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Alfred Read (shipowner)
Alfred Read (3 March 1909 – 9 September 1987) was a British radio comedian active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Originally a businessman, he has been described as highly influential on British comedy. Early life Read was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire. On leaving school he worked at the family meat-processing firm, E. and H. Read Ltd, initially as a salesman before becoming a director in his early 20s. He always wanted to perform - on one occasion, when he was 18, he performed impressions of Maurice Chevalier in clubs in Bolton before being found by his father and having to return to work as a meat-products salesman. After his father died he started running the family business while continuing to take opportunities to entertain at local dinners and in clubs. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broughton, Salford
Broughton is a suburb and district of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Located on the east bank of the River Irwell, it is northwest of Manchester and south of Prestwich. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, the former manor house, Broughton Hall, belonged to the Chethams and the Stanleys, both distinguished local families, and later passed, by marriage, to the Clowes family. Part of Broughton was amalgamated into the County Borough of Salford, Municipal Borough of Salford in 1844, and the remaining area in 1853. In the 21st century, parts of Lower Broughton and Higher Broughton have been redeveloped with a mixture of town houses and flats. Together with neighbouring Whitefield, Greater Manchester, Whitefield, Prestwich and Crumpsall, Broughton is home to a large Jews, Jewish community. History Early history Some neolithic implements and other pre-Roman remains have been found in Broughton. The Roman roads, Roman road from Manchester (Mamucium) to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92 million, and the largest in Northern England. It borders the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The city borders the boroughs of Trafford, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Stockport, Tameside, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Oldham, Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Rochdale, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Bury and City of Salford, Salford. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (''castra'') of Mamucium, ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers River Medlock, Medlock and River Irwell, Irwell. Throughout the Middle Ages, Manchester remained a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s. While the format is still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the '' Royal Variety Performance'', the Philippines with ''Eat Bulaga!'' and '' It's Showtime'', and South Korea with '' Running Man'', the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had a major effect on late night television whose late-night talk shows and NBC's vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original castle was built in the 11th century, after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I of England, Henry I (who reigned 1100–1135), it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century state apartments were described by the art historian Hugh Roberts (art historian), Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste".Hugh Roberts, ''Options Report for Windsor Castle'', cited Nicolson, p. 79. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949. The future George VI was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his great-grandfather Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was known as "Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the throne as George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward VIII, Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Pier, Blackpool
Central Pier is one of three piers in the town of Blackpool, England, and was built in 1868. Location The pier is central in that it is located between the other two, but it was close to the site of the now-defunct Blackpool Central railway station about 550 yards south of Blackpool Tower. Since the coastline is very straight and flat, the pier simply extends at right angles to the sea front, roughly level with the promenade. History The success of the North Pier, Blackpool, North Pier prompted the formation of the Blackpool South Jetty Company one year later in 1864. Impressed with the construction of Blackpool Pier (North Pier), the company hired the same contractor, Richard Laidlaw and Son of Glasgow for the project. This time, however, the company used the designs of Lieutenant-Colonel John Isaac Mawson rather than those of Eugenius Birch. When the pier was opened on 30 May 1868, it was 503 yards in length, 131 yards of which was a landing jetty for use at low tide. The fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Hall (bandleader)
Henry Robert Hall, CBE (2 May 1898 – 28 October 1989) was an English bandleader who performed regularly on BBC Radio during the British dance band era of the 1920s and 1930s, through to the 1960s. Early life and career Henry Hall was born in Peckham, South London, England. He won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music where he studied trumpet, piano, harmony and counterpoint. His first job was as a copyist at the head office of the Salvation Army for which he wrote several marches. During World War I, Hall served with the Royal Field Artillery, and played trumpet and piano in the regimental band. Hall's musical career was slow to start but eventually he was engaged by the London Midland and Scottish Railway to take charge of music throughout their then large chain of hotels, including Gleneagles Hotel, where he had previously led the band. Hall describes in his autobiography, ''Here's to the Next Time'', that in October 1923 he met a young woman, Margery Harker, while t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Workers' Playtime (radio Programme)
