An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama film, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess (Alan Bates), a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6. The production was written by Alan Bennett and directed by John Schlesinger; Browne stars as herself.

Filmed in Glasgow and Dundee, the setting is Moscow in 1958, Burgess had fled to the city following MI6 detection of his treason. Burgess barges into Browne's dressing room in the interval of a touring Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (which became one of the bases of the Royal Shakespeare Company) production of Hamlet, in which she portrayed Gertrude, and charms her. Later on she is invited to his Moscow flat, finding it with some difficulty, to measure him for a suit that he would like ordered from his London tailor.

Both Browne and Bates were winners of the BAFTA awards for acting for their roles in this production.

Alan Bennett gives the date of Coral Browne's meeting with Burgess as 1958 in the Introduction to his Single Spies, which contains the text of An Englishman Abroad in the stage play version and the text of A Question of Attribution about Anthony Blunt. Single Spies, London, Faber, 1989, ISBN 0-571-14105-6.

See also[link]

• Cambridge Spies, a 2003 BBC TV play about the Cambridge Ring

External links[link]

• An Englishman Abroad at the Internet Movie Database
• British Film Institute Screen Online

This article related to a BBC television programme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Alan Bennett
Bennett in 1973, photographed by Allan Warren
Born	(1934-05-09) 9 May 1934 (age 78) Armley, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor, author
Years active	1960–present
Partner	Rupert Thomas

Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full time, his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968.

His output includes The Madness of George III and its film incarnation The Madness of King George, the series of monologues Talking Heads, the play The History Boys, and popular audio books, including his readings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh.

Early life[link]

Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. The son of a co-op butcher, Walter and his wife Lilian Mary (nee Peel), Bennett attended Christ Church, Upper Armley, Church of England School (in the same class as Barbara Taylor Bradford) and then Leeds Modern School (now Lawnswood School), learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his national service and gained a place at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.^[1] However, having spent time in Cambridge during national service, and partly wishing to follow the object of his unrequited love, he decided to apply for a scholarship at Oxford University. He was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history. While at Oxford he performed comedy with a number of eventually successful actors in the Oxford Revue. He was to remain at the university for several years, where he researched and taught Medieval History, before deciding he was not cut out to be an academic.

Career[link]

In August 1960 Bennett, along with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook, achieved instant fame by appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe. After the festival, the show continued in London and New York. He also appeared in My Father Knew Lloyd George. A highly regarded television comedy sketch series On the Margin (1966) was unfortunately erased; the BBC re-used expensive videotape rather than keep it in the archives.

Around this time Bennett often found himself playing vicars and claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a Church of England clergyman, for no better reason than that he looked like one.

Bennett's first stage play Forty Years On directed by Patrick Garland was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting and many appearances as an actor.

Bennett's distinctive, expressive voice (which bears a strong Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his work very popular, especially the autobiographical writings. Bennett's readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.

Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden. Life has brought them to an impasse or else passed them by. In many cases they have met with disappointment in the realm of sex and intimate relationships, largely through tentativeness and a failure to connect with others.

Bennett is both unsparing and compassionate in laying bare his characters' frailties. This can be seen in his television plays for LWT in the late 1970s and the BBC in the early 1980s and in the 1987 Talking Heads series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each depicting several stages in the character's decline from an initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through a slow realisation of the hopelessness of their situation, progressing to a bleak or ambiguous conclusion. A second set of six Talking Heads followed a decade later, which was darker and more disturbing.

In his 2005 prose collection Untold Stories Bennett has written candidly and movingly of the mental illness that afflicted his mother and other family members. Much of his work draws on his Leeds background and while he is celebrated for his acute observations of a particular type of northern speech ("It'll take more than Dairy Box to banish memories of Pearl Harbour"), the range and daring of his work is often undervalued – his television play The Old Crowd includes shots of the director and technical crew, while his stage play The Lady in the Van includes two characters named Alan Bennett.

The Lady in the Van was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd who lived on Bennett's driveway in several dilapidated vans for over fifteen years. A radio play of the same title was broadcast on 21 February 2009 on BBC Radio 4, with actress Maggie Smith reprising her role of Miss Shepherd and Alan Bennett playing himself. The work has also been published in book form. Alan Bennett also adapted "The Lady in the Van" for the stage.

