Stevyn Colgan
Stevyn Colgan (born 11 August 1961) is a British writer, artist and speaker. Colgan was a police officer in London 1980–2010. He was then a researcher and scriptwriter for the BBC TV series QI and the regular QI Annuals, and for QI's BBC Radio 4 sister show The Museum of Curiosity until 2018. He co-presents the ''We'd Like A Word'' books and authors podcast. He is a keen forager and has been a lifelong student of British folklore and folk culture. Career Police Colgan joined the Metropolitan Police Force in 1980. He was awarded the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1993 and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003. He retired from the police in February 2010 after completing 30 years' service. In later service, Colgan was a member of the award-winning Met Police Problem Solving Unit that used behavioural economics and creative thinking to tackle issues that did not respond to traditional policing/enforcement methods. He sat on several Home Office working ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , pseu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigration, passports, and civil registration. Agencies under its purview include police in England and Wales, Border Force, UK Visas and Immigration, the Visas and Immigration authority, and the MI5, Security Service (MI5). It also manage policy on drugs, counterterrorism, and immigration. It was formerly responsible for His Majesty's Prison Service and the National Probation Service, but these have been transferred to the Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom), Ministry of Justice. The Cabinet minister responsible for the department is the Home Secretary, home secretary, a post considered one of the Great Offices of State; it has been held by Yvette Cooper since July 2024. The Home Office is managed from day to day by a civil servant, the Per ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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IKEA
IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations collectively known and managed as Inter IKEA Group and Ingka Group. The IKEA brand itself is owned and managed by Inter IKEA Systems B.V., a company incorporated and headquartered in the Netherlands. IKEA was started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, and has been the world's largest furniture retailer since 2008. The brand name is an acronym of founder Ingvar Kamprad's initials; Elmtaryd, the family farm where Kamprad was born; and the nearby village of Agunnaryd, Kamprad's hometown in Småland, southern Sweden. The company is primarily known for its Modern furniture, modernist furniture designs, simple approach to interior design, and its immersive shopping concept, based around decorated room settings within big-box ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Lloyd (writer)
John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd (born 30 September 1951) is an English producer and writer of television and radio comedy. His television work includes '' Not the Nine O'Clock News'', ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', ''Blackadder'', '' Spitting Image'' and '' QI''. He presents BBC Radio 4's '' The Museum of Curiosity''. Early life John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd was born on 30 September 1951 in Dover, Kent. His father, H. L. "Harpy" Lloyd, was an Anglo-Irish captain with the Royal Navy. As a child, Lloyd lived in several different places, owing to his father's job. This led him to attend school properly only at the age of 9. He was educated at West Hill Park School in Titchfield, Hampshire, a place where he claims bullying was "endemic", and later at The King's School, Canterbury. He read Law at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was a member of the Footlights. He became friends with fellow student Douglas Adams, with whom he later worked and shared a flat. Lloyd is the gre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Justin Pollard
Justin David Pollard (born 30 January 1968) is a British historian, television producer, writer and entrepreneur. He is best known for his work on such films as '' Elizabeth'' and ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' and TV series including ''Vikings'' and ''The Tudors''. Biography Pollard is a popular historian, historical consultant and screenwriter working in the field of feature films, television and print. He was born in Hertfordshire and was educated at St Albans School and Downing College, Cambridge, where he graduated with honours in archaeology and anthropology. After college he worked for a year as an archaeologist at the Museum of London on the excavation of Thomas Becket’s old monastery of Merton Priory. During that time he also developed an educational programme for schools visiting the Surrey Heath Archaeological and Heritage Trust in Surrey for which the Trust was awarded the Graham Webster Laurels at the British Archaeology Awards for their contribution to education ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scholastic Books
Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. Products are distributed via retail and online sales and through schools via reading clubs and book fairs. Clifford the Big Red Dog, a character created by Norman Bridwell in 1963, is the mascot of Scholastic. Company history Scholastic was founded in 1920 by Maurice R. Robinson near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to be a publisher of youth magazines. The first publication was ''The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic''. It covered high school sports and social activities; the four-page magazine debuted on October 22, 1920, and was distributed in 50 high schools. More magazines followed for Scholastic Magazines. In 1948, Scholastic entered the book club business. In the 1960s, international publishing locations were established in England (1964) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies the government on issues relating to child welfare, and creates child abuse public awareness campaigns. Since the 1980s, the charity has had statutory powers allowing it to apply for help on behalf of children at risk. In the 1990s, the charity's publication, ''Satanic Indicators'', fueled panic in social workers who went and accused parents and removed children from homes when they should not have. It operates a telephone help line. The Paddington Bear character has partnered with the charity to raise funds for the charity. History Victorian era On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. On his return to Liverpool, he inv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973, he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism. Early life and career Melly was born at The Grange, St Michael's Hamlet, Toxteth, Liverpool, Lancashire, the elder son and eldest of three children of wool broker Francis Heywood Melly and (Edith) Maud, née Isaac. His mother was Jewish. Melly was a descendant of the shipowner and Liberal MP George Melly. He was also a relative of the philanthropist Emma Holt, of Sudley House Liverpool; her mother had married Melly's great-grandfather. Melly was educated at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire where he discovered his interest in modern art, jazz and blues and started coming to terms with his sexuality. Melly was an atheist. Interviewed by Nigel Farndale in 2005, Melly said: "I don't understand people panicking abou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over eight decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Ground" and " Right Said Fred" and for his appearances in comedy films including '' Two-Way Stretch'' (1960) and the '' Carry On'' series. His other screen roles include the astronaut Vincent Mountjoy in ''The Mouse on the Moon'' (1963), Albert Perks in '' The Railway Children'' (1970), the barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Frenzy'' (1972) and the pretentious hotel guest Mr Hutchinson in the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode "The Hotel Inspectors" (1975). On television, he was a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series ''Jackanory'' from 1966 to 1991, he narrated the children's programme '' The Wombles'' (1973–1975) and he played the title role in the CBeebies series '' Old Jack's Boat'' (2013–2015). In the 1966 film '' Daleks' Inva ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roger Daltrey
Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona earned him a position as one of the "gods of rock and roll". Daltrey's hit songs with the Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley", "Who Are You (The Who song), Who Are You" and "You Better You Bet". He began a solo career in 1973 while still a member of the Who, and has released ten solo studio albums, five compilation albums and one live album. His solo hits include "Giving It All Away", "Free Me (Roger Daltrey song), Free Me", "Without Your Love (Roger Daltrey song), Without Your Love" and "Under a Raging Moon (song), Under a Raging Moon". The Who are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century and have sold over 100 million records worldwide. As a member of the band ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frederick Forsyth
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth ( ; 25 August 1938 – 9 June 2025) was an English novelist and journalist. He was best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', ''The Fourth Protocol'', ''The Dogs of War (novel), The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alternative'', ''The Fist of God'', ''Icon (novel), Icon'', ''The Veteran (short story collection), The Veteran'', ''Avenger (Forsyth novel), Avenger'', ''The Afghan'', ''The Cobra (novel), The Cobra'' and ''The Kill List''. Forsyth's works frequently appeared on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. By 2006, he had sold more than 70 million books in more than 30 languages. He also worked as a journalist, first joining Reuters in 1961 before serving as an assistant diplomatic correspondent in 1965 for the BBC. He also frequently wrote a column for the middle market newspaper ''Daily Express'' often regarding political issues, such as his climate change denial, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joe Cowley
Joe Cowley is a columnist writer for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. Cowley, a graduate of Kent State University, served the same role for the ''Sun-Times'' sister publication, the Tinley Park, Illinois ''Daily Southtown'', for several years before being hired by the downtown paper before the 2006 season. Cowley was one of the regular beat writers covering the White Sox during their 2005 World Series championship. Controversies In May 2004 while traveling with the White Sox on a road trip to Toronto, Cowley made disparaging remarks about the city of Toronto in a radio interview, calling it “nothing but a city in a third-world country." Subsequently during the series in Toronto, Cowley refused to stand for the Canadian national anthem prior to a game. Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey described Cowley as having “bad manners” and had letters of complaint sent to both Cowley and his publisher over the incident. Cowley gained notoriety nationally when he admitted on Novemb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |