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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
• 
  Richmond-upon-Thames
  The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a London borough in south west London, England, which forms part of Outer London. It is unique because it is the only London borough situated both north and south of the River Thames.
  It can been seen from a map that the borough is not entirely urbanised – there are some large areas of open space within the borough boundaries, including the large urban park Richmond Park. The borough is residential and home to some of the most affluent districts of London such as Barnes, Richmond and East Sheen. The main suburban developments are Hampton and Teddington in the south, Twickenham, St Margarets and Whitton in the central area west of the River Thames, with the more central districts of Richmond, Kew, Mortlake and Barnes following the loop of the river.
  Parks take up a great deal of the borough and include Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Park. There are over 100 parks and open spaces within its boundary and 21 miles (34 km) of river frontage. 140 hectares within the borough are designated as part of the Metropolitan Green Belt.
  
  wn.com/Richmond-upon-Thames
• 
  Soho
  Coordinates: 51°30′47″N 0°07′52″W / 51.513°N 0.131°W / 51.513; -0.131
  Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.
  The area of Soho was grazing farmland until 1536, when it was taken by Henry VIII as a royal park for the Palace of Whitehall. The name "Soho" first appears in the 17th century. Most authorities believe that the name derives from a former hunting cry. The Duke of Monmouth used "soho" as a rallying call for his men at the Battle of Sedgemoor, half a century after the name was first used for this area of London.
  In the 1660s the Crown granted Soho Fields to Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans. He leased 19 of its 22 acres (89,000 m²) to Joseph Girle, who gained permission to build and promptly passed his lease and licence to bricklayer Richard Frith in 1677. Frith began the development. In 1698 William III granted the Crown freehold of most of this area to William, Earl of Portland. Meanwhile the southern part of what became the parish of St. Anne, Soho, was sold by the Crown in parcels in the 16th and 17th centuries, with part going to Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester.
  
  wn.com/Soho
• 
  Southampton
  Southampton ⁱ/saʊθˈhæmptən/ is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated 120 kilometres (75 mi) south-west of London and 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. It lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water at the confluence of the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The local authority is Southampton City Council, which is a unitary authority.
  The city represents the core of the Greater Southampton region, and the city itself has an estimated population of 239,700 Southampton combines with Portsmouth to form a single metropolitan area; with a population of over a million this makes the region one of the United Kingdom's most populous metropolitan areas. The city's name is sometimes abbreviated in writing to "So'ton" or "Soton", and a resident of Southampton is called a Sotonian.
  Significant employers in Southampton include the University of Southampton, Southampton Airport, the Ford Transit factory, Ordnance Survey, BBC South, the NHS, ABP and Carnival. Southampton is noted for its association with the RMS Titanic, the Spitfire and more recently a number of the largest cruise ships in the world.
  
  wn.com/Southampton
• 
  Teddington
  Coordinates: 51°25′27″N 0°19′56″W / 51.4242°N 0.3321°W / 51.4242; -0.3321
  Teddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park. Formerly it was in the county of Middlesex, which was formerly also its postal county.
  Teddington is mostly residential but is bisected by an almost continuous road of shops, offices and other facilities running from the river to Bushy Park. There are three clusters of offices on this route: on the river Teddington Studios and Haymarket Group form a media hub whilst on the edge of Bushy Park the NPL, NMO and LGC form a scientific centre. Around Teddington Station and the town centre are a number of offices in industries such as Direct Marketing and IT, and offices outside this axis include Tearfund. Several riverside businesses and houses were redeveloped in the last quarter of the 20th century as blocks of riverside flats. The area has been described in the national press as "leafy".
  
  wn.com/Teddington
• 
  Teddington Studios
  Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others. The complex also provides studio space for channel continuity.
  It is now part of The Pinewood Studios Group together with Pinewood and Shepperton Studios in the UK, and Pinewood Toronto Studios in Canada, Pinewood Indomina Studios in the Dominican Republic, Pinewood Studio Berlin in Germany and Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Malaysia.
  The studio began in the early 20th century as film studios when stockbroker Henry Chinnery, owner of Weir House, Teddington, allowed filmmakers to use his greenhouse as a studio. Dedicated studio facilities were then built in the 1910s. The studio was greatly expanded by a partnership of filmmaker E. G. Norman and actor Henry Edwards, and renamed Teddington Film Studios Limited in 1931.
  After only one production, Stranglehold (1931), the studio was acquired by Warner Brothers to turn out so-called "quota quickies" - British-made films which fulfilled a legal quota (created by the Cinematograph Films Act 1927) before American-made films could be shown. Warner Bros.-First National continued to make US/UK coproductions at Teddington until The Dark Tower (1943). One Teddington Studios production Murder at Monte Carlo (1934) with Errol Flynn in his first major film role, is considered a lost film.
  
