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Grace Archer
Grace Archer (also Fairbrother) is a fictional character from the BBC's long-running radio soap, ''The Archers''. She was one of the original characters and was played by Monica Gray and then Ysanne Churchman. The episode depicting her death was broadcast by the BBC on 22 September 1955, the same evening as the launch of ITV, so as to distract from it. Storylines Grace is the daughter of a wealthy English family. She falls in love with Phil Archer ( Norman Painting), the son of a farmer, and they are married in April 1955. A few months later, a fire breaks out at the stables while the residents of the village are at a dinner in the church hall. Grace runs into the burning stables to try to save her friend's horse and, as she searches, a burning beam falls down onto her, leaving her trapped. Phil and the others at the party learn that Grace is trapped in the shed and they pull her from the wreckage. She is rushed to hospital, but is pronounced dead on arrival. Reception An audien ...
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Soap Opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers.Bowles, p. 118. The term was preceded by ''horse opera'', a derogatory term for low-budget Western (genre), Westerns. According to some dictionaries, for something to be adequately described as a soap opera, it need not be long-running; but some authors define the word in a way that excludes short-running serial dramas from their definition. BBC Radio's ''The Archers'', first Broadcasting, broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running soap opera. The longest-running television soap opera is ''Coronation Street'', which was first broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV in 1960. According to Albert Moran, one of the defining features that make a television program a soap ...
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The Archers
''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural setting". Having aired more than 20,000 episodes, it is the world's longest-running present-day drama by number of episodes. The first of five pilot episodes was aired on Whit Monday, 29 May 1950, on the BBC Midlands Home Service, and the first episode broadcast nationally went out on New Year's Day 1951. A significant show in British popular culture, and with more than five million listeners, it is Radio 4's most listened-to non-news programme, and with more than one million listeners via the internet, the programme holds the record for BBC Radio online listening figures. In February 2019, a panel of 46 broadcasting industry experts, of which 42 had a professional connection to the BBC, listed '' ...
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Ysanne Churchman
Ysanne Churchman (14 May 1925 – 4 July 2024) was an English actress. She starred and narrated on British radio, television and film for over 50 years, from 1938 to 1993. Churchman gained prominence as Grace Archer, wife of Phil, in the long-running BBC radio drama series ''The Archers''; the series attracted publicity when Grace died after a fire on the night that ITV launched in 1955. Life and career Ysanne Churchman was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, to Andrew Churchman and Gladys Dale, stage and radio performers in London. In 1938, Churchman appeared on both BBC Radio ''Children's Hour'' and in a BBC Television play, ''Gallows Glorious''. She trained as a dancer at Cone-Ripman College. After learning repertory and theatre, she specialised in radio and voice work for film and television. She played Grace in the long-running radio series ''The Archers'' when Grace suffered grievous injuries in a fire on the night of the ITV launch in 1955; the character died in th ...
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ITV Network
ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV (TV channel), STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been Legal name, legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was, for decades, a network of separate companies that provided regional television services and also shared programmes among themselves to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs ITV1, the ITV1 cha ...
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The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph and Courier''. ''The Telegraph'' is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", was included in its emblem which was used for over a century starting in 1858. In 2013, ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph'', which started in 1961, were merged, although the latter retains its own editor. It is politically conservative and supports the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party. It was moderately Liberalism, liberal politically before the late 1870s.Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalismp 159 ''The Telegraph'' has had a number of news scoops, including the outbreak of World War II by rookie reporter Clare Hollingworth, desc ...
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Phil Archer
Philip Walter Archer is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'', played by Norman Painting. He made his first appearance on 29 May 1950, the show's pilot episode. The character later became the longest serving male character in the series. His longevity gave him something of the status of a 'patriarch' in Ambridge. Casting Norman Painting joined the cast as Phil Archer, the "handsome" son of Dan (Harry Oakes) and Doris Archer (Gwen Berryman), for the show's pilot episode broadcast on the BBC Midlands Home Service on 29 May 1950, he stayed on when the show began airing nationally on 1 January 1951. During his time with ''The Archers'', Painting wrote a best-selling book entitled ''Forever Ambridge'' and wrote over a thousand scripts for the show between 1966 and 1982. Painting was later inducted into the Guinness World Records for being the longest-serving actor, without a break, in a single soap opera. In later years, Painting's appearances ...
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Norman Painting
Norman George Painting (23 April 1924 – 29 October 2009) was an English actor, broadcaster and writer. He played Phil Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'' from the pilot episodes aired on the BBC Midlands Home Service in summer 1950, after the series went national on the Light Programme on 1 January 1951, until his death in 2009, when he was the longest-serving member of the cast. His last episode, recorded two days before he died, was broadcast on 22 November 2009. The character lived on until Phil was "found dead" in his armchair in February 2010. According to ''Guinness World Records'', Painting held the world record for an actor playing a continuous role, a total of 59 years, which has now been surpassed by co-actor Lesley Saweard and co-star Patricia Greene. Early life Painting was born in Leamington Spa, the son of a railway signalman. He was educated at Leamington College and King Edward VI School, Nuneaton, but left school aged 15 to work in ...
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The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ...
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Sunday Mercury
''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. History The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), who left the Dublin-based ''Freeman's Journal'' to take up the position. David Brookes, who edited the ''Mercury'' between 2000 and 2008, returned to Birmingham in November 2009 and is now responsible for the ''Sunday Mercury'' as Editor-in-Chief along with the ''Birmingham Post'' and ''Birmingham Mail''. The paper had a circulation of more than 60,000 in 2006 but the average had dropped to below 25,000 in 2014. References

Newspapers published in Birmingham, West Midlands Newspapers established in 1918 Newspapers published by Reach plc {{UK-newspaper-stub ...
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Trinity Mirror
Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ''Daily Mirror'', '' Sunday Mirror'', ''The Sunday People'', ''Daily Express'', '' Sunday Express'', '' Daily Star'', '' Daily Star Sunday'' as well as the Scottish '' Daily Record'' and '' Sunday Mail'' and the magazine '' OK!'' Since purchasing Local World, it has gained 83 print publications. Reach plc's headquarters are at the One Canada Square in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The ''Daily Mirror'' was launched by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, "for gentlewomen" in 1903. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange on 2 December 1953. In 1958 the International Publishing Company (IPC) acquired Mirror Group Newspapers, but IPC was in turn taken over by publishing giant Reed International in 1970. ...
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The Good Life (1975 TV Series)
''The Good Life'' (known as ''Good Neighbors'' in the United States) is a British sitcom, produced by BBC television. It ran from 4 April 1975 to 10 June 1978 on BBC1 and was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde. Opening with the midlife crisis of Tom Good, a 40-year-old plastics designer, it relates the joys and setbacks he and his wife Barbara experience when they attempt to escape a modern "rat race" lifestyle by "becoming totally self-sufficient" in their suburban house in Surbiton. In 2004, it came ninth in ''Britain's Best Sitcom''. The lead roles are taken by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal. Background John Esmonde and Bob Larbey wrote ''The Good Life'' for Richard Briers, the only cast member who was well known before the series was broadcast. Larbey and Esmonde were inspired by Larbey's 40th birthday, which seemed to them a milestone in most people's lives. Their story has the Goods' decision to pursue self-sufficiency conflicting sharply with the habits of the ...
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BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya. He replaced Gwyneth Williams, who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM broadcast band, FM, Longwave, LW and Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it List of most-listened-to radio programs#Top stations in the United Kingdom, the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2. BBC ...
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