The Crystal Bucket
Encyclopedia
The Crystal Bucket is the second selection of Clive James
's television criticism for The Observer
, for which the British Press Awards
named him 'Critic of the Year' in 1981: "His contribution to the art and enjoyment of TV criticism over the past ten years has been immense. His work is deeply perceptive, often outrageously funny and always compulsively readable."
First published the same year, the volume covers 1976-79; its title is taken from Walter Raleigh
's The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage. It is dedicated to the poet Peter Porter
. The compilation ends not with a review but with a tribute to James's friend Joyce Grenfell
who had died at the end of November 1979: "Joyce Grenfell's death gave pause for thought to all who knew her. Her faith was profound. So was her humour, which was so devoid of malice that some people called her sentimental. She wasn't. She was just greatly good."
Writing in The Listener, Gavin Ewart
expressed the view that James, "didn't get where he is today just by being funny. He is humane, liberal and compassionate.... What he writes is always pertinent and always witty. We owe him a deep debt of gratitude."
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
's television criticism for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, for which the British Press Awards
British Press Awards
The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. Established in the 1970s, honours are voted on by a panel of journalists and newspaper executives...
named him 'Critic of the Year' in 1981: "His contribution to the art and enjoyment of TV criticism over the past ten years has been immense. His work is deeply perceptive, often outrageously funny and always compulsively readable."
First published the same year, the volume covers 1976-79; its title is taken from Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
's The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage. It is dedicated to the poet Peter Porter
Peter Porter (poet)
Peter Neville Frederick Porter, OAM was a British-based Australian poet.-Life:Porter was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist...
. The compilation ends not with a review but with a tribute to James's friend Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English actress, comedienne, diseuse and singer-songwriter.-Early life:...
who had died at the end of November 1979: "Joyce Grenfell's death gave pause for thought to all who knew her. Her faith was profound. So was her humour, which was so devoid of malice that some people called her sentimental. She wasn't. She was just greatly good."
Writing in The Listener, Gavin Ewart
Gavin Ewart
Gavin Buchanan Ewart was a British poet best known for contributing to Geoffrey Grigson's New Verse at the age of seventeen.-Life:...
expressed the view that James, "didn't get where he is today just by being funny. He is humane, liberal and compassionate.... What he writes is always pertinent and always witty. We owe him a deep debt of gratitude."
Programmes reviewed
- Newsday - with Albert SpeerAlbert SpeerAlbert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, interviewed by Ludovic KennedyLudovic KennedySir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a British journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, and for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United...
- "Speer is willing to be contrite about Nazi atrocities but only on the understanding that he knew very little about them. But when Ludo pressed that very point, Speer dropped eine kleine clanger.'I can't say I didn't know it had happened,' he conceded"
- Flash GordonFlash Gordon (serial)Flash Gordon is a 1936 science fiction film serial. Told in 13 installments, it was the first screen adventure for the comic-strip character Flash Gordon, and tells the story of his first visit to the planet Mongo and his encounter with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean...
- "Flash, played with incomparable awkwardness by Buster CrabbeBuster CrabbeClarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...
" - Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
- PanoramaPanorama (TV series)Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
with David DimblebyDavid DimblebyDavid Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...
- " David did a brief linking spiel into a film on RhodesiaRhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
. The film on Rhodesia rolled without sound. He tried again. This time the film on Rhodesia failed to roll at all.... One of the reasons people want to spend their lives in television is the beauty of the technology... all the heaped jewellery of big and little lights, with the sound and vision engineers sitting in a row like the crew of an airliner.... But you don't know what's going on. Only about two people in the entire building can really understand how the toys are put together." - Horizon, Brian Gibson's Billion Dollar Bubble - "Probably it is only in free countries, however, that a humorous regard for corruption is possible. In the totalitarian countries, corrupt from top to bottom, nobody is laughing because nothing is laughable. There is no difference between what things are and what things ought to be, since what things ought to be no longer exists even as a standard."
- Marcel OphulsMarcel OphulsMarcel Ophüls is a documentary film maker and former actor.He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the son of the director Max Ophüls...
' The Memory of JusticeThe Memory of JusticeThe Memory of Justice is a 1976 documentary film directed by Marcel Ophüls. It explores the subject of atrocities committed in wartime and features Joan Baez, Karl Dönitz, Hermann Göring, Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, Yehudi Menuhin, Albert Speer and Telford Taylor.The film was inspired by Telford...
- "Mad old Nazis were to be heard deploring modern decadence" - Stars on SundayStars on SundayStars on Sunday was an unsuccessful Sunday tabloid newspaper in Ireland which famously went bankrupt in May 2003 just two months after its launch the previous March. A total of approximately €500,000 was invested in the title...
with Noele GordonNoele GordonNoele Gordon was an English film and television actress.- Early life :Gordon's father was an engineer in the Merchant Navy and she was born in East Ham, London. After attending convent school at Forest Gate, she was taught to dance by the late Maude Wells and later spent several years living in... - Tonight with David Pryce-JonesDavid Pryce-JonesDavid Eugene Henry Pryce-Jones FRSL is a conservative British author and commentator.- Career :He was educated at Eton and read History at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied under A.J.P...
and Oswald MosleyOswald MosleySir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
discussing Unity MitfordUnity MitfordUnity Valkyrie Mitford was a member of the aristocratic Mitford family, tracing its origins in Northumberland back to the 11th century Norman settlement of England. Unity Mitford's sister Diana was married to Oswald Mosley, leader of British Union of Fascists...
- " Sir Oswald looked simultaneously ageless and out of date, like some Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
metal sculpture.... Sir Oswald was bent on establishing that Unity's life was 'a simple, tragic story of a gel who was what we called stage-struck in those days' and that Pryce-Jones, in writing a book about such of her little quirks as anti-Semitism and blind adoration of Hitler, had done nothing but stir up trouble." - I, ClaudiusI, ClaudiusI, Claudius is a novel by English writer Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. As such, it includes history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in AD 41...
- " CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
's famous horse made an appearance. 'His life has really opened up since I made him a senator.' " - Miss WorldMiss WorldThe Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
- "Patrick Lichfield and Sacha DistelSacha DistelSacha Distel was a French singer and guitarist who had hits with a cover version of the Academy Award-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" , "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was born in Paris.-Career:Sacha Distel, born Alexandre Distel, was a son of Russian White émigré Leonid Distel...
helped herd the beef." - The Royal Variety Performance, hosted by Max BygravesMax BygravesMax Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...
- "'And if you doan like our finish/You doan have to stay for the show.' Thanks. Click. " - Face the MusicFace The Music (TV series)Face the Music was a weekly BBC television programme in the form of a classical music quiz. It began in 1966 and continued until 1979, with revivals in 1983-4 and 2007.-Format:...
with Patrick MoorePatrick MooreSir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
and Joseph CooperJoseph CooperJoseph Elliott Needham Cooper, OBE , pianist and broadcaster, best known as the chairman of the BBC's long-running television panel game Face the Music.- Early career :...