  wn.com/Teddington_Studios

• 
  Adam Carolla
  Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by Guinness World Records.
  Carolla co-hosted the syndicated radio call-in program Loveline from 1995 to 2005 as well as the show's television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000. He was the co-host and co-creator of the television program The Man Show (1999–2004), and the co-creator and a regular performer on the television show Crank Yankers (2002–2007). He hosted The Adam Carolla Project, a home improvement television program which aired on TLC in 2005 and The Car Show on Speed TV in 2011.
  Carolla has also appeared on the network reality television programs Dancing with the Stars and The Celebrity Apprentice. His book, In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks, debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2010.
  Carolla was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, Jim Carolla, a psychologist of Italian heritage, and his mother, Kris (née Novello), who is of Hungarian descent, separated when Adam was young. Carolla was not given a middle name; on his driver's license application he filled the "middle name" blank with "Lakers" (after his love for the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team) and the made-up name still appears on his license.
  
  wn.com/Adam_Carolla
• 
  Anthony Burgess
  John Burgess Wilson (25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic.
  The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works. It was adapted into a highly controversial 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and Earthly Powers. He was a prominent critic, writing acclaimed studies of classic writers such as William Shakespeare, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway. In 2008, The Times placed Burgess number 17 on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Burgess was an accomplished musician and linguist. He composed over 250 musical works, including a first symphony around age 18, wrote a number of libretti, and translated, among other works, Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus the King and Carmen.
  
  wn.com/Anthony_Burgess
• 
  Ben Elton
  Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English-Australian comedian, author, playwright and director. He was at the forefront of the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV. He was a high-profile frontman of 1980s left-wing political satire. Since then he has published thirteen novels and more lately become known for writing the musical We Will Rock You (2002) and Love Never Dies (2010), the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.
  Elton was born in Catford, London, the son of Mary (Foster), an English teacher, and physicist and educational researcher Professor Lewis Elton. He is the nephew of the historian Sir G. R. Elton. Elton's father is of German Jewish descent and his mother is of English background. He studied at Stillness Junior School and Godalming Grammar School in Surrey, South Warwickshire College in Stratford-upon-Avon and the University of Manchester. Elton is married to Sophia Gare (an Australian saxophonist) and has three children (two sons and one daughter). He lives in Fremantle, Western Australia and in East Sussex, England. Elton has had dual British/Australian citizenship since 2004.
  
  wn.com/Ben_Elton
• 
  Benny Hill
  Benny Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.
  Alfred Hawthorne Hill was born in Southampton and attended Taunton's School. During World War II, he was evacuated to Bournemouth.^{[citation needed]}
  After leaving school, Hill worked at Woolworth's, as a milkman, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming assistant stage manager with a touring review. He was called up in 1942 and trained as a mechanic, but transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war. It was there that he met his future agent, Richard Stone, then a colonel.^{[citation needed]}
  Inspired by the "star comedians" of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before moving on to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Hill's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers to the role.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Benny_Hill
• 
  Boots Randolph
  Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit, "Yakety Sax" (Benny Hill's signature tune). Randolph was a major part of the "Nashville Sound" for most of his professional career.
  Randolph was born in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in Cadiz, Kentucky, attending high school in Evansville, Indiana.
  At the end of World War II, Boots Randolph played saxophone, trombone, and vibraphone in the United States Army Band. After his service in the Army, he played with Dink Welch's Kopy Kats in Decatur, Illinois from 1948-1954. He briefly resided in Louisville, Kentucky before returning to Decatur to start his own group. He left Decatur in 1957.
  During his more than forty year career, Randolph performed in hundreds of venues alongside many artists in pop, rock, jazz, and country music. He played on many recording sessions with Elvis Presley and also performed on soundtracks for a number of Presley's motion pictures.
  Mr. Randolph recorded for Monument Records in Nashville and played on Roy Orbison's 1963 hit, "Mean Woman Blues." He was also featured on "Little Queenie" by REO Speedwagon, "Java" by Al Hirt, "Turn On Your Lovelight" by Jerry Lee Lewis, and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee. Early in his career, he often billed himself as Randy Randolph.
  
