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Richard Wattis
Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the elder of two sons born to Cameron Tom Wattis and Margaret Janet, née Preston. He attended King Edward's School and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the electrical engineering firm William Sanders & Co (Wednesbury) Ltd. His uncle, William Preston (1874–1941), was the managing director and was the Conservative MP for Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ... from 1924 to 1929. Career After leaving the family business, Wattis became an actor. His debut was with Croydon Repertory Theatre, and he mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wednesbury
Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and is part of the Black Country. Wednesbury is situated 5 miles (8km) south-east of Wolverhampton, 3 miles (4.4km) south-west of Walsall and 7 miles (11.8km) north-west of Birmingham. At the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town's built-up area had a population of 20,313. History Medieval and earlier The substantial remains of a large ditch excavated in St Mary's Road in 2008, following the contours of the hill and predating the Early Medieval period, has been interpreted as part of a hilltop enclosure and possibly the Iron Age hillfort long suspected on the site. The first authenticated spelling of the name was Wodensbyri, written in an endorsement on the back of the copy of the will of Wulfric Spot, dated 1004. Wednesbury (" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley (UK Parliament constituency), Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton College, Eton, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich University, Munich and University of Geneva, Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing. While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom), Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Colditz Story
''The Colditz Story'' is a 1955 British prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the 1952 memoir written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, in Germany during the Second World War and who was the Escape Officer for British POWs within the castle. Plot During World War II, the Germans transform Colditz Castle into a high-security prisoner-of-war camp called Oflag IV-C. Its purpose is to restrain those Allied prisoners who have attempted to escape from other Oflags. Colditz houses first Polish, then British, Dutch and French prisoners. Among the British are Pat Reid and Senior British Officer Colonel Richmond. Richmond is warned by the Kommandant that "escaping is ''verboten''" but Richmond has no intention of heeding this advice. All the prisoners are wary of Priem, the chief security officer, who is efficient and tenacious. Reid and other British officers attempt to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carry On Spying
''Carry On Spying'' is a 1964 British spy comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas. It is the ninth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It marks Barbara Windsor's first appearance in the series. Series regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, and Jim Dale are present. Bernard Cribbins makes the second of his three ''Carry On'' appearances (although it would be 28 years before he returned in '' Carry On Columbus''). Eric Barker appears for his third entry (his final appearance would be in '' Carry On Emmannuelle'' 14 years later). Dilys Laye returns after her series debut in '' Carry On Cruising''. This is the last film of the series to be shot in black and white. The following film was '' Carry On Cleo'' later in 1964. Plot A top-secret chemical formula has been stolen by STENCH (the Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans). Hoping against hope to retrieve the formula from enemy hands, the chief of the Secret Service reluctantly sends ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, Benny Hill, James Robertson Justice, Robert Helpmann, Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall (actor), Adrian Hall. The film is based on the 1964 children's novel ''Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car'' by Ian Fleming, with a screenplay co-written by Hughes and Roald Dahl. Irwin Kostal supervised and conducted the music for the film based on songs written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard M. Sherman, Richard and Robert B. Sherman, Robert, and the musical numbers were Choreography, staged by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood. The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (song), film's title song was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song at the 41st Academy Awards. Plot In the 1910s in rural England, two young children, Jemima and Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness
''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness'' is a 1958 20th Century Fox film loosely based on the story of Gladys Aylward, a British woman who became a missionary in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Mark Robson, who received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director, the film stars Ingrid Bergman as Aylward and Curt Jürgens as her love interest, Captain Lin Nan, a Chinese Army officer with a Dutch father. Robert Donat, who played the mandarin of the town in which Aylward lived, died before the film was released. The musical score was composed and conducted by Malcolm Arnold. The cinematography was by Freddie Young. The film was shot in Snowdonia, North Wales. Most of the children in the film were ethnic Chinese children from Liverpool, home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe. Plot The story begins with Aylward ( Ingrid Bergman) being rejected as a potential missionary to China because of her lack of education. Dr. Robinson ( Moultrie Ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hobson's Choice (1954 Film)
