|
The Two Ronnies
''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from 10 April 1971 to 25 December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, serial stories, and musical finales. Their Four Candles sketch, first broadcast on 18 September 1976, was voted their funniest sketch in a television poll. In 2006, the British public ranked the duo number 6 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars. Origins Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett met in 1963 at the Buckstone Club in the Haymarket, London, where Corbett was serving drinks between acting jobs. At the time, Barker was beginning to establish himself as a character actor in the West End and on radio. They were invited by David Frost to appear in his new show, '' The Frost Report'', with John Cleese, but the pair's big break came when they filled in, unprepared and unscripted, for eleven minutes during a technical hitch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Cotton
Sir William Frederick Cotton (23 April 1928 – 11 August 2008) was a British television producer and executive, and the son of dance band leader Billy Cotton. The television and radio presenter Fearne Cotton is related to him, as he was her paternal grandfather's cousin. Early life Following a secondary education at the independent school Ardingly College, he joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a transport officer. He joined BBC Television as an in-house producer of light entertainment programmes in 1956, working on various programmes such as his father's '' Billy Cotton Band Show'' and popular music programme ''Six-Five Special''. Professional career In 1970, Cotton was promoted to head of light entertainment, following the death of Tom Sloan in May. In this position, Cotton was responsible for overseeing the production of a whole series of popular variety and light entertainment shows, including '' Jim'll Fix It'' (1975–1994) '' The Morecambe and Wise Show'' (1968� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on ''The Frost Report''. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus.'' Along with his Python costars Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975), ''Monty Python's Life of Brian, Life of Brian'' (1979), and ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, The Meaning of Life'' (1983). In the mid-1970s, Cleese and first wife Connie Booth cowrote the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'', in which he starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan (23 December 1946 – 22 April 2011) was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms, including ''Only Fools and Horses'', '' Citizen Smith'' and '' Just Good Friends''. From working-class South London, Sullivan worked in a variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing sketches for '' The Two Ronnies'', which led to writing the sitcom ''Citizen Smith'' (1977–1980). He became best known for his next sitcom, ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981–2003). His other sitcoms include '' Dear John'', '' Sitting Pretty'', '' Roger Roger'', and '' The Green Green Grass''. In addition, he wrote the comedy drama serial ''Over Here'' and the drama series '' Micawber'' for ITV, and co-wrote the comedy '' Heartburn Hotel''. Sullivan's work won him a number of comedy awards, including the BAFTA for best sitcom on three occasions, and he was made an OBE in 2005. His last work was '' Rock & Chips'', a come ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Tony Awards. Idle reached stardom in the 1970s when he co-created and acted in the Python sketch comedy series '' Flying Circus'' (1969–1974) and the films '' Holy Grail'' (1975), '' Life of Brian'', (1979) and '' The Meaning of Life'' (1983) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle composed and performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including " Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". After ''Flying Circus'' ended, Idle created another sketch show '' Rutland Weekend Television'' (1975–1976), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Renwick
David Peter Renwick (; born 4 September 1951) is an English author, television writer, actor, director and executive producer. He created the sitcom ''One Foot in the Grave'' and the mystery series ''Jonathan Creek''. He was awarded the Writers Guild Ronnie Barker Award at the 2008 British Comedy Awards. Early life The son and only child of James George Renwick and Winifred May Smith, who were married in 1948, David Renwick was born and brought up in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. He was educated through to sixth form level at Luton Grammar School, a former state grammar school. The school became known as Luton Sixth Form College while he was still a pupil. He studied journalism at Harlow Technical College. Career 1970s Before becoming a comedy writer Renwick worked as a journalist, reporter and sub-editor on his home town newspaper, the '' Luton News''. On beginning his comedy writing career in the mid-1970s he initially submitted material for BBC radio comedies including ''We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Nobbs
David Gordon Nobbs (13 March 1935 – 8 August 2015"Corrections and clarifications" ''The Guardian'', 11 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.) was an English comedy writer, best known for writing the 1970s television series '''', adapted from his own novels. Life and career Nobbs was born in , ...[...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] |
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Ronnie Corbett, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie Howerd, Richard Pryor, Spike Milligan, Mike Yarwood, ''The Two Ronnies'' and Morecambe and Wise. Early life Barry Charles Cryer was born on 23 March 1935 in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to John Cryer, an accountant, who died when Barry was five, and his wife, Jean. After an education at Leeds Grammar School, he began studying English literature at the University of Leeds. He later described himself as a university dropout: "I was supposed to be studying English Literature at Leeds, but I was in the bar and chasing girls and my first-year results showed it. So I'm 'BA E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Alan
Raymond Alan Whyberd (18 September 1930 – 24 May 2010) was an English ventriloquist, television entertainer, and writer. His career spanned over half a century, though he was most popular from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated primarily with the dummies Lord Charles and Ali Kat and later with the puppets Tich and Quackers. Early life Born Raymond Alan Whyberd in Greenwich, London, Alan was educated at Morden Terrace School, Lewisham.''Who's Who on Television'' (1982), ITV Books, Michael Joseph, p.6, He was introduced to the world of entertainment at a young age, entering a talent contest at the age of five at his local Gaumont-British, Gaumont cinema. Entertainment career Aged 13, Alan became a call boy (theatre), call-boy at the Hippodrome Theatre in Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally a Thames-to-LWT-style handover would appear). Like most ITV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Fox (television Executive)
Sir Paul Leonard Fox (27 October 1925 – 8 April 2024) was a British television executive, who spent much of his broadcasting career working for BBC Television, most prominently as the Controller of BBC1 between 1967 and 1973. Early life Paul Leonard Fox was born on 27 October 1925, in Germany to Jewish parents. After the early death of his father, he came to the UK on a kindertransport in 1938. He was educated in Bournemouth and served in the Parachute Regiment from 1943 to 1946. Fox married, in 1948, Betty Nathan, who died in 2009. They had two sons one of whom, Jeremy, produced gameshows from his company Action Time. He was also the creator of The Krypton Factor. BBC career Fox began his career at the Corporation in the 1950s, writing scripts for the '' Television Newsreel'' programme before going on to create and edit the popular sports programme '' Sportsview''. While editing ''Sportsview'' in 1954 he hit upon the idea of creating the annual BBC Sports Personality of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel 5 (British TV Channel)
5 (formerly known as Channel 5 and Five) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK and Australia division. It was launched in 30 March 1997 to provide a fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom. Channel 5 was renamed Five, from 16 September 2002 until 13 February 2011. Most of this was under the RTL Group's ownership with Richard Desmond purchasing the channel on 23 July 2010 and reverting the name change.'Mini-revamp planned for Channel 5 News' ATV Network, 30 October 2010 On 1 May 2014, the channel was acquired by Viacom (2005–2019), Viacom (now Paramount Global ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
