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The Starlight Express
''The Starlight Express'' is a children's play by Violet Pearn, based on the imaginative novel ''A Prisoner in Fairyland'' by Algernon Blackwood, with songs and incidental music written by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1915. Production On 9 November 1915, Sir Edward Elgar was invited by Robin Legge, music critic of ''The Daily Telegraph'', to write the music for a children's fantasy play to be produced at the Kingsway Theatre that Christmas. The play was ''The Starlight Express'', an adaptation of a novel by Algernon Blackwood called ''A Prisoner in Fairyland'', by Blackwood and Violet Pearn. The baritone and composer Clive Carey had already started his own setting, but abandoned it when Elgar was commissioned. The producer was to be Basil Dean: but since he had been called up for army service in France, he was replaced by the actress Lena Ashwell. Elgar was soon shown the script by Ashwell and had successful meetings with her and with Blackwood. The story app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than mere Reading (process), reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging from London's West End theatre, West End and New York City's Broadway theatre, Broadway – the highest echelons of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world – to Regional theater in the United States, regional theatre, community theatre, and academic productions at universities and schools. A stage play is specifically crafted for performance on stage, distinct from works meant for broadcast or cinematic adaptation. They are presented on a stage before a live audience. Some dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, have shown little preference for whether their plays are performed or read. The term "play" encompasses the written texts of playwrights and their complete theatrical renditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Harrison
Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (26 March 1885 – 5 April 1963) was an English composer and conductor who was particularly known for his interpretation of operatic works. Born in Lower Mitton, Stourport in Worcestershire, by the age of 16 he was already an established musician. His career included a directorship of opera at the Royal Academy of Music where he was a professor of composition, a position as répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conductor for the British National Opera Company, military service as an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, and founder member and vice-president of the Elgar Society. Life and career Early years Harrison was born in 1885 in Lower Mitton, Stourport in Worcestershire. He was the eldest of four sons and three daughters of Walter Henry Harrison a grocer and candle maker from the village of Powick near Malvern, and his wife, Henriette Julien ''née'' Schoeller, a German-born former governess. He was educated at a dame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chimney Sweep
A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During normal operation, a layer of creosote builds up on the inside of the chimney, restricting the flow. The creosote can also catch fire, setting the chimney (and potentially the entire building) alight. The chimney must be swept to remove the soot. In Great Britain, master sweeps took apprentices, typically workhouse or orphan boys, and trained them to climb chimneys. In the German States, master sweeps belonged to trade guilds and did not use climbing boys. In Italy, Belgium, and France, climbing boys were used. The occupation requires some dexterity, and carries health risks. History The Tudors in England had established the risk of chimneys and an ordinance w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waste Collector
A waste collector, also known as a garbage man, garbage collector, trashman (in the U.S), binman or dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of municipal solid waste (refuse) and recyclables from residential, commercial, industrial or other collection sites for further processing and waste disposal. Specialised waste collection vehicles (also known as garbage trucks in the U.S., bin lorries in the UK) featuring an array of automated functions are often deployed to assist waste collectors in reducing collection and transport time and for protection from exposure. Waste and recycling pickup work is physically demanding and usually exposes workers to an occupational hazard. The first known waste collectors were said to come from Britain in the 1350s, coinciding with the Black Plague, and were called "rakers." A related occupation is that of a sanitation worker who operates and maintains sanitation technology.World Bank, IL ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gardener
A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supplementing the family food with a small Kitchen garden, vegetable garden or orchard, to an employee in a plant nursery or the head gardener in a great house, large estate. Garden design and maintenance The garden designer is someone who will design the garden, and the gardener is the person who will undertake the work to produce the desired outcome. Design The term gardener is also used to describe garden designers and landscape architects, who are involved chiefly in the design of gardens, rather than the practical aspects of horticulture. Garden design is considered to be an art in most cultures, distinguished from gardening, which generally means ''garden maintenance''. Vita Sackville-West, Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson (gardener), W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamplighter
A lamplighter or gaslighter is a person employed to light and maintain street lights. These included candles, oil lamps, and gas lighting. Public street lighting was developed in the 16th century. During this time, lamplighters toured public streets at dusk, lighting outdoor fixtures by means of a wick on a long pole. At dawn, the lamplighter would return to put them out using a small hook on the same pole. Other duties include carrying a ladder and renewing the candles, oil, or gas mantles. In some communities, lamplighters served in a role akin to a town watchman; in others, it may have been seen as little more than a sinecure. Beginning with Frederick Albert Winsor's 1807 exhibition at the Pall Mall, gas lights steadily overtook candles and oil lamps as the dominant form of street lighting. Early gaslights required lamplighters, but by the late 19th century, systems were developed which allowed the lights to operate automatically. The advent of incandescent lighting dim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sprite (creature)
A sprite is a supernatural entity in European mythology. They are often depicted as fairy-like creatures or as an ethereal entity. Etymology The word ''sprite'' is derived from the Latin ''spiritus'' ("spirit"), via the French '' esprit''. Variations on the term include ''spright'' and the Celtic '' spriggan''. The term is chiefly used with regard to elves and fairies in European folklore, and in modern English is rarely used in reference to spirits. Belief in sprites The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves, fairies, etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as " neo-druidism" and Ásatrú. In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air (see also sylph). Water sprite A water sprite (also called a water fairy or water faery) is a general term for an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus (constellation), Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII region. Around 2330 BC it marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution. The cluster is dominated by OB star, hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Street Children
Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF's concept of boys and girls, aged under 18 years, for whom "the street" (including unoccupied dwellings and wasteland) has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised. Street girls are sometimes called gamines, a term that is also used for Colombian street children of either sex. Some street children, notably in more developed nations, are part of a subcategory called thrown-away children, consisting of children who have been forced to leave home. Thrown-away children are more likely to come from single-parent homes. Street children are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder by "clean-up squads" that have been hired by local businesses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tramp
A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''trample'') and "to go hiking". In Britain, the term was widely used to refer to vagrants in the early Victorian period. The social reporter Henry Mayhew refers to it in his writings of the 1840s and 1850s. By 1850, the word was well established. In that year, Mayhew described "the different kinds of vagrants or tramps" to be found in Britain, along with the "different trampers' houses in London or the country". He distinguished several types of tramps, ranging from young people fleeing from abusive families, through to people who made their living as wandering beggars and prostitutes. In the United States, the word became frequently used during the American Civil War, to describe the widely shared experience of undertaking long marches, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organ Grinder
A street organ ( or ) played by an organ grinder is a French automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. The two most commonly seen types are the smaller German and the larger Dutch street organ. History The first descriptions of the street organ, at that time always a barrel organ owing to its use of a pinned cylinder (barrel) to operate levers and play notes, can be found in literature as early as the late 18th century. Many were built by Italian organ builders who had settled in France and Germany, creating companies such as Frati, Gavioli, Gasparini and Fassano. These early organs had more pipes than the serinette, could play more than one tune, and were considerably larger, in sizes up to 75 cm (29 in) long and 40 cm (16 in) deep. Wooden bass pipes were placed underneath the organ, and on the front were often mounted a set of pan-flutes or piccolo pipes, with decorative finishes. In many towns in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pension (lodging)
A pension (, ; ) is a type of guest house or boarding house. This term is typically used in Continental European countries, in areas of North Africa and the Middle East that formerly had large European expatriate populations, and in some parts of South America, such as Brazil and Paraguay. Pensions can also be found in South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. In contrast to bed and breakfasts, more usual in Anglosphere nations, pensions typically offer not only breakfast, but also lunch, dinner, and sometimes even tea (meal), tea. Rather than paying for the room and each meal separately, guests select a plan that either comprises overnight accommodation, breakfast, lunch, and dinner ("full pension" / "full board"), or the preceding minus lunch ("half board / demi-pension" / "half pension"). These small businesses may offer special rates for travellers staying longer than a week, may be located in historic buildings, can be family-run, and are generally cheaper than other lodging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
