- published: 04 Jun 2014
- views: 9107
Sir Huw Pyrs Wheldon, OBE, MC (7 May 1916 – 14 March 1986) was a BBC broadcaster and executive.
Wheldon was born on 7 May 1916 in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, Wales. He was educated at Friars School, Bangor, then an all-boys grammar school. His father, Sir Wynn Wheldon, was a prominent educationalist, who had been awarded the DSO for gallantry in the First World War. His grandfather, Tomos Jones Wheldon, had been the Moderator of the Calvinist Methodist Church in Wales. His mother, Megan Edwards, was an accomplished pianist.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Wheldon enlisted in the Buffs. He was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1940, but subsequently volunteered for the airborne forces and joined the Royal Ulster Rifles, with whom he flew into Normandy. He was awarded the Military Cross for an act of bravery on D-Day + 1.
After the war Wheldon joined the Arts Council of Wales, and then in 1951 became the Arts Council's administrator for the Festival of Britain, work for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1952.
George Orson Welles (/ˈwɛlz/; May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who worked in theatre, radio, and film. He is remembered for his innovative work in all three: in theatre, most notably Caesar (1937), a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar; in radio, the 1938 broadcast "The War of the Worlds", one of the most famous in the history of radio; and in film, Citizen Kane (1941), consistently ranked as one of the all-time greatest films.
Welles directed a number of high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth with an entirely African American cast, and the political musical The Cradle Will Rock. In 1937 he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented an acclaimed series of productions on Broadway through 1941. Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds performed for his radio anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It reportedly caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although some contemporary sources claim these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to notoriety.
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film by Orson Welles, its producer, co-author, director and star. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane was voted the greatest film of all time in five consecutive Sight & Sound polls of critics, until it was displaced by Vertigo in the 2012 poll. It topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as AFI's 2007 update. Citizen Kane is particularly praised for its cinematography, music, and narrative structure, which were innovative for its time.
The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, and aspects of Welles's own life. Upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. Kane's career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word: "Rosebud".
Bettany Hughes, born May 1967, is an English historian, author, and broadcaster. Her speciality is classical history.
Hughes was born and brought up in west London. She is the daughter of actor Peter Hughes and the sister of cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes.
Hughes is married to Adrian Evans, who, in 2012, was the Pageant Master for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The couple have two children.
Hughes won a bursary to attend Notting Hill & Ealing High School in Ealing. She was awarded an entrance scholarship to St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she earned a degree with second-class honours in Ancient and Modern History. Hughes then carried out postgraduate research in Greece, Romania and Asia Minor.
Hughes has taught at Bristol, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge universities. She is currently a Research Fellow of King's College London, a tutor for Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education, an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University, and the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York.
Hollywood director Alfred Hitchcock interviewed by Huw Wheldon.
Bettany delivers the 2011 Huw Wheldon lecture to the RTS.
Orson Welles discusses Citizen Kane with Huw Wheldon in a 13 March 1960 edition of the BBC's pioneering arts programme Monitor, presented and edited by Wheldon from 1958-1965. Wheldon and Welles knew each other well and had worked together previously for the BBC on Orson Welles's Sketch Book (1955), which Wheldon produced. In this insightful interview, Welles speaks candidly about Citizen Kane, the film's visual style and use of theatre actors as well as its subtext before discussing his relationship with Hollywood and the cuts made to The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil against his wishes. This video attempts to present in sequence as much of the available footage from this interview as possible. The video is indebted to the excellent work and superb channels of Bazarov ht...
A BBC television series in eight parts, introduced by Sir Hew Wheldon. First broadcast in 1977 to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations of that year. These VHS recordings date from 1986. I claim no copyright for any of this material.
Welles discusses Citizen Kane with Huw Wheldon. March, 1960.
A BBC television series in eight parts, introduced by Sir Hew Wheldon. First broadcast in 1977 to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations of that year. These VHS recordings date from 1986. I do not claim any copyright for this material.
Rabbi Sacks, Bettany Hughes, Patchwork Foundation and Cllr Devra Kay were among the top thinkers, researchers and academics who came together at Middlesex University to discuss and get under the skin of democracy in today's society.
Alex Connock, Chair of the RTS North West Centre, took questions from the studio audience and Twitter and put them to Professor Cox at the end of the Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture 2010 at the Lowry in Salford Quays.
Bettany Hughes - fun, fine and fantastic A series of clips of Bettany at her best to "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones All copyright goes to the original owners of the clips and audio :)
I remember Daddy's hands, folded silently in prayer
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind
I remember Daddy's hands, how they held my Mama tight
And patted my back, for something done right
There are things that I've forgotten, that I loved about the man
But I'll always remember the love in Daddy's hands
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'
Daddy's hands, were hard as steel when I'd done wrong
Daddy's hands, weren't always gentle
But I've come to understand
There was always love in Daddy's hands
I remember Daddy's hands, working 'til they bled
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed
If I could do things over, I'd live my life again
And never take for granted the love in Daddy's hands
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'
Daddy's hands, were hard as steel when I'd done wrong
Daddy's hands, weren't always gentle
But I've come to understand
There was always love in Daddy's hands
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'
Daddy's hands, were hard as steel when I'd done wrong
Daddy's hands, weren't always gentle
But I've come to understand
There was always love