Pip Torrens (born June 2, 1960) is an English actor.
He was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He studied English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge. His television appearances include Consenting Adults, two episodes of Doctor Who ("Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood"), Green Wing,Silk, The Government Inspector (as John Scarlett), The Last Detective and DI Torrens for a few episodes in The Bill in 2001. He has also appeared in a 2008 series of UK television advertisements for First Direct, with Matthew King.
In 2011, he appeared in both episodes of an Outnumbered two-part special.
In 2012 he appeared in the first episode of series 8 of Hustle and presented new gameshow The Devil's Dinner Party.
His film appearances include Tomorrow Never Dies as the captain of HMS Bedford, the 2001 film To End All Wars and voicework for Valiant.
He also does work as a simulated patient in medical schools in the UK.
He appeared as Bingo Little in Jeeves and Wooster. Also has appeared in Heartbeat and Agatha Christie's Marple.
Vladimir Georgievich Sorokin (Russian: Владимир Георгиевич Сорокин) (born 7 August 1955 in Bykovo, Moscow Oblast) is a contemporary postmodern Russian writer and dramatist, one of the most popular in modern Russian literature.
Sorokin was born on 7 August 1955 in Bykovo, Moscow Oblast near Moscow. In 1972 he made his literary debut with a publication in the newspaper Za Kadry Neftyanikov (Russian: За кадры нефтяников, lit. For the petroleum industry manager). He studied at the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas in Moscow and graduated in 1977 as an engineer.
After graduation he worked for one year for the magazine Change (Russian: Смена), before he had to leave due to his refusal to become a member of the Komsomol.
Throughout the 1970s, Sorokin participated in a number of art exhibitions and designed and illustrated nearly 50 books. Sorokin’s development as a writer took place amidst painters and writers of the Moscow underground scene of the 1980s. In 1985, six of Sorokin’s stories appeared in the Paris magazine A-Ya. In the same year, French publisher Syntaxe published his novel Ochered' (The Queue).
Yan Lianke (simplified Chinese: 阎连科; traditional Chinese: 閻連科; pinyin: Yán Liánkē; Wade–Giles: Yen Lien-k'e, born 1958) is a Chinese writer of novels and short stories based in Beijing. His work is highly satirical, which has resulted in some of his most renowned works being banned. He has admitted to self-censorship while writing his stories in order to avoid censorship.
He started writing in 1978 and his works include: Xia Riluo (夏日落), Serve the People (为人民服务), Enjoyment (受活), and Dream of Ding Village (丁庄梦). He has also published more than ten volumes of short stories including the winner of the Lu Xun Literary Prize in 2000, Nian Yue Ri (年月日). Enjoyment, which was published in 2004, received wide acclaim in China, garnering the 3rd Lao She Literature Award in the novel category. His literature has been published in various nations, and some of his works have been banned in China.
Yan Lianke was born in Song County, Henan Province, China. Though he lives in Beijing, he has said that his heart remains in Henan, and he has based numerous works on life in Henan, including Dream of Ding Village. He entered the army in 1978. He graduated from Henan University in 1985 with a degree in politics and education. In 1991, he graduated from the People's Liberation Army Art Institute with a degree in Literature.
Oliver Parker (born 6 September 1960) is an English film director.
Parker was born in London, the son of Jillian, Lady Parker, a writer and GP (general practitioner), and Sir Peter Parker, formerly Chief executive of British Rail. His brother is actor Nathaniel Parker.
A Darcy Before I Die - satirical poem by Ronnie Taheny (c) 2008
Colin Andrew Firth, CBE (born 10 September 1960) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In 2011, Firth received an Academy Award for his portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, a performance that also earned him the Golden Globe, BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, amongst others. The previous year, he received his first Academy Award nomination, for his leading role in A Single Man, a performance that won him a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
Firth was born in England. His mother, Shirley Jean (née Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at King Alfred's College Winchester (now the University of Winchester), and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, was a history lecturer (also at King Alfred's) and education officer for the Nigerian Government. Firth has a sister, Kate, and a younger brother, Jonathan, who is also an actor. Firth's parents were raised in India, because his maternal grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather, an Anglican priest, performed missionary work abroad. Firth spent part of his childhood in Nigeria, where his father was teaching.