![Sidmouth (pronounced /ˈsɪdməθ/) is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, 15 miles (24 km) south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65.[1]. The town is a tourist resort and a gateway town on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has been designated as a Conservation area.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110503123535im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/f8/3c/36a3b60f56a054d0f9995d8e8d8a_grande.jpg "Sidmouth (pronounced /ˈsɪdməθ/) is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, 15 miles (24 km) south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65.[1]. The town is a tourist resort and a gateway town on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has been designated as a Conservation area.")
| Name | Daily Mail |
|---|---|
| Caption | Daily Mail front page 7 July 2010. |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Tabloid |
| Foundation | 4 May 1896 |
| Owners | Daily Mail and General Trust |
| Political | Pro-Conservative |
| Publisher | Associated Newspapers Ltd |
| Editor | Paul Dacre |
| Circulation | 2,100,855 |
| Language | English |
| Website | www.dailymail.co.uk |
Circulation figures according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in November 2010 show gross sales of 2,100,855 in November 2010 for the Daily Mail. The main concern of Viscount Rothermere, the current chairman and main shareholder, is that the circulation be maintained. He testified before a House of Lords select committee that "we need to allow editors the freedom to edit", and therefore the newspaper had no firm political allegiance or policy. The Mail has been edited by Paul Dacre since 1992.
With Harold running the business side of the operation and Alfred as Editor, the Mail from the start adopted a imperialist political stance, taking a patriotic line in the Second Boer War, leading to claims that it was not reporting the issues of the day objectively. From the beginning, the Mail also set out to entertain its readers with human interest stories, serials, features and competitions (which were also the main means by which the Harmsworths promoted the paper).
In 1900 the Daily Mail began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so (in 1899 the Mail had organised special trains to bring the London-printed papers north). The same production method was adopted in 1909 by the Daily Sketch, in 1927 by the Daily Express and eventually by virtually all the other national newspapers. Printing of the Scottish Daily Mail was switched from Edinburgh to the Deansgate plant in Manchester in 1968 and for a while The People was also printed on the Mail presses in Deansgate. In 1987 printing at Deansgate ended and the Mail's northern editions were thereafter printed at other Associated Newspapers plants.
In 1906 the paper offered £1,000 for the first flight across the English Channel and £10,000 for the first flight from London to Manchester. Punch magazine thought the idea preposterous and offered £10,000 for the first flight to Mars, but by 1910 both the Mail's prizes had been won. (For full list see Daily Mail aviation prizes.)
In 1908, the Daily Mail began the Ideal Home Exhibition, which it ran until selling it to Media 10 in 2009.
The paper was accused of warmongering before the outbreak of World War I, when it reported that Germany was planning to crush the British Empire. Northcliffe created controversy by advocating conscription when the war broke out. On 21 May 1915, Northcliffe wrote a blistering attack on Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War. Kitchener was considered a national hero, and overnight the paper's circulation dropped from 1,386,000 to 238,000. 1,500 members of the London Stock Exchange ceremonially burned the unsold copies and launched a boycott against the Harmsworth Press. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith accused the paper of being disloyal to the country.
When Kitchener died, the Mail reported it as a great stroke of luck for the British Empire. The paper then campaigned against Asquith, who resigned on 5 December 1916. His successor, David Lloyd George, asked Northcliffe to be in his cabinet, hoping it would prevent him from criticising the government. Northcliffe declined.
In 1919, Alcock and Brown made the first flight across the Atlantic winning a prize of £10,000 from the Daily Mail. In 1930, the Mail made a great story of another aviation stunt, awarding another prize of £10,000 to Amy Johnson for making the first solo flight from England to Australia.
On 25 October 1924 the Daily Mail published the forged Zinoviev Letter, which indicated that British Communists were planning violent revolution. This was a significant factor in the defeat of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party in the 1924 general election, held four days later.
From 1923, Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail formed an alliance with the other great press baron, Lord Beaverbrook. Their opponent was the Conservative party politician and leader Stanley Baldwin. By 1929, George Ward Price was writing in the Mail that Baldwin should be deposed and Beaverbrook elected as leader. In early 1930, the two Lords launched the United Empire Party which the Daily Mail supported enthusiastically. The rise of the new party dominated the newspaper and, even though Beaverbrook soon withdrew, Rothermere continued to campaign. Vice Admiral Taylor fought the first by-election for the United Empire Party in October, defeating the official Conservative candidate by 941 votes. Baldwin's position was now in doubt but, in 1931, Duff Cooper won the key by-election at St George's, Westminster, beating the UEP candidate, Sir Ernest Petter, supported by Rothermere, and this broke the political power of the press barons.
In 1927, the celebrated picture of the year, Morning by Dod Proctor was bought by the Daily Mail for the Tate Gallery.
On 10 July 1933, Rothermere wrote an editorial titled "Youth Triumphant" in support of Adolf Hitler, which was subsequently used as propaganda by the Nazis. In early 1934, ceasing after a meeting at Kensington Olympia in June, Rothermere and the Mail were editorially sympathetic to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. Rothermere wrote an article entitled "Hurrah for the Blackshirts", in January 1934, praising Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine".
The Daily Mail was transformed by its editor of the seventies and eighties, Sir David English. Sir David began his Fleet Street career in 1951, joining The Daily Mirror before moving to The Daily Sketch, where he became features editor. It was the Sketch which brought him his first editorship, from 1969 to 1971. That year the Sketch was closed and he moved to take over the top job at the Mail, where he was to remain for more than 20 years. English transformed it from a struggling rival selling two million copies fewer than the Daily Express to a formidable journalistic powerhouse, which soared dramatically in popularity. After 20 years perfecting the Mail, Sir David English became editor-in-chief and chairman of Associated Newspapers in 1992.
The paper enjoyed a period of journalistic success in the 1980s, employing some of the most inventive writers in old Fleet Street including the gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, Lynda Lee Potter and sportswriter Ian Wooldridge (who unlike some of his colleagues — the paper generally did not support sporting boycotts of white-minority-ruled South Africa — strongly opposed Apartheid). In 1982, a Sunday title, the Mail on Sunday, was launched (the Sunday Mail was already the name of a newspaper in Scotland, owned by the Mirror Group.) There are Scottish editions of both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, with different articles and columnists. In 1992, the current editor, Paul Dacre, was appointed.
2010, July—£47,500 award to Parameswaran Subramanyam for falsely claiming that he secretly sustained himself with hamburgers during a 23-day hunger strike in Parliament Square to draw attention to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. 2009, January—£30,000 award to Dr Austen Ivereigh, who had worked for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, following false accusations made by the newspaper concerning abortion. 2006, May—£100,000 damages for Elton John, following false accusations concerning his manners and behaviour. 2003, October—Actress Diana Rigg awarded £30,000 in damages over a story commenting on aspects of her personality. 2001, February—Businessman Alan Sugar was awarded £100,000 in damages following a story commenting on his stewardship of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
In the late 1960s, the paper went through a phase of being liberal on social issues like corporal punishment but returned to its traditional conservative line.
