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Norman Gunston
Norman Gunston is a satirical TV character performed by Australian actor and comedian Garry McDonald. Norman Gunston was primarily well known in his native Australia, and to a lesser extent, the United States during the mid to late 1970s. He was the only Gold Logie winning fictional character on Australian television, with McDonald collecting the 1976 Gold Logie and the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent in character. Early years The Gunston character was originally conceived by comedy writer Wendy Skelcher and first appeared as a minor character to appear in a single sketch in the second series of the cult Australian TV comedy series ''The Aunty Jack Show'' in 1973. Cast member Garry McDonald portrayed Gunston as a dull and talentless local TV reporter from the industrial city of Wollongong – a locale that was the butt of many jokes throughout the series. The Gunston character made enough of an impression for him to be revived in a subsequent comedy mini-ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Aunty Jack Show
''The Aunty Jack Show'' is a Logie Award-winning Australian television comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1973. Produced by and broadcast on ABC-TV, the series attained an instant cult status that persists to the present day. The lead character, Aunty Jack was a unique comic creation – obese, moustachioed and gravel-voiced, part trucker and part pantomime dame – who habitually solved any problem by knocking people unconscious or threatening to "rip yer bloody arms off". Visually, she was unmistakable, dressed in a huge, tent-like blue velvet dress, football socks, workboots, and a golden boxing glove on her right hand. She rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and referred to everyone as "me little lovelies" – when she was not uttering her familiar threat: "I'll rip yer bloody arms off!", a phrase which immediately passed into the vernacular. The character was devised and played by Grahame Bond and was partly inspired by his overbearing Uncle Jack, whom he had disliked a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas Jones Woodward (born Thomas John Woodward; 7 June 1940) is a Welsh singer. His career began with a string of top 10 hits in the 1960s and he has since toured regularly, with appearances in Las Vegas from 1967 to 2011. His voice has been described by AllMusic as a "full-throated, robust baritone". Jones's performing range has included pop, Rhythm and blues, R&B, show tunes, country music, country, dance, soul music, soul, and gospel music, gospel. In 2008, the ''New York Times'' called him a "musical shapeshifter [who could] slide from soulful rasp to pop croon, with a voice as husky as it was pretty". He has sold over 100 million records, with 36 Top 40 hits in the UK and 19 in the US, including "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat? (song), What's New Pussycat?", the Thunderball (soundtrack)#Title theme change, theme song for the James Bond film ''Thunderball (film), Thunderball'' (1965), "Green, Green Grass of Home", "Delilah (Tom Jones song), Delilah", "Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Mundey
John Bernard "Jack" Mundey (17 October 1929 – 10 May 2020) was an Australian Communist Party of Australia, communist, Trade union, trade unionist and environmental activist. He came to prominence during the 1970s for leading the New South Wales Builders' Labourers Federation (BLF) in the famous green bans, whereby the BLF led a successful campaign to protect the built environment, built and natural environment of Sydney from excessive and inappropriate development. Mundey was the patron of the Historic Houses Association of Australia. Early years John Bernard "Jack" Mundey was born on 17 October 1929 in Malanda, Queensland on the Johnstone River in the Atherton Tablelands, some 100 km west of Cairns. He was one of five siblings born to Catholic parents of Irish descent. His father was a lifetime Labor voter. His mother died when he was six. He was educated at Malanda Primary School and at St Augustine's College (Queensland), St Augustine's, Cairns. He ran away from the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary, Lady Fairfax
Mary Elizabeth Fairfax, (formerly Symonds, born Marie Wein; 15 August 1922 – 17 September 2017) was an Australian businesswoman and philanthropist. As the third wife of wealthy media proprietor Sir Warwick Fairfax, she became known as Lady Fairfax upon his knighthood in 1967. She inherited most of his vast fortune upon his death in January 1987, becoming one of Australia's richest women.The lady who's still giving her all Lawson, Valerie '''' 15 August 2002 accessed 16 May 2012 Biography Marie Wein was born into a Jewish family in |
Malapropism
A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switch hitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious", with the accidental use of '' amphibious'' rather than the intended '' ambidextrous''. Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Etymology The word "malapropism" (and its earlier form, "malaprop") comes from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play '' The Rivals''. Mrs. Malaprop frequently misspeaks (to comic effect) by using words which do not have the meaning that she intends but which sound similar to words that do. Sheridan ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano Man (song)
"Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. First released as a single in the US on November 2, 1973, it was included on Joel's 1973 album '' Piano Man''. The song is sung from the point of view of a piano player at a bar, describing the patrons. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City–based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of his debut album, ''Cold Spring Harbor'' (1971). Joel's first major hit and his signature song, "Piano Man" peaked at number 25 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in April 1974. Following Joel's breakthrough as a popular musician with the release of '' The Stranger'', it became one of his most well-known songs. In 2013, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2015, the Library of Congre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has had a successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s. From 1971 to 1993, he released 12 studio albums spanning the genres of pop and rock, and in 2001 released a one-off studio album of classical compositions. With over 160 million records sold worldwide, Joel is one of the world's List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists and is the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States. His 1985 compilation album, ''Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II'', is one of the List of best-selling albums in the United States, best-selling albums in the United States. Joel was born in the Bronx in New York City and grew up in Hicksville, New York, Hicksville on Long Island, where he began taking piano lessons at his mothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. A harmonica is played by using the lips and tongue to direct air into or out of one (or more) holes along a mouthpiece (which covers one edge of the harmonica for most of its length). Behind each hole is a chamber containing at least one reed. The most common type of harmonica is a diatonic Richter-tuned instrument with ten air passages and twenty reeds, often called a blues harp. A harmonica reed is a flat, elongated spring typically made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end over a slot that serves as an airway. When the free end is made to vibrate by the player's air, the reed alternately blocks and unblocks the airway to produce soun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works; he additionally produced nearly all the 60-plus albums he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Musical improvisation, improvisation sound experimentation, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a mostly self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liza With A Z
''Liza with a "Z"'' is a 1972 concert film made for television, starring Liza Minnelli, produced by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Fosse also directed and choreographed the concert, and Ebb wrote and arranged the music with his song-writing partner John Kander. All four had recently completed the successful film adaptation of ''Cabaret''. According to Minnelli, ''Liza with a "Z"'' was "the first filmed concert on television". Singer sponsored the production, even though producers did their best to prevent the sponsors from seeing rehearsals, fearing they would back out due to Minnelli's short skirts. Filmed on May 31 at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, after only eight weeks of rehearsals, the concert was shot with eight 16mm film camerasZadan, C., "1972", Liza with a "Z" DVD inlay, 2006, Anchor Bay Entertainment at the insistence of Fosse, in contrast to other television specials of the time which were all shot on videotape. Throughout the concert Minnelli sings and dances to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Tony Awards. She is one of the few performers awarded a non-competitive EGOT having received two honorary Grammy Awards. Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. Her persona and her style have immortalized her as a gay icon. Minnelli's parents were actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. After moving to New York City in 1961, she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer, and traditional pop artist. She made her professional stage debut in the Off-Broadway revival of '' Best Foot Forward'' (1963).Scott Schechter (2004): ''The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook'', pp. 12–13. She became known for collaboration with John Kander and Fred Eb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