  wn.com/Boots_Randolph
• 
  Borat
  Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, often referred to simply as Borat, and stylized BORДT! on the poster, is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written, produced by, and stars the English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist traveling through the United States, recording real-life interactions with Americans. Much of the movie features these unscripted vignettes of Borat interviewing and interacting with Americans, who believe he is a foreigner with little or no understanding of American customs. It is the second film built around one of Baron Cohen's three characters from Da Ali G Show (2002–2004), following Ali G Indahouse (2002), which also featured a cameo by Borat. A third entry, Brüno, was released in 2009.
  Despite a limited initial release in the United States, the satire was a critical and commercial success. Baron Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy, as Borat, while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture in the same category.Borat was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 79th Academy Awards.
  
  wn.com/Borat
• Brian Conley
  Brian Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor. At the peak of his television career, he was the highest-paid male television personality in the UK. Outside of television, he is best known for his frequent portrayals of Buttons in pantomime versions of Cinderella.
  Brian Paul Conley was born in Paddington, London. His father was a taxi driver. He was brought up in West London and studied Performing Arts at the Barbara Speake Stage School. As a teenager, Conley had a few minor television appearances, including an advert for hot dogs and a small role in a 1977 episode of the science fiction series Survivors. At the age of 16, by lying about his age, Conley started work as a Pontin's Bluecoat.
  Conley's first major show business success was fronting a comedy showband called Tomfoolery, who performed in pubs and clubs across England and Wales, sometimes as a support act for artists such as Johnny Mathis and The Nolans. Although the group broke up due to internal disputes when Conley was 19, his work with the band led to him being talent spotted by agent Bob Voice. As a result of this, Conley started working as a warm-up man for television personalities such as The Krankies, Kenny Everett and Terry Wogan.
  
  wn.com/Brian_Conley
• 
  Charlie Chaplin
  Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing them, and from 1918 he was even composing the music for them. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.
  Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent film comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the music hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin was identified with left-wing politics during the McCarthy era and he was ultimately forced to resettle in Europe from 1952.
  
  wn.com/Charlie_Chaplin
• Cherri Gilham
  Cherri Gilham (born 31 December 1954), also known as Cheryl Gilham, also known as Cherry Gilham is a former comedy actress, who was one of the first Page 3 Girls and is now a writer and musician.
  Cherri Gilham appeared often on Page 3 in the Daily Mirror and The Sun from 1972 to 1975. She worked with many of the top UK comedians in the 1970s including Benny Hill,Dick Emery, The Two Ronnies, Frankie Howard, Jimmy Tarbuck, Dave Allen, Mike Yarwood, and Bernie Winters. She was also a hostess on TV shows: Maid of the Month for several months on The Golden Shot. Sky's the Limit with Hughie Green.
  In 1972, Gilham found herself in the eye of a media storm when her fiancee, a wealthy Arab prince, Prince Abdulmajid Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz, decided he could not marry her as his family would disinherit him. She was informed that her imminent marriage was off by glaring headlines in the broadsheet Daily Express Hickey column. Her quote at the time caused wry debate: "If a little thing like three million pounds worries him then I don't think I'd want to marry him anyway".
  
  wn.com/Cherri_Gilham
• Dennis Kirkland
  Dennis Kirkland (2 December 1942 – 16 February 2006) was a British television producer and director who was best known for his long association with comedian Benny Hill.
  Born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, Kirkland started out as a child actor, appearing in television advertisements that aired on the then-new Independent Television upon its start-up in the 1950s. He then went behind-the-scenes, first as a property master for Tyne Tees Television, and then on to short stints with the Windmill Theatre and Royal Opera House in London. Later he was hired by Associated TeleVision as a floor manager, where he worked at the time Benny Hill hosted some TV programmes for ATV in 1967.
  In 1968, Kirkland joined Thames Television as a floor manager, working first in that capacity and then as a warm-up man on The Benny Hill Show. He then moved up the ranks, directing such children's shows as Rainbow and The Tomorrow People, as well as a sketch comedy show called What's On Next? Finally, in 1979 Kirkland was named producer/director of The Benny Hill Show, remaining in those positions for the remainder of its run at Thames. During this period, he also worked with such top comics as Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Jim Davidson and Eric Sykes, whose 1979 remake of The Plank (directed by Sykes and produced by Kirkland) won at the Montreux TV Festival. But it was with Hill that Kirkland became best known. However, it was also during his run with the Hill show that the programme first became dogged by charges of sexism, in no small part due to the addition of the dancing and singing troupe Hill's Angels on his watch, and after years of steadily declining ratings and rising production costs,Thames cancelled the Hill show in 1989;not long afterward, Kirkland's association with the company ended as well.
  
