• Brass band
• Brassed Off
• British Coal
• Channel 4
• Channel Four Films
• Chumbawamba
• Clog Dance (song)
• Colliery
• Colonel Bogey March
• Danny Boy
• Dearne Valley
• Edward Elgar
• European Union
• Ewan McGregor
• Flugelhorn
• Gioachino Rossini
• Grimethorpe
• Hemsworth
• Hope
• Hope Springs (film)
• Hubert Parry
• Jim Carter (actor)
• Joaquín Rodrigo
• John Major
• John Marcangelo
• Kenneth Alford
• Layoff
• Little Voice (film)
• London
• Margaret Thatcher
• Mark Herman
• Melanie Hill
• Michael Heseltine
• Mining
• Miramax Films
• National Coal Board
• Percy Grainger
• Pete Postlethwaite
• Peter Gunn (actor)
• Peter Martin (actor)
• Pneumoconiosis
• Prominent Films
• Purely Belter
• Robert Browne Hall
• Royal Albert Hall
• South Yorkshire
• Stephen Tompkinson
• Strikebreaker
• Sue Johnston
• Tara Fitzgerald
• Template Mark Herman
• The Floral Dance
• The Guardian
• Trade union
• Tubthumper
• United Kingdom
• William Henry Monk
• 
  

• 
  Dearne Valley
  Coordinates: 53°30′N 1°13′W / 53.5°N 1.217°W / 53.5; -1.217 The Dearne Valley is an area of South Yorkshire along the River Dearne. It encompasses the towns of Wombwell, Wath-upon-Dearne, Swinton, Conisbrough and Mexborough, the large villages of Ardsley, Bolton on Dearne, Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe, Darfield, Stairfoot and Brampton Bierlow, and many other smaller villages and hamlets.
  In 1995 the area became a regeneration area, as it had suffered much from the sudden decline of the deep coal mining industry in the 1980s. In the 2001 census the ONS-identified Dearne Valley urban area had a population of 207,726, however this region includes Barnsley and certain other smaller towns and villages that might not historically have considered themselves a part of the Dearne Valley.
  Many high-grade coal seams, including the prolific Barnsley seam, lie close to the surface in this area. This meant that by far the most prevalent industry in the area was deep coal mining, indeed much of the economic activity of the region was either directly related to, or reliant on this industry. It was home to the Oaks viaduct, the largest man-made rail bridge in Britain until its demolition in 1965.
  
  wn.com/Dearne_Valley
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  Grimethorpe
  Coordinates: 53°34′N 1°23′W / 53.57°N 1.38°W / 53.57; -1.38
  Grimethorpe is a large village which is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,873. It is believed that the name Grimethorpe originates from "Grim's Torp", a mixture of Anglo-Saxon and Viking names, meaning a torp or hamlet owned by a Viking named Grimey.
  It is located to the east of Barnsley and the south of Hemsworth; until the local government reorganisation of 1974, it was part of both the Hemsworth district and constituency.
  The 1981 census recorded 44% of Grimethorpe workers as miners. The two pits in the village were called 'Grimethorpe' and 'Ferrymoor'. The latter merged with 'Riddings' in 1967, which in turn merged with 'South Kirkby' in 1985. Grimethorpe colliery was one of the deepest pits in Britain and, following similar mergers with 'Houghton Main' and 'Dearne Valley', employed 6,000 men at the time of the closure in May 1993. During mid-October of the UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985), there was a series of riots in Grimethorpe and local residents complained that the policing was too heavy-handed. Relations between the community and the police remained very cold for the next decade.
  
  wn.com/Grimethorpe
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  Hemsworth
  Coordinates: 53°36′36″N 1°21′00″W / 53.610°N 1.350°W / 53.610; -1.350
  Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311.
  It was a one-industry town, where coal mining employed the vast majority of residents, and the closure of the pits during the 1980s led to huge levels of unemployment and deprivation in the area. Hemsworth, along with nearby villages such as Ackworth, Fitzwilliam, Havercroft, Ryhill, South Elmsall and South Kirkby was made into a special regeneration area, and fortunes have improved as a result.
  The Hemsworth constituency is famous for being the place where Labour votes were said to be "weighed rather than counted" during the 1960s and 1970s, but the town is not even so heavily Labour-voting as it once was. The town's Member of Parliament is Jon Trickett, a former leader of Leeds council.
  In May, 2005, the Office for National Statistics estimated that unemployment in Hemsworth was just 2.8%. This marks progress from periods in the previous two decades when it could reach as high as 50%.
  
