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The Super Secret Service
''The Super Secret Service'' is a 1953 British black and white short comedy film directed by Charles W. Green and starring Peter Sellers, Graham Stark, Dick Emery and Ray Ellington and his Quartet. It was written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens (credited as "Larry Stevens"). The film was thought lost but recovered in 2025, when it was shown on the UK TV channel Talking Pictures TV. Plot The Super Secret Service, MI-15, is hunting the mysterious foreign spy known as "Q". Cast * Peter Sellers as Sir Walter Smood / Reuben J. Crouch * Graham Stark as Carstairs * Dick Emery as Pules * Ray Ellington and his Quartet * Raymond Francis as King of Flanubria * Anne Levy as Miss Jones (credited as Anne Hayes) * Frank Hawkins as Inspector Plungegroin * Bryan Johnson as other characters * Dickie Martyn as other characters Music The Ray Ellington Quartet performs the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic" ( Bratton/Kennedy). Reception ''Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his childhood before relocating in 1931 to England, where he lived and worked for the majority of his life. Disliking his first name, he began to call himself "Spike" after hearing the band Spike Jones, Spike Jones and his City Slickers on Radio Luxembourg. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer, and a principal cast member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'', performing a range of roles including the characters Eccles (character), Eccles and Minnie Bannister. He was the earliest-born and last surviving member of The Goons (The Goon Show), the Goons. He took his success with ''The Goon Show'' into television with ''Q... (TV series), Q5'', a surreal sketch show credited as a major influence on the members of ''Monty Pytho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Walter Bratton
John Walter Bratton (January 21, 1867 – February 7, 1947) was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and theatrical producer who became popular during the era known as the Gay Nineties. Early life Raised by his grandmother, Mary Bratton, in New Castle, Delaware, near Wilmington, John Walter Bratton (sometimes spelled Bratten) was the son of John F. and Emma Bratton, of whom little is known. He was educated at the Harkness Academy in Wilmington and later attended the Philadelphia College of Music before embarking on a career as a baritone singer. Career John Bratton's career soon moved from performer to composer and producer. He began in the chorus of a show called ''Ship Ahoy'' for $18 a week and not before too long was selling songs written with his friend, lyricists Walter H. Ford, for as little as $10 a title. Over the years Bratton would collaborate on over 250 songs with Ford and Paul West.''The New York Times'' February 9, 1947 One of their earlier tunes was a tribute to vet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950s British Films
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus has the Roman Senate deify the previous emperor Commodus, in an attempt to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius. * King Vologases V and other eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The Roman province of Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus marches to Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians. * The Roman province of Syria is divided and the role of Antioch is diminished. The Romans annex the Syrian cities of Edessa and Nisibis. Severus re-establishes his headquarters and the colonies t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Black-and-white Films
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Films
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events *January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters. *February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan'', starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership with RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959. *February 25 – Jacques Tati's film '' Les Vacances de M. Hulot'' is released in France, introducing the ''gauche'' character of Monsieur Hulot. *July 1 – '' Stalag 17'', directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TPTV Encore
Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky. Later it also became available on Freeview, Freesat and Virgin Media. It is on air 24 hours a day and features mainly older British films, both classics and B-films. The schedule also includes some American films, straight-to-video programmes, cinema shorts, extended interviews with veteran actors and period home movies of British locations. In July 2018, Talking Pictures TV had an audience share of 0.50%. , it had reached an audience share of 0.63%. Foundation TPTV is a family business, founded by producer/editor Noel Cronin, and run by his daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley with her husband Neill Stanley. Films in many genres (horror, comedy, drama and thriller) are included in the schedule. In-house productions are also shown, as are items from the Cronins' own back catalogue, including Noel's Dandelion Distribution, as well as series from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kine Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to go); and, from ' Grapho ', (to write, to inscribe); in the sense of meaning of ' writing ' in light and in motion. History ''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern and Photographic Enlarger''. In 1907 it was renamed ''Kinematograph Weekly'', containing trade news, advertisements, reviews, exhibition advice, and reports of regional and national meetings of trade organisations such as the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association and the Kinema Renters' Society. It was first published by pioneering film enthusiast, industrialist and printing entrepreneur E. T. Heron. In 1914 it published its first annual publication for the film industry, the ''Kinematograph Yearbook, Program Diary and D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Kennedy
James Kennedy (20 July 1902 – 6 April 1984) was a British songwriter. He was predominantly a lyricist, putting words to existing music such as "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "My Prayer" or co-writing with composers like Michael Carr (composer), Michael Carr, Wilhelm Grosz and Nat Simon. In a career spanning more than fifty years, he wrote some 2000 songs, of which over 200 became worldwide hit single, hits and about 50 are popular music classics. Early life Kennedy was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland. His father, Joseph Hamilton Kennedy, was a policeman in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). While growing up in the village of Coagh, Kennedy wrote several songs and poems. He was inspired by local surroundings—the view of the Ballinderry River, the local Springhill House and the plentiful chestnut trees on his family's property, as evidenced in his poem "Chestnut Trees". Kennedy later moved to Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry. Kennedy graduated from Tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teddy Bears' Picnic
"The Teddy Bears' Picnic" is a song consisting of a melody written in 1907 by American composer John Walter Bratton, and lyrics added in 1932 by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. It remains popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom as a children's song, having been recorded by numerous artists over the decades. Kennedy lived at Staplegrove Elm and is buried in Staplegrove Church, in Taunton, Somerset, England. Local folklore has it that the small wooded area between the church and Staplegrove Scout Hut was the inspiration for his lyrics. Background Bratton composed and personally copyrighted it in 1907, and then assigned the copyright to M. Witmark & Sons, New York City, who published it later that year as "The Teddy Bears Picnic: Characteristic Two Step", according to the first page of the published piano score, as well as the orchestral parts Witmark published in an arrangement by Frank Saddler. However, the illustrated sheet music cover gives the title as THE TEDDY BEARS' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Stephens
Lawrence Geoffrey Stephens (16 July 1923p.14926 January 1959) was a BBC radio scriptwriter, best remembered for co-writing ''The Goon Show'' with Spike Milligan. Stephens was a regular writer of the show for the first two years, and then returned to ''The Goon Show'' to assist Milligan. From his association with Milligan, Stephens became involved with Associated London Scripts (ALS), and was said to have been "one of the most eye-catching characters, in the earliest days of the company...he played a significant cameo role in the first phase of success for ALS". Early life Stephens was born in West Bromwich and moved to Quinton, Birmingham, when he was four. He attended Quinton Infant and Junior School then Birmingham Central Grammar School. Trained as an accountant, Stephens distinguished himself as a jazz pianist before the onset of World War II. Following service in the war, during which he served as a Commando captain, he returned to England, and began writing for British co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryan Johnson (singer)
Bryan Johnson (18 July 1926 – 18 October 1995) was an English singer and actor. Biography Having been eliminated in the semi-finals of the 1957 UK heats for Eurovision, he later emulated his brother and sister-in-law, Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson, by coming second in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, with " Looking High, High, High". The single reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1960. Johnson also participated in ''A Song for Europe'', the UK qualifying heat for Eurovision in 1961. His song, "A Place in the Country" came fifth. He was also an actor who, in Donald Wolfit's company, played such roles as Feste in ''Twelfth Night'' and the Fool in ''King Lear''. In Ronald Harwood's biography of Wolfit, the actor is quoted as saying (p. 251) that he was "the best Fool I ever had". Later he played roles in musicals such as ''Lock Up Your Daughters'', and enjoyed a late success as Scrooge in a touring production of ''A Christmas Carol''. He was an actor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