''Hobson's Choice'' is a 1954 British romantic comedy film directed by David Lean. It is based on the 1916 play of the same name by Harold Brighouse. It stars Charles Laughton in the role of Victorian bootmaker Henry Hobson, John Mills as timid but highly talented employee Will Mossop, and Brenda de Banzie as Hobson's eldest, fiercely determined daughter. The film also features Prunella Scales in one of her first cinematic roles. ''Hobson's Choice'' won the British Academy Film Award for Best British Film 1954. Plot Henry Horatio Hobson is the autocratic proprietor of a moderately upmarket boot shop (boots, shoes and clogs) in 1880 Salford. A widower, Hobson is a notorious miser with three grown daughters: Maggie and her younger and less-dedicated sisters, Alice and Vicky. All three have kept house and worked in their father's shop for years without wages, and Alice and Vicky are eager to marry, and their intentions infect Maggie. Alice has been seeing Albert Prosser, a you ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Games That Lovers Play (film)
''Games That Lovers Play'' (U.S. titles: ''Lady Chatterley Versus Fanny Hill'' and ''Lady Chatterley vs Fanny Hill'') is a 1971 British softcore comedy film written and directed by Malcolm Leigh and starring Joanna Lumley, Penny Brahms and Richard Wattis. The US title and the names of the female lead characters reference the 1748 erotic novel ''Fanny Hill'' and D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'', which had been the subject of a celebrated obscenity trial in 1960. The film's plot is unrelated to either novel. Plot In 1920s London Lady Evelyn Chatterley and Mrs. Hill are brothel-keepers in competition to win a £1000 prize for keeping the best brothel. Their top girls, respectively Constance and Fanny, compete to seduce the unseductable, while Lady Evelyn and Mrs. Hill observe proceedings from behind a one-way mirror. Cast * Joanna Lumley as Fanny Hill * Penny Brahms as Constance Chatterley * Richard Wattis as Lothran * Jeremy Lloyd as Jonathan Chatter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Prince And The Showgirl
''The Prince and the Showgirl'' (originally titled '' The Sleeping Prince'') is a 1957 British romantic comedy film starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, who also served as director and producer. The screenplay written by Terence Rattigan was based on his 1953 stage play '' The Sleeping Prince''. ''The Prince and the Showgirl'' was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Plot In London in 1911, George V will be crowned king on 22 June and in the preceding days, many important dignitaries arrive, including the 16-year-old King Nicholas VIII of the (fictional) Balkan country of Carpathia, with his father the stiff and pompous widower Prince Regent Charles, and his maternal grandmother the widowed Queen Dowager of Carpathia (inspired by King Michael I of Romania, King Carol II of Romania and Queen Marie of Romania). The British Government had decided that keeping Carpathia in the Triple Entente is critical amid the rising tensions in Europe. They wish to pamper t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of Education (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Education (1944–1964) was a central government department governed by the Minister of Education, with responsibility in England and Wales for: # Promoting the education of people; # Developing educational institutions; # Developing policy to provide a comprehensive educational service; # Securing the effective execution of the education policy by local education authorities The Ministry of Education was created by the Education Act 1944. Scottish education was subject to the Education (Scotland) Act 1945 ( 8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 37) whereby the Scottish Office, under the Secretary of State for Scotland, undertook similar responsibilities to the Ministry of Education but for Scotland. Northern Irish education was subject to the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1947, passed by the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont, which provided powers to the Minister of Education to: * appoint members of the Northern Ireland Advisory Council for Education * appoint addi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
''The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery'' is a British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, written by Sidney and Leslie Gilliat, and released on 4 April 1966. It is the last of the original series of films based on the ''St Trinian's School'' set of images and comics, and the only one to be produced in colour. The film stars a selection of actors from previous films in the series, including George Cole, Richard Wattis, Eric Barker, Michael Ripper, and Raymond Huntley, alongside Frankie Howerd, Reg Varney, Dora Bryan, and the voice of Stratford Johns. The film's story focuses on St Trinian's becoming caught up in a train robbery, after the gang who conducted it attempts to reclaim their loot from the building that the students and teachers now inhabit. The story itself is based on the actual Great Train Robbery that took place in 1963, and includes numerous parodies of the technocratic ideas of the Harold Wilson government and its support of the compr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Murder At St Trinian's
''Blue Murder at St Trinian's'' is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder, co-written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Lionel Jeffries and Richard Wattis; the film also includes a brief cameo of Alastair Sim, reprising his lead role in the 1954 film, '' The Belles of St. Trinian's''. Inspired by the '' St Trinian's School'' comic strips by British cartoonist Ronald Searle, the film is the second entry in the ''St. Trinian's'' film series, with its plot seeing the students of the fictional school making plans to secure a place on a European tour, all while subsequently aiding a criminal who is secretly seeking to escape the country with stolen jewels. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise given to the evolution of the comedy following the first film. It was later succeeded by a sequel, '' The Pure Hell of St Trinian's'', in 1960. Plot At St. Trinian's, the students run wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
