Vernon Kay

Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television presenter, radio DJ and former model best known for his television roles with ITV, presenting shows such as All Star Family Fortunes (2006–present), Beat the Star (2008–2009) and Splash! (2013–2014).

Kay's other television presenting roles have included The Whole 19 Yards on ITV in 2010, Home For the Holidays, a Christmas entertainment show for Channel 4 in 2011 and an ITV-mini series called Let's Get Gold in 2012. In 2015, he began hosting new ITV game show 1000 Heartbeats.

He also presented his own BBC Radio 1 show between 2004 and 2012. Kay currently presents his own show on Radio X.

Early life

Kay was born and brought up in Horwich, Greater Manchester, the elder son of Norman and Gladys; he has a younger brother, Stephen. He attended St Joseph's RC High School in Horwich, near Bolton,. He then graduated in environmental science at Manchester Metropolitan University. He supports his hometown's football club Bolton Wanderers. He used to be a regular visitor to Manchester nightclub the Haçienda.

Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British horror comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather. At the same time, he has to cope with an apocalyptic zombie uprising.

The film was a critical and commercial success. Shaun of the Dead was also a BAFTA nominee. Pegg and Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster, but decided against it as they were pleased with the first film as a stand-alone product, and thought too many characters died to continue the story.

The film is the first in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End.

Plot

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a 29-year-old electronics shop salesman with no direction in life. His younger colleagues don't respect him. He has an estranged relationship with his stepfather, Phillip (Bill Nighy). His housemate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) is fed up with Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's vulgar, unemployed best friend. Furthermore, Shaun's girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is unhappy with their social life as they spend every date at Shaun and Ed's favourite pub, the Winchester. Because Shaun always brings Ed, Liz is always forced to bring her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis). Shaun promises Liz that he will change.

Shaun of the Dead (comics)

The film Shaun of the Dead has been adapted into a comic book twice.

2000 AD

2000 AD produced a Shaun of the Dead strip called "There's Something About Mary" which was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, with art by Frazer Irving. It was published as part of the run up to the film and followed Mary, the first zombie, and other characters.

The DVD extras include the 2000 AD strip (in "Zombie Gallery" within the "Raw Meat" section) by Irving, and three new strips, drawn by Oscar Wright and narrated by the characters, which fill in the plot holes (in, appropriately, "Plot Holes" within the "Missing Bits" section).

IDW Publishing

IDW Publishing produced a comic book adaptation of the film, written by IDW's editor-in-chief Chris Ryall and drawn by Zach Howard. It was published as a four-issue mini-series in 2005.

References

See also

The Dead (novel)

The Dead is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by Charlie Higson. The book, published by Puffin Books in the UK on 16 September 2010, is the second book in a planned seven-book series, titled The Enemy.The Dead takes place in London, a year before the events in the previous book (The Enemy, released in the UK by Puffin Books on 3 September 2009),), two weeks after a worldwide sickness has infected adults turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies.

Puffin Books released the third novel in the series, titled The Fear, on 15 September 2011; the fourth novel, The Sacrifice, on the 20 September 2012; the fifth novel, The Fallen, on 12 September 2013; the sixth novel, The Hunted, on 4 September 2014; and the final book, The End, is scheduled to be released in 2015. Disney Hyperion released Higson's short story companion book in the series, titled Geeks vs. Zombies, on June 5, 2012; it portrays an exclusive scene from The Fear, on World Book Day.

Faction (Planescape)

The Factions are fictional philosophically based power groups in the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Background

While the Lady of Pain is considered the ultimate ruler of the planar metropolis called Sigil, "the City of Doors", the Factions perform virtually all the actual administrative and practical functions of the city. They are the ones the people look to for authority; the Lady only gives edicts or appears personally under rare circumstances. Each of the Factions is based around one particular belief system; many of the Factions' beliefs make them enemies where their other goals and actions might have made them allies. All Factions hold many secrets from non-members and even their own members, for the fewer know a secret the more secret it is (and these are secrets of power, either wielded or potentially gained by the Faction's adversaries).

There are fifteen Factions in total, per decree of the Lady of Pain; any additional factions emerging would be subject to her wrath (unless they destroy one of the current 15). At one point there were many more Factions, but after a war referred to as the Great Upheaval amongst the factions, the Lady of Pain decreed that they had two weeks to get the number down to 15 or she would kill them all. Interestingly the Free League membership swelled to over a million, compared to the 20,000 or so members present day.

The Dead (1987 film)

The Dead is a 1987 feature film directed by John Huston, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously.

It was adapted from the short story "The Dead" by James Joyce (from his short works collection Dubliners), and nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design.

The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party held by two elderly sisters. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston) memory of a deceased lover.

Film adaptation

This film adaptation by John Huston's son Tony Huston can be considered a close adaptation of Joyce's short story, with some alterations made to the dialogue to aid the narrative for cinema audiences.

The most significant change to the story was the inclusion of a new character, a Mr Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.

Survival of the Dead

Survival of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead) is a 2009 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh and Kathleen Munroe. It is the sixth entry in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series. The story follows a group of AWOL National Guardsmen who briefly appeared in Diary of the Dead.

Plot

The prologue follows the actions of National Guard Sergeant "Nicotine" Crockett, who along with Kenny, Francisco and Tomboy, desert their posts and rob the protagonists of the previous film. Meanwhile, off the coast of Delaware lies Plum Island, home to two feuding Irish families: the O'Flynns and the Muldoons. The former family, led by Patrick O'Flynn, round up a posse to kill the undead on the island. O'Flynn learns that the Muldoons are keeping their undead loved ones safe until a cure is found. Tensions come to a head when O'Flynn and his posse arrive at a Muldoon house to dispatch their undead children, only to engage in a brief gunfight that leaves a woman dead as well. Unable to put the children down himself, Patrick surrenders his weapons when the Muldoon posse arrives. Seamus Muldoon contemplates killing Patrick until Patrick's daughter Janet suggests he be exiled from the island instead.