- " the new model Robin RayRobin RayRobin Ray was an English actor, musician and broadcaster, the son of comedian Ted Ray and the brother of actor Andrew Ray.-Career:...
remained calm...The week before, on the same programme, Robin had failed to remember that the K-number of Mozart's 'Coronation' piano concerto is 537. There was a day when such a lapse would have sent him into paroxysms of defensive laughter. But this time he just sat there, silently smiling: a fatalist. Robin Ray has acquired gravitas...." - The Lively Arts with Robin RayRobin RayRobin Ray was an English actor, musician and broadcaster, the son of comedian Ted Ray and the brother of actor Andrew Ray.-Career:...
- introducing a production of The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
with Teresa BerganzaTeresa BerganzaTeresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...
- " the merits of the opera itself - Mozart minus the brains" - Cat on a Hot Tin RoofCat on a Hot Tin RoofCat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
, with Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Natalie WoodNatalie WoodNatalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
, Robert WagnerRobert WagnerRobert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
- "the whole production was a spankingly neat surround for Olivier's magisterial talent" - The Lady of the CamelliasThe Lady of the CamelliasThe Lady of the Camellias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set...
with Kate NelliganKate NelliganPatricia Colleen "Kate" Nelligan is a Canadian BAFTA award winning stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Nelligan, the fourth of six children, was born in London, Ontario, the daughter of Josephine Alice , a schoolteacher, and Patrick Joseph Nelligan, a factory repairman and municipal...
- "Nelligan did astonishingly well- As for Peter FirthPeter FirthPeter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
's Armand, he is wet where Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
was wooden. On the whole I prefer moisture to splinters." - PanoramaPanorama (TV series)Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
with David DimblebyDavid DimblebyDavid Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...
and The Shah of IranMohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
- "David asked, 'Are you satisfied with the methods that SAVAKSAVAKSAVAK was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service established by Iran's Mohammad Reza Shah on the recommendation of the British Government and with the help of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور...
uses to get confessions?' The Shah replied : ' They are improving every day'. " - The SuperstarsThe SuperstarsThe Superstars was the third album by Dutch soundalike studio group Stars on 45, released on the CNR Records label in The Netherlands in March 1982. In the US the album was retitled Stars On Long Play III, released on Radio Records and credited to 'Stars On'...
- "the scene of the action was France, where the pluie was pissant down." - The John CurryJohn CurryJohn Anthony Curry, OBE was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.-Early life:...
Spectacular - "the art-thrill which sometimes emerges in the rigour of competition turned to kitsch in conditions of creative freedom." - This WeekThis Week (ITV TV series)This Week was a weekly current affairs series first produced for ITV in January 1956 by Associated-Rediffusion , running until 1978, when it was replaced by TV Eye...
, in Soho's Underworld - The Key to the Universe with Nigel CalderNigel CalderNigel Calder is a British science writer.Between 1956 and 1966, Calder wrote for the magazine New Scientist, serving as editor from 1962 until 1966...
- " Calder had an uncanny knack of finding the example that compels your inattention." - Winifred WagnerWinifred WagnerWinifred Wagner was an English woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....
- "Self-indulgence" said Jean de La BruyèreJean de La BruyèreJean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
"and severity towards others are the same vice," a crack worth remembering when the unrepentant features of Winifred Wagner filled the screen." - The State of the Nation - "cast journalists as politicians, - Anthony CroslandAnthony CroslandCharles Anthony Raven Crosland , otherwise Tony Crosland or C.A.R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby...
s unexpectedly trenchant arguments against cuts in social services were put by the best natural actor of the bunch, Peter JenkinsPeter Jenkins (journalist)Peter George James Jenkins was a British journalist and Associate Editor of The Independent. During his career he wrote regular columns for The Guardian, The Sunday Times as well as the The Independent....
of The Guardian " - Another Bouquet - " why am I watching such trash?"
- The Country WifeThe Country WifeThe Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...
- "WycherleyWilliam WycherleyWilliam Wycherley was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.-Biography:...
's witticisms are not witty." - Moses - the Lawgiver, with Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
- "Burt hit the dirt. The titles rolled. It had not been a compasionate series. Nor is the Old TestamentOld TestamentThe Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
. The show was remarkably true to the spirit of the book- hence the chill." - The Flying DutchmanThe Flying DutchmanThe legend of the Flying Dutchman concerns a ghost ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. It probably originates from 17th-century nautical folklore. The oldest extant version dates to the late 18th century....
- B.C. with Magnus MagnussonMagnus MagnussonMagnus Magnusson KBE was a television presenter, journalist, translator and writer. He was born in Iceland but lived in Scotland for almost all of his life, although he never took British citizenship...
- "it appears that the PhilistinesPhilistinesPhilistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
, far from being arid materialists, were deeply artistic, with a terrific line in pottery. Boy, could they pot. Once again the Bible had got it all wrong." - SerpicoSerpico (TV series)Serpico is a short-lived American crime drama series that aired on NBC between September 1976 and February 1977. The series was based on the novel by Peter Maas and the 1973 film of the same name that starred Al Pacino in the title role...
- "of the American fuzz operas currently on offer, Serpico is easily the best." - Goodbye Longfellow Road, about the housing problem - "it was just too discouraging to see such glaring evidence of the compassionate society failing to deliver the goods."
- Jack RosenthalJack RosenthalJack Morris Rosenthal CBE was an English playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.-Biography:...
's Spend Spend SpendSpend Spend SpendSpend Spend Spend is a musical with a book and lyrics by Steve Brown and Justin Greene and music by Brown.In 1961, Yorkshire housewife Viv Nicholson won £152,319 in the football pools. When a reporter asked her what she planned to do with her new fortune, she replied, "I'm going to spend, spend,...
- " a true story about a silly lady called Vivian, whose even sillier husband, Keith, won £152,319 on the poolsBetting poolA betting pool, sports lottery, sweep or office pool if done at work, is a form of gambling, specifically a variant of parimutuel betting influenced by lotteries, where gamblers pay a fixed price into a pool , and then make a selection on some outcome, usually related to sport...
.... Vivian described her early grapplings with Keith as 'The greatest sexual experience in the history of CastlefordCastlefordCastleford is the largest of the "five towns" district in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract, and has a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census, but has seen a rise in recent years and is now around 45-50,000. To the north...
." Vivian and Keith were played, dead straight without a tinge of contempt, by Susan Littler and John DuttineJohn DuttineJohn Arthur Duttine is an English actor noted for his roles on stage, films and television. He is well known for his role as Sgt George Miller in Heartbeat....