It has Richard Littlejohn, who returned in 2005 from The Sun, alongside Peter Hitchens, who joined its sister title the Mail on Sunday in 2001, when his former newspaper, the Daily Express, was purchased by Richard Desmond. The editorial stance was critical of Tony Blair when he was still Prime Minister, and endorsed the Conservative Party in the 2005 general election In Blair's earlier years as Labour leader and then Prime Minister, the paper wrote positively about him and his reforms of the party. Johann Hari, a noted gay journalist accused Littlejohn of having a "psychiatric disorder" about homosexuality with a "pornographic imagination."
The Mail has also opposed the growing of genetically-modified crops in the United Kingdom, a stance it shares with many of its left-wing critics.
On international affairs, the Mail broke with the establishment media consensus over the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia. The Mail accused the British government of dragging Britain into an unnecessary confrontation with Russia and of hypocrisy regarding its protests over Russian recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence, citing the British government's own recognition of Kosovo's independence from Russia's ally Serbia.
On 7 January 1967, the Mail published a story, "The holes in our roads", about potholes, giving the examples of Blackburn where it said there were 4,000 holes. This detail was then immortalised by John Lennon in the Beatles song A Day in the Life along with an account of the death of Tara Browne which also appeared in the same issue.
On 16 July 1993 the Mail ran the headline "Abortion hope after 'gay genes' finding"; this headline has been widely criticised in subsequent years, for example as "perhaps the most infamous and disturbing headline of all" (of headlines from tabloid newspapers commenting on the Xq28 gene).
The Mail campaigned on the case of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in Eltham, London in April 1993. On 14 February 1997, the Mail led its front page with a picture of the five men accused of Lawrence's murder and the headline "MURDERERS", stating that it believed that the men had murdered Lawrence and adding "if we are wrong, let them sue us". This attracted praise from Paul Foot and Peter Preston.
On October 9, 2009 the Mail ran the headline "Hunger striker's £7m Big Mac: Tamil who cost London a fortune in policing was sneaking in fast-food" The article stated that "Scotland Yard surveillance teams using specialist monitoring equipment had watched in disbelief" as Parameswaran Subramaniyan; a Tamil hunger striker protesting outside the Houses of Parliament covertly broke his fast by secretly eating McDonald's burgers. When a request for an apology and retraction of this story was refused, Mr Subramanyam issued proceedings against the paper. In court, the newspaper's claim was shown to be entirely false, the Met superintendent in charge of the policing operation confirmed there had been no police surveillance team using the "specialist monitoring equipment". As a result, on 29 July 2010, Mr Subramanyam is understood to have accepted damages of £47,500 from the Daily Mail. The newspaper also paid his legal costs, withdrew the allegations and apologised "sincerely and unreservedly" for the distress that had been caused.
16 October 2009 Jan Moir article on the death of Stephen Gately, which many people felt was inaccurate, insensitive, and homophobic, generated over 25,000 complaints, the highest number of complaints for a newspaper article in the history of the Press Complaints Commission. Major advertisers such as Marks and Spencer responded to the criticism by asking for their own adverts to be removed from the Mail Online webpage around Moir's article. The Daily Mail removed all display ads from the webpage with the Gately column.
{| |-valign=top |width=50%| Daily Mail City & Finance - City & Finance is the business part of the Daily Mail, and the Financial Mail is the business paper free with the Mail on Sunday. City & Finance features City News and the results from the London Stock Exchange, and also has its own website called This is Money.
Mail on Sunday
Current cartoon strips that are in the Daily Mail include Garfield which moved from the Daily Express in 2006 and is also included in The Mail on Sunday. I Don't Believe It is another 3/4 part strip, written by Dick Millington. Odd Streak and The Strip Show, which is shown in 3D are one part strips. Up and Running is a strip distributed by Knight Features and Fred Basset follows the life of the dog of the same name in a two part strip in the Daily Mail since 8 July 1963. The Gambols are another feature in the Mail on Sunday.
The long-running Teddy Tail cartoon strip, was first published on 5 April 1915 and was the first cartoon strip in a British newspaper. It ran for over 40 years to 1960, spawning the Teddy Tail League Children's Club and many annuals from 1934 to 1942 and again from 1949 to 1962. Teddy Tail was a mouse, with friends Kitty Puss (a cat), Douglas Duck and Dr. Beetle. Teddy Tail is always shown with a knot in his tail.
Cartoonists
Photographers
Source: D. Butler and A. Sloman, British Political Facts, 1900–1975 p. 378
Category:Daily Mail and General Trust Category:Publications established in 1896 Category:Newspapers published in the United Kingdom Category:British media Category:Edwardian era
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| Name | Thom Yorke |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Thomas Edward Yorke |
| Alias | Tchock, Tchocky, Dr. Tchock |
| Born | October 07, 1968Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter |
| Instrument | VocalsGuitarPianoKeyboardsPercussionBass guitarProgrammingDrums |
| Genre | Alternative rockElectronica |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Label | XL |
| Associated acts | Radiohead, Atoms for Peace, Unkle, Björk |
Thomas Edward "Thom" Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions). In July 2006, he released his debut solo album, The Eraser.
Yorke has been cited among the most influential figures in the music industry: in 2002, Q Magazine named Yorke the most powerful British musician and in 2005, Radiohead were ranked #73 in Rolling Stones "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Yorke has also been cited among the greatest singers in the history of popular music: in 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Yorke voted the 18th greatest singer of all time, and in 2008, he was ranked 66th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of all Time." Allmusic wrote: "Few rock singers of the '90s were as original and instantly unforgettable as Thom Yorke."
Yorke's family moved frequently; Yorke would move from school to school, where classmates teased him because of his eye problems. The family finally settled in Oxfordshire in 1978. He attended the all boys public school Abingdon where he met future band members Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, Colin Greenwood and Colin's younger brother, Jonny. Yorke and his friends formed a band named On A Friday, as Friday was the only day on which the members were allowed to rehearse.
After leaving school, Yorke postponed going to university for a year. During that time he worked in a few jobs and was involved in a car accident that made him wary of any kind of mechanised transport. Yorke left Oxford to study at the University of Exeter in late 1988, which as a result put On a Friday on hiatus aside from holiday break rehearsals. While at Exeter, Yorke worked as a DJ at Guild nights in the Lemon Grove and played briefly with the band Headless Chickens. Yorke also met Rachel Owen, whom he began dating.
Radiohead first gained notice with the worldwide hit single "Creep", which later appeared on the band's 1993 debut album Pablo Honey. Yorke admitted later that the success had fed his ego; he tried to project himself as a rock star, which included bleaching his hair and wearing extensions. He said, "When I got back to Oxford I was unbearable . . . [A]s soon as you get any success you disappear up your own arse and lost it forever."
