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Fierce Creatures
''Fierce Creatures'' is a 1997 British-American farcical comedy film. While not literally a sequel, ''Fierce Creatures'' is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film '' A Fish Called Wanda''. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. ''Fierce Creatures'' was written by John Cleese and directed by Robert Young and Fred Schepisi. The film was dedicated to Gerald Durrell and Peter Cook. Some scenes were filmed at Jersey Zoo, a zoological park founded by Durrell. Plot Willa Weston arrives in Atlanta to take a high-ranking position in a company recently acquired by Octopus Inc.'s owner, Rod McCain. But Rod informs her that he has already sold the company where she was to work. Willa then agrees to run another recent acquisition, Marwood Zoo, in an attempt to create a business model that can be used for multiple zoos in the future. Rod McCain's son Vincent, who feels an unreciprocated attraction to Willa, announces that he will join her at the zoo. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoboomafoo
''Zoboomafoo'' is a live-action/animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS from January 25, 1999, to June 7, 2001. It was formerly shown in public television (depending on the area) and was regularly shown on Sprout until 2013. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin), it features a talking lemur (a Coquerel's sifaka) named Zoboomafoo, performed by Canadian puppeteer Gord Robertson (who had also puppeteered on Jim Henson's '' Fraggle Rock''), and mainly portrayed by a lemur named Jovian, along with a collection of returned animal guests. Every episode begins with the Kratt brothers in Animal Junction, a peculiar place in which the rules of nature change and wild animals come to visit and play. On November 10, 2014, Jovian died in his home at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina at the age of 20 due to kidney failure. Premise and structure Upon their arrival at Animal Junction, the Kratt brothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense; satire, parody, and mockery of real-life situations, people, events, and interactions; unlikely and humorous instances of miscommunication; ludicrous, improbable, and exaggerated characters; and broadly stylized performances. Genre Despite involving absurd situations and characters, the genre generally maintains at least a slight degree of realism and narrative continuity within the context of the irrational or ludicrous situations, often distinguishing it from completely absurdist or fantastical genres. Farces are often episodic or short in duration, often being set in one specific location where all events occur. Farces have historically been performed for the stage and film. Historical context The term ''farce'' is der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gareth Hunt
Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' and Mike Gambit in '' The New Avengers''. Early life Alan Leonard Hunt was born in Battersea, London, in 1942. His father was killed in the Second World War when he was two years old, and he was brought up by his mother, Doris, and his stepfather. At the age of 15, he joined the Merchant Navy. After six years, he jumped ship in New Zealand and worked in a car plant for a year before he was caught and served three months in a military prison. Hunt was then deported back to Britain, and while taking a BBC design course he held a variety of jobs, including stagehand, road digger, butcher's assistant and door-to-door salesman. Having had an interest in acting since his early years, he subsequently trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Following that, he did rep across the United Kingdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Ridings
Richard Ridings (born 19 September 1958) is an English actor. He portrayed Alan Ashburn in the ITV television drama ''Fat Friends'', Bernard Green in the BBC One comedy-drama '' Common as Muck'', and is the voice of Daddy Pig in ''Peppa Pig''. He trained as an actor at Bretton Hall College, then the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He is the father of singer-songwriter Freya Ridings. Career He has had roles in a series of other television series and feature films, among them ''Clockwise'', '' The Ink Thief'', ''Red Dwarf'', '' Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', ''Fierce Creatures'' and as Silas in '' Highlander: The Series''. Ridings voices Daddy Pig in the animated children's series ''Peppa Pig'', Father Christmas and Boss Dwarf in '' Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom'', and Grooby in Q Pootle 5. In 2005, he took the lead role in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom ''Clement Doesn't Live Here Anymore'', playing a sexually obsessed overweight ghost alongside Steve Fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynthia Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on '' The Frost Report''. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus.'' Along with his Python co-stars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include '' Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975), '' Life of Brian'' (1979) and '' The Meaning of Life'' (1983). In the mid-1970s, Cleese and first wife Connie Booth co-wrote the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'', in which he starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. In 2000 the show topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Aitken
Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is an English theatre director, teacher, actress, and writer. Early life and career Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and Penelope Aitken, whose father was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. Her grandfather was the UK Representative to Ireland (1939–49). She is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Lord Beaverbrook, and sister to former Conservative cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken. She attended Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School in Norfolk, Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset and St Anne's College, Oxford, where she graduated with a degree in English Language and Literature. She has directed several plays in the West End and on Broadway. Her production of '' The 39 Steps'', which ran in London for nine years, also played three years on Broadway and won Olivier and Tony Awards. In 2011, she directed Frank Langella in '' Man and Boy'' on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Griffiths