: two admirable performances." - Headmaster with Frank WindsorFrank WindsorFrank Windsor is an English actor, mainly on television.He attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. He began his career on radio and made an appearance in a 1953 film of Henry V...
and Mark Farmer - " Hideous little Stephen, played by Mark Farmer, looked like Johnny Rotten of the Sex PistolsSex PistolsThe Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and behaved even worse. You were struck with a mixture of emotions. Your first reaction was 'little bastard', your second was 'poor kid', and the best compromise you could come up with was 'poor little bastard.' " - Inside Story, on the 1976 Oxford eight
- Horses in our Blood narrated by Robert HardyRobert HardyTimothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
- Franco ZeffirelliFranco ZeffirelliFranco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
's Jesus of Nazareth - "Olivia HusseyOlivia HusseyOlivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
doesn't make a bad Mary.... Of the 30-plus years she is supposed to age during Jesus's lifetime, she manages about three, but the Mother of God doesn't necessarily obey the same rules as other girls." - Michael TippettMichael TippettSir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
's A Child of our TimeA Child of Our TimeA Child of Our Time is an oratorio written by Michael Tippett between 1939 and 1941."After more than ten years of thoughtful planning, Michael Tippett summed up his musical, political, spiritual and philosophical beliefs in his first oratorio, A Child of Our Time...
- "serious, complex and unspeakable, film clips of various low moments were copiously employed to reinforce the libretto. The oratorio ends on a 'personal' note of Hope, indicating that Sir Michael hasn't understood the blasphemy inherent in even flirting with the notion that the innocent dead suffered to some purpose." - Alex HaleyAlex HaleyAlexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...
's RootsRoots: The Saga of an American FamilyRoots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold into slavery in the United States, and follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the U.S....
- "anaemic high art is less worth having than low art with guts. It could be said that Roots is as low as art can get. It could even be said that it isn't art at all. But guts it's got." - The Nixon Interviews with David FrostDavid FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
- "'Yep, I let the American people down.' NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
let them down, you see, by allowing a silly little mistake to deprive them of his services. It still hasn't occurred to him that he let them down by running for office in the first place."
- Vienna : The Mask of Gold, written and presented by Michael FraynMichael FraynMichael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
- " a gallery of Gustav KlimtGustav KlimtGustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
lovelies filled the screen - high-born ladies whose lustrous eyes and moist mouths suggested that the life which had given them everything had been empty until they met Klimt. Somewhere else in the picture, death looked on. In SchieleEgon SchieleEgon Schiele was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity, and the many self-portraits the artist produced...
's pictures death ate the women up from inside." - Tony PalmerTony PalmerTony Palmer is an American football guard in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. The former University of Missouri guard who was selected by the St. Louis Rams. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers after being cut in the 2006 preseason by St. Louis...
's All You Need Is Love - "that famous clip of an open-mouthed Mama Cass digging Janis JoplinJanis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
's act at MontereyMonterey Pop FestivalThe Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
still arouses the old joy, if you can manage to forget what happened to both of them." - Lively Arts on the Dance Theatre of HarlemDance Theatre of HarlemDance Theatre of Harlem is a ballet company and school of the allied arts founded in Harlem, New York City, USA in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook...
- "some of the male dancers joined up because they were caught girl-watching through the studio sky-light and told either to go away or join in." - World in ActionWorld in ActionWorld in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
report on the Japanese economy - White Rhodesia presented by Hugh Burnett
- René CutforthRené CutforthRené Cutforth was a British broadcaster and writer.Reynolds Cutforth came from Woodville, Burton on Trent, and was educated at Denstone College which he entered in September 1922...
's The Forties Revisited - "Cutforth is that rare thing,a front-man with background. FitzroviaFitzroviaFitzrovia is a neighbourhood in central London, near London's West End lying partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the City of Westminster ; and situated between Marylebone and Bloomsbury and north of Soho. It is characterised by its mixed-use of residential, business, retail,...
and Soho weigh heavily on his eye-lids. His voice sounds like tea-chests full of books being shifted about." - Elaine MorganElaine Morgan (writer)Elaine Morgan OBE is a Welsh writer for television and also the author of several books on evolutionary anthropology, especially the aquatic ape hypothesis: The Descent of Woman, The Aquatic Ape, The Scars of Evolution, The Descent of the Child, The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, and The Naked Darwinist...
's Marie Curie with Jane Lapotaire, - "By a remarkable coup on Miss LapotaireJane LapotaireJane Lapotaire is a British actress.She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the 1960s. Her role in the title role of Marie Curie first brought her to wide attention...
's part, what must have been the beauty of the great scientist's mind is projected with a vividness made all the more intense by the absence of ordinary charm." - The Case of Yolande McShane - "Yolande slipped her mother eighteen Nembutals in a Jelly-tots packet and urged her not to hang about."
- Portrait with Peter BlakePeter Blake (artist)Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...
and TwiggyTwiggyLesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
- "artist and model reminisced about the allegedly golden 1960's. 'It was like a complete Renaissance event,' opined Peter. 'Yeah, that was it,' concurred Twiggy. 'It was just like a Renaissance.' Except that in the Renaissance the artists knew how to draw." - The Foundation - "Davinia Price (Lynette DaviesLynette DaviesLynette Davies was a Welsh stage, television, and film actress.The daughter of a Customs and Excise officer, Davies was born in Tonypandy, Glamorgan, in 1948, and was educated at Our Lady's School, Cardiff...
), is a business woman of flair and determination, with a sister named Katherine. 'Do be careful,' Katherine staunchly advises her beautiful sister. 'Try not to get yourself hurt.' Davinia is lucky to have so wise a confidante as Katherine. After all, Katherine's advice might easily have been the opposite. 'Do be careless. Try to bugger yourself up as much as possible." - ParkinsonParkinson (TV series)Parkinson is a British television talk show that was presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on the BBC from 1971 to 2004, and on ITV from 2004 to 2007.-Background:...
- with Cliff RichardCliff RichardSir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide.... - The World About Us, in the tropical jungle - "There are horrors here, the voice-over admitted grudgingly. In triumphant proof, a spider the size and shape of a roller-skate in a mink coat came charging at the camera."
- The Long Search with Ronald EyreRonald EyreRonald Eyre was an English theatre director, actor and writer.Eyre was born at Mapplewell, near Barnsley, Yorkshire and he taught at Giggleswick School. He became a leading director for the cinema, opera, television and the theatre...
, on religious belief - "Immunised from birth against religion of any kind, your critic can only look on longingly. The photography is very nice." - Everyman, on the persecution of religion in the Soviet Union
- World in ActionWorld in ActionWorld in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
on Steve BikoSteve BikoStephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the... - Labour Party Conference - "Joan Lester was a splendid chairperson. When a speaker's time was up, she slung him off the platform. 'Thanks, comrade. Lovely speech. Don't spoil it.' And back the poor sod went for another year of anonymous toil."
- Man from Atlantis - "at the start of each episode, younger viewers are warned not to copy his trick of sleeping in a full bath-tub, but they are not warned against copying his acting."