  wn.com/Hemsworth
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  London
  London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
  London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
  
  wn.com/London
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  Royal Albert Hall
  The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941.
  Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from several performance genres have appeared on its stage and it has become one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. Each year it hosts more than 350 events including classical concerts, rock and pop, ballet and opera, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets.
  The hall was originally supposed to have been called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences, but the name was changed by Queen Victoria to Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences when laying the foundation stone as a dedication to her deceased husband and consort Prince Albert. It forms the practical part of a national memorial to the Prince Consort – the decorative part is the Albert Memorial directly to the north in Kensington Gardens, now separated from the Hall by the road Kensington Gore.
  
  wn.com/Royal_Albert_Hall
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  South Yorkshire
  South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield. South Yorkshire was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.
  Lying on the east side of the Pennines, South Yorkshire is landlocked, and borders Derbyshire (to the south-west), West Yorkshire (to the northwest), North Yorkshire (to the north), the East Riding of Yorkshire (to the northeast), Lincolnshire (to the east) and Nottinghamshire (to the southeast). The Sheffield Urban Area is the ninth most populous conurbation in the UK, and dominates the western half of South Yorkshire with over half of the county's population living within it.
  South Yorkshire County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authority areas; however, the metropolitan county, which is some 1,552 square kilometres (599 sq mi), continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference. As a ceremonial county, South Yorkshire has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff.
  
  wn.com/South_Yorkshire
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  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom

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  Chumbawamba
  Chumbawamba are a British alternative music band who have, over a career spanning three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music. Their anarchist politics exhibit an irreverent attitude toward authority, and the band have been forthright in their stances on issues including animal rights, pacifism (early in their career) and later regarding class struggle, feminism, gay liberation, pop culture and anti-fascism.
  The band are best known for their song "Tubthumping". Other singles have included "Amnesia", "Enough Is Enough" (with MC Fusion), "Timebomb", "Top of the World (Ole, Ole, Ole)", and most recently, "Add Me".
  
  wn.com/Chumbawamba
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  Edward Elgar
  Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.
  Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. The first of his Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901) is well known in the English-speaking world.
  
  wn.com/Edward_Elgar
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  Ewan McGregor
  Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor who has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. He is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996), Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001), and storyteller Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003). He has also received critical acclaim for his starring roles in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–07) and Othello (2007–08). McGregor was ranked No. 36 on Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997.
  Born in the Royal Infirmary in Perth, Scotland, McGregor was brought up in the nearby small town of Crieff, where he attended the independent Morrison's Academy. His mother, Carole Diane (née Lawson), is a teacher and school administrator, and his father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a physical education teacher. He has an older brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and the late actress Sheila Gish, and the step-cousin of the late actress Lou Gish. McGregor studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
  
  wn.com/Ewan_McGregor
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  Gioachino Rossini
  Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni] (Giovacchino Antonio Rossini in the baptismal certificate) (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart". Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history.
  Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born into a family of musicians in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy which was then part of the Papal States. His father, Giuseppe, was a horn player and inspector of slaughterhouses. His mother, Anna, was a singer and a baker's daughter. Rossini's parents began his musical training early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father's musical group.
  
  wn.com/Gioachino_Rossini
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  Hubert Parry
  Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 – 7 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.
  Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". He was director of the Royal College of Music from 1895 until his death and was also professor of music at the University of Oxford from 1900 to 1908. He also wrote several books about music and music history. Some contemporaries rated him as the finest English composer since Henry Purcell, but his academic duties prevented him from devoting all his energies to composition.
  Parry was born in Bournemouth, the youngest of six children of Thomas Gambier Parry (1816–1888) of Highnam Court, Gloucestershire, a painter, art collector and inventor of the "spirit fresco" process, and his first wife, Isabella née Fynes-Clinton (1816–1848). Three of their children died in infancy, and Isabella Parry died twelve days after the birth of her sixth child. Parry grew up at Highnam Court with his surviving siblings, (Charles) Clinton and Lucy. Thomas Parry remarried in 1851, and had a further six children.
  