  wn.com/Dennis_Kirkland
• Garry Bushell
  Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955, Woolwich, South East London) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi! band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring topical themes are comedy, country and class. He has campaigned for an English Parliament, a Benny Hill statue and for variety and talent shows on TV. Although his TV column Bushell On The Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday, Bushell currently focuses on his band, novels and his one-man stand-up show.
  The son of a fireman, Bushell attended Charlton Manor school and Colfe's School (which was then a grammar school). He first performed at secondary school in the group Pink Tent, which was heavily influenced by Monty Python. They wrote songs and comedy sketches; performing at parties and at each other's houses. Bushell was involved in The National Union of School Students and The Schools Action Union, a socialist organisation that had a strong situationist streak that led them to mix schoolboy hijinks with student activism. He worked for Shell as a messenger, and then the London Fire Brigade before attending North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London) and the London College of Printing simultaneously. Bushell was an amateur boxer and a musician before becoming a full-time journalist.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Garry_Bushell
• 
  Jack Benny
  Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television, and film actor, and also a notable violinist. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly.
  Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" His radio and television programs, tremendously popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy genre. Dean Martin, on the celebrity roast for Johnny Carson in November 1973, introduced Benny as "the Satchel Paige of the world of comedy".
  Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in neighboring Waukegan, Illinois. He was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was a Jewish saloon owner, later to become a haberdasher, who had emigrated to America from Poland. Emma had emigrated from Lithuania. Benny began studying the violin, an instrument that would become his trademark, when he was just six, with his parents' hopes that he would be a great classical violinist. He loved the violin, but hated practice. By age 14, he was playing in local dance bands as well as in his high school orchestra. Benny was a dreamer and a poor student and he was expelled from high school. He did equally badly in business school and at his father's trade. At age 17, he began playing the instrument in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week. He was joined by Ned Miller, a young composer and singer, on the vaudeville circuit. They became life-long friends and Miller eventually joined the cast of The Jack Benny Program in the 1960s.
  
  wn.com/Jack_Benny
• Jackie Wright
  John "Jackie" Wright (born ca. 1905, Belfast, Ireland — died January 1989, Belfast, Northern Ireland) was an Irish comedian, best known for being the bald-headed sidekick of Benny Hill on his television programme for one and a half decades. In many of the show's trademark accelerated-motion scenes, Hill would often pat Wright's bald head rapidly, the motion being accompanied by dubbed-in smacking sounds. Actress Suzy Mandel recently told Gram Pontante's website that "Jackie Wright was a chain smoker and he would often hide his cigarette in his mouth or behind his back during scenes. In fact, you could often see a little plume of smoke rising behind him if you looked close enough. Benny would slap his head to fan the smoke away." Wright's diminutive stature – he was only 4 feet 11 inches (1.50 m) tall – and Northern Irish accent became assets to the comedy.
  Born in Belfast, the eldest of twelve children, Wright first worked as an automobile bodybuilder, even working in the United States for Cadillac. When the Great Depression took hold, Wright returned to Belfast and then began working in the field of entertainment, first as a musician and then as a supporting comedian.
  
  wn.com/Jackie_Wright
• Jeremy Hawk
  Jeremy Hawk (20 May 1918 Johannesburg, South Africa - 15 January 2002 Reading, Berkshire) was a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage. He also appeared on television as straight man to Benny Hill, Arthur Askey, Sir Norman Wisdom and Sid Caesar as well as hosting the ITV programme Criss Cross Quiz as well as the junior version for children's television from 1957 to 1962. He later presented the improvisation comedy show Impromptu. He also appeared in several films, including Lucky Jim (1957). He found little other work though is remembered for a long running famous Cadbury's chocolate tropical style advert in the 1970s: "Nuts, who-le ha-zelnuts. Cadbury's take 'em and they cover 'em in chocolate". He died in 2002, aged 83.
  His first marriage was to Tuli Hawk and they had a daughter, Berenice Hawk. His real name was Cedric Lange, but changed it when he entered RADA. He was already nicknamed "Hawk" because of the shape of his nose. He was also later married to actress Joan Heal, with whom he had a daughter, the actress Belinda Lang.
  