- The Rockford FilesThe Rockford FilesThe Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
- "I wouldn't want to lose The Rockford Files; James GarnerJames GarnerJames Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
a droll leading man during his time in the movies, is worth watching even when the script is routine." - The World About Us with Ron PickeringRon PickeringRonald James Pickering , was an athletics coach and BBC sports commentator. Born in Barking, Essex, he coached several Olympic athletes, including Lynn Davies, a Welsh Olympic Games gold medallist long jumper. He was also the first host of the BBC1 children's sports programme We Are the...
on Cuban sport - "Selective schools train the future champions, but nobody calls it elitism."
- Sight and Sound in Concert, with Elkie BrooksElkie BrooksElkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
- " an ex-scruff turned glamour queen." - NationwideNationwide (TV series)Nationwide was a BBC News and Current affairs television programme broadcast on BBC One each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting...
, with French lingerie expertette Nadine Grimaud - "Ziss one is also veree sexe... sportive... sexee.' As SueSue Lawley- Early life and education:Born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England and brought up in the Black Country, she was educated at Dudley Girls High School and graduated in modern languages from the University of Bristol and some time later started her career at the BBC in Plymouth...
was patently aware, it was an arousing display. Randy cameramen zoomed and focused desperately on filmy knickers hugging soft crotches." - Interlude - "the one where a disembodied hand makes a clay pot.... I had never realised that the pot was doomed to remain unfinished: forever changing shape, it goes everywhere and nowhere, like the history of the human race."
- Charlie's AngelsCharlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
- "Farrah FawcettFarrah FawcettFarrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, has been replaced by Cheryl LaddCheryl LaddCheryl Ladd is an American actress, singer and author. Ladd is best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the television series Charlie's Angels, hired amid a swirl of publicity prior to its second season in 1977 to replace the departing Farrah Fawcett-Majors...
. Cheryl's teeth are big and strong like Farrahs so she will probably become equally famous, if my theory is correct. (My theory is that the majority of males in the audience harbour an unspoken desire to be eaten alive.") - Hard TimesHard TimesHard Times - For These Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times....
- "remarkably successful in transmitting the largeness of Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's spirit." - You Never Can Tell - "ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
knew that love is real, and hurts. He just took a light tone... there was a high charge circulating between Kika MarkhamKika MarkhamKika Markham is an English actress.Markham was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire. She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn . She has led a long career in the cinema, television, and theatre as an actress...
(Gloria) and Robert PowellRobert PowellRobert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
(Valentine). " - Rock Follies of 77Rock FolliesRock Follies, and its sequel, Rock Follies of '77, was a comedy musical drama shown on British television in the mid 1970s. The storyline, over 12 episodes and two series, followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the "Little Ladies" as they struggled for recognition and...
- "an unwritten law, that talent is destiny, was working itself out. Anna and Q went to the wall. Dee and Rox headed for the top." - Verdi's MacbethMacbeth (opera)Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
produced by Brian LargeBrian LargeBrian Large is a television director specializing in opera and classical music broadcasts.-Studies:...
- "it sounded all right, but it looked like hell." - L P Hartley's Eustace and Hilda - "had excellent performances in the name parts. Christopher StrauliChristopher StrauliChristopher Strauli is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is probably most famous for appearing as Norman Binns in the British sitcom Only When I Laugh, alongside James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Richard Wilson and Derrick Branche.-Early life and education:He was born in Harpenden,...
was so vulnerable.. Susan FleetwoodSusan FleetwoodSusan Maureen Fleetwood was a British stage, film and television actress, best known as a star of the classical theatre companies of England. She received popular acclaim in the television series Chandler & Co and The Buddha of Suburbia.-Personal life:Fleetwood was born in St...
was vitality incarnate." - Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
's Merrie Olde Christmas - " a load of olde rubbishe." - The Dick EmeryDick EmeryRichard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...
Christmas Show - "Most of Emery's alleged humour was about poo, pee and buggery." - The Best of Benny HillBenny HillBenny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
- " the trailer was all I could stand." - The Best of Stanley BaxterStanley BaxterStanley Baxter is a Scottish comic actor and impressionist, best known for his British television shows. He worked in radio, theatre, television and film.-Early life:...
- "There is something desperate about his mimicry of female movements. He is too good at it: the laughter dies, leaving a sad admiration." - The Little and LargeLittle and LargeLittle and Large were a British comedy double act comprising straight man Syd Little and comic Eddie Large . They formed their partnership in 1962, appearing as singers in local pubs around the North-West of England...
st Show on Earth - "Little is not pretending to be just standing there. He is just standing there. Meanwhile LargeEddie LargeEddie Large is the stage name of Edward Hugh McGinnis, a British comedian. He is best known as a partner in the double act Little and Large, with Syd Little....
knocks himself out. There is a certain terrible fascination to it, like watching two men share one parachute." - The Two RonniesThe Two RonniesThe Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
- "tried hard" - Max's Holiday Hour with Max BygravesMax BygravesMax Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...
- "no more fun than a sinus wash" - Morecambe and WiseMorecambe and WiseEric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
- "Eric was twice as funny busking with Dickie DaviesDickie DaviesRichard "Dickie" Davies is a British television presenter, best known for presenting World of Sport from 1968 until 1985....
on ITV's World of SportWorld of SportWorld of Sport can refer to:*World of Sport made by London Weekend Television and broadcast nationwide.*World of Sport seen on Melbourne's HSV Channel 7...
on Christmas Eve." - Christmas with The OsmondsThe OsmondsThe Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
- "sincerely vacuous" - The Lively Arts with Karen KainKaren KainKaren Alexandria Kain, CC is a retired Canadian ballet dancer, and currently the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada.-Early Training:...
- "the thing I liked best about Christmas. Watching her dance, you could forget the world without feeling that you were running away." - Washington: Behind Closed Doors - "had its origins in the mighty intellect of John EhrlichmanJohn EhrlichmanJohn Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury...
, a Nixon aide chiefly distinguishable by his fanatical loyalty. After being locked up he became chiefly distinguishable by his fanatical disloyalty, but there is nothing remarkable in that, since the abiding characteristic in men like Ehrlichman is not loyalty but fanaticism." "NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
was out to subvert the Constitution of the United States. In Doors Richard Monckton, the Nixon figure, is shown doing the same thing."
- ArenaArena (TV series)Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. It has run since 1 October 1975, and over five hundred episodes have been made. Arena covers all manner of subjects, from profiles of notable people such as Bob Dylan to the Ford Cortina car...
, George MellyGeorge MellyAlan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
on SurrealismSurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
- "Melly knows a lot about the British branch of this artistic movement, since he used to hob-nob with its founder members... richly aromatic stuff." - The South Bank ShowThe South Bank ShowThe South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
- "the second half saved the night. MelvynMelvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
interviewed Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, who was even more engaging than you might expect." - Laurence Olivier Presents, Daphne Laureola, by James BridieJames BridieJames Bridie was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and surgeon whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor....
