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Alice Rose Connor (born 2 August 1990) is a British actress, born in Buckinghamshire, England. She is best known for her roles in the television adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's novel The Illustrated Mum, in the children's television series The New Worst Witch (a spin-off from The Worst Witch), and in the film The Thief Lord as Hornet. She first started acting as "Alice" in "Fun Song Factory" when she was 8. She also had a small part in the 2001 movie A Knight's Tale when she was 9. In 2007 she began filming for a new television series, again with Anabel Barnston (Mona in The New Worst Witch). Its title is currently unknown, but Barnston has confirmed that it will be shown on Nickelodeon. Alice Connor also appears on the programme My Spy Family as Elle Bannon, which is shown exclusively on Boomerang TV channel in the UK. She also attended the Misbourne school.

Filmography[link]

External links[link]

• Alice Connor at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a British television actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL (née Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness. Addressing these issues has made her controversial because of her young readership.^[1]

Wilson may be best known for her series of novels featuring the character Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in Wilson's 1991 novel The Story of Tracy Beaker, from which has followed three sequels, as well as two CBBC television adaptations: The Story of Tracy Beaker and Tracy Beaker Returns.

Life and education[link]

Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath, England , in 1945. Her father, Harry Aitken, was a civil servant; her mother, Margaret "Biddy" Aitken, was a housewife, having various jobs as a dinnerlady and a bakery worker.^[2] She spent most of her childhood in Kingston upon Thames, where she went to Latchmere Primary School. She was an imaginative child and enjoyed reading and making up stories. She particularly enjoyed books by Noel Streatfeild, as well as American classics like Little Women and What Katy Did.^[3] As early as aged seven, she would fill Woolworths notebooks with stories of her imaginary games. At the age of nine she wrote her first "novel" which was 18 sides long.^[4] The book, Meet the Maggots, was about a family with seven children. Although she was good at English, the young Jacqueline had no interest in mathematics and would often stare out of the window and use her imagination rather than paying attention to the class, leading her final year teacher at Latchmere to nickname her "Jacky Daydream". Jacqueline Wilson later used this nickname as the title of the first stage of her autobiography.^{[citation needed]}

She did particularly well at school. After Latchmere, she moved on to Coombe Girls' School, which she still visits to this day. Kingston University has named the main hall at its Penrhyn Road campus the Jacqueline Wilson Hall. Having left school at age 16, she began training as a secretary but then applied to work with the Dundee-based publishing company DC Thomson on a new girls' magazine Jackie.^[5] DC Thomson offered the 17-year-old a job after she penned a piece on the horrors of teenage discos. She fell in love with a printer named Millar Wilson. He then joined the police force and the couple moved south for his work, marrying in 1965 when Wilson was 19. Two years later, they had a daughter, Emma.^[5] The marriage was dissolved in 2004 after her husband left her.^[6][7]

Jacqueline Wilson focused on her writing, initially writing a few crime fiction books before dedicating herself to writing for children. At the age of 40, she took A-level English, passing with a grade A.^[6] She had mixed success with some 40 books before rising to fame in 1991 with The Story of Tracy Beaker.

Jacqueline Wilson lives in a Victorian villa in Kingston upon Thames which is filled with books; her library of some 15,000 books extends into the outbuilding at the bottom of her garden.^[8] She remains a keen reader, getting through a book a week despite her hectic schedule. In her adult tastes, Wilson's favourite writers include Katherine Mansfield and Sylvia Plath.^[3] She also surrounds herself with old-fashioned childhood objects such as a rocking horse and a number of antique dolls, and has a unique taste in clothes and jewellery, being known for wearing black clothes and an array of large rings.^[9] She swims 50 lengths each day before breakfast.^[6]

Jacqueline Wilson is patron of the charity Momentum^[10] in Kingston upon Thames, which aims to help children in Surrey undergoing treatment for cancer and their families, and also patron of The Friends of Richmond Park.^[11][12]

Style[link]

Jacqueline Wilson's stories focus on much more than most children's books, and have tackled such difficult themes as abuse, grief, divorce, foster care and mental illness. Her prose is often interspersed with ink drawings by illustrator Nick Sharratt, who also designs the covers for her books.

