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Peter McDougall
Peter McDougall (born 1947, Greenock, Scotland) is a Scottish television playwright whose major success was in the 1970s. McDougall claims to have had very little schooling and to rarely read books, He began his working life at the age of fourteen in the shipyards of Greater Glasgow and Greenock with future comedian and actor Billy Connolly. Depressed by the harsh conditions and unfulfilled by the menial work, he left Scotland and moved to London, where he worked as a house-painter. It was while painting Colin Welland's house that McDougall impressed the actor and writer when relating tales of being the drum major in the Orange walk as a teenager. He was advised to try writing a television play about this and the result was ''Just Another Saturday'', which McDougall wrote in secret and hid even from his first wife, a teacher nearly a decade his senior. Once completed, the script was sent to the BBC ''Play for Today'' team, who were enormously impressed but rejected the play because ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east. The 2011 UK Census showed that Greenock had a population of 44,248, a decrease from the 46,861 recorded in the 2001 UK Census. It lies on the south bank of the Clyde at the "Tail of the Bank" where the River Clyde deepens into the Firth of Clyde. History Name Place-name scholar William J. Watson wrote that "Greenock is well known in Gaelic as Grianáig, dative of grianág, a sunny knoll". The Scottish Gaelic place-name ''Grianaig'' is relatively common, with another (Greenock) near Callander in Menteith (formerly in Perthshire) and yet another at Muirkirk in Kyle, now in East Ayrshire. R. M. Smith in (1921) described the alternat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Look Back In Anger
''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet impassive upper-middle-class wife Alison. The supporting characters include Cliff Lewis, an amiable Welsh lodger who attempts to keep the peace; and Helena Charles, Alison's snobbish friend. Osborne drew inspiration from his personal life and failing marriage with Pamela Lane while writing ''Look Back in Anger'', which was his first successful outing as a playwright. The play spawned the term " angry young men" to describe Osborne and those of his generation who employed the harshness of realism in the theatre in contrast to the more escapist theatre that characterised the previous generation. This harsh realism has led to ''Look Back in Anger'' being considered one of the first examples of kitchen sink drama in theatre. The play was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hector Nicol
Hector Nicol (9 November 1920 – 2 July 1985) was a Scottish comedian, singer and actor. Acting career Nicol starred in few shows during his career. His most notable role was that of a dying gangster in the BBC Television play '' Just a Boys' Game'' (1979) and also in ''A Sense of Freedom'' (1981). He also starred in ''Take the High Road'', a Scottish soap opera. Singing career Nicol wrote and sang "The Hearts Song" for Hearts, and "Glory, Glory to the Hibees" for Hibs. He also wrote and sang "The Terrors of Tannadice" for Dundee United and "Dark Blue Of Dundee" for Dundee. However, he actually supported St Mirren. His 1984 album, ''Bravo Juliet!'', reached number 92 for one week in the UK Albums Chart. Influence His influence was important on Scotland's more recent crop of comedians including Billy Connolly, Des Clarke and Elaine C. Smith. There are many other famous people who have stated they are fans of Hector including Sean Connery, John Barrowman and Tommy Sherida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Hutchison
Aitken Hutchison (24 November 1948 – 9 August 2021) was a Scottish actor. Life and career Hutchison played roles in many episodes of ''Play for Today'' from 1970 to 1980, such as in " Just a Boys' Game". Hutchison played Norman Scutt in the Sam Peckinpah film '' Straw Dogs'' (1971) where he was the most shady in the group of nefarious local thugs antagonizing Dustin Hoffman's character and especially his ingenue wife played by Susan George. Fellow actress Sally Thomsett described Hutchison as "A fun-loving rogue." Hutchison co-starred with Robert Mitchum in one of his few protagonist roles in '' The Wrath of God'' (1972) where ''The New York Times'' observed the performance of "the fine Ken Hutchison". In 1975, he appeared as Vincent Vaughn in an episode of the police drama ''The Sweeney'' entitled "Stay Lucky, Eh?" This was followed in 1978 when he appeared in the second of the big screen spin offs ''Sweeney 2'' as Hill, the leader of an uncompromising gang of armed robbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregor Fisher
Gregor Fisher (born 22 December 1953) is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series '' Rab C. Nesbitt'', a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also had roles in films such as '' Without a Clue'' (1988), '' Love Actually'' (2003), ''The Merchant of Venice'' (2004) and '' Whisky Galore!'' (2016). Early life Fisher was born in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, and following the death of his mother was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm, and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School. He attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, at which he did not complete his studies. Career Fisher worked with Scottish comedian Rikki Fulton on his hit sketch series ''Scotch and Wry'' (whose broadcast was mainly restricted to BBC One Scotland). Another Scottish comedian he worked with was Hector Nicol, in the BBC drama '' Just a Boys' Game'' (1979). Later, he appeared in Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Miller