Bennett adapted his 1991 play The Madness of George III for the cinema. Entitled The Madness of King George (1994), the film received four Academy Award nominations : for Bennett's writing and the performances of Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren. It won the award for best art direction. Bennett's critically acclaimed The History Boys won three Laurence Olivier Awards in 2005, for Best New Play, Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), and Best Direction (Nicholas Hytner), having previously won Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor and Best Play. Bennett himself received the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre.^[2] The History Boys also won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including best play, best performance by a leading actor in a play (Richard Griffiths), best performance by a featured actress in a play (Frances de la Tour), and best direction of a play (Nicholas Hytner). A film version of The History Boys was released in the UK in October 2006.

Bennett wrote the play Enjoy in 1980. It was one of the rare flops in his career and barely scraped a run of seven weeks at the Vaudeville Theatre, in spite of the stellar cast of Joan Plowright, Colin Blakely, Susan Littler, Philip Sayer, Liz Smith (who replaced Joan Hickson during rehearsals) and in his first West End role Marc Sinden. It was directed by Ronald Eyre.^[3] A new production of Enjoy attracted very favourable notices during its 2008 UK tour^[4] and moved to the West End of London in January 2009.^[5] The West End show took over £1m in advance ticket sales^[6] and even extended the run to cope with demand.^[7] The production starred Alison Steadman, David Troughton, Richard Glaves, Carol Macready and Josie Walker.

At the National Theatre in late 2009 Nicholas Hytner directed Bennett's play The Habit of Art, about the relationship between the poet W.H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten.^[8]

Bennett's next play People will open at the National Theatre in October 2012. ^[9]

Personal life[link]

In September 2005, Bennett revealed that, in 1997, he had undergone treatment for cancer, and described the illness as a "bore". His chances of survival were given as being "much less" than 50%.^[10] He began Untold Stories (published 2005) thinking it would be published posthumously. In the event his cancer went into remission. In the autobiographical sketches which form a large part of the book Bennett writes openly for the first time about his homosexuality (Bennett has had relationships with women as well, although this is only touched upon in Untold Stories). Previously Bennett had referred to questions about his sexuality as like asking a man who has just crawled across the Sahara desert to choose between Perrier or Malvern mineral water.^[11]

Bennett lives in Camden Town in London, and shares his home with Rupert Thomas, the editor of World of Interiors magazine.^[12] Bennett also had a long-term relationship with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies, until her death in 2009.^[13]

In 2010, Bennett described how he was mugged by two women who surreptitiously squirted him with ice cream in Marks & Spencer, Camden Town. As they purported to wipe off the confection with tissues, the robbers stole £1,500 cash he had withdrawn from the bank minutes earlier. Bennett, who initially was grateful the women had helped clean him said the experience afterwards made him 'less likely to believe in the kindness of strangers.'^[14]

Archive[link]

In October 2008 Bennett announced that he was donating his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library, stating that it was a gesture of thanks repaying a debt he felt he owed to the British welfare state that had given him educational opportunities which his humble family background would otherwise never have afforded.^[15]

Depictions[link]

Along with the other members of Beyond the Fringe, Bennett is portrayed in the play Pete and Dud: Come Again, by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde.

Work[link]

Television[link]

Books[link]

The gravestone, in Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) cemetery, of Alan Bennett's Uncle Clarence, subject of a 1985 radio monologue.

• Beyond the Fringe (with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore). London: Souvenir Press, 1962, and New York: Random House, 1963
• Forty Years On, London: Faber, 1969
• Getting On, London: Faber, 1972
• Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1973
• The Old Country, London: Faber, 1978
• Enjoy, London: Faber, 1980
• Office Suite, London: Faber, 1981
• Objects of Affection, London: BBC Publications, 1982
• A Private Function, London: Faber, 1984
• Forty Years On; Getting On; Habeas Corpus, London: Faber, 1985
• The Writer in Disguise, London: Faber, 1985
• Prick Up Your Ears: The Film Screenplay, London: Faber, 1987
• Two Kafka Plays, London: Faber, 1987
• Talking Heads, London: BBC Publications, 1988; New York: Summit, 1990
• Single Spies, London: Faber, 1989
• Single Spies and Talking Heads, New York: Summit, 1990
• The Lady in the Van, 1989
• Poetry in Motion, (with others). 1990
• The Wind in the Willows, London: Faber, 1991
• Forty Years On and Other Plays, London: Faber, 1991
• The Madness of George III, London: Faber, 1992
• Poetry in Motion 2 (with others) 1992
• Writing Home (memoir & essays) London: Faber, 1994
• The Madness of King George (screenplay), 1995
• Father ! Father ! Burning Bright (prose version of 1982 TV script, Intensive Care), 1999
• The Laying on of Hands (stories), 2000
• The Clothes They Stood Up In (novella), 2001
• Untold Stories (autobiographical and essays), London, 2005, ISBN 0-571-22830-5
• The Uncommon Reader (novella), London, 2007
• A Life Like Other People's (memoir), London, 2009
• Smut: two unseemly stories (stories), London, 2011