She usually writes via a first person narrative, and has occasionally experimented with alternating viewpoints, such as in Secrets, The Lottie Project, Little Darlings and Double Act.

She says: " I want to write to every age group, in a way that can prepare them for what happens in the real world, and raise the awareness levels of many life changing situations. I want to be a friend, really."

Book sales[link]

Over 30 million copies of Jacqueline Wilson's books have been sold in the UK alone.^[13] In a poll conducted by the BBC, the Big Read, four books by Jacqueline Wilson were voted in the top 100 most popular books in Britain: Double Act, Girls In Love, Vicky Angel, and The Story of Tracy Beaker. In the list of the UK's 200 favourite books there are 14 books by Jacqueline Wilson. In 2004 she replaced Catherine Cookson as the most borrowed author in Britain's libraries, a position she retained for four years until being overtaken by James Patterson in 2008.^[14]

Awards and honours[link]

Jacqueline Wilson has won many awards, including the Smarties Prize, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the 2000 Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children's Book Award. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award. Girls in Tears was the 2003 Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards.

In June 2002, Jacqueline Wilson was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools, and from 2005 to 2007 she was the fourth Children's Laureate. In this role, Wilson urged parents and carers to continue reading aloud to children long after they are able to read for themselves. She also campaigned to make more books available for blind people and also campaigned against cutbacks in children's TV drama.

In October 2005 she received an honorary degree from the University of Winchester in recognition of her achievements in and on behalf of children's literature. In July 2007 Roehampton University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) in recognition of her achievements in and on behalf of children's literature. She has also received honorary degrees from the University of Dundee, the University of Bath and Kingston University.

In the New Year Honours 2008, Jacqueline Wilson was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Professorial Fellow[link]

In June 2008, Wilson was appointed Professorial Fellow of Roehampton University,^[15] where she is now a Pro Vice Chancellor. She teaches modules on both the Children's Literature MA and the Creative Writing MA offered by the university.

Adaptations of her novels[link]

A dramatisation of Wilson's Double Act, written and directed by Vicky Ireland, was first performed at The Polka Theatre in Wimbledon from 30 January to 12 April 2003, and toured throughout the UK. The playscript was published by Collins Plays Plus. Ireland has also written dramatisations of The Lottie Project (performed at Polka Theatre and San Pol Theatre, Madrid), Midnight, Bad Girls and Secrets, which were also commissioned by the Polka Theatre, and a dramatisation of The Suitcase Kid which was performed at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond and later toured throughout the UK. The scripts for these plays were published by Nick Hern Books.

The following books by Jacqueline Wilson have been adapted for TV:

• Cliffhanger (1995, Channel 4). Part of Look, See and Read, two-part drama.

• Double Act (2002, Channel 4). Starring twins Zoe and Chloe Tempest-Jones as Ruby and Garnet, with a special appearance by Jacqueline Wilson as the casting director at the auditions. This was a one-off 100 minute feature.

• The Story of Tracy Beaker (2002–2005, CBBC). Starring Dani Harmer as Tracy and Lisa Coleman (whose sister, Charlotte, appeared in Double Act as Miss Debenham) as Cam. Original broadcast dates: 8 January 2002 – 18 December 2005.

• The Illustrated Mum (2003, Channel 4). Starring former EastEnders star Michelle Collins as Marigold Westward, who won a BAFTA Award for her role, and now plays Stella in Coronation street, Alice Connor as Dolphin Westward and Holly Grainger as Star Westward. This was a four-part mini-series but later shown as a full feature with no ad breaks. It was again repeated at Christmas 2004. Original broadcast date: 5 December 2003.

• Best Friends (2004, ITV). This was a six-part miniseries, but was originally broadcast as one feature with a slightly different ending. It starred Chloe Smyth as Gemma and Poppy Rogers as Alice. Original broadcast date: 3 December 2004. This was repeated on the CITV Channel on 6 March 2010.