By the time of their second album, The Bends (1995), the band, through frequent touring and greater attention to detail in the recording studio, had picked up a large cult fan base and had begun to receive wider critical acclaim. After the album's release, the American group R.E.M. picked Radiohead as its opening act for the European leg of their tour. While on tour Yorke and R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe became close friends; in particular, Stipe gave him advice on how to deal with the demands of being in a rock band. During the production of the band's third album, OK Computer (1997), all five members had differing opinions and equal production roles, with Yorke having "the loudest voice," according to guitarist Ed O'Brien. After the album was finished, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood contributed to the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack along with other musicians under the moniker Venus in Furs. Upon release, OK Computer was heralded as a landmark album by nearly every publication that reviewed it, establishing Radiohead as one of the leading alternative rock acts of the 1990s. But Yorke was ambivalent about this success. Some of these concerns were voiced in the documentary film Meeting People Is Easy, which focused on the period. Yorke has explained in various interviews that he dislikes the "mythology" within the rock genre, and hates the media's obsession with celebrities.
Yorke and the band adopted a more radical approach on 2000's Kid A and 2001's Amnesiac, processing vocals, obscuring lyrics, and departing from rock for a more varied musical landscape including electronic, jazz and avant-garde classical influences. The albums expanded Radiohead's sales while earning acclaim for experimentation, but also divided fans and critics. In 2003, Radiohead released their sixth album, Hail to the Thief, a blend of rock and electronica that Yorke described as a reaction to the events of the early 2000s and newfound fears for his children's future, though he denied a specific political intent. The band has continued to tour, and in 2005 they undertook recording sessions for a seventh album, In Rainbows, released as a DRM-free download in October 2007.
Yorke rarely plays as a solo act, having never embarked on a solo tour. He has sometimes played short acoustic sets of Radiohead songs in the band's webcasts and television appearances, and occasionally on his own at rallies. However, he did play solo sets at the 2002 Bridge School Benefit concerts organised by Neil Young. In 2006, he performed stripped-down versions of several songs from The Eraser ("Analyse," "The Clock, " "Skip Divided" and "Cymbal Rush") on radio and TV programmes, and since then he has played and sung "Cymbal Rush" as an encore at some Radiohead concerts. In July 2009, Yorke played a rare solo performance at the Latitude Festival in England. In February 2010, Yorke played a solo show for the Green Party at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, where he played select Radiohead songs and songs from The Eraser, as well as five entirely new songs: "The Daily Mail", "Lotus Flower", "Give Up The Ghost", "I Froze Up", and "Mouse, Dog, Bird".
On 21 September 2009 Yorke released a new double-A side single, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses / The Hollow Earth". It was later announced that he has established an unnamed band with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker of R.E.M. and Beck, Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark and producer Nigel Godrich. They played two sold out shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on 4 and 5 October 2009. Two days before, Yorke also played a "warm-up" show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. On 25 February 2010, Yorke officially gave the band the name Atoms for Peace.
In June 2010, Yorke attracted some notoriety when he stated in an interview that "It will be only a matter of time - months rather than years - before the music business establishment completely folds" and that such an event will be of "no great loss to the world." Yorke's quote quickly caused a stir of buzz on the blogosphere, with critics both praising and criticising his frankness.
Yorke also sang covers of the Roxy Music songs "2HB", "Ladytron" and "Bitter-Sweet" for the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, as part of Venus in Furs. The band existed solely for the film's soundtrack and also consisted of Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. Yorke was duplicating Bryan Ferry's original vocals. Two other cover songs were performed by Venus in Furs, with vocals by actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the film; Yorke never appeared onscreen.
Examples of Yorke's other collaborations are the 1998 single "Rabbit in Your Headlights", which he sang and co-wrote with DJ Shadow and which closes Psyence Fiction, the debut album by the group UNKLE; "El President," a 1998 duet with Isabel Monteiro of the band Drugstore, which was also released as a single; and vocals on the 2007 track "The White Flash," by the electronic music group Modeselektor, from their album Happy Birthday. Yorke has also collaborated with Stanley Donwood on a picture book entitled Dead Children Playing. Yorke also covered lead vocal duties on "...And the World Laughs with You" from the 2010 Flying Lotus album Cosmogramma.
In 2010, Yorke worked with Bryan Ferry, Mark Ronson, Bob Hoskins, Andy Murray, and David Cameron to release the charity single "2 Minute Silence"—a track composed entirely of silence—to raise money for the families of British troops released on Remembrance Day, 7 November. The song peaked in the UK Singles Chart at number 20.
In 2005, Yorke became a spokesman for Friends of the Earth and their campaign to reduce carbon emissions, The Big Ask.
Yorke often pays tribute to his children while performing live; during songs at the 2006 Bonnaroo Festival, Yorke played with guitar picks imprinted with Agnes' fingerprints.
Yorke, unlike the other members of Radiohead, has never learned how to read music. He said, "If someone lays the notes on a page in front of me, it's meaningless... because to me you can't express the rhythms properly like that. It's a very ineffective way of doing it, so I've never really bothered picking it up." His solo effort The Eraser featured piano, bass and guitar, but was built primarily around electronics.
In interviews Yorke has cited a variety of personal musical heroes and influences, including jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus, Neil Young, Miracle Legion, singer Scott Walker, electronic acts Aphex Twin and Autechre, and Krautrock band Can. Talking Heads, Queen, Joy Division, Magazine, Elvis Costello, The Smiths and Sonic Youth were early influences on Radiohead and Yorke. In 2004, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Yorke mentioned to the crowd, "When I was in college, the Pixies and R.E.M. changed my life," and he has often mentioned both bands as examples.
Yorke is also notable as a political activist on behalf of other causes, including human rights and anti-war movements such as Jubilee 2000, Amnesty International and CND, and Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign. Radiohead played at the Free Tibet concert in both 1998 and 1999, and at an Amnesty International concert in 1998. In 2005, Yorke performed at an all-night vigil for the Trade Justice Movement. In 2006, Jonny Greenwood and Yorke performed a special benefit concert for Friends of the Earth. Yorke made headlines the same year for refusing Prime Minister Tony Blair's request to meet with him to discuss climate change, declaring Blair had "no environmental credentials". Yorke has subsequently been critical of his own energy use. He has said the music industry's use of air transport is dangerous and unsustainable, and that he would consider not touring if new carbon emissions standards do not force the situation to improve. Radiohead commissioned a study by the group Best Foot Forward which the band claims helped them choose venues and transport methods that will greatly reduce the carbon expended on their 2008 tour. The band also made use of a new low-energy LED lighting system and encouraged festivals to offer reusable plastics.
In December 2009, Yorke gained access to the COP 15 climate change talks in Copenhagen, posing as a member of the media.
