John Boorman

John Boorman (/ˈbʊərmən/; born 18 January 1933) is an English film-maker who is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Hell in the Pacific, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General, The Tailor of Panama, and Queen and Country. He has directed a total of 22 films and has received five Academy Award nominations.

Early life

Boorman was born in Shepperton, Middlesex, England, the son of Ivy (née Chapman) and George Boorman. He was educated at the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey, even though his family was not Roman Catholic.

Career

Boorman first began by working as a drycleaner and journalist in the late 1950s. He ran the newsrooms at Southern Television in Southampton and Dover before moving into TV documentary filmmaking, eventually becoming the head of the BBC's Bristol-based Documentary Unit in 1962.

Capturing the interest of producer David Deutsch, he was offered the chance to direct a film aimed at repeating the success of A Hard Day's Night (directed by Richard Lester in 1964): Catch Us If You Can (1965) is about competing pop group Dave Clark Five. While not as successful commercially as Lester's film, it drew good reviews from distinguished critics such as Pauline Kael and Dilys Powell and smoothed Boorman's way into the film industry. Boorman was drawn to Hollywood for the opportunity to make larger-scale cinema and in Point Blank (1967), a powerful interpretation of a Richard Stark novel, brought a stranger's vision to the decaying fortress of Alcatraz and the proto-hippy world of San Francisco. Lee Marvin gave the then-unknown director his full support, telling MGM he deferred all his approvals on the project to Boorman.

John Boorman (cricketer)

John Boorman (born c.1754, probably at Cranbrook, Kent; died aged 53 on 1 August 1807 at Ashurst, Sussex) was a famous English cricketer whose career spanned the 1772 season and the 1793 season.

Boorman usually represented Kent but he seems to have relocated to Essex c.1790 and played in Essex county cricket teams. He was a very useful bowler, probably medium-fast, and believed to have been a left-handed batsman. He generally fielded at point. His occupation was farmer.

John Boorman made 61 known first-class appearances from 1772 until 1793.

External links

References

Memoirs of Hadrian

Memoirs of Hadrian (French: Mémoires d'Hadrien) is a novel by the Belgian writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of Roman Emperor Hadrian. First published in France in French in 1951 as Mémoires d'Hadrien, the book was an immediate success, meeting with enormous critical acclaim. Although the historical Hadrian wrote an autobiography, it has been lost.

The book takes the form of a letter to Hadrian's cousin and eventual successor "Mark" (Marcus Aurelius). The emperor meditates on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous, all in a manner similar to Gustave Flaubert's "melancholy of the antique world."

Yourcenar noted in her postscript "Carnet de note" to the original edition, quoting Flaubert, that she had chosen Hadrian as the subject of the novel in part because he had lived at a time when the Roman gods were no longer believed in, but Christianity was not yet established. This intrigued her for what she saw as parallels to her own post-war European world.

Hadrian

Hadrian (/ˈheɪdriən/; Latin: Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus; 24 January, 76 AD – 10 July, 138 AD) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian is known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. Philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as one of the Five Good Emperors.

Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family. Although Italica near Santiponce (in modern-day Spain) is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. However, it is generally accepted that he came from a family with centuries-old roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a maternal cousin of Hadrian's father. Trajan did not officially designate an heir, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajan named Hadrian emperor immediately before his death. Trajan's wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well-disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them.

Hadrian (opera)

Hadrian is an opera by American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, scheduled to premiere in 2018 by Toronto's Canadian Opera Company. It is based on the life of Hadrian (76–138 AD), who was Roman emperor from 117–138. The libretto is written by Canadian actor, director and playwright Daniel MacIvor. Hadrian is Wainwright's second opera, following Prima Donna (2009).

Background and development

Hadrian is Wainwright's second opera, following Prima Donna, which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2009. Wainwright was inspired by Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian (1951) and began composing Hadrian before Prima Donna. However, lacking the confidence to "navigate all the emotional possibilities" that Hadrian would require, he concentrated his efforts on Prima Donna as his first opera production.

Description

The opera will focus on Hadrian's relationship with Antinous, who drowned. According to Wainwright and MacIvor, "You've got everything. A big chorus, lots of characters, the Nile... a love story... a political story... all the elements of traditional grand opera." MacIvor has also said of the opera: "The mystery of why Hadrian's remarkable love for Antinous – underlined by his bottomless grief – has not been celebrated widely as a model of eros points to a fear of same-sex love that has changed little from his age to ours. The deeper I delve into Hadrian's world and his time, the more parallels I see to how we live today." According to the Canadian Opera Company, the opera will be performed in English, "perhaps with a little Latin".

Hadrian (BBC documentary)

Hadrian is a Bafta Cymru-winning 2008 BBC Television documentary film in which Dan Snow follows the travels of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Production

The film was produced by BBC Wales to tie in with the exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict at the British Museum.

Reception

Reviews

Sam Wollaston writing in The Guardian describes the film as, a breathless, whistle-stop tour of the Roman Empire, and complimented Snow for having, contagious bounding enthusiasm, a real passion for his subject, as well as the authority and gravitas to make you sit up and listen, but he is however critical of the cameraman’s dizzying, habit of circling presenters, and the presenter’s, prancing around in the desert, wearing a silk-scarf in the style of, The English Patient or Indiana Jones.

Andrew Billen writing in The Times described the film as a, really rather good account, but described Snow as, a bit too public school for my liking, a bit keen on showing us his biceps, and, a bit too Bear Grylls with his flowing desert scarf, concluding that he was unsure, whether to be pleased or sad that Hadrian died a long and lonely death.