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Changeroom sign in clothing store

A changing room, locker room, dressing room (usually in a sports, theater or staff context) or changeroom (regional use) is a room or area designated for changing one's clothes. Changing rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to change clothes in privacy, either individually or on a gender basis.

Separate changing rooms may be provided for men and women, or there may be a non-gender specific open space with individual cubicles or stalls.^[1] Sometimes a person may change his or her clothes in a toilet cubicle of a washroom. Many changerooms include washrooms and showers. Sometimes a changing room exists as a small portion of a washroom. For example, the men's and women's washrooms in Toronto's Dundas Square (which includes a waterplay area) each include a change area which is a blank counter space at the end of a row of sinks. In this case, the facility is primarily a washroom, and its use as a changeroom is minimal, since only a small percentage of users change into bathing suits.

Larger changing rooms are usually found at public beaches, or other bathing areas, where most of the space is for changing, and minimal washroom space is included. Beach-style changing rooms are often large open rooms with benches against the walls. Some do not have a roof, providing just the barrier necessary to prevent persons outside from seeing in.

Types of changing rooms[link]

Various types of changing rooms exist.

• Locker rooms are usually gender-specific spaces where clothes are changed and stored in lockers. They are often used for swimming or other sporting purposes. They are open spaces with no stalls.
• Fitting rooms, or dressing rooms, are usually small single-user cubicles where a person may try on clothes. These are often found at retail stores where one would want to try on clothes before purchasing them.
• Green rooms and trap rooms are usually mixed-gender backstage or under-stage changing spaces found at theaters and other similar venues.

Locker rooms[link]

Locker rooms are thus named because they provide lockers for the storage of one's belongings. Alternatively, they may have a locker room attendant who will keep a person's belongings until they come to retrieve them. Locker rooms are usually open spaces where people change together, but there are separate areas, or separate locker rooms, for men and women. Sometimes they are used in swimming complexes.

Locking devices used in locker rooms have traditionally been key or coin lockers, or lockers that are secured with a combination lock. Newer locker rooms may be automated, with robotic machines to store clothes, with such features as a fingerprint scanner to enroll and for later retrieval. Locker rooms in some waterparks use a microchip equipped wristband. The same wristband that unlocks the lockers can be used to purchase food and drinks and other items in the waterpark.

Locker rooms are also used in many middle schools and high schools. Most of them include showers for after Physical Education.

Fitting rooms[link]

Fitting rooms, or "dressing rooms", are rooms where people try on clothes, such as in a department store. The rooms are usually individual rooms in which a person tries on clothes to determine fit before making a purchase. People do not always use the fitting rooms to change, as to change implies to remove one set of clothes and put on another. Sometimes a person chooses to try on clothes over their clothes (such as sweaters or coats), but would still like to do this in private. Thus fitting rooms may be used for changing, or just for fitting without changing.

Rules and conventions[link]

Retail establishments often post rules such as maximum number of items allowed in changing room, e.g. "no more than 4 items allowed in changeroom".

Green rooms[link]

A green room is a room located backstage in a theatre or some such performance space where the actors (musicians, dancers etc.) wait before they go onstage. Named for its traditional green walls; as green is considered to have a calming effect and is meant to bring focus before the performance and calm nerves. Although this is conventional, they are not always green. Green rooms are usually located backstage, but sometimes under the stage, or to the side. When they are located under the stage, they are often also called "trap rooms" because many stage setups, especially for magicians, involve a trap door that goes to a room under the stage. In a magic trick, a performer may drop down into the trap room, through the trap door, onto a padded surface like a mattress, to "disappear" and change into another outfit. Green rooms are usually not separated by gender, because performers often operate as family and help each other change. For example, a husband and wife team of circus performers might need to "rig" each other up with various wiring, cabling, safety harnesses, and the like. Although there are often small gender separated spaces in some green rooms (to meet building codes, etc.), the changing activities of a green room typically spill out into the main area back stage, where there are dressers and stagehands available to assist in the change of outfit.

Cleansing stations[link]

Traditionally, before the advent of modern plumbing, there existed a number of cleansing stations for cleansing one's clothes and body. Cleansing stations were separated by gender, and combined the function of cleaning clothes with cleaning of the body. The closest modern equivalent would be a combination laundromat plus locker room with showers.

