Crufts is an annual international Championship conformation show for dogs organised and hosted by the Kennel Club, currently held every March at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, England. It is the largest annual dog show in the world, as declared by Guinness World Records, and lasts four days.

Crufts consists of several competitions occurring at the same time. The main competition is for the Best in Show award, which is hotly contested by dogs and their owners throughout the world.

History

Crufts was named after its founder, Charles Cruft, who worked as general manager for a dog biscuit manufacturer, travelling to dog shows both in the United Kingdom and internationally, which allowed him to establish contacts and understand the need for higher standards for dog shows. In 1886, Cruft's first dog show, billed as the "First Great Terrier Show", had 57 classes and 600 entries. The first show named "Crufts"—"Cruft's Greatest Dog Show"—was held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, in 1891. It was the first at which all breeds were invited to compete, with around 2,000 dogs and almost 2,500 entries.

With the close of the 19th century, entries had risen to over 3,000, including royal patronage from various European countries and Russia. The show continued annually and gained popularity each year until Charles' death in 1938. His widow ran the show for four years until she felt unable to do so due to its high demands of time and effort. To ensure the future and reputation of the show (and, of course, her husband's work), she sold it to The Kennel Club.

In 1936, "The Jubilee Show" had 10,650 entries with the number of breeds totalling 80. The 1948 show was the first to be held under the new owner and was held at Olympia in London, where it continued to gain popularity with each passing year. The first Obedience Championships were held in 1955. In 1959, despite an increase in entrance fees, the show set a new world record with 13,211 entrants. By 1979, the show had to be moved to Earls Court exhibition centre as the increasing amount of entries and spectators had outgrown the capacity of its previous venue. Soon, the show had to be changed again—the duration had to be increased to three days in 1982, then again in 1987 to four days as the popularity continued to increase. Since 1991, the show has been held in the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, the first time the show had moved out of London since its inception.

It was also at the Centenary celebrations in 1991 that Crufts was officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest dog show with 22,973 dogs being exhibited in conformation classes that year. Including agility and other events, it is estimated that an average 28,000 dogs take part in Crufts each year, with an estimated 160,000 human visitors attending the show.

Competing for Best in Show

Crufts is not an open competition; dogs must have qualified throughout the previous year by successfully competing (gaining a top-3 place in their class) at a Kennel Club licensed Championship show where Challenge Certificates are awarded. Dogs can become qualified for life upon attaining their Kennel Club Stud Book Number.

Dogs compete in hierarchical fashion. Dogs begin by competing against others of the same breed, split by gender, age and previous class wins. These classes include Veteran, Special Puppy, Special Junior, Yearling, Post Graduate, Mid Limit, Limit, and Open. Each is awarded once for dogs and once for bitches. The dog and bitch class winners then compete again for the Dog and Bitch Challenge Certificate (CC). The two CC winners then go head-to-head to determine the Best of Breed.

After the best of each breed has been chosen, they then compete against the others in their Group (in the UK, there are seven Groups: Toys, Gundogs, Utility, Hounds, Working, Pastoral, and Terriers) to find the Best in Group. The seven Group winners then compete to find the Best in Show and Reserve Best in Show.

Best in Show winners receive a replica of the solid silver Keddall Memorial Trophy, and a small cash prize of £100.

Best in Show champions (last 10 years)

Other competitions

Another competition is the dog agility competition, where the dogs undergo a time trial, where they must manoeuvre, with the guidance of their owners, through, over, and around different obstacles. Any mistake made by the dog is penalised by adding time to their result. Dogs must qualify during the preceding year to compete in individual or team events, although representative handlers and dogs from England, Wales and Scotland are invited to compete in the International competitions.

Next is the obedience competition, now held in its own 'Obedience Arena'. Dogs qualify by being successful at shows during the preceding year to compete in the Dog and Bitch UK Obedience Championships, UK Inter-Regional Team Competition and the crowd's favourite, the Obedience World Cup. The prizes are awarded to the most obedient dog according to the judges after they have undergone various demanding activities, such as off lead heelwork at different paces, distance control, retrieve, send away, stays and scent discrimination.

The Flyball competition is a relay-style race. Teams of four dogs compete against each other in a knock-out competition. Each dog jumps a series of four hurdles, and then steps on a box, which is rigged to release a ball. The dog must then return the ball to the start of the course to tag one of its team, who then repeats this process until all the dogs have finished. Teams must qualify during the preceding year.

Crufts also holds a musical canine freestyle competition, also called heelwork to music in the UK.

The Young Kennel Club (YKC) also has its own ring and stand where handlers aged between 6 and 25 compete in Agility, Obedience, Showing, Handling, Heelwork to Music, Flyball, and Grooming. Handlers and dogs must qualify in their discipline during the preceding year.