''Workers' Playtime'' was a British radio variety programme transmitted by the BBC between 1941 and 1964. Originally intended as a morale-booster for industrial workers in Britain during World War II, the programme was broadcast at lunchtime, three times a week, live from a factory canteen "somewhere in Britain". Presenter and former music hall artist Margery Manners used her experience of getting sailors to sing along with her choruses to cheer workers and listeners.Gifford, Dennis (30 April 1997)OBITUARY: Margery Manners". The Independent. Retrieved 16 December 2024. Initially, the show was broadcast simultaneously on both the BBC Home Service and Forces Programme, then from 1957 onwards solely on the Light Programme. For all its 23 years each show concluded with the words from the show's producer, Bill Gates: "Good luck, all workers!" The programme had the support of the government because the shows were seen as supporting the war effort on the home front. ''Workers' Play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Bandbox
''Variety Bandbox'' is a BBC Radio variety show transmitted initially in the General Forces Programme and then the Light Programme. Featuring a mixture of comic performances and music, the show helped to launch the careers of a number of leading British performers. Presented by Philip Slessor, it became a feature of Sunday evenings for more than eight years between February 1944 and September 1952. Hosting duties would later be taken over by Derek Roy. Amongst those who launched their careers on the show was Frankie Howerd, who first appeared on ''Variety Bandbox'' in 1947 following a provincial tour. Howerd was to become a fixture of the show and honed his catch phrase-driven comedic style in these appearances. Tony Hancock also featured on the show early in his career. March 1950 saw the debut of a fortnightly series within the show called ''Blessem Hall'' which featured several characters voiced by a young Peter Sellers in one of his earliest performances, alongside Miriam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hulme Hippodrome
The Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester, England, is a shuttered Grade II listed building, a proscenium arch theatre with two galleries and a side hall. It was originally known as the Grand Junction Theatre and Floral Hall, and opened on 7 October 1901 on the former main road of Preston Street, Hulme, and stage access is from Warwick Street. The Hulme Hippodrome theatre is located in the same building and shares a party wall with its small sibling theatre, Playhouse Theatre, Manchester, The Playhouse. The Hippodrome was a music hall and variety theatre, a repertory theatre in the 1940s, and hired on Sundays for recording BBC programmes with live audiences between 1950 and 1956. In the 1960s and 1970s it was a bingo hall, and from 2003 used by a disgraced church. The theatre has been closed since 2018 and a campaign group exists to bring it back into use as a community resource, where the current owner is seeking permission to build apartments. Its local name in memoirs and records is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs, and interests. It also oversees online audio content. Of the national radio stations, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, 2, BBC Radio 3, 3, BBC Radio 4, 4, and BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live are all available through analogue radio (Medium wave, MW or FM broadcasting, FM, also BBC Radio 4 broadcasts on longwave) as well as on DAB Digital Radio and BBC Sounds. The BBC Asian Network, Asian Network broadcasts on DAB and selected AM frequencies in the English Midlands. BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 4 Extra, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, 5 Sports Extra, BBC Radio 6 Music, 6 Music and the BBC World Service, World Service broadcast only on DAB and BBC Sounds, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham McCann
Graham McCann is a British author and historian who has written extensively on film and television stars and British comedy series. He is a former lecturer and fellow at the University of Cambridge where he taught social and political theory. McCann has become noted for his biographies on figures such as Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, John Le Mesurier, Woody Allen and Terry-Thomas, and books about British television comedy such as ''Dad's Army'', ''Yes Minister'', ''Only Fools and Horses'' and ''Fawlty Towers''. He also contributes to various newspapers. Teaching career McCann earned a doctorate at Cambridge University and, before becoming a full-time writer, was a fellow and lecturer in social and political theory at King's College, Cambridge. Among his fields of expertise is American culture, and in 1993 he lectured on "Aspects of American Culture" at the university. He also taught in the university's continuing education programme, primarily in the subject of the history of British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