  wn.com/Hubert_Parry
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  Joaquín Rodrigo
  Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez (November 22, 1901 – July 6, 1999), commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of nationalist music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success. Rodrigo's music counts among some of the most popular of the 20th century, particularly his Concierto de Aranjuez, considered one of the pinnacles of the Spanish music and guitar concerto repertoire.
  He was born in Sagunto, Valencia, and almost completely lost his sight at the age of three after contracting diphtheria. He began to study solfège, piano and violin at the age of eight; harmony and composition from the age of sixteen. Although distinguished by having raised the Spanish guitar to dignity as a universal concert instrument and best known for his guitar music, he never mastered the instrument himself. He wrote his compositions in Braille, which was transcribed for publication.
  Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro. His first published compositions date from 1940. In 1943 he received Spain's National Prize for Orchestra for Cinco piezas infantiles ("Five Children's Pieces"), based on his earlier composition of the same piece for two pianos, premiered by Ricardo Viñes. From 1947 Rodrigo was a professor of music history, holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid.
  
  wn.com/Joaquín_Rodrigo
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  John Major
  Sir John Major, KG, CH, PC, ACIB (born 29 March 1943) is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He held the posts of Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 to 2001.
  Despite Thatcher's "notorious" assertion that "she expected to continue in control as a backseat driver," Major's mild and consensual style was seen as complete contrast to Thatcher's forceful and confrontational manner. Early in his term, he presided over British participation in the First Gulf War (March 1991) and negotiated "Game, Set and Match for Britain" at the Maastricht Treaty (December 1991). Despite the British economy then being in recession he led the Conservatives to a fourth consecutive election victory, winning the most votes in British electoral history in the 1992 general election, albeit with a much reduced majority in the House of Commons. He is to date, the last Conservative leader to win an outright majority in a general election.
  
  wn.com/John_Major
• John Marcangelo
  John Marcangelo (born 1950, Whitehaven, Cumberland) is an English pianist, drummer and composer of folk-rock music.
  He comes from The Valley in Whitehaven in Cumberland. He went to St Begh's Catholic School (now a junior school) on Coach Road in Whitehaven. He is the son of an Italian barber. He started his life in music with a band called The Invaders in Cumberland, after leaving school, when earlier intending to go to Carlisle Art College. He later went to Leeds College of Music and trained as a classical musician (pianist and percussionist) where he met the violinsist Mik Kaminski.
  After leaving college in Leeds, he went to London with Mik and drummer John Hodgson with their band called Cow, where John played keyboard. He worked as a session musician and also in orchestra pits for musicals such as Hair. Mik Kaminski then joined ELO in 1973. He found a new musical partner in the composer Cornelius Cardew in their band called People's Liberation Music, with Vicky Silva as singer. Together they worked with the opera singer Jane Manning and toured the world, recording the first music concert for the BBC World Service in communist China. Cornelius was killed in a hit and run accident in 1981. He was asked by Mik Kaminski to record an album with Violinski, and got another Cumbrian musician, Barry (Baz) Dunnery a guitarist from Egremont, to join them. From the album No Cause for Alarm, recorded at the Musicland Studios in Munich, came John's most well known composition, "Clog Dance" reaching number 17 in March 1979. He then went on a European tour with Violinski and also contributed to their second and final album Stop Cloning About. He has worked on cruise ships, first on the QE2 as a drummer with the Ronnie Carroll Orchestra, and has since performed on many cruises with his wife Cathy as the Celeste Trio with keyboard player Dave Taylor from Distington.
  
  wn.com/John_Marcangelo
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  Margaret Thatcher
  Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS, née Roberts (born 13 October 1925) is a British politician and the longest-serving (1979–1990) British prime minister of the 20th century, and the only woman ever to have held the post. A Soviet journalist nicknamed her the "Iron Lady", which later became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As prime minister, she implemented conservative policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.
  Originally a research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975 Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition, as well as the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. She became prime minister after winning the 1979 general election.
  After entering 10 Downing Street, Thatcher introduced a series of political and economic initiatives to reverse what she perceived as Britain's precipitous national decline. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Thatcher's popularity during her first years in office waned amid recession and high unemployment, until economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her re-election in 1983. Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987, but her Community Charge (popularly referred to as "poll tax") was widely unpopular and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership.
  
  wn.com/Margaret_Thatcher
• Mark Herman
  Mark Herman (born 1954 in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England) is an English film director and screenwriter best known for writing & directing the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
  Mark Herman was educated at Woodleigh School, North Yorkshire. He was late entering the film industry. Aged 27 he was drawing cartoons at art college before becoming involved in drama when he began studying film at Leeds Polytechnic, now Leeds Metropolitan University. He then trained as an animator at the National Film School in London.
  He moved away from animation and continued to study directing. He also wrote lyrics under the name "M. Henry Herman" for The Christians on the Christians' first album, The Christians, with Henry Priestman, a schoolmate from Woodleigh School, North Yorkshire.
  Herman’s first feature-length project was Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), a comedy of mistaken identity starring Dudley Moore and Bryan Brown.
  Next, Herman wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Brassed Off (1996), following the members of a colliery brass band, still struggling to survive a decade after the miners' strike.
  