Francis John Miller (born 2 November 1949) is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter and actor. Miller wrote for and performed with many recording artists and is best known for his 1977 album ''Full House'', the singles "Be Good To Yourself", " Darlin'" and his duet with Phil Lynott on the Thin Lizzy song "Still in Love with You". Early life Miller was born on Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland in 1949. Career 1966–1972: Early career Miller began singing professionally as a teenager with a Glasgow band called The Stoics. In mid 1970, he moved to London to further his career. 1972–1974: First album and collaboration with Thin Lizzy Later in 1972, Miller signed a solo recording contract with Chrysalis Records, and recorded his first LP ''Once in a Blue Moon'', with record producer Dave Robinson. The album was an early example of pub rock, and featured backing by the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz. Miller received consistently good reviews, although his singles and albums wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just A Boys' Game
''Just a Boys' Game'' is a 1979 ''Play for Today'' written by Peter McDougall and directed by John Mackenzie. It features Frankie Miller, Gregor Fisher, Ken Hutchison, Hector Nicol, Jean Taylor Smith, Katherine Stark, Barry Malone, Michael Malone and band The Cuban Heels. The plot revolves around the life of Jake McQuillan who lives in the shadow of his dying grandfather, who used to be Greenock's hardest man. The play was filmed in and around Greenock, Drumchapel and Port Glasgow. Frankie Miller's song ''Rules of the Game'' is featured over the closing credits. Cast *Jake McQuillen - Frankie Miller *Dancer Dunnichy - Ken Hutchison *Grannie - Jean Taylor Smith *Granda - Hector Nicol *Tanza - Gregor Fisher *Jane - Katherine Stark *Bella - Jan Wilson *Mental Dan - Jim Byars *At the pub - Irene Sunters, Martin Cochrane Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (other) * Martin County (other) * Martin Township (other) Antarctica * Martin Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graeme MacDonald
Graeme Patrick David MacDonald (30 July 1930 – 30 September 1997), sometimes credited as Graeme McDonald or Graham McDonald, was a British television producer and executive. Early life MacDonald was educated at St Paul's School, London and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he initially studied geology and physics, but changed to an arts degree. While at Cambridge he was vice-president of the Footlights and president of the University Players, but left without a degree. Career MacDonald began his career in 1960 as a trainee director at Granada Television. In 1966 he joined the BBC, becoming a producer in the drama department, working particularly on anthology play series such as ''The Wednesday Play'' (for which he produced some of Dennis Potter's early work), ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'', and ''Theatre 625''. In the 1970s he became the producer of the single play strand ''Play for Today'', the successor to ''The Wednesday Play'', during which he worked on many acclaimed piece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Elephants' Graveyard
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Wily Couple
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence, and is therefore free of commercial advertising. It is a comparatively well-funded public-service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public-service networks worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched (starting on 21 April 1964), and from 1 July 1967, Europe's first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour. It was envisaged as a home for less mainstream and more ambitious programming, and while this tendency has continued to date, most special-interest programmes of a kind previously broadcast on BBC Two, for example the BBC Pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic. More than one hundred public and private radio and television organisations representing 57 countries from the five continents form and outline the community of the Prix Italia which is in continuous evolution. Unique in the world, among International festivals and prizes, is the organisational and decision-making body of the Prix. The delegates of broadcating members decide and resolve the editorial outline and elect the President. RAI is in charge and responsible of the organisation of the event, and the General Secretariat has its headquarters in Rome. Prix Italia is held in an Italian city of art and culture annually every September/October for a week, in collaboration with loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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