During the nineteenth, and early part of the twentieth century, the increase of urbanization caused an increase in the spread of disease. Poor hygiene was determined to be the cause. Since many families did not have practical means to clean themselves or their clothes, public cleansing stations were established for their use.

Store fitting rooms[link]

A changeroom in a department store

A block of clothing store fitting rooms in Denmark

It appears that the first store fitting rooms appeared with the spread of department stores.^[2] Émile Zola noted their existence in his novel Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), and that they were then forbidden to men.^[2] Some years later, when Henri Gervex, who painted Jeanne Paquin in 1906, that was no longer the case.^[2]

In any case, Buster Keaton worked in one in an American 1928 silent comedy The Cameraman.^[2] Since then, they have continued to provide comic scenes in films, for example in the 1995 French film Les Trois Frères.^[2]

Changing room security[link]

Because of the privacy afforded by changing rooms, they create a problem in the trade off between security and privacy, where in it may be possible for crime to be perpetrated by people using the cover of privacy to sell drugs, or steal clothing from a department store. Some department stores have security cameras in the changing rooms.^[3]

Communal changing rooms pose less of a risk of theft than fitting rooms, because there is not total privacy. In particular, the perpetrator of a crime would not know whether or not other users might be undercover police or security guards. Many modern changing rooms often have labyrinth-style entrances that have no door, so that people outside cannot see in, but security can walk in at any time without the sound of an opening door alerting persons inside. Washrooms in which changing clothes is merely a secondary purpose often also have such labyrinth openings. Many washrooms have security cameras in the main area with a view of the sinks and the urinals from a viewing angle that would only show the back of a user. However, when a washroom is located near a fountain, wading pool, or the like, and is likely to be used for changing clothes, some believe that washroom surveillance cameras would be a violation of privacy.

Another security risk present is that of theft. If belongings are left behind, anyone may simply take them, unless they are secured. Lockers exist for this purpose, and operators may post signs waiving responsibility for stolen items.

See also[link]

• Virtual dressing room

References[link]

Michael McIntyre
McIntyre at the British Academy Television Awards 2009
Birth name	Michael Hazen James McIntyre
Born	(1976-02-21) 21 February 1976 (age 36) Merton, London, England
Medium	Stand-up, Television
Nationality	British
Years active	1999–present
Genres	Social satire Observational comedy
Influences	Woody Allen, Billy Connolly[1]
Spouse	Kitty McIntyre (m. 2003) «start: (2003)»"Marriage: Kitty McIntyre to Michael McIntyre" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Michael_McIntyre)
Notable works and roles	Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow Live at the Apollo
Website	http://www.michaelmcintyre.co.uk/

Michael Hazen James McIntyre (born 21 February 1976) is a British stand-up comedian. As well as his stand-up, he has performed on programmes such as Live at the Apollo and has his own programme, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.

McIntyre has released two stand-up DVDs; Live and Laughing in 2008 featured material from his first nationwide tour, while Michael McIntyre: Hello Wembley was released in November 2009 following a set at Wembley Arena. The former was the fastest selling debut stand-up DVD ever, and Hello Wembley is the fastest selling stand-up DVD in UK chart history, selling over a million copies.^[2] In 2009 McIntyre performed live to half a million people and won Best Live Stand-up at the British Comedy Awards.

In 2010, McIntyre released his autobiography, Life and Laughing: My Story, and also became the youngest-ever host of the Royal Variety Performance.^[3] He started as a judge on the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent in April 2011.^[4] He is to embark on his second nationwide tour in 2012.^[5]

Early life[link]

McIntyre was born in Merton, southwest London, and raised in Hampstead.^[6] McIntyre's parents were both in show business: his Canadian father, Ray Cameron (19 April 1938 – 27 December 1993), né Thomas Cameron McIntyre, was a writer on The Kenny Everett Television Show, and his Hungarian mother, Kati, was a dancer. McIntyre has some Eastern European Jewish heritage on his mother's side.^[7][8] His parents divorced when he was seven; both his parents remarried and went on to have other children with their new spouses. Ray Cameron relocated to Los Angeles, where he died of a heart attack in 1993, aged 55.