Audio releases[link]

Awards and honours[link]

Awards[link]

• 1963 Special Tony Award: Beyond the Fringe (shared with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore)
• 1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Special Award: Beyond the Fringe (shared with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore)
• 1968 Evening Standard Award, Special Award: Forty Years On
• 1985 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay: A Private Function (shared with Malcolm Mowbray)
• 1987 Critics' Circle Film Award, Screenwriter of the Year: Prick Up Your Ears
• 1987 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay: Prick Up Your Ears
• 1990 Laurence Olivier Award, Best New Comedy: Single Spies
• 1992 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Question of Attribution
• 1992 Laurence Olivier Award, Best Entertainment: Talking Heads
• 1992 Laurence Olivier Award, Best Actor in a Musical: Talking Heads
• 1995 Critics' Circle Film Award, Screenwriter of the Year: The Madness of King George
• 1995 Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Screenplay: The Madness of King George
• 1995 British Book Award, Book of the Year: Writing Home
• 1996 British Academy Film Award, Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film: The Madness of King George
• 2000 British Comedy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2002 British Book Award, Audiobook of the Year: The Laying on of Hands
• 2003 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Foreign Play: Talking Heads
• 2003 British Book Award, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2004 Critics' Circle Theatre Award, Best New Play: The History Boys
• 2004 Evening Standard Award, Best Play: The History Boys
• 2005 Laurence Olivier Award, Best New Play: The History Boys
• 2005 Laurence Olivier Award, Society of London Theatre Special Award
• 2005 Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
• 2006 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play: The History Boys
• 2006 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Play: The History Boys
• 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Broadway Play: The History Boys
• 2006 Tony Award, Best Play: The History Boys
• 2006 J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography: Untold Stories
• 2006 British Book Award, Author of the Year
• 2008 Bodley Medal

Nominations[link]

• 1984 British Academy Film Award, Best Original Screenplay: A Private Function
• 1987 British Academy Film Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: Prick Up Your Ears
• 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Actor: A Chip in the Sugar
• 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Drama Series: A Cream Cracker under the Settee (shared with Innes Lloyd)
• 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Bed Among the Lentils (shared with Innes Lloyd)
• 1989 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: A Lady of Letters (shared with Innes Lloyd and Giles Foster)
• 1994 Academy Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: The Madness of King George
• 1995 British Academy Film Award, Best Adapted Screenplay: The Madness of King George
• 1999 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: Waiting for the Telegram (shared with Mark Shivas and Stuart Burge)
• 1999 British Academy Television Award, Best Single Drama: Playing Sandwiches (shared with Mark Shivas and Udayan Prasad)
• 2003 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play: Talking Heads
• 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Play: Talking Heads
• 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize: Untold Stories

Bennett was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford in 1987. He was also awarded a D.Litt by the University of Leeds in 1990^[16] and an honorary doctorate from Kingston University in 1996. In 1998 he refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its acceptance of funding for a chair from press baron Rupert Murdoch.^[17] He also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996.^[18] He has stated that, although he is not a republican, he would never wish to be knighted, saying it would be a bit like having to wear a suit for the rest of his life.^[19] Bennett earned Honorary Membership of The Coterie in the 2007 membership list.

In December 2011 Bennett returned to Lawnswood School, nearly 60 years after he left, to unveil the renamed Alan Bennett Library.^[20] He said he "loosely" based The History Boys on his experiences at the school and his admission to Oxford. Lawnswood School dedicated its library to the writer after he emerged as a vocal campaigner against public library cuts. ^[21] Plans to shut local libraries were "wrong and very short-sighted", Bennett said, adding: "We're impoverishing young people."