Crufts hosts the World Champion Junior Handling competition in which National Best Junior Handler winners from around the globe compete for this esteemed title. Since there is a quarantine to the import of foreign dogs, many competitors must "borrow" dogs from gracious British show enthusiasts. The first World title competition, held in 1984, was judged by Ger Pederson. The winner of this premiere competition was US representative Tracie Laliberte who had won Westminster Kennel Club in 1983. A unique feature of this first competition was the requirement of switching dogs mid-way through the competition.

Other attractions

Crufts drew 160,000 visitors to the NEC in 2008. While the main purpose of the event is the search for the best dog in the show, many trade stands sell a wide range of dog-related merchandise, or advertise dog-related charities. There is also a section known as Discover Dogs where visitors can see almost every breed recognised by the Kennel Club on view, and discuss each breed with knowledgeable owners.

Crufts also holds special shows and demonstrations, where specially trained dogs may perform in front of an audience.

In 2010 The Kennel Club released Crufts Vintage iPhone app, with more than 100 vintage photographs from the Kennel Club archives, available for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices.

Crossbreeds

As the Kennel Club also registers crossbreeds, Crufts also hosts many competitions and displays for crossbreeds. They mainly compete in agility, obedience and heelwork to music competitions. The popularity of Crufts and the interest of dog owners who do not own purebreeds convinced the Kennel Club to hold Scruffts, a show similar to Crufts for crossbreed dogs.

Criticism

The Kennel Club was criticised on the BBC programme Pedigree Dogs Exposed for allowing breed standards, judging standards and breeding practices which are said to compromise the health of purebred dogs. The programme led to various sponsors such as Hill's Pet Nutrition, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Dogs Trust to withdraw their participation in Crufts and other Kennel Club events. The BBC eventually dropped Crufts 2009 from their coverage after being unable to agree to terms with the Kennel Club. It was reported that Pedigree Petfoods withdrew from sponsorship of Crufts following this programme, but their announcement was made well in advance of the broadcast and for financial reasons.

The Kennel Club initially defended their practices, and criticised the program as "highly biased". It also lodged a complaint to regulatory authority Ofcom claiming "unfair treatment and editing".

Due to the strong public response, the Kennel Club started rolling out new health plans. Breed standards for every breed went under review and show judges would be required to choose only healthy dogs. It has also requested regulatory powers from the Government, which would allow the club to take actions against breeders who do not comply with health standards. Bans on close inbreeding is set to take effect on March 1. New breed standards for 209 dog species were announced in January 2009, and are to be effective immediately, but with breeders allowed until June to object. The new standards will "not include anything that could in any way be interpreted as encouraging features that might prevent a dog from breathing, walking and seeing freely." "This will help to prevent the practice of exaggeration, where features that are perceived to be desirable, such as a short muzzle or loose skin, are made more prominent by breeders, and which can have detrimental effects on a dog’s health."

See also

Breed Groups (dog)

Catwalk Dogs

Cultural icon

List of cultural icons of England

World Dog Show

Supreme Cat Show

References

External links

Crufts Website

Crufts history

Images from Crufts 2009 and Best in Show winner photos from 1928 onwards

Crufts YouTube channel

ObedienceUK

45-minute TV programme about Crufts 2009

An idiots guide to Crufts

Crufts Vintage iPhone App Official Website

Category:1886 establishments Category:British culture Crufts (dog show) Category:Crufts

Name	Richard Curtis
Caption	Richard Curtis in London, 1999
Birth name	Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis
Birth date	November 08, 1958
Birth place	Wellington, New Zealand
Alma mater	Harrow Christ Church, Oxford
Education	English Language and Literature
Nationality	British
Occupation	Screenwriter, producer, actor, film director, music producer
Spouse	Emma Freud (partner)

Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE (born 8 November 1958) is New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, and Love Actually, as well as the hit sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. He is also the founder of the British charity Comic Relief.

Early life

Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Glyness S. and Anthony J. Curtis, who was an executive at Unilever. Curtis and his family lived in several different countries during his childhood, including Sweden and the Philippines. Part of the family still lives in Sydney, Australia. Curtis has lived in England since he was 11. He began school at Papplewick School, Ascot (as did his younger brother; Jamie), before he won a scholarship to Harrow, where he was head of school. He achieved a first-class degree in English Language and Literature at Christ Church, Oxford, and it was at Oxford that he met, and began working with, Rowan Atkinson.