• Girls in Love (ITV). Starring Olivia Hallinan as Ellie, Zaraah Abrahams as Magda and Amy Kwolek as Nadine. There have been two series of Girls in Love broadcast. Original broadcast dates: 1 April 2003 – 18 April 2005.

• Dustbin Baby (BBC). Featuring an A-list cast including Juliet Stevenson as Marion, David Haig as a new character, Elliot, and Dakota Blue Richards as April. Original broadcast date: 21 December 2008.

• Tracy Beaker Returns (2010). This is a current series in which Tracy (Dani Harmer) returns to the "Dumping Ground" (Stowey House, whose name has been changed to Elmtree House) to earn money for her new book because she stole Cam's money to publish it. She realises that Elm Tree House has changed loads and the new children act worse that herself in her days. At times, she tries to help the children, concluding in the new social workers almost firing her. But sometimes she only gets the child's part of the story, then being told the whole thing and being totally confused and outraged.

To date, there have been no feature film adaptations of Jacqueline Wilson's novels.

Books[link]

[edit] Mark Spark

• 1992 Mark Spark
• 1993 Mark Spark in the Dark

[edit] Freddy's Teddy

• 1994 Freddy's Teddy
• 1994 Teddy in the Garden
• 1994 Teddy Goes Swimming
• 1994 Come Back Teddy

[edit] Tracy Beaker

• 1991 The Story of Tracy Beaker
• 2000 The Dare Game
• 2006 Starring Tracy Beaker
• 2009 Tracy Beaker's Thumping Heart (special release for Comic Relief)
• 2009 The Tracy Beaker Quiz Book
• 2010 Ask Tracy Beaker

[edit] Werepuppy

• 1991 The Werepuppy
• 1995 The Werepuppy on Holiday

[edit] Connie

• 1994 Twin Trouble
• 1996 Connie and the Water Babies

[edit] Girls

• 1997 Girls in Love
• 1998 Girls under Pressure
• 1999 Girls out Late
• 2002 Girls in Tears

[edit] Adventure Holiday

• 1995 Cliffhanger
• 1999 Buried Alive!
• 2001 Biscuit Barrel containing Cliffhanger and Buried Alive!

[edit] Hetty Feather

• 2009 Hetty Feather
• 2011 Sapphire Battersea
• 2012 Emerald Star

[edit] Stevie Day

• 1987 Stevie Day: Lonelyhearts
• 1987 Stevie Day: Supersleuth
• 1988 Stevie Day: Rat Race
• 1988 Stevie Day: Vampire

[edit] Is There Anybody There?

• 1989 Is There Anybody There? Volume 1 – Spirit Raising
• 1990 Is There Anybody There? Volume 2 – Crystal Gazing

Non-series works[link]

• 1959 Meet the Maggots
• 1969 Ricky's Birthday
• 1972 Hide and Seek
• 1973 Truth or Dare
• 1974 Snap
• 1976 Let's Pretend
• 1977 Making Hate
• 1982 Nobody's Perfect
• 1983 Waiting for the Sky to Fall
• 1984 The Killer Tadpole
• 1984 The Other Side
• 1984 The School Trip
• 1986 Amber
• 1986 The Monster in the Cupboard
• 1987 The Power of the Shade
• 1988 This Girl
• 1989 Falling Apart
• 1989 The Left Outs
• 1989 The Party in the Lift
• 1990 Take a Good Look
• 1991 The Dream Palace
• 1992 Video Rose
• 1993 Deep Blue
• 1995 Jimmy Jelly
• 1995 Love from Katie
• 1995 My Brother Bernadette
• 1995 Sophie's Secret Diary
• 1996 Beauty and the Beast
• 1996 Mr. Cool
• 1998 Rapunzel
• 1999 Monster Eyeballs

Autobiographies[link]

• 2007 Jacky Daydream
• 2009 My Secret Diary

Popular children's non-series works[link]