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Peter Wolfe, Understanding Alan Bennett, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 1-57003-280-7
• Alexander Games (2001). Backing Into The Limelight: The Biography of Alan Bennett. Headline. ISBN 0-7472-7030-9. 
• Joseph H. O'Mealy, Alan Bennett: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, 2007
• Kara McKechnie, Alan Bennett, The Television Series, Manchester University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7190-6806-5
• Robert Hewison Footlights – A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy, Methuen, 1983
• Roger Wilmut From Fringe to Flying Circus – Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980, Eyre Methuen, 1980

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alan Bennett

• Profile at the British Council
• Interview BBC archive 6 December 2009 with Mark Lawson. (Video, 1 hr)
• BBC Interview Radio 4 Front Row archive. (Audio, 1 hr)
• Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery (3 pages)
• "Curtain re-opens on Bennett play" BBC News, 29 January 2009 – Video interview with Alan Bennett
• Profile. British Film Institute: Screenonline
• Guardian profile "Birthday boy" 7 May 2009 by Blake Morrison.
• Alan Bennett Macmillan Books

Owais Alam Shah
اویس شاہ

Personal information
Full name	Owais Alam Shah
Born	(1978-10-22) 22 October 1978 (age 33) Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Nickname	Ace
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm off break
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 632)	18 March 2006 v India
Last Test	6 March 2009 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 163)	10 June 2001 v Australia
Last ODI	2 October 2009 v Australia
ODI shirt no.	3 (prev. 69)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1996–2010	Middlesex
2009–2010	Kolkata Knight Riders
2009–2010	Wellington Firebirds
2002–2008	MCC
2008	Delhi Daredevils
2010–present	Essex
2010–present	Cape Cobras
2011	Kochi Tuskers Kerala
2011-present	Hobart Hurricanes
2012-Playing	Rajasthan Royals
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	6	71	237	348
Runs scored	269	1,834	15,461	10,165
Batting average	26.90	30.56	42.01	35.41
100s/50s	0/2	1/12	42/76	14/66
Top score	88	107*	203	134
Balls bowled	30	193	2,254	924
Wickets	0	7	26	27
Bowling average	–	26.28	57.42	33.70
5 wickets in innings	0	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	0/12	3/15	3/33	4/11
Catches/stumpings	2/–	21/–	187/–	116/–
Source: CricketArchive, 21 December 2011

Owais Alam Shah (Urdu: اویس عالم شاہ) (born 22 October 1978 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan) is an English cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex between 1996–2010, before joining Essex CCC in the winter of 2010. He has represented England in all forms of the game.

Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 Twenty20 Internationals. He also played 6 Tests, starting with a strong 88 on debut against India in 2006, however opportunities were limited and he did not make his third appearance until 2009 against the West Indies in 2008-09 he was dropped. With Michael Vaughan retired and Ian Bell dropped, Shah had the opportunity to claim the number three position for himself, however a weak series saw him dropped in favour of Ravi Bopara.

He has also represented the Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders during the 2009 and 2010 seasons before being bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for the following two seasons, and had a short stint at the Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand. After Kochi Tuskers were excluded from the 2012 season, he will play for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 5.

Early career[link]

A cricketing prodigy as an adolescent,^[1] Owais Shah began his career playing cricket for Wycombe House Cricket Club, breaking a number of club records. He was a complete all rounder, a classy yet destructive batsman and one of the quickest bowlers in the county for his age.^{[citation needed]} Owais scored a league 154 for the senior first XI when aged only 12. He won numerous awards for the club including the Ken Barrington National Cup. His maturity at such a young age allowed him to be fast tracked through both the England Youth and Middlesex Cricket County System. He made his first-class debut at age 17 in 1996 and won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 1997. In early 1998 he captained England to victory in the Under 19's World Cup in South Africa, and the following season he was captain of the England Under-19 cricket team for their "Test" match series at home against Pakistan. Notable achievements at a young age led some to label him as the finest young English batting talent in 20 years,^{[citation needed]} and his selection for the England 'A' team that toured Australia in late 1998 at the age of 17 suggested he was on the verge of a call-up to England's Test side.^[2] However, two poor seasons followed, and despite being capped in 2000, by the end of that season—in which he made under 500 first-class runs—he could no longer command a place in the Middlesex first team. However, he made a return to form in 2001, averaging 41.60 and making his ODI debut against Australia at Bristol. Later that summer, he made 62 against Pakistan, and in 2001 also, Shah was named by the Cricket Writers' Club as their Young Cricketer of the Year. Owais attended Isleworth and Syon School for Boys, Lampton School (Hounslow) for his A Levels and is also a university graduate. In 1996 he met Paulom Shah, a great commentator of 60's.

