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Stanley Unwin (comedian)
Stanley Unwin (7 June 1911 – 12 January 2002), sometimes known as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a British comic actor and writer. He invented his own comic language, "Unwinese", referred to in the film ''Carry On Regardless'' (1961) as " gobbledygook". Unwinese was a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful and humorous ways, as in its description of Elvis Presley and his contemporaries as being "wasp-waist and swivel-hippy". Unwin claimed that the inspiration came from his mother, who once told him that on the way home she had "falolloped (fallen) over" and "grazed her kneeclabbers". Early life Unwin's parents, Ivan Oswald Unwin (1880–1914) and his wife Jessie Elizabeth ( Brand; 1883–1968) emigrated from England to the Union of South Africa in the early 1900s. Their son was born in Pretoria in 1911. Following his father's death in 1914, due to the family's poverty Unwin's mother arranged for the family to return to England. She worked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regent Street Polytechnic
The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839, and became the University of Westminster in post-1992 universities, 1992. Westminster has its main campus in Regent Street in central London, with additional campuses in Fitzrovia, Marylebone and Harrow, London, Harrow. It also operates the Westminster International University in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The university is organised into three colleges and 12 schools, within which there are around 65 departments and centres, including the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) and the Centre for the Study of Democracy. It also has its Policy Studies Institute, Westminster Business School, Business School and Westminster Law School, Law School. The annual income of the in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains. It has a reputation as an academic city and centre of research, being home to the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), the University of Pretoria (UP), the University of South Africa (UNISA), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Human Sciences Research Council. It also hosts the National Research Foundation (South Africa), National Research Foundation and the South African Bureau of Standards. Pretoria was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Pretoria is the central part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality which was formed by the amalgamation of several former local authorities, including B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shropshire to the south; to the west it is bordered by the Welsh counties of Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham, and has a short coastline on the Dee Estuary. The largest settlement is Warrington. The county has an area of and had a population of 1,095,500 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. The areas around the River Mersey in the north of the county are the most densely populated, with Warrington, Runcorn, Widnes, and Ellesmere Port located on the river. The city of Chester lies in the west of the county, Crewe in the south, and Macclesfield in the east. For Local government in England, local government purposes Cheshire comprises four Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Cheshire East, Cheshire We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor (6 June 1918 – 28 November 1993) was a British stage, film and broadcasting actor, who rose to national prominence with his appearances in the ''Carry On'' films. Early life Connor was born in Highbury, Islington, London, the son of a naval petty officer who organised concert parties. He first appeared on the stage at the age of two as an organ-grinder's monkey in one of his father's shows, in Portsmouth. By the age of 11 he had his own act. He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he was a Gold Medal winner. Connor made his professional debut in J. M. Barrie's ''The Boy David'', at His Majesty's Theatre, London, in December 1936. His brother was a Doctor in General Practice in Hampshire. During the Second World War he served as an infantry gunner with the Middlesex Regiment, but continued acting by touring Italy and the Middle East with the Stars in Battledress concert party and ENSA. Earlier in the war, in 1941, he was apparently per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television and film actress. Whitfield's big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. Television roles soon followed, including appearances with Tony Hancock throughout his television career. In 1966, Whitfield played the leading role in the television sitcom '' Beggar My Neighbour'', which ran for three series. She also appeared in four ''Carry On'' films: '' Carry On Nurse'' (1959), '' Carry On Abroad'' (1972), ''Carry On Girls'' (1973) and '' Carry On Columbus'' (1992). In 1968, Whitfield and Terry Scott began a long television partnership, which peaked with roles as husband and wife in '' Happy Ever After'' (1974–1979) and '' Terry and June'' (1979–1987). From 1992 to 2016, Whitfield played Edina Monsoon's mother in Jennifer Saunders' '' Absolutely Fabulous''. She played a regular character in ''Last of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Ray (comedian)