- "A hit in 1949, a crafty text by a playwright whose reputation should never have been allowed to fade so completely.... An unmistakable post-war tristesse, luxury of language offsetting the reality of rationing."
- Kissinger on Communism - "the modern Metternich.... KissingerHenry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
burns down Cambodia, delivers the people of Chile into the hands of torturers, and then wonders why young people in the democratic countries become disaffected." - GrandstandGrandstand (BBC)Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
- from KitzbühelKitzbühel-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
, the event was the Men's DownhillDownhillDownhill is an alpine skiing discipline. The rules for the Downhill were originally developed by Sir Arnold Lunn for the 1921 British National Ski Championships....
- " a man referred to as 'Britain's sole representative' came plummeting down the Streif. 'He won't be looking for a first place today,' said David VineDavid VineDavid Martin Vine was a British television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards.-Early life:...
, 'he'll be looking for experience.' At that very instant - not a bit later, but while David was actually saying it - Britain's sole representative was upside down and travelling into the crowd at 60 m.p.h. plus." - Grandstand, The Boat RaceThe Boat RaceThe event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
, Cambridge's sinking - "the commentator.... 'And now its panic...unbelievable how they could go down so quickly... they're all still alive...what a tragic finish...." - Conservative Party Political Broadcast - "which twice referred to a Russian writer called Solzhenitskyn. The pronunciation 'Solzhenitskyn' was invented last year by Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, who thereby suggested that she knew nothing about Solzhenitsyn's writings beyond what she had heard from her advisers, who in turn had apparently mixed him up with RumpelstiltskinRumpelstiltskinRumpelstiltskin is the eponymous character and protagonist of a fairy tale which originated in Germany . The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm, who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales...
." - Are We Really Going to be Rich?, on North Sea OilNorth Sea oilNorth Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...
- "a marathon drone-in..our host was David FrostDavid FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
..He was on terrific form, cueing in savants from all over the world, cutting them off before they said enough to subtract from the confusion, switching to the studio audience whenever somebody sitting in it had something irrelevant he urgently wanted to contribute." - The 50th Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
- "a bad scene. Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
had the right idea: he stayed away." - The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 - "a more than usually cretinous annual instalment.... 'A man is born to do one thing,' Colm C.T. Wilkinson of Ireland yelled desperately. 'And I was born to sing.' How wrong can a man be ?"
- The South Bank ShowThe South Bank ShowThe South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
- "a fascinating interview from Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
..Describing how Fascists used to chase him during his East End childhood, he recalled some lines of dialogue with which he once extricated himself from a close encounter. It sounded exactly like a scene from The Birthday PartyThe Birthday Party (play)The Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays...
." - Football World Cup 1978 - Peru versus Scotland - "the Peruvians, one goal down, suddenly revealed an ability to run faster with the ball than the Scots could run without it."
- The South Bank Show, Kenneth MacMillanKenneth MacMillanSir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...
's MayerlingMayerling (ballet)Mayerling is a ballet created in 1978 by Kenneth MacMillan for the Royal Ballet, London.- Synopsis :Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria is forced into a marriage of state with Princess Stéphanie of Belgium; Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich, the mistress of whom he is tiring, introduces him to the...
- "Lynn SeymourLynn SeymourLynn Seymour is a retired Canadian ballerina and choreographer.She was born Lynn Springbett and studied ballet in Vancouver....
...Just standing there, she is not particularly shapely or even pretty, but when she moves she somehow becomes simultaneously ethereal and sexy, like a Platonic concept in Janet RegerJanet RegerJanet Reger was an English lingerie designer who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s for her opulent lingerie designs.-External links:* Daily Telegraph * BBC News...
underwear." - Golden Gala, a celebration of half a century of women's suffrageSuffrageSuffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
- "Petula ClarkPetula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
pretended to have a little cry at the end. Some of us out in the audience were crying for real. Golden Gala was the bummer of the century. It put the feminist movement back fifty years at least." - Clouds of Glory, Ken RussellKen RussellHenry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's study of William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
and Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
- " somewhat subdued for Ken Russell" - John MortimerJohn MortimerSir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
's Will Shakespeare - "Mortimer was careful to give ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
a believably ordinary life.... Shakespeares uniqueness lay in the power with which he expressed the realization that he was not unique." - Multi-Racial Britain, a series of lectures - "the outstanding paper was delivered by Dr Bikhu Parekh..The triumph of his speech was its positive character. He argued, surely with good reason, that immigration had already been a boon ..For people apt to delude themselves that Enoch PowellEnoch PowellJohn Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
is a distinguished speaker, here was an example of what a truly distinguished speaker sounds like." - Thames at Six - " produced Judy CarneJudy CarneJudy Carne is an English actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Career:...
, fresh from her car-crash and still suffering from a broken neck...Since Laugh-In, Judy Carne's career has gone as haywire as Kathy KirbyKathy KirbyKathy Kirby was an English singer who was reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" and for representing the United Kingdom in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in second place...
's." - NationwideNationwide (TV series)Nationwide was a BBC News and Current affairs television programme broadcast on BBC One each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting...
, with schoolchildren doing impersonations - "a girl did a dazzling Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, her mouth suddenly appearing under one ear." - Rhythm on Two - "Marion MontgomeryMarion MontgomeryMarion Montgomery was a United States born jazz singer who lived in the United Kingdom.Born Maud Runnells in Natchez, Mississippi, she began her career in Atlanta working clubs, and then in Chicago where singer Peggy Lee heard her on an audition tape and suggested she should be signed up by...
quietly demonstrated that she possesses Blossom DearieBlossom DearieBlossom Dearie was an American jazz singer and pianist, often performing in the bebop genre and remembered for her girlish voice.-Early career:...
's touch, Cleo LaineCleo LaineDame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
's technique, and an elegantly judged oomph all her own." - The Incredible Hulk - "why can't the soft twit cut the soul-searching and just enjoy his ability to swell up and clobber the foe? But David Banner is in quest of 'a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him.'"
- Jane Fonda - "after you have heard a few of your own liberal opinions coming out of Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
's mouth you start wondering whether the John Birch SocietyJohn Birch SocietyThe John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
is so bad after all." - Holocaust - "The German Jews were the most assimilated in Europe. They were vital to Germany's culture - which, indeed, has never recovered from their extinction. They couldn't see that they were hated in direct proportion to their learning, vitality and success. HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's dream of the racially pure future was of an abstract landscape tended by chain-gangs of shadows and criss-crossed with highways bearing truckloads of Aryans endlessly speeding to somewhere undefined. Dorf, (played with spellbinding creepiness by Michael MoriartyMichael MoriartyMichael Moriarty is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.-Early life:...
), sounded just like that: his dead mackerel eyes were dully alight with a limitless vision of banality. Meryl StreepMeryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, as Inga Helms Weiss, gave an astounding performance." - Skateboard Kings - "As opposed to life, which is various, a life-style concentrates on one activity and flogs it to death."