  wn.com/Jeremy_Hawk
• John Howard Davies
  John Howard Davies (9 March 1939 – 22 August 2011) was an English television director and producer and former child actor.
  Davies was born in Paddington, London, the son of the scriptwriter Jack Davies. His credits as a child actor include the title role at the age of nine in David Lean's production Oliver Twist (1948), followed by The Rocking Horse Winner (1949), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951) and a few episodes of the television series William Tell (1958).
  After school at Haileybury, further education in Grenoble, France and national service in the Navy, he started working in the City, the financial centre of London, then as a carpet salesman. Ending up in Melbourne, Australia he returned to acting and met his first wife Leonie in when they both appeared in The Sound of Music. Back in Britain he tried selling oil to industry in Wembley.
  He is best known for his adult career as a director and producer of several highly successful British sitcoms. Davies became a BBC production assistant during 1966, being promoted to producer in 1968. During this early period Davies worked on sketch shows such as The World of Beachcomber (1968), the earliest episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969) and The Goodies (1970–72). He also worked on All Gas and Gaiters (1969–70) and the 1972 series of Steptoe and Son.
  
  wn.com/John_Howard_Davies
• Mark Lewisohn
  Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English author and historian, regarded as the world's leading authority on the English rock band The Beatles.
  Over the course of his career, Mark Lewisohn has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple, and has written many reference books about The Beatles. He has been referred to as the world's leading authority on the subject, renowned for his meticulous research and integrity. He is credited with discovering such facts as the precise date when John Lennon first met Paul McCartney.
  In 1986, Lewisohn's book The Beatles Live! was published. This featured a complete history of all the Beatles' live performances, in a format which Lewisohn would follow for his subsequent books. After being invited by EMI to listen to all of The Beatles' original session tapes, Lewisohn wrote The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years, which was published in 1987. The book was in the form of a diary, detailing every recording session The Beatles had at Abbey Road Studios chronologically. It included details such as who played on each track and how many takes were recorded in each session. The book featured an introductory interview by Paul McCartney.
  
  wn.com/Mark_Lewisohn
• 
  Mark Noyce
  Mark Noyce (born 3 March 1974) is an English martial artist, actor, writer, film director and producer. Noyce appeared on the martial arts scene in the early 1980s competing in both the fighting and kata divisions. He retired from competitive martial arts at the age of 24 as world forms champion to become an actor.
  Noyce was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, the son of May Doreen (Bayford) and William Charles Albert Noyce. Noyce began training in the Lau Gar style of Kung-Fu at the age of 6 after his father had seen Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee.
  Noyce has been awarded a black belt in kung fu, karate, tang soo do and Mugendo kickboxing.
  Noyce has appeared in a series of events promoting Tracks2000 gym equipment after working closely with the development team. He helped design equipment which would aid martial artists wanting to learn acrobatics.
  Noyce made his directorial debut in 2011 with comedy feature film On the Ropes.
  Noyce formed his film production company, Ink Pixel Films, in 2010, first producing On the Ropes.
  
  wn.com/Mark_Noyce
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  Michael Caine
  Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor.
  Caine is one of two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s, the other one being Jack Nicholson. In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.
  Caine was born in St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe, Southwark in South East London, the son of Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1900-1989), a cook and charwoman, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish market porter. His father was of English, Irish, and, reportedly, Irish Traveller ancestry. Caine was brought up in his mother's Protestant religion (his father was Catholic).
  Caine grew up in Southwark, South London, and during the Second World War he was evacuated to North Runcton near King's Lynn in Norfolk. After the war, when his father was demobilised, the family was rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens at the Elephant and Castle in a pre-fabricated house made in Canada, as much of London's housing stock had been damaged during the Blitz in 1940-41.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Caine
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  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
  In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Jackson
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  Mickey Rooney
  Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr.; (September 23, 1920) is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has received multiple awards, including a Juvenile Academy Award, an Honorary Academy Award, two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. Working as a performer since he was a child, he was a superstar as a teenager for the films in which he played Andy Hardy, and he has had one of the longest careers of any actor, to date spanning 90 years actively making films in ten decades, from 1920s to 2010s. For a younger generation of fans, he gained international fame for his leading role as Henry Dailey in The Family Channel's The Adventures of the Black Stallion, as well as the film itself.
  Rooney was born Joseph Yule, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. (née Carter), was from Kansas City, Missouri. Both of his parents were in vaudeville, appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl when Joseph, Jr. was born. He began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.
  