A number of celebrities have been upset by Yorke's public persona. In 2001, Kelly Jones, the lead singer of the Welsh band Stereophonics, referred to Thom Yorke as a "miserable twat" (a comment he later retracted). In 2002, Jack Black claimed to have approached Yorke to congratulate him on his solo show at the Bridge School benefit concert in San Francisco, only for Yorke to ignore him and walk away. Referring to the incident, Black stated in an interview: "I heard later that he's famously cold, and it wasn't just me that he despises, but the whole world." After completing a trek of Kilimanjaro in 2009, Ronan Keating was asked by an interviewer which celebrity he would most like to throw off a mountain. Keating named Yorke, and referred to him as a "muppet", stating that Yorke was once rude to him, although he did admit to still liking his music. In the same year, Miley Cyrus and Kanye West also complained about Yorke's alleged rudeness. In a response to these complaints, Yorke wrote on Radiohead's Dead Air Space website, "wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you're not one of those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing."
Category:1968 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:English activists Category:English environmentalists Category:Anti-globalization activists Category:English male singers Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English tenors Category:English vegans Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Wellingborough Category:Radiohead members Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:Music from Oxford Category:Old Abingdonians Category:Rhythm guitarists
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| Name | Russell Howard |
|---|---|
| Caption | Howard in September 2008 |
| Birth name | Russell Joseph Howard |
| Birth date | March 23, 1980 |
| Birth place | Bristol, England |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, radio |
| Nationality | English |
| Active | 2004–present |
| Genre | Satire/Political satire, Observational comedy, Absurdist humour |
| Subject | Everyday life, politics |
| Notable work | The Milk Run, Mock the Week, Russell Howard's Good News |
| Website |
Russell was educated at the University of the West of England in Bristol.
He is a regular on British topical panel show Mock the Week. He has also made appearances on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You?, Live At The Apollo, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008, Law of the Playground and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 18, Episode 2 and Series 20, Episode 4).
He was one of several comedians picked as the best comedy talent from the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that recorded 10–15-minute spots for the 'Edinburgh and Beyond show' which was aired on Paramount Comedy 1 in the autumn of 2006. The show was filmed at The Bloomsbury Theatre. From 2009 he took over as compère of this show from Al Murray.
From November 2006 to July 2008, Russell co-hosted The Russell Howard Show on BBC 6 Music with fellow comedian Jon Richardson in a Sunday morning slot previously hosted by Russell Brand. The show continued to air, without Howard, until March 2010. He has since explained that his main reason for leaving the show was that he finds radio "really restrictive" and "I feed off the audience as a performer, but you can't gauge a reaction on the radio."
Russell was commissioned to make a comedy show called Russell Howard's Good News, aimed at under-25s, for BBC Three, the first episode aired on 22 October 2009 and ran for seven episodes as well as a "Best Of" show and a Christmas Special. It went on to become BBC Three’s highest ever rating entertainment series. In the show, he gave his take on the week's major news stories, also giving some attention to some of the more light-hearted stories of the week. It has been confirmed that two more series of the show have been commissioned, with the second series starting on March 25th 2010.
For Sport Relief 2010 he took part in the BT Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride, with David Walliams, Jimmy Carr, Fearne Cotton, Miranda Hart, Patrick Kielty, and Davina McCall. They cycled from John O'Groats in Scotland to Land's End in 4 days and trying to raise 1 million pounds.
In April 2010, Howard ran the Virgin London Marathon for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for the National Society for Epilepsy - a condition from which his brother suffers. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours and 15 minutes, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.
Howard started touring his show Dingledodies in September 2008 and played various dates through to December. Due to overwhelming demand he further extended the tour twice into 2009. It sold in excess of 125,000 tickets, including three sell-out shows at the Hammersmith Apollo as well as several large arenas such as Wembley Arena and Manchester's MEN Arena. The DVD of this tour was released on 9 November 2009 and features a recording of the show from the Brighton Dome.
Howard performed 10 UK dates between December 11 and 20, 2009 for his "Big Rooms and Belly Laughs" tour.
He has since announced another arena tour for 2011, titled Right Here Right Now.
Category:Alumni of the University of the West of England Category:British radio DJs Category:English comedians Category:English satirists Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English television writers Category:People from Bristol Category:1980 births Category:Living people
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| Background | group_or_band |
|---|---|
| Name | The Now |
| Origin | Peterborough, England |
| Genre | Punk rockPunk |
| Years active | 1976–19792005 - Present |
| Label | Ultimate RecordsRaw RecordsLast Years YouthDamaged Goods |
| Url | The Now Official Website |
| Current members | Mike McGuireSteve RollsJoe MacCollFaz Farrow |
| Past members | Steve QuinneyPaul Wicks (aka Dangerous Dip / Mysterious Dip)Nigel DavisTommy Tomlinson |
The Now are a late 1970s English punk rock group from Peterborough, England. Whilst never officially disbanding, they ceased recording and performing in 1979. In 2004, The Now recorded all of their original material and released as the Fuzztone Fizzadelic album in 2005 on the Damaged Goods record label.
The Now were far removed from what is traditionally known as 123 ‘Punk’ thrash. With intelligent songs, political lyrics and a real sense of small town frustration and anger The Now were unique. This was real urban punk rock, devoid of big city trends, tolerance and fashion. The Now played many gigs, and could often be found playing those early, then famous, London venues such as Roxy Club and The Vortex clubs in London.
The Now released two singles "Development Corporations" / "Why" on Ultimate Records in November 1977 and a deal with Lee Wood's Raw Records signed in mid 1978 produced two songs, "Into The 80's" and "9 'O' Clock" (actually recorded for Raw in late 1977) which were re-mixed and scheduled for March 23 release. This 7" single was delayed due to economic problems which would soon force the Cambridge based label to close down. When it eventually emerged on November 30, only 800 copies were pressed, with at least half of these being destroyed in a fire at Raw's warehouse. Both singles were, in the main, well received. The first single, "Development Corporations", reached number 4 in the Sounds alternative chart and number 2 in the Time Out chart in 1977.
Around this time, The Now, went their own ways through mutual consent. In 2002 there was a great deal of interest around the original singles, particularly in Europe. As a result, a German record company, Last Years Youth, duly re-released both singles, containing a couple of previously unreleased versions of the original songs. It was a logical progression (albeit unusual) to use this exposure as an opportunity to record and release a definitive version of all of the early songs written by The Now. Fuzztone Fizzadelic was recorded during 2004 by the four original members of The Now, representing their original set list, as performed in 1977. In true punk rock style The Now rehearsed for three hours and had two days in the studio for recording and mixing. 27 years between writing and recording must be some sort of record. Fuzztone Fizzadelic was released in 2005.
Mike McGuire and Steve Rolls went on to form 80's avant garde band Sudden Sway. Joe MacColl went on to join mod revivalists The Name. Faz Farrow went on to perform with numerous band as a journyman bass guitarist. Steve Rolls was asked to join The Destructors by Allen Adams in 2006.
