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Jimmy Grafton
James Douglas Grafton, (19 May 1916 – 2 June 1986) was a producer, writer and theatrical agent. He served in World War II as an officer in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment and was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during Operation Market Garden. After the war he worked within his family publican business, taking over as manager at Grafton's pub in London while also acting as a part-time scriptwriter. The pub served as a meeting place for many comedians, including Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. Grafton was instrumental in ensuring the quartet were hired by the BBC for their new programme, eventually called ''The Goon Show''. Grafton also acted as a script editor for the first three series of the show. He continued with scriptwriting for other artistes and acted as Harry Secombe's agent for over 25 years. He died in 1986, at the age of 70. Biography Grafton was born on 19 May 1916 in Westminster, London; he had a twin br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demobilisation Of The British Armed Forces After The Second World War
At the end of the Second World War, there were approximately five million servicemembers in the British Armed Forces. The demobilisation and reassimilation of this vast force back into civilian life was one of the first and greatest challenges facing the postwar British government. Demobilisation plan The wartime Minister of Labour and National Service and Britain's first post-war Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, was the chief architect of the demobilisation plan. The speed of its introduction was attributed to the tide of public opinion, which favoured slogans and policies that appealed to peace and disengagement. According to some sources, it was also driven by the labour shortage due to post-war reconstruction. The plan received bipartisan support, which was not seen during the 1930s when Labour and Conservative positions lacked consensus. The details involving the criteria and framework for demobilisation was unveiled to the public on 22 September 1944. It was scheduled to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Stephens
Lawrence Geoffrey Stephens (16 July 1923p.14926 January 1959) was a BBC radio scriptwriter, best remembered for co-writing ''The Goon Show'' with Spike Milligan. Stephens was a regular writer of the show for the first two years, and then returned to ''The Goon Show'' to assist Milligan. From his association with Milligan, Stephens became involved with Associated London Scripts (ALS), and was said to have been "one of the most eye-catching characters, in the earliest days of the company...he played a significant cameo role in the first phase of success for ALS". Early life Stephens was born in West Bromwich and moved to Quinton, Birmingham, when he was four. He attended Quinton Infant and Junior School then Birmingham Central Grammar School. Trained as an accountant, Stephens distinguished himself as a jazz pianist before the onset of World War II. Following service in the war, during which he served as a Commando captain, he returned to England, and began writing for British com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960, disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including " The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career declined. Early life and career Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (then in Warwickshire), but, from the age of three, he was brought up in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Stark
Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director. Early life The son of a purser on transatlantic liners, telegraph.co.uk, 31 October 2013 Stark was born in Robert Seller "Graham Stark: Actor, author and director who graduated from music hall to the big scre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army,'' which ran for nine series and 80 episodes between 1968 and 1977.Clive Dunn Telegraph (7 November 2012). Retrieved on 4 February 2013. Dunn started his acting career in 1935, but this was interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served as a trooper in the . [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beryl Reid
Beryl Elizabeth Reid, (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996), was a British actress of stage and screen. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for '' The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for ''Born in the Gardens'', and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for '' Smiley's People''. Her film appearances included ''The Belles of St. Trinian's'' (1954), '' The Killing of Sister George'' (1968), '' The Assassination Bureau'' (1969), and '' No Sex Please, We're British'' (1973). Early life Born in Hereford in 1919,Jonathan Cecil, "Reid, Beryl Elizabeth (1919–1996)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 200available online Retrieved 30 August 2020. Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester, where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools. As a child, she established a lifelong friendship with Nancy Wrigley, the daughter of the prominent class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy ''Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this period include ''Doctor in the House'' (1954), '' Raising a Riot'' (1955), '' The Admirable Crichton'' (1957), '' The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw'' (1958) and '' Next to No Time'' (1958). He also played more serious roles as a leading man, beginning with '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (1955), ''Reach for the Sky'' (1956), '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), '' North West Frontier'' (1959), '' The 39 Steps'' (1959) and ''Sink the Bismarck'' (1960). Although his career declined in the early 1960s, two of his own favourite films date from this time – '' The Comedy Man'' (1964) and '' The Greengage Summer'' (1961) with Susannah York, "one of the happiest films on which I have ever worked."Kenneth More (1978) ''More or Less'', Hodder & Stoughton. He also en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army for seven years, before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised on magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television. By the end of the 1970s, Cooper was smoking and drinking heavily, which affected his career and his health, effectively ending offers to front new programmes and relegating him to performing as a guest star on other entertainment shows. On 15 April 1984, Cooper died at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack live on television. Early life Thomas Frederick Cooper was born on 19 Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Emery
Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emery was born 19 February 1915, in University College Hospital, Bloomsbury, London. His parents were the comedy double act Callan and Emery. They took him on tour when he was only three weeks old and gave him the occasional turn on the stage during his childhood, which was always on the move and disrupted, creating problems for the future but setting the scene for eventually going into showbusiness himself. His parents split up when he was eight and he chose to stay with his mother, who gave up showbusiness. He tried a variety of jobs before the stage: mechanic, office boy, farm hand and driving instructor. During the Second World War he was called up to the RAF and rose to the rank of corporal. However, because of family problems, he returned to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Edwards
James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC (23 March 19207 July 1988) was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in '' Take It from Here'' and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in '' Whack-O!''. Early life Edwards was born in Barnes, Surrey, the son of a professor of mathematics. He had four brothers and four sisters. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, at King's College School in Wimbledon and as a choral scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, where he sang in the college choir. Second World War Edwards served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, was commissioned in April 1942, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and ended the war as a flight lieutenant. He served with No. 271 Squadron RAF, based in Doncaster, who took part in the D-Day landings. His Dakota was shot down at Arnhem in 1944, resulting in facial injuries requiring plastic surgery, that he disguised with a large handlebar mou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a monocle, waistcoat and cigarette holder. His striking dress sense was set off by a gap between his two upper front teeth. Born in London, Terry-Thomas made his film debut, uncredited, in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). He spent several years appearing in smaller roles, before wartime service with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and Stars in Battledress. The experience helped sharpen his cabaret and revue act, increased his public profile and proved instrumental in the development of his successful comic stage routine. On his demobilisation, he starred in ''Piccadilly Hayride'' on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