- Beneath the PenninesPenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
- "'The history of pot-holing can be told in Alum Pot.' Since the history of pot-holing seems to be composed mainly of a long list of people getting stuck upside down in holes, there was no reason to doubt this." - StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
- "As usual, footage ruled, and most of the footage from the first decade of the Soviet Union shows things being built, not people being broken." - Wuthering Heights with Ken HutchisonKen HutchisonKen Hutchison is a Scottish actor. He may be best-known for his role in the controversial Sam Peckinpah film Straw Dogs. In 1980, he appeared as Brickett in National Pelmet, the Series 2 opener of critically acclaimed drama Minder . He appeared as the lead villain's henchmen in the eighties...
as Heathcliff and Kay AdsheadKay AdsheadKay Adshead is a British actress, poet, and playwright. Her television credits include Christine in the BBC television series Dinnerladies, Barbara Fletcher in Family Affairs, Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights, Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, Crime Traveller, Mother's Ruin, and One Foot in The...
as Kathy - "is the blithering pits" - Do You Remember Vietnam? with John PilgerJohn PilgerJohn Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
- "on the whole Pilger's message wasn't only clear, it was manifestly correct. The North Vietnamese never had any intention of being dominated by China. The domino theoryDomino theoryThe domino theory was a reason for war during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect...
was wrong." - No Man's LandNo Man's Land (play)No Man's Land is a play by Harold Pinter written in 1974 and first produced and published in 1975. Its original production was at the Old Vic Theatre in London by the National Theatre on 23 April 1975, and it later transferred to Wyndhams Theatre, July 1975 - January 1976, the Lyttelton Theatre...
- "no wonder actors and directors love PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
. He knows so much about what they would like to do. Actors love drinking on stage. During the course of No Man's Land the two leading characters are obliged to imbibe at least a hundred glasses of Scotch each." - Fearless Frank by Andrew DaviesAndrew Davies (writer)Andrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:...
- "a good play about Frank HarrisFrank HarrisFrank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
, with Leonard RossiterLeonard RossiterLeonard Rossiter was an English actor known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp , and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin...
rampant in the title role. " - Luigi NonoLuigi NonoLuigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
- "There were shots of Nono's apartments to indicate that he is even better off than the usual run of Italian Marxist composers." - LillieLillieLillie is a British television serial made by London Weekend Television for ITV and broadcast in 1978.This period serial starred Francesca Annis in the title role of Lillie Langtry...
- "So great is the beauty and powerful the talent of Francesca AnnisFrancesca AnnisFrancesca Annis is an English actress, known for her film and television appearances, most recently in the BBC series Wives and Daughters, Cranford, and Deceit.-Early life and education:...
that she almost contrives to distract you from the inanity of the lines she has been given to speak." - The Voyage of Charles Darwin - "Reputedly a million pounds has been laid out, much of it on constructing a practical replica of The Beagle. For once the money looks well spent."
- World Gymnastics - "Ronda Schwandt of the US was on the beam when Alan WeeksAlan WeeksAlan Frederick Weeks was a British television sports reporter and commentator.-Personal life:...
had yet another of his Great Moments in the History of Commentating. 'Whichever way you look at it,' burbled Alan, 'the improvement by the Americans is really quite AAGH!' While Alan had been talking, Ronda had mistimed a somersault and landed sensationally astraddle the beam...." "Some of this years tricks look outright dangerous. Of the Russian girls, only the sweetly fluent Mukhina harks back to the days when the Soviet Union produced gymnasts more like ballerinas than like bullets." - Jonathan MillerJonathan MillerSir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
's The Body in Question - "Miller has a poet's gift of metaphor: he is marvellous at seeing similarities. He also has the poet's tendency to mistake a metaphor for a rigorously considered proposition." - Dylan, a 2 hour examination of Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
's death throes - "Ronald LaceyRonald LaceyRonald Lacey was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30 year period and is perhaps best remembered for his villainous roles in Hollywood films, most famously Major Arnold Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Career:Lacey attended Harrow Weald Grammar School and...
turned in a bravura performance." - Edward and Mrs SimpsonEdward and Mrs SimpsonEdward & Mrs. Simpson is a seven-part British television series that dramatises the events leading to the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, who gave up his throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson....
script by Simon RavenSimon RavenSimon Arthur Noël Raven was an English novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence...
- "had a jaunty air... it is already suffering slightly from the fact that Edward FoxEdward Fox (actor)Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
has too formidable a presence to be quite believable as a Weak King. Fox's great gift is to body forth hidden depths. All EdwardEdward VIII of the United KingdomEdward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
ever had was hidden shallows. As Queen Mary Dame Peggy AshcroftPeggy AshcroftDame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
is quietly giving everyone else on television a lesson in how to act for the camera." - Miss WorldMiss WorldThe Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
- "Sacha DistelSacha DistelSacha Distel was a French singer and guitarist who had hits with a cover version of the Academy Award-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" , "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was born in Paris.-Career:Sacha Distel, born Alexandre Distel, was a son of Russian White émigré Leonid Distel...
was just the man to host Miss World, a contest which he had every right to call a voyazh of discarvry... near the start, all the girls came lurching forward one at a time in national dress. Thus we discarvred that the national dress of Malta, for example, is a coal sack." - Botanic Man, with David BellamyDavid BellamyDavid James Bellamy OBE is a British author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist. He has lived in County Durham since 1960.-Career:...
- "He has an extraordinary manner of speaking, in which one impediment is piled on top of another...explaining that Hamilton fwogs possess special skins 'fwew which vey bweave'. Thus the Hamilton fwogHamilton's FrogHamilton's frog is a primitive frog native to New Zealand, one of only four extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. It is named after Harold Hamilton. The holotype is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.-External links:* *...
is able to survive and not become one of the 'mere memowies of pahst ages of evowution." - Some Mothers do 'ave 'emSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'EmSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was a BBC situation comedy, written by Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice.The series followed the accident-prone Frank Spencer and his tolerant wife Betty through Frank's various attempts to hold down a job, which frequently end in...
- "the slapstick is almost invariably funny. The level of language is high, too." - HorizonHorizon (TV series)Horizon is a current and long-running BBC popular science and philosophy documentary programme.-History:The programme was first broadcast on 2 May 1964 with The World of Buckminster Fuller which explored the theories and structures of inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller and included the Horizon...
on hibernationHibernationHibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food supplies are limited, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...