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| Name | Russell Brand |
|---|---|
| Caption | Brand performs stand-up at the London Roundhouse, 25 January 2008 |
| Birth name | Russell Edward Brand |
| Birth date | June 04, 1975 |
| Birth place | Grays, Essex, England, UK |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film, radio |
| Nationality | British |
| Active | 1994–present |
| Influences | Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, |
| Spouse | Katy Perry (2010–present) |
| Website |
Brand attended Grays School Media Arts College, a comprehensive. He made his theatrical debut at the age of 15 playing "Fat Sam" in a school production of Bugsy Malone, which prompted him to become an actor. He began working as an extra, and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the Academy in 1991, but was expelled during his introductory year for his behaviour and use of drugs. Afterward, Brand had small acting roles in the children's show Mud and in The Bill.
In 1995, Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. By this point he was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He was expelled in the final term of his last year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms because of poor reactions to one of his performances. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy, and began writing material with Karl Theobald, whom he met at Drama Centre. They formed a short-lived double act, Theobald and Brand on Ice.
In 2004, he took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live.
Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.
His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.
Brand began performing in the U.S., and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009. Brand began touring the UK, America and Australia from January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous. In October a further four dates that were performed in November were added to raise money for Focus 12, the drug charity for which Brand is a patron. Russell Brand: Scandalous was released on DVD on 9 November 2009.
After leaving MTV, Brand starred in , a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written, and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner on many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.
In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6, the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth. In a statement, Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show. Of his time presenting the show, he said, "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy".
Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand, in which Brand took a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house, in the E4 show . Brand next returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square, which initially aired at 8 pm on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 pm on Mondays, allowing for a more adult-oriented theme. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4. The first episode was broadcast on 24 November on Channel 4, and it ran for five weeks.
Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards. At the ceremony Bob Geldof, who was accepting an award from Brand, said at the podium, "Russell Brand – what a cunt", to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise [Geldof]'s such an expert on famine. He has after all been dining out on 'I Don't Like Mondays' for 30 years". Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the event. He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
On 12 December 2007, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road. Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discussed topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and continued for the next five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing more than a million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for four weeks, plus a Christmas special that aired in December.
Brand was later announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy. At one point, he said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era", referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]". He also said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney". Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a retarded cowboy fella", who, in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors". He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologised for the comments later in the show. These comments led to Brand receiving death threats by some offended viewers. Brand claimed that MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year. Brand hosted the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ratings for the 2009 show were the best since the 2004 VMA's.
In 2007, Brand appeared in Cold Blood for ITV, playing an ex-con called Ally. Brand played a recovering crack addict named Terry in the pilot for the ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks.
He voiced the Earth Guardian in Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.
Brand had a small role in the 2006 movie Penelope, though his first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's. He did not reprise the role for the sequel, .
His breakthrough role was in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow, and he revealed the character was changed from an author to a rock star because of his audition.
Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on Christmas Day 2008.
He reprised the role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill. He reunited with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film.
Brand will appear in Julie Taymor's version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest as Trinculo. Brand will also appear in an Oliver Stone film, and he is to play the title character in a remake of Arthur, written by Peter Baynham, and a remake of Drop Dead Fred.
Sandler has cast Brand in another film and will produce yet another, co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan, about a con-man posing as a priest; it is tentatively titled Bad Father.
In 2010, Brand voiced Dr. Nefario in the Universal movie Despicable Me and was offered a guest role in The Simpsons, which he accepted.
Brand co-hosted The Russell Brand Show beginning in April 2006 on BBC 6Music. In November 2006, the show transferred to BBC Radio 2 and aired on Saturdays from 9–11 pm The show regularly drew about 400,000 listeners. In an episode of the show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross made a series of phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs that crudely discussed Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. Sunday tabloid The Mail on Sunday broke the story and regarded the phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC due to the incident, and Brand resigned from his show. The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.
Brand returned to radio when he and Noel Gallagher hosted a football talk show on 19 April 2009 for talkSPORT which led to a 250% boost in web traffic.
Brand returned to talkSPORT in 9 October 2010, with a Saturday night show that will last 20 weeks. The show will feature clips and back-stage recordings from his Booky Wook 2 promotional tour. Brand will be joined by a host of guests, including the likes of Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.
Brand's autobiography, My Booky Wook, published by Hodder & Stoughton, was released on 15 November 2007 and received favourable reviews. The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame".
Brand signed a £1.8 million two-book deal with HarperCollins in June 2008. The first book was Articles of Faith, with the second being released on 30 September 2010.
Brand appeared on the 2010 version of 3 Lions alongside Robbie Williams.
Brand is a former heroin and sex addict and a recovering alcoholic. He has had numerous run-ins with the police, having been arrested 11 times. During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery. Brand was ejected from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, and he infamously introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time at MTV. He has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12. His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was instigated by his agent, John Noel, after Brand was caught taking heroin in a bathroom during his Christmas party. Brand regularly attends AA and NA meetings.
After a string of high-profile relationships, Brand developed a reputation in the media as a ladies' man. His dating life won him The Sun's Shagger Of The Year award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The award has been renamed "The Russell Brand Shagger Of The Year Award" in honour of Brand having won three years in a row. In January 2009, Brand and several other celebrities wrote to The Independent (as supporters of the Hoping Foundation) to condemn Israel's assault on Gaza, and the "cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza". In February 2009, Brand and several other entertainers wrote to The Times defending Bahá'í leaders then on trial in Iran. In April 2009, he attended the 2009 G-20 London summit protests and spoke to the press.
Brand first met American singer/songwriter Katy Perry in summer 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Brand and Perry began dating after meeting again in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." Perry claims she threw a bottle of water at Brand to get his attention and then they went clubbing together the same night. The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while on a holiday in India. The couple married on 23 October 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand proposed. They married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.
On 16 September 2010, Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked his and Perry's way to catch a flight at the Los Angeles International Airport. On 17 September 2010, he was released from custody after posting $20,000 bail. Footage of the incident was later sent to TMZ. Perry later defended Brand's actions, and offered an insight into the reasons for his outburst, posting on Twitter that, "If you cross the line & try and put a lens up my dress, my fiancé will do his job & protect me."
Category:1975 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London Category:Big Brother (UK TV series) Category:English comedians Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:English game show hosts Category:English radio DJs Category:English radio personalities Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:English television writers Category:English vegetarians Category:Italia Conti graduates Category:Living people Category:People from Grays Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:The Guardian journalists
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| Name | John Barrowman |
|---|---|
| Birthname | John Scot Barrowman |
| Birth date | March 11, 1967 |
| Birth place | Mount Vernon, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation | Entertainer |
| Yearsactive | 1989–present |
| Domesticpartner | Scott Gill (1993–present) |
John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-born American singer, actor, dancer, musical performer and media personality, best known on British television for his acting and presenting work for the BBC and for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in the science fiction series Doctor Who and Torchwood. Barrowman and his family emigrated to the United States when he was nine years old. Growing up in Illinois, his high school teachers encouraged his love for music and theatre and he studied performing arts at the United States International University in San Diego before visiting Britain and landing the role of Billy Crocker in Cole Porter's Anything Goes in London's West End.
