|
Grumpy Old Men (TV Series)
''Grumpy Old Men'' is a conversational-style British television series, first shown in October 2003 on BBC Two. The first run of four programmes was repeated several times before a second series, also of four episodes, was shown in 2004. A third series was broadcast in April 2006. There were also 2003 and 2004 Christmas specials. An Irish version, '' Gaybo's Grumpy Men'', was produced by RTÉ in 2005. Format The format shows a number of well-known middle-aged men talking about any issues of modern life which irritate them, from the proliferation of excessive road signs to unnecessary and overly-loud mobile phone conversations. Regular contributors include Jeremy Clarkson, Bob Geldof, John Humphrys, A. A. Gill, Nigel Havers, Tony Hawks, Simon Hoggart, John O'Farrell, Rory McGrath, Bill Nighy, Matthew Parris, John Peel, Will Self, Arthur Smith, Tim Rice, Rick Stein, Tony Slattery, Rick Wakeman, Lemn Sissay, Don Warrington, Des Lynam, Richard Madeley, Kelvin MacKenzie, Felix D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Television Comedy
Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first Television in the United States, United States television programs was the comedy-variety show ''Texaco Star Theater'', which was most prominent in the years that it featured Milton Berle (from 1948 to 1956). The range of television comedy has become broader, with the addition of sitcoms, improvisational comedy, and stand-up comedy, while also adding comedic aspects into other television genres, including Drama (film and television), drama and News broadcasting, news. Television comedy provides opportunities for viewers to relate the content in these shows to society. Some audience members may have similar views about certain comedic aspects of shows, while others will take different perspectives. This also relates to developing new social norms, sometimes acting a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rory McGrath
Patrick Rory McGrath (born 17 March 1956) is a British comedian, television personality, and writer. He came to prominence in the comedy show '' Who Dares Wins'' and was a regular panellist on the game show '' They Think It's All Over'' for many years. He acted in the sitcom '' Chelmsford 123'' and appeared in the ITV reality show '' Sugar Free Farm''. Early life McGrath was born in Redruth, Cornwall, England. He studied at Redruth Grammar School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from which he received a lower second class degree in modern languages. Career McGrath became a member of the Footlights while at Cambridge and met Jimmy Mulville, with whom he wrote and performed. After university, they wrote BBC radio scripts for Frankie Howerd and Windsor Davies. McGrath also co-wrote '' Black Cinderella Two Goes East'' with Clive Anderson for BBC Radio 2 in 1978. McGrath and Mulville went on to write for shows such as ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'', an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Madeley
Richard Holt Madeley ( born 13 May 1956) is an English television presenter and writer. Alongside his wife Judy Finnigan, he presented ITV's '' This Morning'' (1988–2001) and the Channel 4 chat show ''Richard & Judy'' (2001–2008). Madeley's solo projects include the series '' Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway'' (2007) and covering for ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' on BBC Radio 2. He was the main relief presenter of Channel 5's ''The Wright Stuff'' (2012–2017), and since 2017, he has been one of three main relief presenters of ITV breakfast show '' Good Morning Britain''. Early life Madeley was born in Romford, Essex on 13 May 1956, the son of journalist Christopher Holt Madeley (died 1977), from a family of tenant farmers at Kiln Farm, Shawbury, Shropshire, and Mary Claire (''née'' McEwan).Madeley, Richard (2008). ''Fathers and Sons''. Simon & Schuster. Chapter 4. His mother was Canadian. He attended Shenfield High School in Brentwood. In 2008, Madeley told ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Des Lynam
Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, presenting '' Grandstand'', '' Match of the Day'', Wimbledon, the Grand National, '' Sportsnight'', the World Cup and Olympic Games, as well as presenting non-sporting programmes such as ''Holiday'', '' How Do They Do That?'' and '' Countdown''. Early years Lynam was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, and moved with his family to Brighton, England, at the age of six. He recalled having a strong Irish accent at the time, but eventually lost it. He passed the eleven-plus in 1954, to attend Varndean Grammar School. After sitting his A-levels, he went into the insurance business. Broadcasting career 1968–1999 Lynam started his career in broadcasting as a freelance radio journalist on BBC Radio Brighton (1968–1969). He quickly jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Warrington
Don Warrington MBE (born Don Williams, 23 May 1951) is a Trinidadian-born British actor. He is best known for playing Philip Smith in the ITV sitcom '' Rising Damp'' (1974–78), and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the BBC detective series '' Death in Paradise'' (2011–present). His son, Jake Fairbrother, is also an actor. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Early life Warrington was born in Trinidad but moved to Newcastle upon Tyne with his mother and brother at the age of seven, whilst his sister stayed in Trinidad. His father, Basil Kydd, was a Trinidadian politician who died in 1958. Warrington attended Harris College (now the University of Central Lancashire) and trained as an actor at the Drama Centre London. As there was already an actor called Don Williams when he joined Equity, he took the stage surname Warrington after Warrington Road, the street he grew up in. He started acting in repertory theatre at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, was chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trustees two years later, having previously been appointed one of the museum's fellows. He was awarded the 2019 PEN Pinter Prize. He has written a number of books and plays. Early life Sissay's mother, Yemarshet Sissay, arrived in Britain from Ethiopia in 1966. Pregnant at the time, she was sent from Bracknell in Berkshire to a home for unmarried mothers in Lancashire to give birth. His birth father, Giddey Estifanos, was a pilot for Ethiopian Airlines, who died in a plane crash in 1972. Sissay was born in Billinge Hospital, Wigan, Lancashire, in 1967. Norman Goldthorpe, a social worker assigned to his mother by Wigan Social Services, found foster parents for Sissay while his mother returned to Bracknell to finish her studies. Goldthorpe n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakeman as a "classically trained keyboardist extraordinaire who plied his trade with Yes and developed his own brand of live spectacular in a solo act." Born and raised in West London, Wakeman quit his studies at the Royal College of Music in 1969 to become a full-time session musician. His early sessions included " Space Oddity", among other tracks, for David Bowie, and songs by Elton John, Marc Bolan, Cat Stevens, and Lou Reed. In 1970, Wakeman joined the folk rock group the Strawbs, during which his virtuosity gained national press coverage. He left in 1971 to join Yes, with whom he played on some of their most influential albums across two stints until 1980. During this time Wakeman began a solo career in 1973 and became an iconic and pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Slattery
Tony Declan James Slattery (9 November 1959 – 14 January 2025) was a British actor and comedian. He appeared on British television regularly from the mid-1980s, including as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?''. His serious and comedic film work included roles in ''The Crying Game'', ''Peter's Friends'' and '' How to Get Ahead in Advertising''. Early life and education Slattery was born in Stonebridge, London, into a working-class background, the fifth and last child of Catholic Irish immigrants, Michael and Margaret Slattery. In April 2019 Slattery revealed that he had been repeatedly sexually abused by a priest at the age of eight, but had never told his parents; he believed the event contributed to his unstable character later in life. He was educated at Gunnersbury Boys' School in west London and won a scholarship to read Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in French literature and Spanish poetry. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Stein
Christopher Richard Stein, (born 4 January 1947) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur, writer and television presenter. Along with business partner (and first wife) Jill Stein, he runs the Stein hotel and restaurant business in the UK. The business has a number of renowned restaurants, shops and hotels in Padstow along with other restaurants in Marlborough, Winchester and Barnes. He is also the head chef and a co-owner of the "Rick Stein at Bannisters" restaurants in Mollymook and Port Stephens in Australia, with his second wife, Sarah. He writes cookery books and has presented numerous cookery series for the BBC. Early years Of German descent, Christopher Richard Stein was born on 4 January 1947 in Churchill, Oxfordshire, to Eric Stein (1908-1965) and Dorothy Gertrude née Jackson (1909-1999). He was born and brought up on a farm. Stein was educated at Wells Court, a preparatory school just outside Tewkesbury, then Wells House, the Court's bigger sister-school at Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', and '' Evita''; ''Chess'' (with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA); '' Aida'' (with Elton John); and, for Disney, ''Aladdin'' (with Alan Menken), ''The Lion King'' (with John), both the stage adaptation of ''Beauty and the Beast'' and the live-action film adaption (with Menken). He also wrote lyrics for the Alan Menken musical ''King David'', and for DreamWorks Animation's ''The Road to El Dorado'' (with John). Rice was knighted by Elizabeth II for services to music in 1994. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is a 1999 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is the 2023 recipient of its Johnny Mercer Award, is a Disney Legend recipient, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Smith (comedian)
Brian Arthur John Smith (born 27 November 1954) is an English alternative comedian, presenter and writer. Early life Smith was born on 27 November 1954 in Bermondsey, south London. His eldest brother is Richard Smith, a medical doctor, editor and businessman. His younger brother is Nick Smith, a civil servant who was also a stand-up comic but in recent years has turned to amateur dramatics. Arthur was a student and school captain at The Roan School for Boys, a grammar school, now The John Roan School in Blackheath, London. He then studied at the University of East Anglia, where he was chairman of the poetry society, wrote for the student newspaper and contributed sketches for a student revue. He graduated with a 2:1 BA degree in Comparative literature in 1976. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Self is currently Professor, Professor of Psychogeography, Modern Thought at Brunel University London, where he teaches psychogeography. His 2002 novel ''Dorian, an Imitation'' was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and his 2012 novel ''Umbrella (novel), Umbrella'' was shortlisted. His fiction is known for being satirical, grotesque and fantastical, and is predominantly set within his home city of London. His writing often explores mental illness, drug abuse and psychiatry. Self is a regular contributor to publications including ''The Guardian'', ''Harper's Magazine'', ''The New York Times'' and the ''London Review of Books''. He has been a columnist for the ''Observer'', ''The Times'', the ''New Statesman'', the ''Evening Standard'' and ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
