Ray Cooney
Raymond George Alfred Cooney Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, ''Run for Your Wife (play), Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End theatre, West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there. Career Cooney began to act in 1946, appearing in many of the Whitehall farces of Brian Rix throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play, ''One For The Pot''. With Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film ''What a Carve Up! (film), What a Carve Up!'' (1961), which features Sid James and Kenneth Connor. In 1968 and 1969, Cooney adapted Richard Gordon (English author), Richard Gordon's ''Doctor'' novels for BBC radio, as series starring Richard Briers. He also took parts in them. Cooney has also appeared on TV, (including an uncredited appearance in the ''Dial 999 (TV serie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Artistic Director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization. The artistic director of a theatre company is the individual with the overarching artistic control of the theatre's production choices, directorial choices, and overall artistic vision. In smaller theatres, the artistic director may be the founder of the theatre and the primary director of its plays. In larger non-profit theatres (often known in Canada and the United States as regional theatres), the artistic director may be appointed by the board of directors. Overview The artistic director of a performing dance company is similar to the musical director of an orchestra, the primary person responsible for planning a company's season. The artistic director's responsibili ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2005 New Year Honours
New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and Brian Harrison, editor of the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. The former athlete Kelly Holmes was made a Dame. The television presenter Alan Whicker was awarded a CBE. United Kingdom Knights Bachelor * Clive John Bourne, J.P. For services to Charity and to Education. * Professor Robert Rees Davies, C.B.E., lately Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford. For services to History. * Robert Gerard Finch, lately Lord Mayor of London. For services to the City of London. * Professor Andrew Paul Haines, dean of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For services to Medicine. * Professor Brian Howard Harrison, lately editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. * Alan Jeffre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as '' chef de cuisine''; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners. The hotel became Carte's most successful venture. Its bands, Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, became famous, and other entertainers (who were also ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ Authority), which oversaw the introduction of a state television service in Ireland. He is perhaps best remembered as the UK host of '' This Is Your Life'' from its inception in 1955 until his death in 1987. Early life Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, son of carpenter William Andrews and Margaret, née Farrell. He was educated at Synge Street CBS. He began his career as a clerk in an insurance office. He was a keen amateur boxer and won the Irish junior middleweight title in 1944. Broadcasting career By 1944, he was the Hon. Secretary of St. Andrew's Boxing Club. In 1946, he became a full-time freelance sports commentator, working for Radio Éireann, Ireland's state broadcaster. In 1950, he began presenting programmes for the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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This Is Your Life (British TV Series)
''This Is Your Life'' is a British biographical television series, based on the 1952 American series. In the show, the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life in a studio, with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities were featured on the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It briefly returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by Trevor McDonald. The surprise element was an important part of the show; if the guest heard about the project beforehand, it would be cancelled. History The British version of the show was launched in 1955 on the BBC and was first presented by Ralph Edwards to the first subject, Eamonn Andrews, who was the presenter from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Théâtre De La Michodière
The Théâtre de la Michodière () is a theatre building and performing arts venue, located at 4 bis, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Built by in 1925 in Art Deco style, it has a tradition of showing boulevard theatre. History On the site of the Hotel de Lorge, sold in lots, the rue de la Michodiere opened in 1778. Around the place where the Gaillon gate stood at the enclosure of Louis XIII, in 1925, the architect built a theatre in the Art Deco style. Decorated by Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, the red and gold auditorium could accommodate 800 spectators, but in the 21st century, it has only 700 seats left. Unlike the West End, where the activities of "bricks and mortar" and producers tend to be separate, Parisian commercial theatres are producing houses. Management decides on the artistic policy, and shows are financed by the theatre, albeit sometimes in co-production with a touring management that hopes to profit from a Parisian success to take a show out on tour. Ina ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Georges Feydeau
Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parents and raised in an artistic and literary environment. From an early age he was fascinated by the theatre, and as a child he wrote plays and organised his schoolfellows into a drama group. In his teens he wrote comic monologues and moved on to writing longer plays. His first full-length comedy, ' (), was well received, but was followed by a string of comparative failures. He gave up writing for a time in the early 1890s and studied the methods of earlier masters of French comedy, particularly Eugène Labiche, Alfred Hennequin and Henri Meilhac. With his technique honed, and sometimes in collaboration with a co-author, he wrote seventeen full-length plays between 1892 and 1914, many of which have become staples of the theatrical repertoire in France and abroa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and List of islands of France, many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it Exclusive economic zone of France, one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its Regions of France, eighteen integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of and hav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of Films Considered The Worst
The films listed below have been cited by a variety of notable critics in varying media sources as being among the worst films ever made. Examples of such sources include Metacritic, Roger Ebert's list of most-hated films, '' The Golden Turkey Awards'', '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', Rotten Tomatoes, pop culture writer Nathan Rabin's '' My World of Flops'', the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the cult TV series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (alongside spinoffs '' Cinematic Titanic'', '' The Film Crew'' and '' RiffTrax''), and the Golden Raspberry Awards (aka the "Razzies"). Films on these lists are generally feature-length films that are commercial/artistic in nature (intended to turn a profit, express personal statements or both), professionally or independently produced (as opposed to amateur productions, such as home movies), and released in theaters, then on home video. 1930s ''Maniac'' (1934) ''Maniac'', also known as ''Sex Maniac'', is a pre-Code exploi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Run For Your Wife (2012 Film)
''Run for Your Wife'' is a 2012 British comedy film written by Ray Cooney, who co-directed it with John Luton. It is based on Cooney's 1983 Run for Your Wife (play), play of the same name. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2012 before receiving a theatrical release in the UK on 14 February 2013. It received universally negative reviews and has often been referred to as List of films considered the worst#Run for Your Wife (2012), one of the worst films of all time, grossing just £602 at the box office on a £900,000 budget. Synopsis London cab driver John Smith is a bigamist who, soon after getting married, met and later married another woman. He spends his time juggling his two lives, keeping a schedule in his pocket to ensure that his wife Michelle in Stockwell never knows about his wife Stephanie in Finsbury. One day, John intervenes to help a woman who is being mugged, and is hit in the head in the process. Arriving at the hospital with a concussion ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Loot (play)
''Loot'' is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force. ''Loot'' was Orton's third major production, following '' Entertaining Mr Sloane'' and the television play '' The Good and Faithful Servant''. Playing with the conventions of popular farce, Orton creates a hectic world and examines English attitudes and perceptions in the mid-twentieth century. The play won several awards in its London run and has had many revivals. Plot outline ''Loot'' follows the fortunes of two young thieves, Hal and Dennis. Together they rob the bank next to the funeral parlour where Dennis works and return to Hal's home to hide the money. Hal's mother has just died and the money is hidden in her coffin while her body keeps on appearing around the house. Upon the arrival of Inspector Truscott, the plot becomes bizarre as Hal and Dennis try to keep him off their tr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |