Margot Fonteyn

Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE (18 May 1919 – 21 February 1991), was an English ballerina. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time. She spent her entire career as a dancer with The Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.

Early life

Fonteyn was born Margaret Evelyn Hookham on 18 May 1919 in Reigate, Surrey to a British father and a half-Irish half-Brazilian mother. Her mother's father was a Brazilian industrialist Antonio Fontes. Very early in her career Margaret transformed "Fontes" into "Fonteyn" (a surname her brother also adopted) and Margaret into Margot. Among her father's family were people in literature and music, but he was an engineer.

At four years of age her mother signed her up for ballet classes with her older brother. At age eight, Margot made the long journey to China with her mother and father, who had taken employment with a tobacco company there; her brother Felix remained at his school. For six years Margot lived in TianJin, then Shanghai, where she studied ballet with Russian émigré teacher George Goncharov. Her mother brought her back to London when she was 14, to pursue a ballet career. Continuing to work in Shanghai, her father was interned during World War II by the invading Japanese.

Sky Arts

Sky Arts (formerly known as Artsworld) is an art-oriented television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera performances and classical and jazz sessions). The channel is available via Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk TV, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription. Sky Arts HD is also available on Sky, Virgin Media.

History

Artsworld (2000–07)

In its early days, it was owned and managed by a public partnership (Artsworld Channels) including Sir Jeremy Isaacs. However, the channel suffered severe financial difficulty. In July 2002, it even staged its own farewell party, only to find emergency funding that very evening. In 2003, with a skeleton staff, it was facing closure. At this point, Sky stepped in, taking an initial 50% stake.

Sky subsequently bought out the remaining shareholders (including Isaacs) and in June 2005 took full control, reducing the staff further, and dropping the channel's premium subscription fee shortly afterwards. 60 hours of classic music along with seven full-length operas were broadcast each month to help bring in potential new subscribers. John Cassy, the channel manager of Artsworld, said: "It is great news for the arts that a dedicated cultural channel will be available to millions of households."