Education[link]

McIntyre went to Arnold House Prep School and then attended Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood for three years before transferring to local state school Woodhouse College for financial reasons.^[9] McIntyre later attended Edinburgh University for one year before dropping out to pursue a career in script writing.^[10] He has said that he cannot remember whether it was biology or chemistry that he studied while there.^[6][10]

Career[link]

Television and stage[link]

McIntyre has appeared three times on BBC One's Live at the Apollo and also on the Royal Variety Performance, in 2006, 2008 and 2010. While performing on stage in Wolverhampton in 2008, as he was running back onto stage for his encore, McIntyre tripped, fell over and dislocated his shoulder. Many of the audience believed this to be part of his act and started to laugh; only after his manager came on stage to assist did they realise it was real.^[11]

McIntyre's routine on We Are Most Amused, staged at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 12 November 2008 in aid of The Prince's Trust was televised. This comedy gala celebrated the 60th birthday of Prince Charles, and was performed in the presence of the Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall.^{[citation needed]}

Among McIntyre's many comedy panel show appearances are Chris Moyles' Quiz Night, Mock the Week, 8 out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News for You, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Would I Lie To You?, and The Apprentice: You're Fired!. On 13 February 2009, he was a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On 21 February 2009, McIntyre appeared live as a guest judge alongside head judge Anton du Beke and fellow guest Emma Bunton in the first round of Let's Dance for Comic Relief. He appeared on the show again in the final on 14 March.

In 2009, McIntyre performed for an estimated total of 500,000 people on his first tour of the United Kingdom that included a record-breaking six nights at Wembley Arena and four at The O2 Arena. His second DVD, Hello Wembley, was another hit. 58 dates have been announced for his second tour in the autumn of 2012, at arenas in ten UK cities as well as Dublin.^[5]

From 6 June 2009, McIntyre began hosting Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, aired on Saturday nights on BBC One. On 5 July 2009, McIntyre appeared on the BBC show Top Gear as the "star in a reasonably priced car", driving around the Top Gear test track in one minute and 48.7 seconds. During his lap of the track he almost rolled the car while going around the final corner.

In December 2009, McIntyre cancelled a stand-up show at short notice after discovering that he would be performing to debt collectors. He had revealed only weeks earlier how he had struggled with substantial debt only a few years before breaking through in to the mainstream. McIntyre stated that he would have gone against his principles by performing the show.^[12]

On 31 March 2010, McIntyre took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital, filmed live at London's O2 Arena. Also in 2010 he appeared on the year's edition of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, partnered with Alan Carr. The other participants were Richard Ayoade, Noel Fielding, Jonathan Ross and Ruth Jones.

On 14 December 2010, it was announced that McIntyre would join the Britain's Got Talent judges' panel in 2011, alongside David Hasselhoff and Amanda Holden.^[13]

On 18 March 2011 McIntyre was among the hosts of the BBC's Red Nose Day.

In Sept 2011 McIntyre quit his role as judge on Britain's Got Talent to focus on his 2012 Stand-up tour^[14]

On Christmas Day 2011 McIntyre hosted a Christmas Special of his show, ‘’Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow’’, that featured Jack Dee, Sean Lock, Rhod Gilbert, David Mitchell, James Corden, Miranda Hart, Rob Brydon and had music from Pixie Lott and Kylie Minogue. The show was watched by 8.1 million viewers.^[15]

Radio[link]

McIntyre's radio appearances have included:

• Does the Team Think? (BBC Radio 2)
• Heresy, 4 Stands Up, Happy Mondays, The Unbelievable Truth (all on BBC Radio 4)
• The Jon Richardson Show (BBC 6 Music)
• The Jonathan Ross Show (BBC Radio 2)
• The Chris Moyles Show (BBC Radio 1)
• Desert Island Discs 2011-07-22 (BBC radio 4)^[16]

Personal life[link]

McIntyre lives in Hampstead, London^[17] with his aromatherapist wife Kitty, a daughter of actor Simon Ward. The couple married in 2003 and have two sons, Oscar and Lucas.

He is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.^[18]

Awards[link]

Stand-up DVDs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michael McIntyre

• Official website
• Official fansite
• Chortle page
• Tour dates
• Fan Club
• Michael McIntyre at the Internet Movie Database

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