As a television presenter and guest, Barrowman has appeared in a variety of light entertainment shows, including Live & Kicking and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical talent shows Any Dream Will Do, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, and I'd Do Anything. Barrowman was a contestant on the celebrity ice skating show Dancing on Ice and was a guest act for the Royal Variety Performance. In 1998, Barrowman was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and in 2006 he was voted Stonewall's "Entertainer of the Year".
In addition to appearing in several films and television series, Barrowman has featured on more than a dozen musical theatre recordings including cover tunes found on his 2007 album Another Side, and 2008's Music Music Music. Both albums reached the UK Top 40, as did his 2010 self-titled album, which reached number 11, his highest chart placing to date.
With his sister as co-author, Barrowman has published two memoirs and autobiographies, Anything Goes (2008) and I Am What I Am (2009).
He returned to the role of Billy Crocker in Trevor Nunn's 2003 West End revival of Anything Goes, and appeared in West End non-musical dramas, such as his role as Wyndham Brandon in Rope at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester in 1993, and he starred as Lieutenant Jack Ross opposite Rob Lowe in the 2005 production of A Few Good Men. Barrowman starred in pantomime productions of Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre (Christmas 2005–6) and in Jack and the Beanstalk at Cardiff's New Theatre (Christmas 2006–7). He played the title role in Aladdin at the Birmingham Hippodrome over Christmas 2007–8 and as a guest act for the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium in 2008. Barrowman played the lead in the Robin Hood pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome for the 2008–2009 season. He presented Andrew Lloyd Webber's 60th birthday party in London's Hyde Park on September 14, 2008. Guests included Idina Menzel, Denise Van Outen, Elaine Paige, Lee Mead and the stars of I'd Do Anything. On September 14, 2009 John Barrowman took over from Roger Allam as Zaza/Albin in the West End revival of La Cage aux Folles, at the Playhouse Theatre.
In 2007, Barrowman was a judge on the BBC One TV series Any Dream Will Do, hosted by Graham Norton. The show searched for a new, unknown actor to play the role of Joseph in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, eventually choosing Lee Mead. Barrowman guested on the BBC Two comedy panel quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 19, Episode 5), challenging host Simon Amstell to a "gay-off". He also guested on Al Murray's Happy Hour, The Charlotte Church Show, and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On 27 July 2007, Barrowman guest hosted The Friday Night Project, on Channel 4, with Justin-Lee Collins and Alan Carr. In 2008 Barrowman presented a primetime BBC game show called The Kids Are All Right. On the show, four adults compete against seven "smart and sassy" children for cash in four rounds "testing their brainpower, knowledge and speed of response". On 16 February 2008, and 23 February 2008, Barrowman presented the National Lottery Draw. On the 1st of March 2008, Barrowman appeared on the panel of the Eurovision Song Contest selection show, Eurovision: Your Decision on BBC 1, alongside Carrie Grant and Sir Terry Wogan. On the 29 April, 30 April, and 1 May 2008 he presented This Morning. Barrowman began featuring as a judge on the Canadian version of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? in June 2008. In 2008, Barrowman became the presenter for Animals at Work, a children's television show on CBBC that showcases "animals with extraordinary skills that make people's lives easier and safer"; Animals at Work began in 2009 with 26 episodes. He began hosting Tonight's the Night on BBC in April 2009.
In February 2010 Barrowman appeared as a guest host on UK shopping channel QVC
Barrowman took part in the reality television series Dancing on Ice on ITV1 in January and February 2006. Resembling a real ice skating competition, ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean trained celebrities to compete on the show. Barrowman's skating partner was World Junior Gold Medalist and three-time Russian champion Olga Sharutenko. Although a favourite to win, on 4 February, Barrowman and Sharutenko faced Stefan Booth and Kristina Cousins in the skate off and were eliminated by the judge's vote of 3 to 2.
Barrowman was one of five celebrity guests on the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special 2010 and achieved both the top score and also first place when the audience vote had been counted. His professional partner was Kristina Rihanoff and they danced the Quickstep.
Barrowman is bidialectal. He learned an American accent after school children picked on his Scottish accent when he moved to the U.S. His accent is often called Mid-Atlantic. On The Friday Night Project, Barrowman said that he still speaks in a Scottish accent when he is with his parents. His sister, English professor and journalist Carole Barrowman, helped write the book using her brother's dictations. In 2009, Barrowman published I Am What I Am, his second memoir detailing his recent television work and musings on fame. In the book, Barrowman reveals that when he was just beginning his acting career, management sent a gay producer to talk to him. The producer told Barrowman that he should try to pretend to be heterosexual in order to be successful. Barrowman was offended by the incident, and it made him more aware of the importance of his role as a gay public figure: "One of my explicit missions as an entertainer is to work to create a world where no one will ever make a statement like this producer did to me to anyone who’s gay." To this end, Barrowman is active in his community supporting the issues that matter to him most. He worked with Stonewall, a gay rights organization in the UK, on the "Education for All" campaign against homophobia in the schools. In April 2008, the group placed posters on 600 billboards that read, "Some people are gay. Get over it!" Barrowman contributed his support to the project asking people to join him and "Help exterminate homophobia. Be bold. Be brave. Be a buddy, not a bully." In the same month, Barrowman spoke at the Oxford Union about his career, the entertainment industry, and gay rights issues. The event was filmed for the BBC programme The Making Of Me, in an episode exploring the science of homosexuality.
Prior to the 2010 general election, Barrowman was one of 48 celebrities who signed a letter warning voters against Conservative Party policy towards the BBC.
On the 16th June 2010, Barrowman met with the current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron as a representative of the LGBT Community
Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Actors from Illinois Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:Dancing on Ice participants Category:Gay actors Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from Scotland Category:LGBT television personalities Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Glasgow Category:People from Joliet, Illinois Category:Reality television judges Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Scottish immigrants to the United States Category:Scottish film actors Category:Scottish musical theatre actors Category:Scottish stage actors Category:Scottish television actors Category:Scottish television presenters Category:1967 births Category:Living people
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He started his career with West Ham United in 2003 where he played in the left back position. He had a loan at Yeovil Town where he altered to a central midfield position, which lasted from 2005 until 2006. He joined the club permanently later in 2006, and spent one season with the club before joining Nottingham Forest in 2007.
In the 2008–09 season, Cohen has impressed thus far with his consistent displays, and was praised by Charlton manager Alan Pardew after a 0–0 draw at the City Ground as being the best player on the pitch. He was voted player of the year for 2008–09 by Nottingham Forest fans.
On 22 May 2009, Cohen signed a new four-year contract until 2013.
On 8 May 2010, Cohen put Forest ahead in the first leg of the 2009–10 Championship play-off semi-final against Blackpool, with a 'sublime' outside-of-foot curling volley at Bloomfield Road.
