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Neil Spencer
Neil Spencer is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and astrologer who lives in north London. He edited the ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') from 1978 to 1985 and was a founding editor of the men's magazine ''Arena'' and of the jazz/art magazine '' Straight No Chaser''. He writes regularly for ''The Observer'', specialising in astrology, music and other aspects of popular culture. According to his website, his work has also appeared in ''The Independent'', '' Mojo'', '' Uncut'' and ''Elle'', among other publications. Spencer was assistant editor of the ''NME'' until November 1978, when he took over as editor from Nick Logan. By the early 1980s, it was the most influential music paper in the country. Writing in ''The Observer'' in 2005, Spencer selected his tenure as editor as the magazine's "so-called Golden Age", for its positioning of music within "a wider oppositional culture in which politics, books, movies, illustration and photography all had a major role". He cited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrologer
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of Celestial objects in astrology, celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in Calendrical calculation, calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindu astrology, Hindus, Chinese astrology, Chinese, and the Maya civilization, Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sounds (magazine)
''Sounds'' was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, then colour from late 1971) and later for covering heavy metal (especially the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM)) and punk and Oi! music in its late 1970s–early 1980s heyday. History ''Sounds'' was produced by Spotlight Publications (part of Morgan Grampian), which was set up by John Thompson and Jo Saul with Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left ''Melody Maker'' to start their own company. ''Sounds'' was their first project, a weekly paper devoted to progressive rock and described by Hutton, to those he was attempting to recruit from his former publication, as "a leftwing ''Melody Maker''". ''Sounds'' was intended to be a weekly rival to titles such as ''Melody Maker'' and ''New Musical Express'' (''NME''). ''Sounds'' was one of the first music papers to cover punk. Mic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Bailey
David Royston Bailey (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer and director, most widely known for his fashion photography and portraiture, and role in shaping the image of the Swinging Sixties. Bailey has also directed several television commercials and documentaries. Early life David Royston Bailey was born at Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone, to Herbert Bailey, a tailor's cutter, and his wife Gladys, a machinist. From the age of three he lived in East Ham.Passed/Failed: An education in the life of David Bailey, photographer ", ''''. Bailey developed a love of natural history, and this led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandora Press
Pandora Press is a UK feminist publishing imprint that was founded in 1983 by Philippa Brewster at Routledge and Kegan Paul, with Dale Spender as editor-at-large. It was the first imprint to produce a list devoted primarily to feminist non-fiction. Among early Pandora Press titles were Spender's ''There's Always Been a Women's Movement This Century'' (1983) and ''Time and Tide Wait for No Man'' (1984), and other authors published by the imprint included Marge Piercy (''Stone, Paper, Knife'', 1983) and Jeanette Winterson ('' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', 1985, winner of the Whitbread Award for a first novel). Brewster took on a book written by the women of Greenham Common, about which she has said: "That seemed to fulfill what we really wanted to do. ...We were all part of the women's movement. We represented it, but we also informed it." Also a commissioning editor for Pandora Press was Candida Lacey, who went on to become publisher of Myriad Editions for 15 years. Pandora Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, and specialised in the publication of high-quality literature, nonfiction, and popular fiction, including crime, detective, mystery, thriller, and science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership passed to his daughter, Livia, who in 1989 sold it to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin. Three years later in October 1992, Houghton Mifflin sold Gollancz to the publishing house Cassell (publisher), Cassell & Co. Cassell and its parent company Orion Publishing Group were acquired by Hachette (publisher), Hachette in 1996, and in December 1998 the merged Orion/Cassell group turned Gollancz into its science fiction/fantasy imprint. Origins as a political house Gollancz was left-inclined in politics and a supporter of socialist mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Robinson
Living people Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits " Glad to Be Gay", " 2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band. He later peaked at No. 6 in the UK singles chart with his solo single " War Baby". Early life Tom Robinson was born into a middle-class family in Cambridge on 1 June 1950.Rapp, Linda (2004)"Robinson, Tom (b. 1950)". ''GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture''. He attended Friends' School, Saffron Walden, a co-ed privately funded Quaker school, between 1961 and 1967. He played guitar in a trio at school called The Inquisition. Robinson has two brothers, Matthew (a former BBC executive producer) and George, and a sister, Sophy. At the age of 13, Robinson realised that he was gay when he fell in love with another boy at school.Simmonds, Sylvie"A Brief History Of Tom". To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Communards