Early writing career

Curtis was the co-writer with Philip Pope of the Hee Bee Gee Bees' single "Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)" released in 1980 to parody the style of a series of Bee Gees' disco hits. He then began to write comedy for film and TV. He was a regular writer on the TV series Not the Nine O'Clock News, where he wrote many of the show's songs with Howard Goodall and many sketches, often with Rowan Atkinson. First with Atkinson, and later with Ben Elton, Curtis then wrote the Blackadder series from 1983 to 1989, each season focusing upon a different era in British history. Atkinson played the lead throughout, but Curtis remains the only person to have been a writer for every episode of Blackadder. The pair continued their collaboration with the comedy series Mr. Bean. which ran from 1990-1995.

Curtis had by then already begun writing feature films. His first was The Tall Guy in 1989. The romantic comedy starred Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson and was produced by Working Title films. The TV movie Bernard and the Genie followed in 1991.

In 1994, Curtis created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French, which was a great success. In an online poll conducted in 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom, The Vicar of Dibley was voted the third best sitcom in British history and Blackadder the second, making Curtis the only screenwriter to have created two shows within the poll's top ten programmes.

Film career

Curtis achieved his breakthrough success with the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral. The 1994 film, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was produced on a limited budget by the British production company Working Title Films. Four Weddings and a Funeral proved to be the biggest grossing British film in history at that time. It made an international star of Grant, and Curtis' Oscar nomination for the script catapulted him to prominence but Richard Curtis lost to Quentin Tarantino's script for Pulp Fiction. The film was nominated for Best Picture but lost to Forrest Gump.

Curtis' next film was also for Working Title, which has remained his artistic home ever since. 1999's Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, broke the record set by Four Weddings and a Funeral to become the top-grossing British film of all time. The story of a lonely travel bookstore owner who falls in love with the world's most famous movie star was directed by Roger Michell.

Curtis' next film for Working Title was not an original script. Instead, he was heavily involved with the adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary from novel to film. Curtis knew the novel's writer Helen Fielding. Indeed, he has credited her with saying that his original script for Four Weddings and a Funeral was too upbeat and needed the addition of a funeral. He is credited on Bridget Jones's Diary as co-writer.

Two years later Curtis re-teamed with Working Title to write and direct Love Actually. Curtis has said in interviews that his favorite film is Robert Altman's Nashville and the sprawling, multi-character structure of Love Actually certainly seems to owe something to Altman. The film featured a who's who of British actors, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Keira Knightley, in a loosely connected series of stories about people in and out of love in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Curtis then wrote the screenplay to The Girl in the Café, a television film directed by David Yates and produced by the BBC and HBO as part of the Make Poverty History campaign's Live 8 efforts in 2005. The film stars Bill Nighy as a civil servant and Kelly Macdonald as a young woman with whom he falls in love while at a G8 summit in Iceland. Macdonald's character pushes him to ask whether the developed countries of the world cannot do more to help the most impoverished. The film was timed to air just before the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 and received three Emmy Awards in 2006 including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Kelly Macdonald, and an Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special trophy for Curtis himself.

In May 2007 he received the BAFTA Fellowship at the British Academy Television Awards in recognition of his successful career in film and television and his charity efforts.

Curtis cowrote with Anthony Minghella an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which Minghella shot in mid-2007 in Botswana. It premiered on the BBC on 23 March 2008, just days after Minghella's death. The film did not run in the US until early 2009, when HBO aired it as the pilot of a resulting six-episode TV series with the same cast, on which Curtis served as Executive Producer.

His second film as writer/director, The Boat That Rocked, was released in 2009. The film was set in 1966 in the era of British pirate radio. It followed a group of DJs on a pirate radio station run from a boat in the North Sea. The film starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, Gemma Arterton and Kenneth Branagh. The film was a commercial and critical disappointment in the UK. Curtis re-edited the film for its US release where it was re-titled Pirate Radio.

Campaigning

Curtis was a founder of both Comic Relief and Make Poverty History. He organised the Live 8 concerts with Bob Geldof to publicise poverty, particularly in Africa, and pressure G8 leaders to adopt his proposals for ending it.

He talked the producer of American Idol into doing a show whereby celebrities journey into Africa and experience the level of poverty for themselves. The show was called .

Controversy

In October 2010, a short film created by Curtis entitled No Pressure was released by the 10:10 campaign in Britain to promote climate change politics. However, the video was swiftly removed from the organization's website following a storm of protest over the poor taste of its gory violence and sinister overtones. The film depicted a series of scenes in which people - including school-children - were asked if they were going to participate in 10:10 campaign. Those who indicated they weren't planning to do so were told "no pressure" and then blown up at the press of a red button.

Personal life

Curtis lives in Notting Hill and has a country house in Walberswick, Suffolk - the same village in which former BBC1 controller Peter Fincham has a weekend retreat - with script editor and broadcaster Emma Freud. Their children are: daughter Scarlett Rachel Anne, and sons, James William and Charlie Spike. They have another country retreat in Henley, Oxfordshire.