• 1985 How to Survive Summer Camp
• 1990 Glubbslyme
• 1992 The Suitcase Kid
• 1993 The Mum Minder
• 1994 The Bed and Breakfast Star
• 1995 The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch
• 1995 Double Act
• 1996 Bad Girls
• 1997 The Lottie Project
• 1997 The Monster Story-Teller
• 1999 The Illustrated Mum
• 2000 Lizzie Zipmouth
• 2000 Vicky Angel
• 2001 The Cat Mummy
• 2001 Sleepovers
• 2001 Dustbin Baby
• 2002 Secrets
• 2002 The Worry Website
• 2002 The Jacqueline Wilson Quiz Book
• 2003 Lola Rose
• 2004 Midnight
• 2004 Best Friends
• 2004 The Diamond Girls
• 2005 The World Of Jacqueline Wilson
• 2005 Clean Break
• 2005 Love Lessons
• 2006 Candyfloss
• 2007 Kiss
• 2007 Totally Jacqueline Wilson
• 2008 My Sister Jodie
• 2008 Cookie
• 2010 Little Darlings
• 2010 The Longest Whale Song
• 2011 Lily Alone
• 2011 Sapphire Battersea
• 2011 Green Glass Beads: A Collection of Poems for Girls^[16]
• 2012 The Worst Thing About My Sister
• 2012 Big Day Out

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Parker, Vic. (2003) All About Jacqueline Wilson (Oxford: Heinemann Library)

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2012)

• Official Website
• 'Dame Jacqueline Wilson's Nasty Adult World' The Telegraph, 8 March 2008.
• 'The kids aren't alright' Article by Jacqueline Wilson, The Guardian, 3 March 2008.
• 'Damehood for Tracy Beaker Creator' BBC News, 29 December 2007.
• 'Interview: Jacqueline Wilson' By Martin Barber, BBC Norfolk, 20 November 2007.
• 'Writer's rooms: Jacqueline Wilson' Article by Jacqueline Wilson, The Guardian, 20 July 2007.
• 'Question time' Hannah Pool interviews Jacqueline Wilson, The Guardian, 15 March 2007.
• 'I was a girl for gritty realism' by Jacqueline Wilson, The Guardian, 24 February 2007.
• 'A Girl's own story' Article about Jacqueline Wilson by Lesley White, The Sunday Times, 18 February 2007.
• 'My Inner age is between 10 and 40' Article about Jacqueline Wilson by Kate Kellaway, The Observer, 29 May 2005.
• 'Profile: Jacqueline Wilson: Are you sitting uneasily, children?'The Sunday Times, 15 February 2004.
• 'The Pied Piper of Kingston' Article about Jacqueline Wilson by Claire Amitstead, The Guardian, 14 February 2004.
• 'Domestic Demons; In the latest Jacqueline Wilson book to be televised' by Susan Flockhart, The Sunday Herald, 28 December 2003
• 'How do I look? Wilson discusses clothes. by Liz Hoggard, The Independent, 9 November 2002.
• Letter to the Telegraph about Children and modern society signed by Jacqueline Wilson

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (December 2010)

Mock Turtle
Alice character
The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle, illustrated by John Tenniel
First appearance	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Created by	Lewis Carroll
Information
Species	Turtle/Sea Turtle/Terrapin Turtle
Gender	Male
Significant other(s)	Gryphon
Nationality	Wonderland

The Mock Turtle is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Its name is taken from a dish that was popular in the Victorian period, mock turtle soup.

[edit] Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Then the Queen left off, quite out of breath, and said to Alice, "Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?"

"No," said Alice. "I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is."

"It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from," said the Queen.

(Alice in Wonderland, chapter 9)

Carroll enjoyed such puns on Victorian fashions and etiquette, and showed this frequently. The description and drawing by John Tenniel gives comedic value to the Mock Turtle, as he is clearly an assemblage of creatures, therefore not a real turtle as his name rightly suggests.

The Mock Turtle is a very melancholy character, it is thought because he used to be a real turtle. He tells Alice his history of going to school in the sea, but cannot understand the school system that Alice describes to him- least of all the poetry she recites. Ironically, she cannot understand it either. This is a pun on the two meanings of "school", referring in the turtle's usage to a school of fish or marine animals, and by Alice to an institute of learning (see school). He says teacher was an old Sea Turtle called Tortoise and when Alice asks him why he was called Tortoise if he was a Turtle the Mock Turtle answers "We called him tortoise because he taught us!".