The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. They consisted of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles. They are best known for their cover versions of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass's " Don't Leave Me This Way", and of The Jackson 5's " Never Can Say Goodbye". The name '' Communards'' refers to the revolutionaries of the 1871 Paris Commune. History Formation (1985) The Communards formed in 1985 after singer Jimmy Somerville left his earlier band Bronski Beat to team up with classically trained musician Richard Coles. Somerville often used a falsetto/countertenor singing style. Coles, though mainly a pianist, played a number of instruments and had been seen previously performing the clarinet solos on the Bronski Beat hit " It Ain't Necessarily So". They were joined by bass player Dave Renwick, who had also played with Bronski Beat. Breakthrough and ''Communards'' (1985–1987) The ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Style Council
The Style Council were an English pop band formed in Woking in 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the rock band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Bureau and the Merton Parkas. Weller started the project to escape the restrictions of the Jam, and to explore a more arty, European, jazzier direction, which encompassed pop, hip hop, and soul. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-girlfriend, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young, Tracey Thorn ( Everything but the Girl) and drummer/percussionist Steve Sidelnyk (who has played for Madonna, Seal and Richard Ashcroft) also performed and collaborated with the group. As with Weller's previous band, most of the London-based group's hits were in their homeland, where they scored seven top 10 hits. The band also had hit singles and albums in Australia and New Zealand duri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1987 United Kingdom General Election
The 1987 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the Conservative Party, who won a majority of 102 seats and second landslide under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to lead a party into three successive electoral victories. The Conservatives ran a campaign focusing on lower taxes, a strong economy and strong defence. They also emphasised that unemployment had just fallen below the 3 million mark for the first time since 1981, and inflation was standing at 4%, its lowest level since the 1960s. National newspapers also continued to largely back the Conservative government, particularly ''The Sun'', which ran anti– Labour Party articles with headlines such as "Why I'm backing Kinnock, by Stalin". Labour, led by Neil Kinnock following Michael Foot's resigna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. It is one of the Two-party system, two dominant political parties in the United Kingdom; the other being the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party. Labour has been led by Keir Starmer since 2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK), 2020, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election. To date, there have been 12 Labour governments and seven different Labour Prime Ministers – Ramsay MacDonald, MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Attlee, Harold Wilson, Wilson, James Callaghan, Callaghan, Tony Blair, Blair, Gordon Brown, Brown and Starmer. The Labour Party was founded in 1900, having e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His activism is centred on social change and left-wing politics, left-wing political causes. Early life Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, London, Barking, Essex (later part of Greater London) to Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap maker and milliner, and his wife Marie Victoria D'Urso, who was of Italian descent through her father. Bragg's father died of lung cancer in 1976, and his mother died in 2011. Bragg was educated at Northbury Junior School and Park Modern Secondary School (now part of Barking Abbey School, Barking Abbey Secondary School) in Barking. He failed his Eleven-plus, eleven-plus exam. He developed an interest in poetry at age twelve, when his English teacher chose him to read ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Weller
John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. The band gained significant critical and commercial success in the United Kingdom, and were the most influential band of the mod revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Following the dissolution of the Jam at the end of 1982, Weller formed the Style Council with Mick Talbot, where he explored a wide variety of other musical styles, including pop, jazz, soul, hip hop, folk and classical. Although initially successful, the band's popularity declined in the late 1980s, leading them to break up in 1989. Weller began a solo career in the early 1990s, slowly re-establishing his commercial standing across his first four solo albums, ''Paul Weller (album), Paul Weller'' (1992), ''Wild Wood'' (1993), ''Stanley Road' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