- "Animals, it appears, have been helping us in our attempts to understand hibernation. Dr.Beckman was shown experimenting on a squirrel, whose entire brain was exposed to view under a transparent cap. 'The animal has had the top of its skull surgically replaced', murmured the voice-over 'so that it can be clamped into Beckman's apparatus.' Ones plans to clamp Dr. Beckman into an apparatus of ones own devising were interrupted by an assurance that 'there are no nerves in the brain itself.' This was a relief. It was safe to assume then, that the squirrel did not mind the experiment at all. Later on it could always wear a little beret." "Whatever is not forbidden will be done." - World in ActionWorld in ActionWorld in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
, The Hunt for Dr.MengeleJosef MengeleJosef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
- "Unfortunately most of the Nazi hierarchs cheated justice." - A Winter's Journey - " a little classic of misinformation, it conveyed the impression that SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
was a tragic, doomed rebel 'against the bourgeois world'. He was, on the contrary, bourgeois to the roots and a byword for merriment." - Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
's Kean, translated by Frank Hauser - "Slap-happily composed but full of interest..Sartre simply admired and envied actors. Actors are, after all, the only true existentialists. Or so writers tend to believe. As evoked by Sartre, Kean (played by Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
), is an actor whose own life is his greatest role." - Charlie's AngelsCharlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
- " Chris (Cheryl LaddCheryl LaddCheryl Ladd is an American actress, singer and author. Ladd is best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the television series Charlie's Angels, hired amid a swirl of publicity prior to its second season in 1977 to replace the departing Farrah Fawcett-Majors...
), wore pink shorts, out of which the pert cheeks of her delectable bottom hung a precisely calculated half an inch." - Romeo and Juliet - "Patrick RyecartPatrick RyecartPatrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.Ryecart was born in Leamington Spa. He has predominantly acted on British television shows since the mid-seventies including Lillie, Romeo and Juliet, The Professionals, Minder, Rumpole of the Bailey, Lovejoy, Coming Home, and Holby City...
and Rebecca SaireRebecca SaireRebecca Saire is a British actress and writer who achieved early notability when, at the age of fourteen, she played Juliet for the BBC Television Shakespeare series.- Personal life :...
looked fetching enough in the title roles. Both spoke cleanly, but neither gave the sense of having spotted the difference between proseProseProse is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
and blank verseBlank verseBlank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
. They didn't murder the poetry; they merely ignored it." - Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
's Me, I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf - "Stephen FrearsStephen FrearsStephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
directed with his usual sure touch." - LohengrinLohengrin (opera)Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
- "It was just as boring as every other production of Lohengrin I have ever seen, but that was inevitable, because Lohengrin simply happens to be a bore." - Richard IIRichard II (play)King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
- "Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
gave intelligent, fastidiously articulated readings from beginning to end." - Grandstand - "featured the Rose BowlRose Bowl GameThe Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
: University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
v. Michigan. It becomes clearer all the time that American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
leaves our kind looking tired. Even when you couldn't follow the American commentators you could tell they were talking sense. The tactics and strategy were engrossing even when you only half-understood them. The spectacle, helped out by action replays of every incident from four different angles, was unbeatable." - David AttenboroughDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
's Life on EarthLife on EarthLife on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough is a television natural history series made by the BBC in association with Warner Bros. and Reiner Moritz Productions...
- "against all the contrary evidence provided by James BurkeJames Burke (science historian)James Burke is a British broadcaster, science historian, author and television producer known amongst other things for his documentary television series Connections and its more philosophical oriented companion production, The Day the Universe Changed , focusing on the history of science and...
, Magnus PykeMagnus PykeDr. Magnus Alfred Pyke was a British scientist and media figure, who, although apparently quite eccentric and playing up to the mad scientist stereotype, succeeded in explaining science to a lay audience...
and Patrick MoorePatrick MooreSir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
, here is proof that someone can be passionate about science and still look and sound like an ordinary human being..the chief attribute..is his gift for the simple statement that makes complexity intelligible." - The Aphrodite InheritanceThe Aphrodite InheritanceThe Aphrodite Inheritance is a television production made by the BBC in 1978 and which aired in 1979.The eight-part serial, written by Michael J. Bird, was a follow-up to the success of his previous two Mediterranean-set series The Lotus Eaters and Who Pays the Ferryman?...
- "there is no one here on Cyprus they can trust, with the sole exception of the script-writer. They can trust him to keep on coming up with lines that mention Cyprus, so that nobody in the audience will fall prey to the delusion that the series is set in DagenhamDagenhamDagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...
." - The Old Crowd - "it needed Lindsay AndersonLindsay AndersonLindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
, director of The Old Crowd (LWT), to bring out a quality in Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
's writing which had hitherto lain dormant - crass stupidity." - Dennis PotterDennis PotterDennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
's Blue Remembered HillsBlue Remembered HillsBlue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series....
- " helped by Brian Gibson's effortlessly fluent cameras, the dialogue echoed through a forest as big as the world." - John MortimerJohn MortimerSir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
, fronted Shakespeare in Perspective, introducing Measure for MeasureMeasure for MeasureMeasure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
- " He spoke about two great conflicting claims in Shakespeare's mind, namely the impulse towards order and the distrust of authority." - Alan Bennett's One Fine Day - "a subtle text that was well served by the director, Stephen FrearsStephen FrearsStephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
. " - Where We Live Now, presented by Christopher BookerChristopher BookerChristopher John Penrice Booker is an English journalist and author. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and has contributed to it for over four decades. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990...
- "the modern architects got a hammering." - The Kenny EverettKenny EverettKenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
Video Show - "brimming with ideas" - Circus World Championships - "the trapeze competition between the Oslers and the Cavarettas in which girls of incredible pulchritude turned triple somersaults..was an air-show for lechers, a Freudian Farnborough of flying crumpet."
- Stewart ParkerStewart ParkerJames Stewart Parker was a Northern Irish poet and playwright.He was born in Sydenham, Belfast, of a Protestant working class family. While still in his teens, he contracted bone cancer and had a leg amputated...
's I'm a Dreamer, Montreal - "transmitted the feeling of urban fright with a delicate touch" - Alma Cullen's Degree of Uncertainty - " Almost every university department I have ever heard of is haunted by at least one LotharioLotharioLothario is a male first name which came to connote an unscrupulous seducer of women.In The Impertinent Curiosity, a story-within-the-story in Don Quixote , by Miguel de Cervantes, a man named Anselmo coerces Lothario, his faithful friend, to test the virtue of Anselmo's wife, Camila...
who sees nothing wrong with trying to screw the prettier students." - The Serpent Son, The OresteiaThe OresteiaThe Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. When originally performed it was accompanied by Proteus, a satyr play that would have been performed following the trilogy; it has not survived...
of AeschylusAeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
in a translation by Frederic RaphaelFrederic RaphaelFrederic Michael Raphael is an American-born, British-educated screenwriter, and also a prolific novelist and journalist.-Life and career:...
and Kenneth McLeish - " Kassandra took the biscuit. Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
played her as an amalgam of Régine, Kate BushKate BushKate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
and Carmen MirandaCarmen MirandaCarmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
." - Blankety BlankBlankety BlankBlankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1978 Australian game show Blankety Blanks ....
- "Among the contestants is Nicholas ParsonsNicholas ParsonsNicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...