Origins[link]

To say that the Mock Turtle's name is a pun on the name of the soup is incomplete. The Tenniel illustration of the Mock Turtle specifically depicts it as a collection of creatures that make up the ingredients of mock turtle soup; they are not random. The pun is not only of the name, but of the nature of the soup itself.

Traditionally, mock turtle soup takes the parts of a calf that were not frequently used and often discarded, including the head, hooves, and tail; and uses the non-muscular meat to imitate turtle meat. Tenniel's illustration shows the Mock Turtle with the body of a turtle, and the head, hooves, and tail of a calf. The complicated pun, then, is both word-play and picture-play.

Cultural references[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Mock Turtle makes an appearance in the computer game American McGee's Alice, having the head of a bull and the body of a turtle. In the beginning, Alice has to help the Mock Turtle find his shell, which was stolen by the Duchess. In the sequel Alice: Madness Returns he is a ship's captain and helps Alice reach the Carpenter's underwater theater. There is also a Mock Turtle in The Elder Scrolls Legends: Battlespire. "The Mock Turtle" was the name of a costumed criminal obsessed with Alice in Wonderland and other fantasies in the Astro City universe (as a possible reference to DC comics' similarly Wonderland-obsessed villain, the Mad Hatter).

Steely Dan recorded a demo entitled "The Mock Turtle Song"; this song was never recorded for a studio album but has been released on compilations and the band has played it live. The lyrics were directly taken from a song in the section in the book ("The Lobster Quadrille").^{[citation needed]} Jazz fusion band Bruford recorded a song entitled "Fainting in Coils", which is included as the fifth track of the band's 1979 release One of a Kind. The song includes narration by band founder Bill Bruford consisting of a 74-word excerpt from "The Mock Turtle's Story." In this excerpt, the Mock Turtle tells Alice about some of things he studied in school, which among other things included "...Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils.

Film & Television Incarnations[link]

1. Alice in Wonderland (1999) (TV) Played by Gene Wilder
2. Alice in Wonderland (1986) (TV) Played by Roy Skelton
3. Alice in Wonderland (1985) (TV) Played by Ringo Starr
4. Dreamchild (1985) Played by Alan Bennett
5. Great Performances: Alice in Wonderland (1983) (TV Episode) Played by Donald O'Connor
6. Alicja (1982) Played by Jack Wild
7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972) with Fiona Fullerton & Michael Hordern
8. The Wednesday Play: Alice in Wonderland (1966) (TV Episode) Played by John Gielgud
9. The Wednesday Play: Alice (1965) (TV Episode) Played by Norman Scace
10. Alice in Wonderland (1955) (TV) Played by Burr Tillstrom
11. The Hall of Fame: Alice in Wonderland (1955) (TV Episode) Played by Burr Tillstrom
12. Alice in Wonderland (1933) Played by Cary Grant
13. Alice in Wonderland Played by Gus Alexander
    File:Mockturtledisney.jpg

    The Mock Turtle from a Disney commercial
14. Alice in Wonderland (2010) Does not appear, but a portrait of him can be seen clearly in the Hatter's room to the left of the Knave when he breaks in.

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2010)

Hazel O'Connor (born 16 May 1955,^[1] Coventry, England) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles "Eighth Day", "D-Days" and "Will You", as well as starring in the film Breaking Glass.

Career[link]

O'Connor had her film debut in Girls Come First, in 1975.^[2]

She became prominent as an actress five years later in 1980 when playing the role of Kate in the critically acclaimed film Breaking Glass, and its accompanying soundtrack.

In 1989, in the programme introduction note for a gig at the Santa Monica venue "At My Place", in Los Angeles, she wrote:

I ran away from my home in Coventry when I was 16... made and sold clothes in Amsterdam, picked grapes in France, joined a dance troupe that went to Tokyo then onto Beirut (escaping the start of the civil war by one month) travelled West Africa, crossed the Sahara, sang with a dreadful singing trio for the U.S. troops in Germany and came home to "settle down". Through all this experience of life and the world I realized that singing always cheered me up. I decided to be a singer. Through strange turns of fate I ended up in a film called Breaking Glass. I also ended up writing all the songs for the movie.