;Nottingham Forest:
;Individual
Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:People from Norwich Category:People from Grays Category:English footballers Category:Association football midfielders Category:West Ham United F.C. players Category:Yeovil Town F.C. players Category:Nottingham Forest F.C. players
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| Name | Charlie Brooker |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Charlton Brooker |
| Birth date | March 03, 1971 |
| Birth place | Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Television | Screen BurnTVGoHomeNathan BarleyCharlie Brooker's ScreenwipeDead SetNewswipe with Charlie BrookerYou Have Been WatchingCharlie Brooker's Gameswipe |
| Occupation | Broadcaster, writer, columnist, comedian |
| Spouse | Konnie Huq (2010–present) |
| Years active | (1998–present) |
Brooker attended the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster) — studying for a BA in Media Studies — he did not graduate. he noted how increasingly difficult he found it to reconcile his role in mainstream media and TV production with his writing as a scabrous critic or to objectively criticise those he increasingly works and socialises with. Long time covering contributor Grace Dent took over the column from him permanently.
From the autumn of 2005, he wrote a regular series of columns in The Guardian supplement "G2" on Fridays called "Supposing", in which he free-associated on a set of vague what-if themes. Since late October 2006 this column has been expanded into a full-page section on Mondays, including samples from TVGoHome and Ignopedia, an occasional series of pseudo-articles on topics mostly suggested by readers. The key theme behind Ignopedia was that, while Wikipedia is written and edited by thousands of users, Ignopedia would be written by a single sub-par person with little or no awareness of the facts.
On 24 October 2004, he wrote a column on George W. Bush and the forthcoming 2004 US Presidential Election which concluded:
The Guardian withdrew the article from its website and published and endorsed an apology by Brooker. He has since commented about the remark in the column stating: }}
Brooker left the "Screen Burn" column in 2010 but continues to contribute other articles to The Guardian on a regular basis.
In 2000, Brooker was one of the writers of the Channel 4 show The Eleven O'Clock Show and a co-host (with Gia Milinovich) on BBC Knowledge's The Kit, a low-budget programme dedicated to gadgets and technology (1999–2000). In 2001, he was one of several writers on Channel 4's controversial Brass Eye special on the subject of paedophilia.
Together with Brass Eye's Chris Morris, Brooker co-wrote the sitcom Nathan Barley, based on a character from one of TVGoHome's fictional programmes. The show was broadcast in 2005 and focused on the lives of a group of London media 'trendies'. The same year, he was also on the writing team of the Channel 4 sketch show Spoons, produced by Zeppotron.
In 2006, Brooker began writing and presenting his signature television series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on BBC Four, a TV review programme in a similar style to his Screen Burn columns in The Guardian. After an initial pilot series of three editions in April of that year, the programme returned in the autumn for a second run of four episodes plus Christmas and Review of the Year specials in December 2006. A third series followed in February 2007 with a fourth broadcast in September 2007, followed by a Review of the Year in December 2007. The fifth series started in November 2008 and was followed by another Review of the Year special. This series was also the first to be given a primetime repeat on terrestrial television (BBC 2), in January 2009.
Screenwipe's format mostly consists of two elements. The first is the playing of clips from other television shows – both mainstream and obscure – interspersed with shots of Brooker, sitting in his living room, delivering witty critiques on them. The second is where Brooker explains, again with a slice of barbed humour, the way in which a particular area of the television industry operates. Also occasionally present are animations by David Firth and guest contributions, which have included the poetry of Tim Key, and segments in which a guest explains their fascination with a certain television show or genre.
Brooker has regularly experimented with Screenwipe, with some editions focusing on a specific theme. These themes have included American television, TV news, advertising and children's programmes. (The last of these involved a segment where Brooker joined the cast of Toonattik for one week, playing the character of "Angry News Guy".) Probably the most radical departure from the norm came with an episode focused on scriptwriting, which saw several of British television's most prominent writers interviewed by Brooker.
As per the development of his career with The Guardian, a similar show called Newswipe, focusing on current affairs reportage by the international news media, began on BBC4 on 25 March 2009. A second series began on 19 January 2010. He has also written and presented the one off special Gameswipe which focused on video games and aired on BBC4 on 29 September 2009.
Brooker has appeared on three episodes and one webisode of the popular BBC current affairs news quiz Have I Got News for You. He appeared on an episode of the Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2009, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and in December 2006 reviewed two games written by the presenters of VideoGaiden, on their show. He also made a brief appearance in the third and final instalment of the documentary series Games Britannia, discussing the rise and popularity of computer games.
Brooker wrote for the BBC Three sketch show Rush Hour.
In 2009, Brooker began hosting You Have Been Watching, a panel comedy tv quiz on Channel 4 which discusses television. It is in its second series.
On 6 May 2010, Brooker was a co-host of the Channel 4 alternative election night, along with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne. The telethon was interspersed with contributions from Brooker, some live in the studio but mostly pre-recorded. Notably, an "Election Special" of You Have Been Watching and two smaller segments in an almost identical style to Screenwipe (the only noticeable difference being that Brooker was sat in a different room). Brooker described the experience of live television as being so nerve-wracking he "did a piss" during the broadcast. A spin-off series, 10 O'Clock Live, is due to start in January 2011 with the same four hosts.
Brooker's "2010 Wipe", a review of 2010 in the style of Screenwipe/Newswipe/Gameswipe, was broadcast on BBC2 on 27 December 2010.
Brooker wrote Dead Set, a five part zombie horror thriller for E4 set in the Big Brother house. The show was broadcast in October 2008 to coincide with Halloween and was repeated on Channel 4 in January 2009 to coincide with Celebrity Big Brother, and again for Halloween later that year. It was produced by Zeppotron, which also produced Screenwipe.
Brooker told MediaGuardian.co.uk it comprised a "mixture of known and less well known faces" and "Dead Set is very different to anything I've done before, and I hope the end result will surprise, entertain and appall people in equal measure." He added that he has long been a fan of horror films and that his new series "could not be described as a comedy". "I couldn't really describe what it is but it will probably surprise people," Brooker said, adding that he plans to "continue as normal" with his print journalism.
Jaime Winstone starred as a runner on the TV programme, and Big Brother presenter Davina McCall guest starred as herself. Dead Set received a BAFTA nomination for Best Drama Serial.
Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century writers Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of the University of Westminster Category:British critics Category:English atheists Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English satirists Category:English television presenters Category:English television producers Category:English television writers Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:The Guardian journalists
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| Name | Bill Oddie |
|---|---|
| Caption | A display featuring a Bill Oddie cut out |
| Other names | William Edgar Oddie |
| Birth date | July 07, 1941 |
| Birth place | Rochdale, Lancashire, England |
| Known for | I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, The Goodies, Ornithology |
| Occupation | Actor, writer, composer, musician, comedian, artist, ornithologist, conservationist, television presenter |
| Yearsactive | 1960s-present |
| Spouse | Jean Hart (divorced) Laura Beaumont |
| Children | Bonnie, Kate and Rosie |
| Website | }} |
William Edgar "Bill" Oddie OBE (born 7 July 1941, Rochdale, England) is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies.