  wn.com/Mickey_Rooney
• Neville Staple
  Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955) is a singer for the two-tone ska band, The Specials as well as his own combo, The Neville Staple Band. Along with Ranking Roger, he also sings in Special Beat.
  Staple was born in Manchester, Jamaica. At the age of five, Neville left Jamaica to live in the English town of Rugby, Warwickshire but later moved to Coventry. He was initially active in the sound system scene forming his own crew called "Jah Baddis". Neville was a regular fixture at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry where he met its resident DJ, Pete Waterman. Pete was heavily involved in the seventies reggae scene before going on to become a major pop producer in the 1980s. Pete has written the foreword to Neville's biography - "Original Rude Boy" - and briefly managed The Specials.
  Neville's first involvement with The Specials was when they were still called The Coventry Automatics. He initially joined as their roadie but at a gig supporting The Clash, Neville took to the stage and never looked back. For a while, The Specials were managed by The Clash's manager Bernard Rhodes of whom Neville used to toast "Bernie Rhodes knows don't argue" at the beginning of the Specials hit single "Gangsters".
  
  wn.com/Neville_Staple
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  Peter Sellers
  Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr. Strangelove, as Clare Quilty in Lolita, and as the TV-addicted man-child Chance the gardener in his penultimate film, Being There. Actress Bette Davis once remarked of him, "He isn't an actor—he's a chameleon."
  Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, Italian, American, German, as well as British regional accents), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers' private life was characterised by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times, and had three children from the first two marriages.
  
  wn.com/Peter_Sellers
• Reg Varney
  Reginald Alfred "Reg" Varney (11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008) was an English actor, most notable for his role as Stan Butler in 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses.
  Varney was born in Canning Town, which was then part of Essex but is now part of East London. His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. Varney was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy and a page boy at the Regent Palace Hotel. He took piano lessons as a child and was good enough to find employment as a part-time piano player. His first paid engagement was at Plumstead Radical Club in Woolwich, for which he was paid eight shillings and sixpence (42½p). He also played in working men's clubs, pubs and ABC cinemas, and later sang with big bands of the time. He and his mother decided that show business was the career for him, and he gave up his day jobs.
  During World War II, he joined the Royal Engineers, but continued performing as an army entertainer, touring the Far East for a time. After being demobbed, he starred on stage in the late 1940s in a comic revue entitled Gaytime. His partner in the double act was Benny Hill. He then went on to become an all-round entertainer, working his way around the music halls.
  
  wn.com/Reg_Varney
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  Rick Wakeman
  Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for his solo albums, contributing to the BBC comedy series Grumpy Old Men and for Rick's Place, his former radio show on Planet Rock that aired until December 2010.
  Wakeman was born in West London. He purchased his first electronic keyboard at 12 years of age. In 1968, he studied the piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music at the Royal College of Music before leaving after a year in favour of session music work. He went on to feature on songs by artists including Black Sabbath,David Bowie, T. Rex, Elton John and Cat Stevens. Wakeman joined the folk group Strawbs in 1969 and played on three of their albums. He first joined Yes in 1971 to replace Tony Kaye, and left the group in 1974 to work on his solo career. He returned in 1976 before leaving with lead vocalist Jon Anderson in 1980. Wakeman was part of the side project Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, a group of ex-Yes members formed in 1989, and the eight-member Yes line-up that followed until his third departure in 1992. He returned for two years in 1995 and once more in 2002, where he was part of the band's 35th anniversary tour until its end in 2004.
  