Her performance as Kate won her the Variety Club of Great Britain Award for 'Best Film Actor' and BAFTA nominations for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best Film Score.' The album of the same name went double platinum, reaching number 5 in the UK Albums Chart with a 28 week stay and produced several hit singles, the most successful being the haunting "Will You", and "Eighth Day". When O'Connor toured the UK in support of Breaking Glass the album, she selected as her opening act a then-unknown local group from Birmingham called Duran Duran. It was the band's first opportunity to play to large audiences throughout the UK and gave them the exposure they needed to secure a recording contract (with EMI).

Subsequent albums for O'Connor include Sons and Lovers (which featured the hit single "D Days"), Cover Plus, Smile, Private Wars and Five in the Morning. "D Days" was inspired by a trip to a night club in London's West End where O'Connor met a lot of bizarre looking people.^[3] O'Connor made a cameo appearance in the 1983 Eurythmics video, "Who's That Girl?", alongside other stars of the time: Bananarama, Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston of Bucks Fizz, Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee and gender-bending pop star Marilyn.

During the 1980s she was popular in Hungary and performed a live concert in Budapest in 1985. Some members of the crowd had to be restrained as she politely told them that she had other material apart from the songs from Breaking Glass.^{[citation needed]}

O'Connor donated her songwriting talents to Greenpeace First International Record Project released worldwide in 1985 as a response to the French bombing and subsequent sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. Her duet song Push and Shove with Chris Thompson leads off the second act of the album and accompanying video.

She has made numerous TV appearances, starring in Jangles on British television and in 1986 playing the lead role of Vivienne in Fighting Back as well as singing the theme tune. She also played a singer in an episode of Prospects on Channel 4 in 1986 resulting in the release of two spin off singles alongside former Breaking Glass actor Gary Olsen.

Her theatre work included One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Nightshoot at the Tricycle Theatre, London, Girlfriends at the Playhouse, London, Swing Out Sister, her own production, at the Riverside Studio, London, The Raven Beckons at the Riverbank Theatre, Dublin and The Cuchulain Cycle at the Riverside Studio, London.

In 1997 she recorded the studio album, Five in the Morning with record producer, co-writer and guitarist, Gerard Kiely. The album included "Na Na Na", which generated a lot of airplay in the UK, especially in Scotland.^{[citation needed]} A live album, Live in Berlin, followed.

The turn of the century saw O'Connor tell her life story in an autobiographical touring show entitled Beyond Breaking Glass, with harpist, Cormac De Barra. The show was a hit at the Edinburgh fringe festival and toured the UK, the Netherlands (twice), Australia and Canada.

In 2002 she signed to Invisible Hands Music, which triggered a run of new releases and deluxe re-issues of her 1990s work. A commercially available reincarnation of the previously mail-order Beyond the Breaking Glass was followed by a previously unreleased acoustic concert, Acoustically Yours. In 2003 Five In The Morning and Live In Berlin were repackaged with new photos and liner notes.

In 2003 Invisible Hands Music released O'Connor's first-ever official best of compilation, A Singular Collection, which brought together her early hits from the Albion days, mid career work at RCA, and the best of the latter, DIY era. To add something new to the best of compilation, O'Connor recorded a cover of her friend George Michael's hit, "One More Try", with a band that included drummer Carlos Hercules, who at the time was playing for Annie Lennox and Beverly Knight. Hercules joined George Michael's band in 2006. The track was released as a single, and generated extensive airplay and renewed interest in O'Connor - the following year saw her perform at the Glastonbury Festival.

June 2005 saw the UK release of Hidden Heart, produced by Martin Rushent and including duets with Moya Brennan and Rob Reynolds; with 2008 seeing the CD re-issue of her 1984 album, Smile.

In 2008 O'Connor performed for the second time at the Glastonbury Festival playing an acoustic set on the Avalon stage.

