The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) refer to massive cuts and restructuring of the Railways in Great Britain outlined in two reports The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) -an early example of euphemistic management-speak- and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965), written by Dr Beeching and published by the British Railways Board.

The first report identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of railway line for closure, representing 55 per cent of all stations and 30 per cent of route miles, with an objective of stemming the large financial losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport; the second identified a small number of major routes within the remaining network for significant investment. The 1963 report also recommended some less well publicised changes, including a switch to containerization for rail freight.

Protests resulted in the saving of some stations and lines, but the majority were closed as planned and Beeching's name is to this day associated with the mass closure of railways and the loss of many local services in the period that followed. A number of these routes have since reopened, been incorporated into the National Cycle Network or used within roads schemes; others were lost to construction or simply reverted to farm land.

Richard Cottrell (born 15 August 1936) is an English theatre director. He has been the Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company and the Bristol Old Vic in England, and of the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney, Australia. He has also directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Chichester Festival, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, the National Theatre of Portugal, and other theatre companies around the world.

Cottrell is also a translator of plays, and an author of a book on art appreciation.

Cottrell was born 15 August 1936, in London. He attended Cambridge University, and trained as an actor in Paris.

From 1964 to 1966 Cottrell was General Manager of the Hampstead Theatre Club. The first play he directed there was Georges Feydeau's The Birdwatcher, with Michael Bates and Prunella Scales.

From 1966 to 1969, Cottrell was co-founder and Associate Director of the Prospect Theatre Company in Oxford. His work for Prospect included works by Anouilh, Pinter, and Feydeau. His production of Farquhar's The Constant Couple, with Robert Hardy and Timothy West, transferred to the New Theatre in London. Cottrell's own translation of The Cherry Orchard, starring Lila Kedrova and Patrick Wymark, transferred to the Queen's Theatre in London in 1967. Cottrell was instrumental in the career of Ian McKellen, inviting him to star in, and directing him in, his acclaimed Richard II in 1969.