A birdwatcher since childhood, Oddie has now established a reputation for himself as an ornithologist, conservationist and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings.
Oddie's wildlife programmes for the BBC include: Springwatch/Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild In Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild.
Oddie also has two daughters from his first marriage (1967 to Jean Hart): Bonnie, and the actress Kate Hardie, plus three grandchildren, Lyle, Ella and Gracie.
His illness meant that he did not appear in the 2009 and 2010 seasons of Springwatch, although he made a guest appearance in the penultimate episode of the latter.
One of these, a revue called A Clump of Plinths, was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for TV's That Was The Week That Was.
His first television appearance was in Bernard Braden's On The Braden Beat in 1964. Subsequently, he was a key member of the performers in the cult BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (ISIRTA; 1965), where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album Distinctly Oddie (Polydor, 1967). He was possibly one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform. In many shows he would do short impressions of Hughie Green.
In one song on I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, Oddie performed "What a Wonderful World" with a voice fully reminiscent of Louis Armstrong. During the course of the song, the rest of the cast attributed the gravelly quality of his voice to a sore throat. In the background, during the rest of the song, it is possible to hear the cast dispense cough medicine, then call for a doctor, the arrival of the doctor and his decision that Oddie should go into hospital, the trip to hospital in an ambulance, and the operation extracting his tonsils. After this, the sound of his voice changed to a sound closer to that of Harry Secombe. He thanked the cast for curing him. On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn. Later, he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which Oddie became a cast member for the second series.
Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series The Goodies. The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "Funky Gibbon", and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974-75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005, for a successful 13-date tour of Australia.
Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman.
In the Amnesty International show, A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick), Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon". They also appeared on Top of the Pops with the song. Together with Garden (who is a qualified doctor), Oddie co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series Doctor in the House, including most of the first season and all of the second season. He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden and Brooke-Taylor are regular panellists. In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a 6-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.
One of Oddie's first forays in the world of television natural history was on 30 July 1986, as the subject of a Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie - Bird Watcher, in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer.
Oddie has since hosted a number of successful nature programmes for the BBC, many produced by Stephen Moss, including:
On its first evening of broadcast in 2004, Britain Goes Wild set a record for its timeslot of 8pm on BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the Channel 4 programme showing at that time. Britain Goes Wild, renamed Springwatch the following year, became a wildlife broadcasting phenomenon, attracting up to 5 million viewers.
He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been Vice-President since 1991,
In 2003 Oddie set up a half-marathon to raise money for various wildlife charities in his birth-town of Rochdale. Celebrities that have participated in the event include Ray Mears, Catherine Jenkins and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
In 2011, Oddie featured as an investigator in Snares Uncovered: killers in the countryside. The film carried out an expose of snaring in Scotland and was commissioned by animal protection charity OneKind. During the investigation, Oddie discovered over 70 snare traps and several stink pits.
He played the drums and saxophone and appeared as Cousin Kevin in a production of The Who's rock opera Tommy at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London on 9 December 1972. He has also contributed vocals to a Rick Wakeman album, Criminal Record.
Oddie took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the "Lord High Executioner", taking over the role from Eric Idle. During the early 1990s, Oddie was a DJ for London-based jazz radio station 102.2 Jazz FM, but was dismissed after criticising the management on air after they told him he was playing too much jazz on his show.
In 2007 Oddie appeared on the BBC series Play It Again. In the episode he attempts to realise his dream of becoming a rock guitarist. Initially teacher Bridget Mermikides tries to teach him using traditional methods but he rebels: instead he turns to old friends Albert Lee, Dave Davies (of The Kinks) and Mark Knopfler for advice and strikes out on his own. He succeeds in the target of playing lead guitar for his daughter Rosie's band at her 21st birthday party, and even manages to impress his erstwhile teacher.
In November 2010, he agreed, along with fellow members of The Goodies, to re-release their 1970s hit The Funky Gibbon to raise funds for the International Primate Protection League's Save the Gibbon appeal.
In the 1990s he became better known as a presenter of birdwatching, and later wildlife-related, programmes such as Springwatch. Although he remains almost unknown to US audiences, in 1992 he was a guest star in the US comedy television series Married with Children for a 3-part episode set in England.
In 1997-98 he appeared on the Channel 4 archaeological programme Time Team, as the team excavated a Roman villa site in Turkdean, Gloucestershire.
He was the compère of a daytime BBC gameshow, History Hunt (in 2003); and has appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Doctor Who and the Pirates. In 2004, he appeared in the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he looked into his ancestry — he was visibly moved by its revelations. In 2005, he took part in Rolf on Art — the big event at Trafalgar Square.
In 2006 Oddie appeared in the BBC show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and also appeared on the topical quiz show 8 out of 10 Cats. Bill also is the voice behind many B&Q; adverts throughout 2006/2007. On 25 May 2007, Oddie made a cameo appearance on Ronni Ancona's new comedy sketch show, Ronni Ancona & Co.
He hosted the genealogy-based series My Famous Family, broadcast on UKTV History in 2007. In 2008, Oddie was a guest on Jamie Oliver's television special Jamie's Fowl Dinners, talking about free-range chickens. He also recorded a voice for Lionhead Studios' Fable II.
On 30 June 2009, he was proposed for inclusion in the Birmingham Walk of Stars, with the public invited to vote.
Co-written with the other members of The Goodies:
Co-written with Laura Beaumont:
He has also been referenced, often humorously, by the hosts of Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson even used a mask with Bill Oddie's face to escape speed cameras while racing the Nissan GTR against the Bullet train in Japan in the 4th episode of Top Gear's 11th series. James May also raced in Finland against a Bill Oddie lookalike, who won the race.
In the BBC comedy How Not To Live Your Life, main character Don Danbury is frequently referred to as Bill Oddie by a group of teenagers, because he is "old and watches birds all day".
Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:British ornithologists Category:English television presenters Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English illustrators Category:English nature writers Category:English naturalists Category:English radio actors Category:English radio writers Category:English television actors Category:English television writers Category:English voice actors Category:Gilbert and Sullivan performers Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Old Edwardians (Birmingham) Category:People from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:People from Rochdale Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people Category:Birdwatchers Category:British bird artists
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![Sidmouth (pronounced /ˈsɪdməθ/) is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, 15 miles (24 km) south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65.[1]. The town is a tourist resort and a gateway town on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has been designated as a Conservation area.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110503123535im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/f8/3c/36a3b60f56a054d0f9995d8e8d8a_thumb.jpg "Sidmouth (pronounced /ˈsɪdməθ/) is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, 15 miles (24 km) south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65.[1]. The town is a tourist resort and a gateway town on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has been designated as a Conservation area.")