Derek Griffiths (born 15 July 1946) is a British actor, singer, and voice artist who appeared in numerous British children's television series in the 1960s to present and has more recently played parts in television drama. Career Griffiths was known in his early years for his ''Play School'' appearances alongside the likes of Chloe Ashcroft, Johnny Ball and Brian Cant. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he voiced over and sang the theme tune to ''Heads and Tails'', a series of short animal films for children produced by BBC Television, and also sang and played the theme tune to the cartoon '' Bod''. Another children's TV role was in Granada Television's early 1980s series ''Film Fun'', in which he played the entire staff of a cinema (the manager, the commissionaire (with the catchphrase "Get on with it!"), the projectionist, the usherette and also himself) while also showing cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. He appeared on ''Crown Court ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bille Brown
William Gerald Brown AM (11 January 195213 January 2013) professionally known as Billie Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright. Early life Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at the University of Queensland. He began his career in the early 1970s at Queensland Theatre Company, working alongside Geoffrey Rush. He was openly gay. Abroad Brown's career took him abroad to Britain, where he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and was the first Australian commissioned to write and perform in their own play – ''The Swan Down Gloves''. The show opened at the Barbican Theatre (RSC's home theatre from 1982 to 2002) and had a Royal Command Performance. As a member of the RSC (between 1976 and 1982, 1986–88 and 1994–96) Brown toured with their productions throughout Europe, playing Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Munich. He also appeared in the RSC's premiere production of ''The Wizard of Oz'' in the gender-bend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong Kong Police Force
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to People's Republic of China in 1997. Pursuant to the one country, two systems principle, the HKPF is officially independent of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, which under usual circumstances may not interfere with Hong Kong’s local law enforcement matters. All HKPF officers are employed as civil servants and therefore required to pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Basic Law. The HKPF consists of approximately 34,000 officers, including the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, civil servants, and its Marine Region (3,000 officers and 143 vessels as of 2009). History A police force has been serving Hong Kong since sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jersey Zoo
Jersey Zoo (formerly Durrell Wildlife Park) is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell (1925–1995). It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. It has approximately 169,000 visitors per year; visitor numbers tend to vary with the tourist trade to Jersey. Jersey Zoo has always concentrated on rare and endangered species. It has mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, comprising over 130 species. Since 1964, the zoo has been home to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly the ''Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust''). Overview The park is located at Les Augrès Manor, Trinity, Jersey, north of Saint Helier. It officially opened on 26 March 1959. The park is situated in of landscaped parkland and water-gardens. The Trust has a strong commitment to looking after the Island's native wildlife, and large areas within the grounds have been designated native habitat a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishment comedic movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. Born in Torquay, he was educated at the University of Cambridge. There he became involved with the Footlights Club, of which he later became president. After graduating he created the comedy stage revue '' Beyond the Fringe'', beginning a long-running partnership with Dudley Moore. In 1961, Cook opened the comedy club The Establishment in Soho, Central London. In 1965, Cook and Moore began a television career, beginning with '' Not Only... But Also''. Cook’s deadpan monologues contrasted with Moore’s buffoonery. They received the 1966 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. Following the success of the show, the duo appeared together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Durrell
Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservation movement, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959. He wrote approximately forty books, mainly about his life as an animal collector and enthusiast, the most famous being ''My Family and Other Animals'' (1956). Those memoirs of his family's years living in Greece were adapted into two television series (''My Family and Other Animals (TV series), My Family and Other Animals'', 1987, and ''The Durrells'', 2016–2019) and one television film (''My Family and Other Animals (film), My Family and Other Animals'', 2005). He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell. Early life and education Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, British Raj, British India, on 7 January 1925. He was the fifth and youngest child (an elder sister having died in infan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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