Return to international cricket[link]

Despite a fairly solid start to his international career, however, Shah could not produce the required consistency of form, making just one more fifty in ten innings from 2001/02 to 2002/03. He also suffered from a perception that his fielding was below par, something close to unforgivable in the modern one-day game, and he was dropped from the England side without having had a chance at Test cricket. In 2004, a year of success with the bat (1,336 runs at 53.44) was tempered by the loss of his Middlesex captaincy in mid-season after some poor results.

2005 brought much-improved returns, as he was top-scorer of the First Division of the County Championship with two weeks left to play, having made 1578 runs at an average of 65.75. At the end of the county season in September, Shah was being talked of as a possibility for England's winter tours of Pakistan and India.

He was selected for the England 'B' team tour of the West Indies that winter, but was called up to the squad for the first-team tour of India after England suffered several injuries. He made his Test debut in the third Test at Mumbai on 18 March 2006, making 88 in his first Test innings.

He returned to the England Test squad, after 15 months out, for the first Test match against the West Indies at his home ground of Lord's; however, he scored 6 and 4 in the two innings, in an otherwise productive England batting lineup. He was dropped from the squad for the second Test following captain Michael Vaughan's return to fitness.^[3]

Shah was, however, brought back for the ODI series, including two Twenty20 internationals. While making little contribution with the bat in the first match, in which England were defeated, Shah hit a match winning 55 off 35 deliveries in the second, with England drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1.^[4] He was later made man of the match. He has changed his game somewhat in recent times, and is not the classical batsman that he was in his early years; however, he still possesses a wide range of shots, with the pull shot and the fierce slap through extra cover being the most prominent.^[5]

His maiden ODI century came against India at The Oval on 5 September 2007, when he made 107* off 95 balls. Later in the same match, he bowled in an ODI for the first time, and with his 17th delivery, took his first ODI wicket, the victim being the Indian captain Rahul Dravid. Shah toured Sri Lanka with England in late 2007, and then played in the ODI series against New Zealand in early 2008. While he had a disappointing ODI series, he top-scored with 96 in the first warm-up match to enhance his claims to the Test squad.^[6]

In July 2008 he helped Middlesex win the Twenty20 Cup with a match winning innings in the final with 75 runs scored off just 35 balls, the highlight of which was three successive sixes over mid-wicket off Kent off-spinner James Tredwell.

After the retirement of captain Michael Vaughan during summer 2008, Shah had a chance to claim a place on the tour to the West Indies. Although Ian Bell played the first Test at 3, he was dropped and replaced by Shah for the remainder of the Test series. Shah only managed one half-century, although he did reach 13,000 first class runs during the third Test, and was not chosen for the summer Tests against West Indian cricket team in England in 2009 and Australia.

He had a poor ODI series against Australia in 2009, failing to record a score of higher than 44 in all seven matches. Going into the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, he was under severe pressure for his place, but scored another 44 in the opening match against Sri-Lanka, before a match-winning 98 in the second group game against hosts South Africa. This came too late though, as Shah was not included in any of England's squads for the tour to South Africa. Despite still having a central contract and later being included in the England Performance Squad for the 2010 home series,^[7] he was not included in any of the final squads and did not represent England during 2010.

Middlesex announced on 31 August 2010 that they will not be renewing Shah's contract at the end of the 2010 season.^[8]

Indian Premier League[link]

With England players free to participate in the second season of the Indian Premier League, Owais Shah was signed by the Delhi Daredevils for $275,000 during their second player auction. He was then traded to Kolkata Knight Riders in exchange of Moises Henriques. He was bought by the new team Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $200,000 and played for them in the fourth season of the IPL. In IPL 5 he will be playing for Rajasthan Royals.