  wn.com/Rick_Wakeman
• Ronnie Brody
  Ronnie Brody (6 November 1918 – 8 May 1991) was a British actor who appeared in many comedy television series and films.
  His film appearances included: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Carry On Loving and The Beatles film Help!.
  His television appearances included: The Benny Hill Show, Hancock's Half Hour, Rising Damp, Dad's Army, The Sweeney (Episode 3, Series 3, "Visiting Fireman" - Garage Mechanic), Dave Allen at Large and The Goodies episode "Punky Business, Are You Being Served (Episode 6, Series 7, "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" - The Cook), ""
  
  
  
  wn.com/Ronnie_Brody
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  Snoop Dogg
  Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school. Shortly after graduation, he was arrested for cocaine possession and spent six months in Wayside County Jail. His music career began in 1992 after his release when he was discovered by Dr. Dre. He collaborated on several tracks on Dre's solo debut, The Chronic and on the titular theme song to the film Deep Cover.
  Snoop's debut album Doggystyle, was released in 1993 under Death Row Records making a debut at No.1 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B charts. Selling almost a million copies in the first week of its release, Doggystyle quickly became certified 4× platinum in 1994 and spawned several hit singles, including "What's My Name" and "Gin & Juice". In 1994, Snoop released a soundtrack on Death Row Records for the short film Murder Was The Case, starring himself. In early 1996, Snoop Dogg was cleared of charges over his bodyguard's 1993 murder of Philip Woldemariam. His second album, late 1996's Tha Doggfather, also debuted at No.1 on both charts with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head" as the lead single. The album sold only half as well, being certified double platinum in 1997.
  
  wn.com/Snoop_Dogg
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  Wachowskis
  Lana Wachowski (born Laurence Wachowski on June 21, 1965; formerly nicknamed "Larry") and Andrew Paul "Andy" Wachowski (born December 29, 1967), siblings collectively known as The Wachowskis (formerly The Wachowski Brothers), are American film directors, writers and producers, most famous for creating The Matrix series. They are currently co-directing Cloud Atlas, based on the book by David Mitchell.
  Lana Wachowski (formerly known as "Larry") was born Laurence Wachowski in Chicago in 1965. Andy Wachowski followed in 1967. Their mother, Lynne (née Luckinbill), was a nurse and painter whose brother is actor Laurence Luckinbill. Their father, Ron Wachowski, was a businessman of Polish descent. They went to Kellogg Elementary School, in Chicago's Beverly area, and graduated from Whitney Young High School, known for its performing arts and science curriculum, in 1983 and '86. Former students recall them playing Dungeons & Dragons and working in the school's theater and TV program. Andy then attended Emerson College in Boston, while Lana went to Bard College in New York. Both dropped out before graduating, and they ran a carpentry business in Chicago while creating comic books.
  
  wn.com/Wachowskis
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  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
  Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
  
  wn.com/William_Shakespeare

• Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)
• Anna Marie
• Broken-Hearted Lovers' Stew
• Colleen
• Rachel
• The Beach at San Tropez
• Suzy
• Ting-A-Ling-A-Loo
• Ted
• Tour Guide
• Interview
• Making a Commercial
• The Birds and the Bees
• The Dustbins of Your Mind
• Fad Eyed Fal

• Gather in the Mushrooms
• Transistor Radio
• Harvest of Love
• Pepys' Diary
• Gypsy Rock
• The Piccolo Song
• Lonely Boy
• Moving on Again
• The Andalucian Gypsies
• The Egg Marketing Board Tango
• Bamba 3688
• What a World
• I'll Never Know
• My Garden of Love
• In the Papers
• Golden Days
• Flying South
• Wild Women
• Jose's Cantina
• Rose
• Those Days (feat. Maggie Stradder)
• The Old Fiddler
• Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)

• Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)
• Ting-A-Ling-A-Loo
• Anna Marie
• Colleen
• The Dustbins Of Your Mind
• Rachel
• Suzy
• Fad Eyed Fal
• Broken-Hearted Lover's Stew
• The Beach At San Tropez
• Ted
• Tour Guide
• Interview (Featuring Lesley Goldie)
• Making A Commercial
• The Birds And The Bees

• Yakety Sax (Intro)
• Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)
• Bianca
• Gypsy Dance
• New York Rap
• Star Names
• Just Wanna Be In Your Band
• Down On The Farm
• Unlucky Luke
• Pepy's Diary
• Older Women
• Cafe Ole
• Graffiti
• Lifeguards
• Go Round Again
• Yakety Sax

Born: 1924-01-21

Died: 1992-04-18