Wanda Ventham (born 5 August 1935) is an English actress, mainly on television. She is a familiar face in many television series in Britain, although she has never achieved star status. She is well known for her role as Col. Virginia Lake in the 1970 science fiction TV series UFO, and for her recurring role in Only Fools and Horses as Pamela Parry (Cassandra's mother) (1989–1992). She also appeared in TV series The Saint with Roger Moore in multiple episodes.
Ventham was born in Brighton, Sussex, England. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Her first appearance on film was in a British drama called My Teenage Daughter with Anna Neagle and Sylvia Syms in 1956. She also appeared in the films Carry On Cleo (1964) and Carry On Up the Khyber (1968).
Her numerous television credits included regular roles in Heartbeat as Fiona Weston (1996–1997); Hetty Wainthropp Investigates as Margaret Balshaw; and The Rag Trade as Shirley (1962–1963). She also played a love interest for Arthur Daley in Minder; Susan's mother in Coupling; and Deborah's mother in Men Behaving Badly. She had the lead role in the 15-part BBC TV series The Lotus Eaters in 1972-73, starring with Ian Hendry; and made a guest appearance in Rutland Weekend Television, the first TV series made by comic Eric Idle after Monty Python's Flying Circus came to an end. Other comedy roles included appearances on The Two Ronnies.
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English film, television, radio and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking (2004); William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace (2006); the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy (2008); Paul Marshall in Atonement (2007); Bernard in Small Island (2009); Sherlock Holmes in the modern BBC adaptation series Sherlock (2010); and Peter Guillam in the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).
In February 2011, he began playing both Victor Frankenstein and his creature opposite Jonny Lee Miller in Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The play had a three-month run at the National Theatre. In late 2011, he played Major Stewart in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011). The film received five BAFTA nominations and six Academy Award nominations, including the Best Picture nomination in 2012. He also played Peter Guillam, one of the pivotal roles in Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011), which was nominated for three Academy Awards and 11 BAFTA Awards. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was also nominated for Best Picture in 2012.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.
The earliest recorded use[citation needed] of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." [dubious – discuss] In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.