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Pickpocket
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic), misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket. Italy, France and Spain have the highest rates of pickpocketing. As an occupation Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply distraction, such as asking a question or bumping into the victim. These distractions sometimes require sleight of hand, speed, misdirection and other types of skills. Pickpockets may be found in any crowded place around the world. However, Barcelona and Rome have been noted as being particularly dangerous pickpocket havens. Thieves have been known to operate in high traffic areas such as mass transit stations, even boarding subway trains so they can use the distractions of crowds and sudden stop-and-g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pickpocket (film)
''Pickpocket'' is a 1959 French film written and directed by Robert Bresson. It stars Martin LaSalle, in his feature film debut, in the title role, and features Marika Green, Pierre Leymarie, and Jean Pélégri in supporting roles. It features a pickpocket who is drawn to crime, despite the intercession of his family, his friends, and even an empathetic policeman. The film is generally considered to be one of Bresson's greatest films. Along with '' A Gentle Woman'' and '' Four Nights of a Dreamer'', it is one of three Bresson movies heavily influenced by the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Bresson's favorite author. It combines elements of ''Crime and Punishment'''s Rodion Raskolnikov (who questions whether moral rules should apply to superior men) with a street-crime plot inspired by Samuel Fuller's film '' Pickup on South Street'' (1953). Plot Michel is an unemployed young man living in Paris. His friends Jacques and Jeanne try to help him, but while Jacques finds him several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Avadon
David Avadon (December 11, 1948 – August 22, 2009), formerly "David Hutchins," was an American illusionist who billed himself as the country's "premier exhibition pickpocket." He lectured and wrote a book on pickpocketing and performed his trademark theatrical pickpocketing act for more than 30 years. Early years Avadon was born in Inglewood, California, his mother being an acrobatic dancer and his father an engineer. Avadon grew up in West Los Angeles and began practicing magic as a hobby while in elementary school. He studied theater at UCLA and studied magic with Dr. Giovanni and Marian Chavez. Professional illusionist In his 20s, he changed his name from David Hutchins to David Avadon. He began appearing as a professional illusionist at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and other clubs in the 1970s. He remained a regular performer at the Magic Castle for more than 30 years. After Avadon's death in 2009, Mark Nelson, chairman of the Academy of Magical Arts which operates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Freedman
James Freedman (born 6 April 1965) is a British entertainer who is best known for his skill as a pickpocket. He has picked the pockets of the Mayor of London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England. In 2013 '' Time Out'' wrote that he is "the world's number one pickpocket". Freedman is an authority on pickpocket techniques and is consulted by police forces and security professionals for advice. In 2015, he was appointed the UK's first Fraud Prevention Ambassador by the City of London Police. Special consultant Freedman acts as a consultant inventing magic tricks and illusions for feature films, television shows, theatre and stadium productions. He worked on the 2006 film '' The Illusionist'', and taught Edward Norton and Aaron Taylor-Johnson the necessary skills for their parts; Norton said that "James is one of the ultimate all-stars in his field today". He was asked by Roman Polanski to teach Sir Ben Kingsley (for his role as Fagin) and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Kassagi
Henry Kassagi (born Abd El-maǧīd al-QaṣʿAǧī, 28 September 193223 June 1997), known as Kassagi, was a Franco-Tunisian magician, painter, actor, author and former pickpocket. Career Henri Kassagi was born Abd El-maǧīd al-QaṣʿAǧī in Halfaouine, a district of Tunis. At the age of 12 he witnessed a magic trick and from that moment knew his vocation: he had already trained his hands in dexterity by pickpocketing in the streets of Tunis. At the start of the 1950s, he left Tunisia for Paris, where he continued to earn his living as a pickpocket. There he met the film director Robert Bresson, who gave him the position of technical advisor to perfect the actions of the thieves in the film ''Pickpocket'', as well as appearing as instructor and accomplice to the main character. After ''Pickpocket'', Kassagi's face and techniques were too well known for him to continue with his old trade, and he changed career to become a stage magician. In the following years, he made a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artful Dodger
Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of the gang of child criminals on the streets of London trained and overseen by the elderly Fagin. The term has become an idiom describing a person who engages in skillful deception. Role in the novel In the novel, Jack becomes Oliver's closest friend (although he betrays Oliver when Oliver is caught) and he tries to make him a pickpocket, but he soon realises that Oliver will not succeed and feels sorry for him, saying "What a pity it is he isn't a prig!" He also has a close relationship with Charley Bates. The Artful Dodger is characterised as a child who acts like an adult. He is described as wearing adult clothes which are much too large for him. Like an adult, he seldom gives in to childish urges: Ultimately the Dodger is caught wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Twist (2005 Film)
''Oliver Twist'' is a 2005 drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood adapts Charles Dickens's 1838 novel of the same name. It is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and France. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2005 before going into limited release in the United States on 23 September. It received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure. Plot Nine-year-old orphaned Oliver Twist is taken to the workhouse by the beadle Mr. Bumble. After daring to ask for more food, Oliver is sold as an apprentice to Mr. Sowerberry, a local undertaker but runs away when Sowerberry's other apprentice, Noah Claypole, gets Oliver in trouble. Oliver travels a seven-day journey to London where he befriends a young boy named Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, who takes him to join a gang of pickpockets led by the villainous Fagin. He also b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family. ''Oliver Twist'' unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in England in the mid-19th century. The alternative title, ''The Parish Boy's Progress'', alludes to Bunyan's '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, '' A Rake's Progress'' and '' A Harlot's Progress''. In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at age 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father John Dickens, John was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years, he returned to school before beginning his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles; lectured and performed Penny reading, readings extensively; was a tireless letter writer; and campaigned vigor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fagin
Fagin () is the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a " receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates among them) whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. A distinguishing trait is his constant and insincere use of the phrase "my dear" when addressing others. At the time of the novel, he is said by another character, Monks, to have already made criminals out of "scores" of children. Nancy, who is the lover of Bill Sikes (the novel's lead villain), is confirmed to be Fagin's former pupil. Fagin is a confessed miser who, despite the wealth that he has acquired, does very little to improve the squalid lives of the children he guards, or his own. In the second chapter of his appearance, it is shown (when talking to himself) that he cares less for their welfare, than that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frieze Art Fair
Frieze Art Fair is an annual contemporary art, contemporary art festival, art fair first held in 2003 in London's Regent's Park. Developed by the founders of the contemporary art magazine ''Frieze (magazine), Frieze'', the fair has since expanded to include editions in four cities, in addition to acquiring several other art fairs. Following the original Frieze Art Fair (also referred to as Frieze London), the fair added Frieze Masters (2012), also in London, dedicated to art made before the year 2000; Frieze New York City, New York (2012); Frieze Los Angeles (2019); and Frieze Seoul (2022). In 2023, Frieze acquired The Armory Show (art fair), The Armory Show in New York, and EXPO Chicago. In 2016, American holding company Endeavor (company), Endeavor acquired a majority stake in Frieze. In 2025, the co-founder of Endeavor, Ari Emanuel, is set to buy Frieze in a deal valued at $200 million. History ''Frieze (magazine), Frieze'' magazine was launched in 1991 by Amanda Sharp, Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits,Barcelona: Población por municipios y sexo – Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (National Statistics Institute) its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the province of Barcelona and is home to around 5.3 million people, making it the fifth most populous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