Filmography

Motion pictures

The Tall Guy (1989) (Writer)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) (Writer/Co-Executive Producer)

Bean (1997) (Writer/Executive Producer)

Notting Hill (1999) (Writer/Producer)

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) (Writer)

Love Actually (2003) (Director/Writer)

(2004) (Writer)

Sixty Six (2006) (Executive Producer)

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) (Executive Producer)

The Boat That Rocked (2009) (Director/Writer/Producer) (titled Pirate Radio in the USA)

War Horse (2011) (Writer)

Television

Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–82) (Writer)

Blackadder (Writer)

Spitting Image (1984–85) (Writer)

Bernard and the Genie (1991) (Writer)

Mr. Bean (1990–1995) (Writer)

The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007) (Writer/Co-Executive Producer)

Robbie the Reindeer (Writer)

The Girl in the Café (2005) (Writer/Executive Producer)

Casualty (2007) (Writer - 1 Episode)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) (Writer/Executive Producer)

Doctor Who (2010) (Writer - 1 Episode: Vincent and the Doctor)

See also

Comic Relief

Live 8

Skinhead Hamlet

No Pressure

References

External links

BBC Comedy Guide entry

Richard Curtis interview at the Latitude Festival, BAFTA webcast, July 2007

Hollywood.com entry

Interview with Richard Curtis by Laurie Taylor in New Humanist magazine

Stars pay tribute to Richard Curtis in a BAFTA video

10:10 Video

Category:1956 births Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:English film directors Category:English screenwriters Category:English television writers Category:People from Wellington City Category:Living people Category:Old Harrovians Category:People from Walberswick Category:New Zealand immigrants to the United Kingdom

Name	Peter Purves
Caption	Peter Purves at The Television & Movie Store, Norwich, England, on 28 March 2009.
Birthdate	February 10, 1939
Birthplace	Preston, Lancashire, England
Spouse	Kathryn Evans
Website	http://www.peterpurves.com
Occupation	Actor and Television presenter

Peter Purves (born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor.

Purves was born in New Longton, near Preston, Lancashire, England, and was educated at the independent Arnold School in Blackpool, he had originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began to act with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company instead. He also attended Manchester Polytechnic.

Doctor Who

He first became known to television audiences in the mid-1960s as Steven Taylor, one of the early time-travelling companions in the programme Doctor Who, when the Doctor was played by William Hartnell. After leaving Doctor Who, Purves became a regular presenter on the children's magazine programme Blue Peter from 1967 to 1978. Purves maintained his connection to Doctor Who throughout his time on Blue Peter, often hosting special features on the programme and interviewing the actors. These included many clips from episodes which are otherwise now lost.

Blue Peter

Purves co-presented Blue Peter first with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton and then with Noakes and Lesley Judd, during the programme's so called 'golden age'. After Noakes, Purves is the second longest serving male Blue Peter presenter. He was so closely associated with the programme, "the sensible one", that he found his association difficult to shake off. Purves moved on to other jobs as a presenter including Blue Peter Special Assignment, "Stopwatch" and "We're Going Places" and then later a spell as the front man for darts events on the BBC and as presenter of the long-running BBC1 motorbike trials series Kick Start.

Other television appearances

His recent TV career has included cameo appearances in episodes of the soap opera EastEnders and sitcoms The Office and I'm Alan Partridge. In The Office episode "Training Day" Purves played himself in a customer care training video that David Brent and his staff were being shown (incidentally, Purves is a qualified business trainer and a motivational speaker).

Dogs have featured in Purves's career from his Blue Peter days. He was given charge of one of the "Blue Peter Pets", Petra, a German Shepherd cross. This led to a thirty year association with television coverage of major dog shows such as Crufts and in 2007 his appearance as a judge on the reality TV programme The Underdog Show. Purves also writes for the dog press and regularly presents at dog award shows. On 31 July 2008 he was bitten by a West Highland terrier whilst judging a dog show at a garden centre in Norwich. Purves was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where he received treatment to his hand.

In the theatre, Purves is a noted pantomime director enjoying a good working relationship with the Chuckle Brothers. He is also an after-dinner speaker.

Purves lived for a time in Bilton, and now lives in the Suffolk village of Sibton. In 2008, Valerie Singleton revealed she had had a "brief fling" with Purves.

Marking his 70th birthday, his 2009 autobiography Here's One I Wrote Earlier was released at the Kennel Club.

References

External links

Official Site

Peter Purves BBC Blue Peter

Category:Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Category:Blue Peter presenters Category:English actors Category:English atheists Category:Old Arnoldians Category:People from Barrow-in-Furness Category:People from Preston Category:1939 births Category:Living people