In 2009 O'Connor performed as part of the '1980s Here and Now' tour at many venues including Wembley Arena, for which she received positive reviews.^{[citation needed]} She continued to tour extensively with her own solo projects, 'Beyond the Breaking Glass' and 'Bluja Project'. In 2009 she was awarded her own star on Coventry's 'Walk of Fame'.

In September 2010, O'Connor performed in France with The Bluja Project featuring Clare Hirst and Sarah Fisher, and in Ireland in October with Cormac De Barra. She then performed 'Breaking Glass Live' throughout England, cluminating in a show at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 5 December 2010.

Personal life[link]

O'Connor married artist Kurt Bippert in 1987. The ceremony took place on Venice Beach, California, and was covered by Hello! magazine. The actor David Rappaport was Best man, and Dave Wakeling from The Beat gave O'Connor away. They divorced in 2000.

• O'Connor used to date Hugh Cornwell^[4] and Midge Ure^[5].
• O'Connor's brother Neil fronted the punk band The Flys, best known for their single "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" - later covered by Hazel O'Connor.
• O'Connor is a vegetarian.^[6]

O'Connor currently divides her time between living in Ireland and France. She is friends with BBC Radio London host Joanne Good.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Breaking Glass (1980) #5 UK
• Sons And Lovers (1980)
• Cover Plus (1981) #32 UK
• Smile (1984)
• Greatest Hits (1984)
• Alive And Kicking In L.A. (1990)
• To Be Freed (1993)
• Over The Moon...Live (1993)
• See The Writing On The Wall (1993)
• Private Wars (1995)
• Live In Berlin (1997)
• 5 In The Morning (1998)
• Beyond the Breaking Glass (2000)
• L.A. Confidential - Live (2000)
• Acoustically Yours (2002)
• Ignite (2002)
• A Singular Collection - The Best Of Hazel O'Connor (2003)
• D-Days (2003)
• Hidden Heart (2005)
• Fighting Back - Live in Brighton (2005)
• Smile 2008 (2008)
• The Bluja Project (2010)^[7]
• Breaking Glass Now (2010)
• I Give You My Sunshine (2011)

Singles[link]

• "Ee-I-Adio" (1979)
• "Writing On The Wall" (1980)
• "Eighth Day" (1980) #5 UK
• "Give Me an Inch" (1980) #41 UK
• "Time" (1980)
• "D-Days" (1981) #10 UK
• "Will You" (1981) #8 UK
• "Zoo" (1981) (Germany Only)
• "Do What Do You/Waiting" (1981) (Not UK)
• "(Cover Plus) We're All Grown Up" (1981) #41 UK
• "Hanging Around" (1981) #45 UK
• "Calls the Tune" (1982) #60 UK
• "Men of Good Fortune" (1982) (Not UK)
• "That's Life" (1982)
• "Don't Touch Me" (1984)
• "Just Good Friends" (1984)
• "Tell Me a Story Now/The Man I Love" (1984)
• "Cuts Too Deep" (1984)
• "Stranger in a Strange Land" (1985)
• "Why Don't You Answer" (1985)
• "Push and Shove" (1985) with Chris Thompson
• "Fighting Back" (1986)
• "Today Could Be So Good" (1986)
• "We Tried Boy (Didn't We?)" (1986)
• "And I Dream" (1987) with David Easter)
• "Heat of the Night" (1990)
• "My Friend Jack" (1993)
• "Tell Me Why" (1993)
• "Na, Na, Na" (1998)
• "One More Try" (2004)
• "I'll See You Again" / "Hidden" (2005) with Moya Brennan)
• "(World Stops) Spinning Without You" (2010) with The Subterraneans^[7]

Also featured on:

• "Let It Be" (Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster charity ensemble) (#1 UK) (1987)
• "The Wishing Well" (Great Ormond Street Hospital charity ensemble) (#22 UK) (1987)
• "Rap Against Rape (What Did I Do Wrong)" ("Jocks & Co" charity single) (#16 IE) (1990)

Filmography[link]

