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Colin Watson (writer)
John Colin Watson (1 February 1920 – 18 January 1983) was a British writer of detective fiction and the creator of characters such as Inspector Purbright and Lucilla Teatime. Born in Croydon, Surrey, he is best remembered for the twelve Flaxborough novels, typified by their comic and dry wit and set in a fictional small town in England which is closely based on Boston, Lincolnshire. He worked as a journalist in Lincolnshire and the characters in his books are said to be highly recognisable caricatures of people he encountered in his work. His 1971 study of interwar thrillers, ''Snobbery With Violence'', made the phrase popular for describing such authors as Dornford Yates. He was inducted into the Detection Club in 1970. Watson was the first person to successfully sue'' Private Eye'' for libel, for an article in issue 25 when he objected to being described as: “the little-known author who . . . was writing a novel, very Wodehouse but without the jokes”. He was awarded £750 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flaxborough
Flaxborough is a fictitious town in Lincolnshire, created by author and local journalist Colin Watson as the background for a series of comical detective novels (''The Flaxborough Chronicles'') featuring Detective Inspector Walter Purbright. Flaxborough cannot be precisely identified with any real town from the texts. It is a borough, with a borough police force and Chief Constable, a yacht club, and docks. It is often identified with Boston. But it also had a cathedral, suggesting identification with Lincoln itself - although Lincoln, or rather Lincoln Jail, is explicitly mentioned too. The descriptions of the townscape, and in particular Lucilla Teatime's antiques business or charity offices, most closely resemble Louth. In the BBC television adaptation ''Murder Most English'', most locations were filmed in Spalding. ''The Flaxborough Chronicles'' *''Coffin, Scarcely Used'' (1958) *''Bump in the Night'' (1960) *''Hopjoy Was Here'' (1962) *''Lonelyheart 4122'' (1967) *'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detective Fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as speculative fiction and other genre fiction in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained extremely popular, particularly in novels. Some of the most famous heroes of detective fiction include C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, Kogoro Akechi, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Juvenile stories featuring The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children have also remained in print for several decades. History Ancient Some scholars, such as R. H. Pfeiffer, have suggested that certain ancient and religious texts bear similarities to what would later be called detective fiction. In the Old Testament story of Susanna (Book of Daniel: 13), Susanna and the Elders (the Protestant Bible locates this story within the apocrypha), t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brenda Bruce
Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film, and television. Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl. She appeared with the Birmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). She was the RSC's resident Mistress Page in ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'', playing the role in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995. She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production of Jean Genet's '' The Balcony'' in 1971. In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat show ''Rich and Rich'' with her husband. She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's ''Happy Days'', and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in ''Murder Most English''. Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of ''Jeeves and Wooster'' w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Male Novelists
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Members Of The Detection Club
Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in a database ** Member variable, a variable that is associated with a specific object * Limb (anatomy), an appendage of the human or animal body ** Euphemism for penis * Structural component of a truss, connected by nodes * User (computing), a person making use of a computing service, especially on the Internet * Member (geology), a component of a geological formation * Member of parliament * The Members, a British punk rock band * Meronymy, a semantic relationship in linguistics * Church membership, belonging to a local Christian congregation, a Christian denomination and the universal Church * Member, a participant in a club or learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organizatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1983 Deaths
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet). * January 6 – Pope John Paul II appoints a bishop over the Czechoslovak exile community, which the ''Rudé právo'' newspaper calls a "provocation." This begins a year-long disagreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Vatican City, Vatican, leading to the eventual restoration of diplomatic relations between the two states. * January 14 – The head of Bangladesh's military dictatorship, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, announces his intentions to "turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state." * January 18 – United States Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt makes controversial remarks blaming poor living conditions on Indian reservation, Native American re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1920 Births
Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own market town. * January 7 – Russian Civil War: The forces of White movement, Russian White Admiral Alexander Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk; the Great Siberian Ice March ensues. * January 10 ** The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I. ** The League of Nations Covenant enters into force. On January 16, the organization holds its first council meeting, in Paris. * January 11 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is recognised de facto by European powers in Palace of Versailles, Versailles. * January 13 – ''The New York Times'' Robert H. Goddard#Publicity and criticism, ridicules American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, which it will rescind following the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969. * Janua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Timothy
Christopher Timothy (born 14 October 1940) is a British actor and narrator. He is known for his roles as James Herriot in '' All Creatures Great and Small'', Mac McGuire in the BBC One daytime soap opera '' Doctors'' and Ted Murray in the BBC One primetime soap opera ''EastEnders''. Early life Timothy was born in Bala, Wales in 1940. He is the son of Anglican priest and BBC announcer Andrew Timothy and his first wife, Gwladys Marian ''nee'' Hailstone. When aged five Timothy moved with his family to south London, and at thirteen to Shrewsbury, where he attended Kingsland Grange Preparatory School and Priory Grammar School for Boys, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. After leaving school and until his first paid acting engagements he worked in a Shrewsbury hat shop. Career Timothy's first professional stage engagement was in the play '' Chips with Everything'' in London and New York, in the role of a RAF military policeman for more than six months. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Rodgers
Anthony Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including '' Fresh Fields'' (ITV, 1984–86), its sequel '' French Fields'' (ITV, 1989–91), and '' May to December'' (BBC, 1989–94). He also appeared in films, including '' Scrooge'' (1970) '' The Day of the Jackal'' (1973), and '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' (1988). Early life and career Rodgers was born on 10 January 1933 in London, the son of William Robert Rodgers and Leonore Victoria (née Wood).Who's Who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the contemporary stage, seventeenth edition, ed. Ian Herbert, Gale Research Co., 1981, p. 582 His early education was at Westminster City School. The family were evacuated to Wisbech, Isle of Ely during the war, where his father worked for Balding and Mansell, printers of ration books, permits and passes; Rodgers is sometimes erro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural towns with a hinterland of villages are still commonly called market towns, as sometimes reflected in their names (e.g. Downham Market, Market Rasen, or Market Drayton). Modern markets are often in special halls, but this is a relatively recent development. Historically the markets were open-air, held in what is usually called (regardless of its actual shape) the market square or market place, sometimes centred on a market cross ( mercat cross in Scotland). They were and are typically open one or two days a week. In the modern era, the rise of permanent retail establishments reduced the need for periodic markets. History The primary purpose of a market town is the provision of goods and services to the surrounding locality. Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically Aging (food), aged in wooden casks, commonly of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of Port wine, port, rum or sherry may be employed during storage to impart a unique flavor and color. Whisky is a strictly regulated Alcoholic spirit, spirit worldwide with many classes and types. The typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in Barrel, wooden barrels. Etymology The word ''whisky'' (or ''whiskey'') is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word (or ) meaning "water" (now written as in Modern Irish, and in Scottish Gaelic). This Gaelic word shares its ultimate Indo-European_vocabulary#Natural_features, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
