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Above Us The Waves
''Above Us the Waves'' is a 1955 British war film about human torpedo and midget submarine attacks in Norwegian fjords against the German battleship ''Tirpitz''. Directed by Ralph Thomas, it is based on two true-life attacks by British commando frogmen, first using Chariot manned torpedoes in Operation Title in 1942, and then X-Craft midget submarines in Operation Source in 1943. Filmed at Pinewood Studios, England, with outdoor scenes in Guernsey, some of the original war equipment was used in the film. Plot The Royal Navy (RN) is concerned about attacks on convoys by German submarines while having to keep "half the fleet" guarding against the German battleship . ''Tirpitz'' is 60 miles from the sea inside a Norwegian fjord, and attempts by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to sink her have failed. Commander Fraser (Mills) is determined to prove that attack by human torpedoes is practical, despite scepticism from RN higher echelons. Fraser assembles and trains a force of British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Philip Thomas MC (10 August 1915 – 17 March 2001) was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the ''Doctor'' series of films. His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film director, probably best remembered for the '' Carry On...'' film series, and his son is the Academy Award-winning film producer, Jeremy Thomas. He cast the actor James Robertson Justice in many of his films. Thomas often worked with the producer Betty E. Box, who was married to ''Carry On'' producer Peter Rogers. Thomas was a nephew of producer Victor Saville. Early career Born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, Thomas studied law at Middlesex University College. He entered the film business as a clapper boy at Shepperton Studios in 1932 during his summer vacation while at college. Following graduation, instead of becoming a lawyer he decided to enter the film industry, and became an apprentice at Shepperton Studios, working as a clapper boy and then in the editing r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Commando Frogmen
Britain's commando frogman force is now the Special Boat Service (SBS), whose members are drawn largely from the Royal Marines. They perform various operations on land as well as in the water. Until the late 1990s, all members of the Special Air Service (SAS) Boat Troop were trained as commando frogmen. History Before 1942 In 1909 the British designer Commander Godfrey Herbert received a patent for a manned torpedo. During World War I, it was rejected by the War Office as impracticable and unsafe. Instead, in the inter-war period the Italian Navy successfully trained the special frogmen corps Decima Flottiglia MAS equipped with a new and powerful craft: a slow speed human torpedo (''SLC: siluro a lenta corsa'', best known as ''maiale''). Italian manned torpedoes were first used against Britain in 1941 when Italian commando frogmen, some riding manned torpedoes, attacked British naval bases at Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria. In the last operation six Italian frogmen rode three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Russell (English Actor)
William Russell Enoch (born 19 November 1924) is an English actor. He achieved prominence in 1956 when he took the title role in the ITV television series '' The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'' (1956–1957). In 1963, he became part of the original lead cast of BBC1's ''Doctor Who'', playing the role of schoolteacher Ian Chesterton opposite William Hartnell from the show's first episode until 1965. Russell's film roles include parts in '' The Man Who Never Was'' (1956), '' The Great Escape'' (1963) and ''Superman'' (1978). On television, he notably appeared as Ted Sullivan in ''Coronation Street'' in 1992. In recent years, Russell has maintained his association with ''Doctor Who''; he returned to the show in 2022, making a cameo appearance as Chesterton in "The Power of the Doctor", 57 years after the character's last television appearance. Early life William Russell Enoch was born on 19 November 1924 in Sunderland, County Durham,''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Patterson
Lee Patterson (March 31, 1929 – February 14, 2007) was a Canadian film and television actor. Life and career Patterson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Beverley Frank Atherly Patterson. He attended the Ontario College of Art and Design. British career He moved to the UK, where he specialised in playing virile American types in British films. He appeared in a number of films during the 1950s and 1960s, including ''The Good Die Young'' (1954), ''Above Us the Waves'' (1955), ''Reach for the Sky'' (1956), '' The Key Man'' (1957), '' Time Lock'' (1957) ''The Golden Disc'' (1958), '' Cat & Mouse'' (1958), ''Jack the Ripper'' (1959) and '' The 3 Worlds of Gulliver'' (1960). He left but returned to the UK to appear as hard-bitten navigation expert Captain Randolph Southard in the play version of ''The Caine Mutiny Court Martial'' at The Queen's Theatre, London, directed by Charlton Heston in 1985. American TV After moving to the USA in the early 1960s, Patterson worked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Medwin
Michael Hugh Medwin, OBE (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer. Life and career Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He first appeared on stage in 1940. Medwin's West End theatre credits include '' Man and Superman'', '' The Rivals'', ''Love for Love'', ''Duckers and Lovers'', '' Alfie'', '' St Joan of the Stockyards'', and '' What the Butler Saw''.Biographical note for Michael Medwin, from programme for ''Noises Off'', Savoy Theatre, December 1984. At the National Theatre he played a season which included '' Weapons of Happiness'' (Ralph Makepeace), '' Volpone'' (Corvino) and ''The Madras House''. He appeared in ''Black Ball Game'' at the Lyric Hammersmith. He also played Lloyd Dallas in one of the casts of the long-running production of ''Noises Off'' in the early 1980s. He is probably best known for his role as radio boss Don Satchley in the BBC tele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in several adventure movies, notably '' The Guns of Navarone''. Born in south-east London, he exaggerated his Scottish roots but was prominent in Scottish public life, helping to launch Scottish Television (STV) and serving as Rector of the University of Edinburgh. Biography The son of Aberdeen-born mining engineer James Norval Justice and Edith (née Burgess), James Robertson Justice was born James Norval Harald Justice in Lee, a suburb of Lewisham in South East London, in 1907. Educated at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, Justice studied science at University College London, but left after a year and became a geology student at the University of Bonn, where he again left after just a year. He spoke many languages (possibly up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoners Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes, exploiting them for their labour, recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs. Ancient times For most of human history, depending on the culture of the victors, enemy fighters on the losing side in a battle who had surrendered and been taken as prisoners of war could expect to be either slaughtered or enslaved. Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amatol
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts ammonium nitrate) were known as Schneiderite in France. Amatol was used extensively during World War I and World War II, typically as an explosive in military weapons such as aircraft bombs, shells, depth charges, and naval mines.Brown, G. I. (1998). ''The Big Bang: A History of Explosives''. Sutton Publishing . pp. 158-163. It was eventually replaced with alternative explosives such as Composition B, Torpex, and Tritonal. Invention Following the Shell Crisis of 1915 in which the UK did not have enough ordnance due to a lack of explosives, a team at the Royal Arsenal laboratories produced a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT, known as Amatol for short. Special factories were constructed for the manufacture of ammonium nitrate by the double dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpet Mine
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver may attach the mine, which is usually designed with hollow compartments to give the mine just slight negative buoyancy, making it easier to handle underwater. Types of fuses Usually limpet mines are set off by a time fuse. They may also have an anti-handling device, making the mine explode if removed from the hull by enemy divers or by explosions. Sometimes limpet mines have been fitted with a small turbine which would detonate the mine after the ship had sailed a certain distance, so that it was likely to sink in navigable channels (to make access difficult for other ships) or deep water (out of reach of easy salvage) and making determination of the cause of the sinking more difficult. Development In December 1938, a new unit wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ( commerce raiding) and enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and other parts of the British Empire, and from the United States, to the United Kingdom and (during the Second World War) to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean. German submarines also destroyed Brazilian merchant ships during World War II, causing Brazil to declare war on both Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942. The term is an anglicised version of the German word ''U-Boot'' , a shortening of ''Unterseeboot'' ('under-sea-boat'), though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Navy submarines were also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