Wellington Firebirds[link]

On 31 August 2009 it was announced that the Wellington Firebirds had signed Shah for their domestic Twenty20 competition in December 2009. He was recommended by his former Middlesex colleague Stephen Fleming.^[9]

Cape Cobras[link]

Shah played for the Cape Cobras in South Africa winning the first class, one day and Pro20 competitions during his stay

Statistics[link]

Career best performances[link]

as of 3 July 2011

References[link]

v t e England squad – 2007 ICC World Twenty20 3 Shah 5 Collingwood 6 Maddy 9 Anderson 11 Flintoff 13 Prior 16 Kirtley 24 Pietersen 28 Schofield 29 Snape 32 Mascarenhas 33 Tremlett 38 Solanki 39 Broad 45 Wright Coach: Moores Ravi Bopara and Ryan Sidebottom were named in the squad but withdrew after injury. James Anderson and Dimitri Mascarenhas were called up as replacements.

v t e England squad – 2009 ICC World Twenty20 3 Shah 5 Collingwood 8 Broad 9 Anderson 15 Foster 24 Pietersen 32 Mascarenhas 35 Key 39 Morgan 42 Bopara 45 Wright 48 Napier 66 Swann 78 Sidebottom 95 Rashid Coach: Flower

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since September 2009. It is written like a résumé. Tagged since September 2009.

Martin Simpson
Martin Simpson at Sidmouth Folk Week, 2010
Background information
Born	(1953-05-05) 5 May 1953 (age 59) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
Genres	Folk
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, Banjo, Vocals
Labels	Topic, Red House, Compass
Website	www.martinsimpson.com

Martin Stewart Simpson is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in the British Isles, America and beyond.

Biography[link]

Martin Simpson was born in Scunthorpe, England. He took an early interest in music, learning to play the guitar and banjo and performing at local folk clubs. In 1970, he dropped out of John Leggott College^[1] to become a full-time musician.

In 1976 he recorded his first solo album Golden Vanity. In the same year he opened for Steeleye Span on their UK tour. Martin also toured and performed with folk singer June Tabor, who did not play an instrument herself. They would later record three albums together.

In 1985 he moved to Bloomington, Indiana and married American singer Jessica Radcliffe, and shortly afterwards they relocated to Ithaca, New York. During the decade he continued recording a mix of traditional and more contemporary material, including several entirely instrumental albums.

Notable work in the 1990s included work with Chinese pipa play Wu Man, with whom Simpson recorded a duet Music of the Motherless Child, a blend of European and Chinese traditions. In a similar vein was Kambara Music in Native Tongues with David Hidalgo from "Los Lobos" and violinist Viji Krishnan, a mix of Hindu and contemporary songs.

Not until 1999 did he record several of his own compositions on Bootleg USA. It was then, along with Jessica Racliffe, that he co-founded a record label called "High Bohemia". Perhaps suffering from homesickness, he visited the UK in 1994, recording Martin Simpson Live in Oxford. In 1999 he was a session musician for an album by Welsh singer Julie Murphy. The Bramble Briar (2001) was a turn to basics, a collection of English traditional folk songs.

2003 saw the release of Righteousness and Humidity, a set focusing almost exclusively on music from the Deep South, played on a variety of instruments and featuring Steeleye Span's Rick Kemp. This recording was a nominee for BBC folk awards album of the year in 2004. Simpson won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2004 in the category of Best Musician.^[2] This was followed in 2005 by Kind Letters in which he mines once again the rich seams of English folk music which proved so fruitful for The Bramble Briar.

In 2007 Simpson released Prodigal Son. The 2008 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards voted it as best album. The fRoots critics poll voted it as the 7th best new album of 2007. It is a mixture of traditional songs and Simpson originals, the highlights of which possess a distinctly southern American flavor. Jackson Browne, Kate Rusby and Kellie While guest star here. In December 2007 he performed on Later... with Jools Holland.

