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Joan Turner
Joan Turner (24 November 1922 – 1 March 2009) was a British comedian and singer, born in Belfast and brought up in London. She appeared on stage and TV and had her own radio show, becoming the highest-earning female singer in Britain. She was a versatile performer, whose one-woman shows were legendary. Early years Her father was Leonard Turner, who became a London bus driver and subsequently taxicab driver after serving with the British Army in Ireland. At the age of 11, Turner won a talent competition at a cinema in Peckham, South London, doing impressions of Shirley Temple and Jessie Matthews. She won a scholarship to the Sacred Heart convent in Victoria, London, but told her teachers of her intention to pursue a theatrical career, and left school. In 1937, aged 14, she performed onstage at the Queen's Theatre, Poplar, a London music hall; the following year she toured in a revue, and she performed with The Crazy Gang in 1954. In the 1960s and 1970s, she was a major star ...
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Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom and the second-largest in Ireland. It had a population of 345,418 . By the early 19th century, Belfast was a major port. It played an important role in the Industrial Revolution in Ireland, briefly becoming the biggest linen-producer in the world, earning it the nickname " Linenopolis". By the time it was granted city status in 1888, it was a major centre of Irish linen production, tobacco-processing and rope-making. Shipbuilding was also a key industry; the Harland and Wolff shipyard, which built the , was the world's largest shipyard. Industrialisation, and the resulting inward migration, made Belfast one of Ireland's biggest cities. Following the partition of Ireland in 1921, Belfast became the seat of government for Northern ...
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Crazy Gang (comedy Group)
The Crazy Gang were a group of British entertainers, formed in the early 1930s. In the mature form the group's six men were Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen, Jimmy Nervo, Teddy Knox, Charlie Naughton and Jimmy Gold. The group achieved considerable domestic popularity and were a favourite of the Royal Family, especially King George VI. Formation Although George Black is often credited with the formation of the Crazy Gang, the start was more complicated. In 1931, three double acts (Nervo and Knox, Naughton and Gold and Billy Caryll and Hilda Mundy) were tentatively booked at the London Palladium. This caused Black to consider cancelling one of the couples. Nervo and Knox had a technique of entering other acts and Black was persuaded to overcome the difficulty by letting this happen. The show, which was called ''Crazy Week'' opened on 30 November 1931. Other Crazy Weeks followed with Flanagan and Allen added. The name Crazy Gang was introduced in a show called "The Big Crazy Gang ...
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The Evening News (London Newspaper)
The ''Evening News'', earlier styled as ''The Evening News'', and from 1889 to 1894 The Evening News and Post, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London. After financial struggles and falling sales, it was eventually merged with its long-time rival the ''Evening Standard'' in 1980. The newspaper was revived for an eight-month period in 1987. Early history The newspaper was founded by Coleridge Kennard and Harry Marks. The first issue appeared on 26 July 1881. It was the first popular evening paper in London. It was priced at one halfpenny, distinguishing itself from the more serious penny papers such as ''The Times''. The first issues were printed on light blue paper, and later editions on yellow and green paper. The rivalry between halfpenny papers in the late 19th cen ...
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Chortle
Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the Chortle Awards to honour the best stand-up comics working in the UK. In recent years, the site has also branched out into events promotion. History Prior to starting Chortle, Bennett, who graduated from Oxford University, had been working as a local newspaper editor for the Informer group of free newspapers in Surrey and West London. He started the site after the newspaper group expressed a lack of interest in running a website. After considering his areas of interest, he decided to start a comedy site, since IMDb and ''Empire'' already covered the market for film, and there were numerous music websites available. The site received some early support from investors during the dot com boom which led to Bennett working from offices in ...
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Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a monocle, waistcoat and cigarette holder. His striking dress sense was set off by a gap between his two upper front teeth. Born in London, Terry-Thomas made his film debut, uncredited, in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). He spent several years appearing in smaller roles, before wartime service with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and Stars in Battledress. The experience helped sharpen his cabaret and revue act, increased his public profile and proved instrumental in the development of his successful comic stage routine. On his demobilisation, he starred in ''Piccadilly Hayride'' on t ...
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Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960, disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including " The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career declined. Early life and career Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (then in Warwickshire), but, from the age of three, he was brought up in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as ...
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Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a worldwide audience through his many film roles, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in '' The Pink Panther'' series. Born in Southsea, Portsmouth, Sellers made his stage debut at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, when he was two weeks old. He began accompanying his parents in a variety act that toured the provincial theatres. He first worked as a drummer and toured around England as a member of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). He developed his mimicry and improvisational skills during a spell in Ralph Reader's wartime Gang Show entertainment troupe, which toured Britain and the Far East. After the war, Sellers made his radio debut in ''ShowTime'', and eventually became a regular performer on v ...
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Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is coextensive since 2003 with Clark County, Nevada. The Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Eleven unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada. The names Las Vegas and Vegas are interchangeably used to indicate the Valley, the Strip, and the city, and as a brand by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to denominate the region. The Valley is affectionately known as the "ninth island ...
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The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those who work in theatre and the performing arts. History The first edition of ''The Stage'' was published (under the title ''The Stage Directory – a London and Provincial Theatrical Advertiser'') on 1 February 1880 at a cost of three old pence for twelve pages. Publication was monthly until 25 March 1881, when the first weekly edition was produced. At the same time, the name was shortened to ''The Stage'' and the publication numbering restarted at number 1. The publication was a joint venture between founding editor Charles Lionel Carson and business manager Maurice Comerford. It operated from offices opposite the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Carson, whose real name was Lionel Courtier-Dutton, was cited as the founder. His wife Emily Courtie ...
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The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years from 196 ...
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Sunday Mirror
The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping markedly to 505,508 the following year. Competing closely with other papers, in July 2011, on the second weekend after the closure of the ''News of the World'', more than 2,000,000 copies sold, the highest level since January 2000. History ''Sunday Pictorial'' (1915–1963) The paper launched as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' on 14 March 1915. Lord Rothermere – who owned the paper – introduced the ''Sunday Pictorial'' to the British public with the idea of striking a balance between socially responsible reporting of great issues of the day and sheer entertainment. Although the newspaper has gone through many refinements in its near 100-year history those original core values are still in place today. Ever since 1915, the paper has continually ...
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Royal Variety Show
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal family. The evening's performance is presented as a live variety show, usually from a theatre in London and consists of family entertainment that includes comedy, music, dance, magic and other speciality acts. The ''Royal Variety Performance'' traditionally begins with the entrance of the members of the royal family followed by singing of the national anthem, God Save the King, which was also performed by the participating acts as a traditional end to Royal Variety Performances; with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of which, As If We Never Said Goodbye opened that year's show instead, sung by that year's host, Jason Manford. Background and founding The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was cal ...
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