Ted Ray (born Charles Olden; 21 November 1905 – 8 November 1977) was an English comedian of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, on radio and television. His BBC radio show ''Ray's a Laugh'' ran for 12 years. Biography Ray was born Charles Olden in Wigan, Lancashire, England, to comic singer and mimic Charles Olden (who used the stage-name Charlie Alden) and his wife Margaret Ellen (née Kenyon). His parents moved to Liverpool within days of his birth, and Liverpudlians regard him as a local. He was educated at Anfield council school and Liverpool Collegiate School, and as a youth wished to become a footballer. As a comedian of the 1940s and 1950s, he demonstrated his ad-libbing skills in his weekly radio show ''Ray's A Laugh'' from 1949 until 1961. A music hall comedian, Ray usually played violin badly as part of his act, first as Hugh Neek, then "Nedlo the Gypsy Violinist". He also played comedy roles in several British films—notably as the headmaster in '' Carry On Teacher''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of a soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Death Index: 1916–2005 and Edith Florence Howard (née Morrison, 1888–1962), at the City Hospital in York, England, in 1917 (not 1922 as he later claimed). His mother worked at the Rowntree's factory. The family lived in Hartoft Street, which he later described as ''"a poorish area of the city near the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse"''. He retained an affection for his home city, to which he often returned. When his father was posted to Woolwich Garrison, Woolwich, the family moved to Eltham, London while he was a young child, and he was educated at Shooters Hill Sixth Form College, Shooter's Hill Grammar School in Shooter's Hill.Howerd, Frankie (1976) ''On the Way I Lost It'', W.H. Allen, Career His first stage appearance was at ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northern coast of Egypt, the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to Egypt–Israel barrier, the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to Egypt–Sudan border, the south, and Libya to Egypt–Libya border, the west; the Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital, list of cities and towns in Egypt, largest city, and leading cultural center, while Alexandria is the second-largest city and an important hub of industry and tourism. With over 109 million inhabitants, Egypt is the List of African countries by population, third-most populous country in Africa and List of countries and dependencies by population, 15th-most populated in the world. Egypt has one of the longest histories o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell (''née'' Phipps; 10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979) was an English diseuse, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in revues and later in her solo shows. She never appeared as a stage actress, but had roles, mostly comic, in many films, including Miss Gossage in '' The Happiest Days of Your Life'' (1950) and Police Sergeant Ruby Gates in the St Trinian's series (from 1954). She was a well-known broadcaster on radio and television. As a writer, she was the first radio critic for '' The Observer'', contributed to '' Punch'' and published two volumes of memoirs. Born to an affluent Anglo-American family, Grenfell had abandoned early hopes of becoming an actress when she was invited to perform a comic monologue in a West End revue in 1939. Its success led to a career as an entertainer, giving her creations in theatres in five continents between 1940 and 1969. Life and career Early years B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantis
Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world, making it the literary counter-image of the Achaemenid Empire. After an ill-fated attempt to conquer "Ancient Athens," Atlantis falls out of favor with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Since Plato describes Athens as resembling his ideal state in the ''Republic'', the Atlantis story is meant to bear witness to the superiority of his concept of a state. Despite its minor importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's ''New Atlantis'' and Thomas More's ''Utopia''. On the other hand, nineteenth-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Plato's narrative as histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Dixon
Patrick "Pat" Kenneth Macneile Dixon (15 June 1904 – 8 October 1958) was an English radio producer for BBC Radio. Biography Dixon was born on 15 June 1904; his parents were Professor William Macneile Dixon (1891–1946) and Edith (née Wales, ?–1945). He was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford. Dixon worked for a time as a journalist with the The Herald (Glasgow), ''Glasgow Herald'', and then in the publicity section of Gaumont British before moving to the advertising agency Mather & Crowther. He joined the BBC in October 1940 as a producer and, in the summer of 1948, produced ''Listen, My Children'', a series which included Harry Secombe and Benny Hill in the cast. At the end of 1948 he produced the radio series ''Third Division'', which was broadcast in early 1949; the shows were written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden and the cast included Secombe, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers. Bentine noted that Dixon was "scholarly and intelligently hum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
