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Siân Thomas
Siân Thomas (born 20 September 1953) is a British actress from Stratford-upon-Avon, England, who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is known both for her work on stage and for her television and film appearances such as ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' in which she played Amelia Bones. Her voice is known to listeners both for her poetry readings on Radio 3 and for her audiobooks. Career Thomas played a prominent role in 1993 TV film '' Wide-Eyed and Legless'', known as ''The Wedding Gift'' outside of the UK. Based on a true story, the drama tells of the author Deric Longden's (played by Jim Broadbent) final years of marriage to his first wife Diana (Julie Walters) in the early 1980s and her fight against an illness which doctors then did not understand, later believed to be a form of chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis. The film also featured Thora Hird as Deric Longden's mother Annie. Thomas played partially-sighted Aileen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon, north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and south-west of Warwick. The town is the southernmost point of the Arden, Warwickshire, Arden area at the northern extremity of the The Cotswolds, Cotswolds. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 British census Stratford had a population of 30,495. Stratford was inhabited originally by Celtic Britons, Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before the lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a weekly Marketplace, market in the town, giving it its status as a market town. As a result, Strat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting and visual presentation. Madonna's works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A cultural icon spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna has become the subject of various scholarly, literary and artistic works, as well as a mini academic sub-discipline called Madonna studies. Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 to pursue a career in dance. After performing as a drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in the rock bands Breakfast Club and Emmy & the Emmys, she rose to solo stardom with her 1983 eponymous debut album. Madonna has earned a total of 18 multi-platinum albums, including '' Like a Virgin'' (1984), '' True Blue'' (1986), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marina Lewycka
Marina Lewycka ( ; born 12 October 1946) is a British novelist of Ukraine, Ukrainian origin. Early life Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel after World War II. Her family subsequently moved to England; she now lives in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. She attended Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough High School for Girls in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, then Henry Box School, Witney Grammar School in Witney, Oxfordshire. She graduated from Keele University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts, BA degree in English and Philosophy, and from the University of York with a Bachelor of Philosophy, BPhil in English Literature in 1969. She began, but did not complete, a PhD at King's College London. Career She was a lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University until her retirement in March 2012. Works Lewycka's debut novel ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'' won the 2005 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing at the Hay Festival, Hay literary fest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allison Pearson
Judith Allison Pearson (née Lobbett; born 22 July 1960) is a British columnist and author. Pearson has worked for British newspapers such as the ''Daily Mail'', ''The Independent'', the ''Evening Standard'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', and the ''Financial Times''. She has also worked as a presenter for Channel 4 and BBC Radio 4. Pearson's chick lit novel was published in 2002; a film adaptation with the same title, '' I Don't Know How She Does It'', was released in 2011. Pearson campaigned in favour of Brexit and in 2016 described Brussels as the jihadist capital of Europe. She has criticised the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and opposed transgender rights, describing them as a "an evil trans ideology". Early life Born in Carmarthen, Pearson moved to Burry Port, Carmarthenshire as a young child. She lived in Leicestershire, and attended Market Harborough Upper School (now Robert Smyth School). Her family moved to Washdyke Lane in Nettleham, where she attended Lincoln Christ's H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts also featuring. The station has described itself as "the world's most significant commissioner of new music". Through its BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, New Generation Artists scheme, it promotes young musicians of all nationalities. The station broadcasts the The Proms, BBC Proms concerts, live and in full, each summer in addition to performances by the BBC Orchestras and Singers. There are regular productions of both classic plays and newly commissioned drama. Radio 3 won the Sony Radio Academy UK Station of the Year Gold Award for 2009 and was nominated again in 2011. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 1.9 million with a listening share of 1.6% as of March 2024. History Radio 3 is the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicate Balance (play), A Delicate Balance'' (1966), and ''Three Tall Women'' (1994). Some critics have argued that some of his work constitutes an American variant of what Martin Esslin identified as and named the Theater of the Absurd. Three of his plays won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and two of his other works won the Tony Award for Best Play. His works are often considered frank examinations of the modern condition. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. His middle period comprised plays that explored the psychology of maturing, marriage and sexual relationships. Younger American playwr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Persians
''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilogy that won the first prize at the dramatic competitions in Athens' City Dionysia festival in 472 BC, with Pericles serving as '' choregos''. Place in Aeschylus' work The first play in the trilogy, called ''Phineus'', presumably dealt with Jason and the Argonauts' rescue of King Phineus from the torture that the monstrous harpies inflicted at the behest of Zeus. The subject of the third play, ''Glaucus'', was either a mythical Corinthian king who was devoured by his horses because he angered the goddess Aphrodite (see Glaucus (son of Sisyphus)) or else a Boeotian farmer who ate a magical herb that transformed him into a sea deity with the gift of prophecy (see Glaucus). In ''The Persians'', Xerxes invites the gods' enmity for his hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the Greek chorus, chorus.The remnant of a commemorative inscription, dated to the 3rd century BC, lists four, possibly eight, dramatic poets (probably including Choerilus, Phrynichus, and Pratinas) who had won Dionysia#Known winners of the City Dionysia, tragic victories at the Dionysia before Aeschylus had. Thespis was traditionally regarded the inventor of tragedy. According to another tradition, tragedy was established in Athens in the late 530s BC, but that may simply reflect an absence of records. Major innovations in dramatic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Theatre Wales
National Theatre Wales (NTW) was a charity and theatre company based in Wales. It was established in 2009, but following the cessation of funding in April 2024, it closed in December 2024, with its community work being carried on and evolved to become its own charitable organisation, TEAM Collective Cymru Background The National Theatre of Wales, known as National Theatre Wales (NTW), was founded in 2007 following an agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru, aimed at establishing an English-language national theatre for Wales. Over many decades, there were several attempts to establish such a theatre. Finally, a consensus emerged, bringing together the political will and muscle of both Labour and Plaid Cymru, the consistent advocacy of key individuals within Arts Council Wales (ACW), and a shared understanding among the informed public that the formation of the company was imperative and time-sensitive. This collaborative effort culminated in the inception of Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spring Awakening (musical)
''Spring Awakening'' is a Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. It is based on the 1891 German play ''Spring Awakening (play), Spring Awakening'' by Frank Wedekind. Set in late 19th-century Germany, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of adolescent sexuality. In the musical, alternative rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score. Following its conception in the late 1990s and various workshops, concerts, rewrites and its Off-Broadway debut, the original Broadway theatre, Broadway production of ''Spring Awakening'' opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 10, 2006. Its cast included Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher Jr. while its creative team comprised director Michael Mayer (director), Michael Mayer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. The original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Tonys for Best Musical, Directi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in Lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