• Breaking Glass (1980)
• Jangles - O'Connor starred in two episodes, ('Getting It Together' and 'Have A Drink On Me'), of this TV series (1982)
• Car Trouble (1985)
• Fighting Back (1986 TV Series)
• Alive and Kicking in L.A. (1989–1990) Rockumentory
• Hazel O'Connor Live in Brighton (2005 live DVD including interview)
• Beyond The Breaking Glass (A limited release documenting O'Connor's life story in the style of her stage show Beyond The Breaking Glass) (circa 2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Hazel O'Connor at the Internet Movie Database
• Hazel O'Connor at AllRovi
• Hazel O'Connor Fansite

Robert Miles (born Roberto Concina, November 3, 1969) is a Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ in electronica and alternative music.^[1]

Biography[link]

Robert Miles was born to Italian immigrants Antonietta Lauro and Albino Concina in Fleurier, Switzerland.

Miles became proficient at playing the piano during his youth in Friuli, Italy, in the small town of Fagagna, where his family moved when he was still a young boy, and has been in the music scene since 1984. He worked as a DJ in some Italian clubs and private radio networks and in 1990, he used his savings to establish his own recording studio and a pirate radio station.

In 1994, Miles wrote a house/chill-out piece based on acoustic guitar chords and soft synthesizer effects, "Children", which was later developed into a dream trance track featuring a piano theme on top. The single picked up sales slowly, but within two weeks of its official release in 1995, it had sold more than 350,000 copies all over Europe and topped the charts in many countries. After occupying the Euro Top 100 chart number 1 spot for thirteen consecutive weeks,^[2] by 1997, "Children" had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. It earned Miles platinum records^[3][4] in many countries, a Brit Award (Robert Miles is, to date, the only Italian artist who has received the award) as Best International Male Newcomer 1997,^[5] a World Music Award as World's Best Selling Male Newcomer and various other awards.

Miles' next single was "Fable". Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie Ever After^[6] starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott. His debut album Dreamland was released on June 7, 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later, with a new track, "One and One". This new track became very popular (it reached number 1 in the Euro Top 100 Singles Chart during the Christmas period and remained in the top spot for six consecutive weeks)^[7] and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S.

In November 1997, Miles released another track, "Freedom", which was one of the key tracks on his second album 23am featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. Containing a different feel from the previously more club-oriented Dreamland, 23am incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles' trademark piano sound from the first album.

After splitting from BMG/Deconstruction and his former management in London, he set up his own independent record label S:alt Records (with S:alt being short for suitably:alternative) in 2001 and released his third album, Organik,^[8] featuring the new single "Paths" with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of Smoke City. Guests on the album included Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney. Music from Organik was used on various movie soundtracks such as The Bourne Identity, Derrida, and City of Ghosts. In 2002, an album containing mainly remixes of songs found on Organik was released. The album, appropriately entitled Organik Remixes,^[9] contained remixes by the winners of the remixing contest held on Robert Miles' website, as well as remixes from well known artists such as The Future Sound of London, Riton, and Alexkid amongst others. The album also had one new track, "Bhairav", which featured the vocals of Amelia Cuni.

In 2004, Miles released Miles_Gurtu,^[10] his fourth album which was a collaboration with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and included jazz and electronica elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

His fifth album entitled Th1rt3en^[11] was released worldwide on S:alt Records in February 2011, and featured guests such as Robert Fripp, Dave Okumu, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Davide Giovannini. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and progressive rock with ambient and electronic soundscapes.

Miles is currently working on a soundtrack for the forthcoming movie documentary The Turn of This Century, directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of Life Magazine.

Selected discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1996: Dreamland
• 1997: 23am
• 2001: Organik
• 2004: Miles_Gurtu
• 2011: Th1rt3en

Singles[link]

Remix albums[link]

• 1997: In the Mix
• 1997: Renaissance Worldwide — London (with Dave Seaman)
• 2002: Organik Remixes
• 2011: Th1rt3en Remixes

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Robert Miles website
• Robert Miles discography at Discogs
• Robert Miles at Allmusic
• Robert Miles on Myspace