut from tweed; to keep their trousers sharply pressed; to be impeccably groomed; to wear quality handmade shoes, brightly polished; and to return to the everyday wearing of hats. ''The Chap'' has a comic and eccentric twist on this. It jokingly espouses its own unique lifestyle philosophy called '' anarcho-dandyism'' and has its own 10-point manifesto, ''The Chap Manifesto'', which mandates that a ''cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Barton
''Dick Barton – Special Agent'' is a radio thriller serial that was broadcast in the BBC Light Programme between 7 October 1946 and 30 March 1951. Produced and directed by Raymond Raikes, Neil Tuson, and Charles Lefaux, it was aired in 15-minute episodes at 6.45 (later 6.15) each weekday evening. From 11 January 1947 an additional "omnibus" edition repeated all of the week's programmes each Saturday morning between 11.00 and 12.00. In all, 711 episodes were produced and the serial achieved a peak audience of 20 million.James Chapman (2006) ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'' Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 537–559 "‘Honest British Violence’: Critical Responses to Dick Barton—Special Agent (1946–1951)" Its end was marked by a leading article in ''The Times''.''The Times'', 31 March 1951, p. 7 "The Last Instalment" The serial followed the adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton MC ( Noel Johnson, later Duncan Carse and Gordon Davies) who, with his ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme. The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime BBC General Forces Programme which had gained many civilian listeners in Britain as well as members of the British Armed Forces. History The long wave signal on 200 kHz / 1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the English Midlands (as it still is today for BBC Radio 4, although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz / 1515 metres from 1 February 1988) and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom, although a number of low-power medium wave transmitters (using 1215 kHz / 247 metres) were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devil's Galop
"Devil's Galop" is a piece of light music composed by Charles Williams. It became famous as the theme tune to the radio serial ''Dick Barton – Special Agent''. The word "galop" in the title refers to the galop dance (which, in turn, refers to a horse's gallop). In popular culture It has since been used in a number of productions, often to give a sense of dramatic urgency to a chase scene. As well as being the theme for the BBC Light Programme's serial ''Dick Barton'' and its 1979 Southern Television revival, its other appearances include ''Dad's Army'', ''Danger Mouse'', ''The Goodies'', and the ''Goon Show'' (the original theme music for which is called "Goons Gallop" and is reminiscent of "Devil's Galop"). ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' used this theme throughout its run on television, including in the famous " The Spanish Inquisition" sketch. Excerpts from the piece form part of the opening theme to the video game '' Monty on the Run''. The music has featured more recentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Geesin
Ronald Frederick Geesin (born 17 December 1943) is a Scottish musician, composer and writer known for his unusual creations and novel applications of sound. He is also well known for his collaborations with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters. Career Ron Geesin began his career from 1961 to 1965 as pianist with The Original Downtown Syncopators (ODS), a revivalist jazz band emulating the American Original Dixieland Jazz Band.Cavanagh, John (2014)Geesin still energised from Atom Heart Mother, '' Glasgow Herald'', 28 March 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014 The band was based in Crawley, Sussex, England. After leaving the Original Downtown Syncopators, Geesin’s "chance careering" took three main distinct but parallel routes: 1) live improvised performances in venues as diverse as folk clubs and the Royal Albert Hall; 2) music and effects for The Media, including all four domestic BBC Radio networks, and advertising, documentary and feature films; 3) stand-alone works for LPs and CDs. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monty Python
Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy series '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their work then developed into a larger collection that included live shows, films, albums, books, and musicals; their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. (The live version of the Web page does not contain the quoted line, but the archived version does.) Their sketch show has been called "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy". ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was loosely structured as a sketch show, but its innovative stream-of-consciousness approach and Gilliam's animation skills pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy unit, the Pythons had creative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman. Together they collaborated on the sketch comedy, sketch series ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1969–1974) and the films ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975, also co-directed), ''Monty Python's Life of Brian, Life of Brian'' (1979) and ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, The Meaning of Life'' (1983). In 1988, they received the British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Award for BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. In 2009, Gilliam received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement. Gilliam transitioned to directing serious films with themes exploring imagination and oppositions to bureaucracy and authoritarianism. His films are some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage (surrealist technique), frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and Grattage (art), grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst is noted for his unconventional drawing methods as well as for creating novels and pamphlets using the method of collages. He served as a soldier for four years during World War I, and this experience left him shocked, traumatised and critical of the modern world. During World War II he was designated an "undesirable foreigner" while living in France. Ernst was b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