Simpson has written guitar instruction books and recorded DVD guitar tutorials. His career came full circle in 2003 when he teamed up with June Tabor again. In 2004 he surprised everyone by performing at a gig in Nettlebed, Oxford, where he played banjo all evening, without touching a guitar. A readers' poll of the magazine Acoustic Guitar voted him as number 12 in the world in 2005. Martin is now married to Kit Bailey, the daughter of the singer Roy Bailey, with whom Martin occasionally performs. Martin and Kit now live in Sheffield and have a young daughter, Molly. Along with Martin Taylor, Simon Mayor, Doyle Dykes, Gordon Giltrap and Julie Ellison, he writes for the magazine Acoustic.

Performances of note to the general public include a 2007 appearance on Jools Holland's BBC show and a half hour set at The Proms on 20 July 2008 broadcast on BBC4.^[3]

Awards and Recognition[link]

He has been nominated 23 times in the 11 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including nine times consecutively as Artist of The Year, which he has won twice. His album Prodigal Son was named album of the year in 2008 and a song from that album, "Never Any Good" was named best original song of the year.

Martin Simpson is regarded by many as one of the most skilled folk guitarists currently playing on the British and American folk scene.

Instruments of Note[link]

While best known as an acoustic guitarist, Martin originally started out as a banjo player, and also plays the electric guitar. Martin's main performance instruments are:

• Paul Reed Smith Angelus - Martin currently endorses PRS acoustic guitars, and his signature model is available to purchase
• Stefan Sobell Martin Simpson Signature Model - for many years, Martin's main performing guitars were made by British luthier Stefan Sobell, and his signature model can be purchased to special order

Martin is also known have owned and played many guitars by a number of renowned American luthiers including Ervin Somogyi, Jeff Traugott and Bill Tippin.

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

• Golden Vanity (1976)
• Special Agent (1981)
• Grinning In Your Face (1983)
• Sad or High Kicking (1985)
• Nobody's Fault But Mine (1986)
• The Pink Suede Bootleg (Limited Edition Cassette - 1987)
• Leaves of Life (1989) - instrumentals.
• When I Was On Horseback (1991)
• A Closer Walk With Thee (1993)
• Smoke and Mirrors (1995)
• Cool and Unusual (1997) - mainly British traditional ballads.
• Bootleg USA (1999)
• The Bramble Briar (2001)
• Righteousness and Humidity (2003) - collection of American blues, played on acoustic and steel guitar, and banjo.
• Kind Letters (2005)
• Prodigal Son (2007)
• True Stories (2009)
• Purpose + Grace (2011) (UK chart peak: #106)^[4]

Live[link]

• Live (recorded 1994, Oxford) (1997)
• 61 Highway (1999)

Collaborations[link]

Martin and Jessica Ruby Simpson.

• True Dare or Promise (1987)
• Red Roses (1995)
• Band Of Angels (1996)

Martin Simpson and Wu Man

• Music for the Motherless Child (1996)

Martin Simpson, David Hidalgo and Viji Krishnan

• Kambara Music in Native Tongues (1998)

Martin Simpson, Jessica Radcliffe and Lisa Ekstrom.

• Beautiful Darkness (2001)

Other compilations

• The Collection (1992)
• The Definitive Martin Simpson (2005)

Martin Simpson as session musician[link]

• Hot Vultures: The East Street Shakes (1977)
• Hot Vultures: Up The Line (1979)
• June Tabor: A Cut Above (1980)
• June Tabor: Abyssinians (1983)
• June Tabor: Aqaba (1988)
• Albion: Lark Rise To Candleford (1980)
• John & Mary: The Weedkiller's Daughter (1993)
• Julie Murphy: Black Mountain Revisited (1999)
• Chris Leslie: The Flow (2002)
• June Tabor: An Echo of Hooves (2003)
• June Tabor: At The Wood's Heart (2005)
• Roy Bailey: Sit Down and Sing (2005)
• Cara Dillon: After The Morning (2006)
• Various Artists: Rubber Folk (2006) (Beatles Tribute)
• Lorne MacDougall: Hello World (2010)

Role in the Albion Band[link]

DVDs[link]

• Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals - Martin Simpson Vol 1 (1993)
• Instrumentals 2 (2005)
• Martins 4 (2005) - Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Martin Taylor and Juan Martin.
• In Concert At The Freight and Salvage (Berkeley, California) (2005)
• Guitar Maestros - Martin Simpson (2006)

Book[link]

• Cool and Unusual: Creative Fingerstyle Guitar Solos (2000).

References[link]

• Martin Simpson Home Page