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Stratford Johns
Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running BBC police series ''Z-Cars''. Early life Johns was born and grew up in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. After serving as a deckhand in the South African navy during World War II, he worked for a time in accountancy, but soon became involved in amateur theatre. Career In 1948, Johns bought a one-way ticket to Britain and learned his craft working in repertory theatre at Southend-on-Sea for almost five years. He began to appear in British films from the mid-1950s, including a bit part in the classic Ealing comedy '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). He ran a small hotel in London during the 1950s, and was a member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre during the Angry Young Men period when new playwrights, including John Osborn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in Afrikaans, English and Zulu alike, and often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products, as well as the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality. The public sector is a major employer in the city due to local, district and provincial governments located here. The city has many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the current population is estimated at over 600,000 residents (including neighbouring townships) and has one of the largest popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Is Your Life (British TV Series)
''This Is Your Life'' is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same title. 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. In the show the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities have been featured on the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it has alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV. The surprise element was a very 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 "victim", Eamonn Andrews, who w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Club
Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On Christmas Eve 1928, a small baby was left on the steps of the Sheridan Square Film Theatre, owned by John H. Harris, with a note reading: Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine, named after my grandmother. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of showbusiness people and pray to God that you will look after her. Signed, a heartbroken mother. Since efforts to trace the mother failed, the members of the Variety Club named the child Catherine Variety Sheridan, after the club, and the theatre on the steps of which she was found, and undertook to fund the child's living expenses and education. Later the club decided to r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles I Of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life. He became heir apparent to the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1612 upon the death of his elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. An unsuccessful and unpopular attempt to marry him to the Spanish Habsburg princess Maria Anna culminated in an eight-month visit to Spain in 1623 that demonstrated the futility of the marriage negotiation. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France. After his 1625 succession, Charles quarrelled with the English Parliament, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. He believed in the divine right of kings, and was determined to govern acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949), in which he played nine different characters, '' The Lavender Hill Mob'' (1951), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, and '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). He collaborated six times with director David Lean: Herbert Pocket in '' Great Expectations'' (1946), Fagin in '' Oliver Twist'' (1948), Col. Nicholson in '' The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, Prince Faisal in '' Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), General Yevgraf Zhivago in '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), and Professor Godbole in '' A Passage to India'' (1984). In 1970 he played Jacob Marley's ghost in Ronald Neame's '' Scrooge''. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in George ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, first as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and then as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of the Republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Cromwell nevertheless remains a deeply controversial figure in both Britain and Ireland, due to his use of the military to first acquire, then retain political power, and the brutality of his 1649 Irish campaign. Educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Cromwell was elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628, but the first 40 years of his life were undistinguished and at one point he contemplated emigrati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Harris
Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting Life'', for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and as King Arthur in the 1967 film ''Camelot'', as well as the 1981 revival of the stage musical. He played an English aristocrat captured by the Sioux in '' A Man Called Horse'' (1970), Oliver Cromwell in '' Cromwell'' (1970), an embattled Irish farmer in Jim Sheridan's '' The Field'' (which earned him a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor), English Bob in Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western '' Unforgiven'' (1992), Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in ''Gladiator'' (2000), ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (2002) as Abbé Faria, and Albus Dumbledore in the first two ''Harry Potter'' films: ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (2001) and '' Harry Pot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromwell (film)
''Cromwell'' is a 1970 British historical drama film written and directed by Ken Hughes. It is based on the life of Oliver Cromwell, who rose to lead the Parliamentary forces during the later parts of the English Civil War and, as Lord Protector, ruled Great Britain and Ireland in the 1650s. It features an ensemble cast, led by Richard Harris as Cromwell and Alec Guinness as King Charles I, with Robert Morley as Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester and Timothy Dalton as Prince Rupert of the Rhine. The film received two Oscar nominations during the 43rd Academy Awards held in 1971, winning one for Best Costume Design by Vittorio Nino Novarese, but losing another for Best Original Score, composed by Frank Cordell which echoed Walton (battle scenes) and Copland (everything else). It was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. At the 7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971 it won the award for Best Actor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bradshaw (judge)
John Bradshaw (12 July 1602–31 October 1659) was an English jurist. He is most notable for his role as President of the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I and as the first Lord President of the Council of State of the English Commonwealth. Early life John Bradshaw, the second son of Henry Bradshaw and Catherine Winnington, was born on 1602 probably at Wybersley (Wyberslegh) Hall in the village of High Lane near Stockport, Cheshire, or possibly at the nearby Peace Farm, Marple (his father farmed at both) and baptised on 10 December in Stockport Church. As a child he attended the free school at Stockport, as well as schools in Bunbury and Middleton."Bradshaw, John". ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. VIII, 1921. During his teenage years he also attended The King's School, Macclesfield. According to local tradition he wrote the following inscription on a gravestone at either Macclesfield or Bunbury: :"My brother Henry must heir the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Verdict
''Second Verdict'' is a six-part BBC television series from 1976. It combines the genres of police procedural and docudrama, with dramatised documentaries in which classic criminal cases and unsolved crimes from history were re-appraised by fictional police officers. In ''Second Verdict'', Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor reprised for a final time their double-act as Detective Chief Superintendents Barlow and Watt, hugely popular with TV audiences from the long-running series ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'' and '' Barlow at Large''. ''Second Verdict'' built on the formula of their 1973 series ''Jack the Ripper'' in which dramatised documentary was drawn together with a discussion between the two police officers which formed the narrative. ''Second Verdict'' also allowed for some location filming and, when the case being re-appraised was within living memory, interviews with real witnesses. The episodes were: * "The Lindbergh Kidnapping" (27 May 1976) * "Who Killed the Princes in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack The Ripper (1973 TV Series)
''Jack the Ripper'' is a six-part BBC police procedural made in 1973, in which the case of the Jack the Ripper murders is reopened and analysed by Detective Chief Superintendents Barlow and Watt (Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, respectively). These characters were hugely popular with UK TV viewers at the time from their appearances on the long-running police series ''Z-Cars'' and its sequels '' Softly, Softly'' and ''Barlow at Large''. The programme was presented partly as a discussion between the two principals in the present day, interspersed with dramatised-documentary scenes set in the 19th century. The series discusses suspects and conspiracies, but concludes there is insufficient evidence to determine who was Jack the Ripper. The experiment was seen to be a success, and the formula was repeated in 1976 with ''Second Verdict'', in which Barlow and Watt cast their gaze over miscarriages of justice and unsolved mysteries from the past. Cast * Stratford Johns as DCS Charlie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barlow (television Series)
''Barlow at Large'', later ''Barlow'', is a British police procedural television programme broadcast in the 1970s, starring Stratford Johns in the title role. Johns had previously played Barlow in the ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'' and '' Softly, Softly: Taskforce'' series on BBC television during the 1960s and early 1970s. ''Barlow at Large'' began as a three-part self-contained spin-off from ''Softly, Softly: Taskforce'' in 1971 with Barlow co-opted by the Home Office to investigate police corruption in Wales. Johns left ''Softly, Softly'' for good in 1972, but returned for a further series of ''Barlow at Large'' in the following year, Barlow having gone on full-time secondment to the Home Office. This second series, rather than telling one story in serial form, as the 1971 series had, was instead ten 50-minute episodes, each with a self-contained story (this would be the format of all subsequent series). In this series, Barlow was supported by Norman Comer as Detective Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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