  wn.com/Mark_Herman
• Melanie Hill
  Melanie Hill (born 11 January 1962) is an English actress from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
  Hill attended RADA in London where she won the Vanburgh award.
  Hill replaced Gilly Coman as the character of Aveline in the last two series' of Carla Lane's BBC television sitcom Bread. She has also appeared in such programmes as The Bill playing Marie Carver (née Graham), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet playing Hazel Redfern, Hot Money playing Liz Hoodless, Juliet Bravo playing Jean Simpson, Emmerdale playing Avril Kent and Cape Wrath playing Brenda Ogilvie.
  On 17 March 2009, she featured in an episode of Holby City, a medical drama broadcast weekly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. This became a recurring role, as the actress appeared in subsequent episodes, following a story arc relating to the death of her on-screen husband. She also appeared in a episode of The Thick of It in series 3 episode 3.
  In April 2011, she appeared in the BBC television comedy drama series Candy Cabs and in November, appeared in the fantasy series "Merlin" as Mary Howden. In April that year, she also appeared as Cissie Charlton, mother of footballers Jack and Bobby Charlton, in the BBC drama United, which was centred around the 1958 Munich air disaster involving Manchester United and in which Cissie's younger son Bobby was involved but survived.
  
  wn.com/Melanie_Hill
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  Michael Heseltine
  Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC (born 21 March 1933) is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. In 1990, he stood for leadership of the Conservative Party against Margaret Thatcher, and whilst he was unsuccessful, this triggered Thatcher's eventual resignation.
  A self-made millionaire, Heseltine entered parliament in 1966, entered the Cabinet in 1979 as Secretary of State for the Environment, and was Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 to 1986. In the latter role, he was instrumental in the political battle against the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Heseltine was widely considered an adept media performer and charismatic Minister, although frequently at odds with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1986 over the Westland Affair and returned to the backbenches. Following Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech in November 1990, Heseltine challenged the incumbent Margaret Thatcher for the leadership of the Conservative Party, polling well enough to deny her an outright victory on the first ballot. Following her resignation in a dramatic Tory "palace coup", Heseltine returned to the Cabinet under her successor John Major.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Heseltine
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  Percy Grainger
  George Percy Aldridge Grainger (8 July 1882 – 20 February 1961), known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many adaptations of other composers' works. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens".
  Grainger left Australia at the age of 13 to attend the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. Between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer and collector of original folk melodies. As his reputation grew he met many of the significant figures in European music, forming important friendships with Frederick Delius and Edvard Grieg. He became a champion of Nordic music and culture, his enthusiasm for which he often expressed in private letters in explicitly racist and anti-Semitic terms.
  
  wn.com/Percy_Grainger
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  Pete Postlethwaite
  Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, ( /ˈpɒsəlθweɪt/; 7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English stage, film and television actor.
  After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr. Kobayashi, in The Usual Suspects, and he appeared in Alien 3, In the Name of the Father, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, The Age of Stupid, Inception, The Town, Romeo + Juliet and Æon Flux. In television, Postlethwaite's most notable performance was as the villain Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in the Sharpe television series and television films opposite actor Sean Bean's character of Richard Sharpe.
  Postlethwaite was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England in 1946. He trained as a teacher and taught drama before training as an actor. Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993, and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year Honours list. He died of pancreatic cancer on 2 January 2011.
  
  wn.com/Pete_Postlethwaite
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  Robert Browne Hall
  Robert Browne Hall (30 June 1858 – 8 June 1907), usually known as R. B. Hall, was a leading composer of marches and other music for brass bands. A principal American composer of marching music, he was born in Bowdoinham, Maine and seldom left his native state during his lifetime, dying in Portland. His music though has traveled around the world. He is particularly popular in the United Kingdom, so much so that many lovers of brass band music there mistakenly imagine that Hall is an English composer. His celebrated march "Death or Glory", written in 1895 and dedicated to the Tenth Regiment Band in Albany, New York, is a well-known staple of brass band concerts and competitions all over the UK.
  Hall was famous during his lifetime as a particularly fine player on the cornet and served for a time as conductor of the Bangor Band. As soloist, conductor, composer and teacher, Hall is still remembered in Maine. The last Saturday in June every year is officially Robert Browne Hall Day in the State of Maine.
  
  wn.com/Robert_Browne_Hall
• Stephen Tompkinson
  Stephen Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor. He is best known for his work in comedy and drama productions such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Ballykissangel, Grafters, In Deep, Wild at Heart and DCI Banks.
  Tompkinson was born in Stockton-on-Tees on 15 October 1965. He grew up in Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire and attending St. Bede's Catholic High School, Lytham, Lancashire and St Mary's Sixth Form, Blackpool. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
  Tompkinson first came to prominence with the role of the courageous but unethical reporter Damien Day in the satirical comedy Drop The Dead Donkey from 1990 to 1998. He has since starred in the film Brassed Off, appeared in Chancer with Clive Owen, teamed up with Nick Berry in crime-solving drama In Deep and acted alongside Robson Green in two series of Grafters in 1998. As well as starring in other television dramas, such as All Quiet on the Preston Front he has also appeared regularly on stage. in 1999 he starred in the Flint Street Nativity which first aired in Liverpool.
  
  wn.com/Stephen_Tompkinson
• Sue Johnston
  Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE (born, 7 December 1943) is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside (1982–90), Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family from 1998. In 2012, Johnston will appear in soap opera Coronation Street as Gloria Price, the mother of character Stella Price (Michelle Collins).
  Johnston was born in Warrington, Cheshire, and grew up in Prescot, Lancashire. She was educated at Whiston Infants School, Eccleston Park Junior School and Prescot and Huyton Grammar School for Girls which she left aged 17 after one year of her A-level course, having decided to become an actress.
  After working as a Higher Grade tax inspector, when her boyfriend was one of the pop group the Swinging Blue Jeans, she worked for Brian Epstein. From the age of 21, Johnston attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
  From 1982 to 1990, she appeared as Sheila Grant in the soap opera Brookside. She appeared in the show's first ever episode on 2 November 1982 - aired on the day that Channel 4 went on air - and her last episode was aired in September 1990, when the character was written out of the series following her divorce from Bobby Grant (Ricky Tomlinson) and re-marriage to Billy Corkhill (John McArdle).
  
  wn.com/Sue_Johnston
• Tara Fitzgerald
  Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald (born 18 September 1967) is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage.
  Fitzgerald won the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia opposite Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St. Columb in Frenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald’s most recent role has been in the West End production of The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre with Damian Lewis and Keira Knightley, and in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television series Waking The Dead.
  Tara Fitzgerald was born in Cuckfield, West Sussex to Irish portrait photographer Sarah Geraldine Fitzgerald and English artist Michael Callaby. When she was still a child her family moved to Freeport, Bahamas, where her grandfather, David Fitzgerald, practised law. Returning to England, her parents divorced when she was three. She and her mother lived in a basement flat off the Old Brompton Road in Kensington. When Tara was six, her mother married Irish actor Norman Rodway and the family began several years of journeying across Britain and Ireland.
  
  wn.com/Tara_Fitzgerald
• William Henry Monk
  Known in his day as an organist, church musician, and music editor, William Henry Monk (16 March 1823 – 18 March 1889) composed popular hymn tunes, including one of the most famous, "Eventide", used for the hymn "Abide with Me". He also wrote music for church services and anthems.
  William Henry Monk was born in London on 16 March 1823. His youth is not well-documented, but it seems that he developed quickly on the keyboard, but perhaps less so in composition.
  By age 18, Monk was organist at St Peter's Church, Eaton Square (Central London). He left after two years, and moved onto two more organist posts in London (St. George's Church, Albemarle Street, and St. Paul's Church, Portman Square), each also for two years and each serving as a stepping stone toward fostering his musical ambitions.
  In 1847, Monk secured the post of choirmaster at King's College, London. There he would develop an interest in incorporating plainchant into Anglican service, an idea suggested by William Dyce, a King's College professor with whom Monk had much contact. In 1849, Monk also became organist at King's College.
  
  wn.com/William_Henry_Monk

Brassed Off (1997)

Actors

• Pete Postlethwaite
• Stephen Tompkinson
• Jim Carter
• Philip Jackson
• Peter Martin
• Sue Johnston
• Mary Healey
• Lill Roughley
• Melanie Hill
• Peter Gunn
• Stephen Moore
• Kenneth Colley
• Olga Grahame
• Toni Garlacki
• Sky Ingram

Director

• Mark Herman

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001