. How wrong, how needlessly cruel, one has been about Nicholas Parsons. He is not, in fact, the chortling twit that he appears." - Omnibus, with Natalia MakarovaNatalia MakarovaNataliya Romanovna Makarova is the legendary Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that “Her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation.” She has also won awards as an...
- "brought out the discipline that underlines the magic, and thus made the magic seem more magical than ever." - The 51st Hollywood Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
- "exactly answering its host Johnny CarsonJohnny CarsonJohn William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
's description of it - i.e., 'two hours of sparkling entertainment spread over a four-hour show' " - The British Rock and Pop Awards - "The speakers were tongue-tied and the audience was drunk. The representative of the Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
, which won the Best Album award was unique in having bothered to prepare a speech of acceptance. 'That's right, yeah. It's fantastic, this. We can't believe it. It's wonderful. Yeah.' Kate BushKate BushKate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
had turned up too. Receiving her award, she congratulated herself for being in attendance. 'It was well worth it, reely.'" - Everest Unmasked - "no importance of any kind can nowadays be attached to the increasingly routine business of climbing EverestMount EverestMount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
. There is something to be said for man testing himself against the unknown. Where boredom sets in is when man tests himself against the known." - Election Night '79
- Noël CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Design for LivingDesign for LivingDesign for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...
- "it is not much of a play, principally because it is desperately short of good lines. But given lashings of style it could still be brought off.... But nobody in the show except Dandy NicholsDandy Nichols-References:* Dandy Nichols at screenonline.* Dandy Nichols at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.-External links:...
, who was pretending to be the maid, had any idea of how to underplay a scene. They all shouted their heads off while offering one another cigarettes...." - Bob HopeBob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
at the London PalladiumLondon PalladiumThe London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
- "standing up and delivering one-liners that somebody else has written takes more nerve, but less skill, than might appear. Of all the comic forms it is the most limited. That was how Hope appeared on this show: a stunted giant. Raquel WelchRaquel WelchJo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
was involved in a lengthy comic routine which required that she should pretend to sing and dance very badly. This she accomplished with ease. The trouble started when she reappeared in propria persona and tried to convince us that she can sing and dance very well. Thousands of pounds' worth of feathers, could not disguise the fact that she sings like a duck." - James A. MichenerJames A. MichenerJames Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
's Centennial - "What a comic actress of Sally KellermanSally KellermanSally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...
's stature was doing in an epic bore like this was a conundrum best left ravelled." - Crime and PunishmentCrime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...
- "John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
's performance is a brilliant job of exteriorising interior turmoil." - The South Bank Show on the painter Allen JonesAllen Jones (sculptor)Allen Jones RA is a British pop artist, best known for his sculptures. He lives and works in London.Jones was born in Southampton and from 1955 to 1961 studied at the Hornsey College of Art...
- "... the author of the only Pirelli CalendarPirelli CalendarThe Pirelli Calendar is a trade calendar published by the Pirelli company's UK subsidiary. It has become an annual publication that dates back to 1964....
that nobody bothered to look at twice...." - Panorama on Gustav Franz Wagner - "He is, or at any rate was, the man who did his best to make SobiborSobibórSobibór is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Włodawa, within Włodawa County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies close to the Bug River, which forms the border with Belarus and Ukraine. Sobibór is approximately south-east of Włodawa and east of the regional capital...
extermination camp even more hellish than it was supposed to be. It instantly became apparent that Wagner had the intellectual complexity of a turnip. All the evidence suggests that Wagner enjoyed murdering people." - Yesterday's Witness, with Gergana Taneva, a survivor of RavensbrückRavensbrück concentration campRavensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
- " giving us at least some idea of what life is like when people whose highest morality is to obey orders are controlling your fate." - Rumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the BaileyRumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
- "Already he [Rumpole] is an adjective. He is also an idea." - Wimbledon '79 - "Wimbledon was back and Dan MaskellDan MaskellDaniel "Dan" Maskell was an English tennis player, who later became even better known as a radio and television commentator on the game, and was known as the BBC's "voice of tennis"....
was back with it. 'Ooh I say! there's a dream volleh!'" "Evonne Cawley is the supreme technician in women's tennis and wins when she feels like it. What confuses the issue is that she hardly ever feels like it." - The MallensThe MallensThe Mallens was a popular Granada Television adaptation of Catherine Cookson novels that ran for 13 episodes from 1979-1980.- Plot summary :Based on the novels The Mallen Streak,The Mallen Girl and the Mallen Litter...
- "But once again Squire Mallen (John HallamJohn HallamJohn William Francis Hallam was a Northern Irish character actor.- Career :He appeared in many film and television roles including Nicholas and Alexandra , Murphy's War , The Pallisers , The Mallens , Flash Gordon , Dragonslayer , the BBC television adaptations of Prince Caspian...
), and Miss Brigmore (Caroline BlakistonCaroline BlakistonCaroline Blakiston is an English actress who has appeared predominantly in television roles, notably in the series Brass. She also appeared as Mon Mothma in the science fiction film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
), have collided on the stairs. Within seconds they are raining hot dialogue on one another. A foot-race to the nearest bedroom ends in a dead heat. END OF PART THREE." - The Wooldridge View, with Ian WooldridgeIan WooldridgeIan Wooldridge, OBE was a British sports journalist. He was with the Daily Mail for nearly 50 years. He died from cancer...
- "in PamplonaPamplonaPamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
, where Wooldridge goes every year to test his courage and his capacity for wine... the programme gave you some useful hints about how to run before the bulls. Clearly the best technique is to book your flight for the week after the event takes place, or else just not turn up at all." - Outcasts on the China Sea - "the best programme I have yet seen on the dread-provoking subject of the boat peopleBoat peopleBoat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
." - Panorama, on Charter 77Charter 77Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
. - Circuit Eleven Miami - "alternately - and indeed often simultaneously - gripping and repulsive trilogy recorded the trial, conviction and sentence of one Thomas Perri, a citizen of Miami."
- The MiniMiniThe Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
- " was all about a British engineering feat... but... the managers forgot to include a profit margin in the price." - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyTinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
- "fully lived up to the standard set by the original novel. Though not quite as incomprehensible, it was equally turgid. John Le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
's early novels were among the best in the spy genre, but by the time he wrote TTSS he had started believing in his own publicity. He shifted the emphasis from plot to character - especially in the character of George Smiley. As the later novels have gone on to prove, Smiley gets less interesting the more interested in him the author gets. What's going on is a concerted attempt to inflate a thin book into a fat series." - Public School at Westminster SchoolWestminster SchoolThe Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
- "the pupils... seemed to combine easy charm with the fanatical motivation of suicide pilots." "... it makes no sense talking about children going to 'the school of their choice' when choice is something only the well-off can afford." - BBC News - "President Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
... jogging... was to be seen lumbering awkwardly along among hundreds of fitter men. The President was then to be seen in close-up, gasping like a tuna who had been on deck for several hours." - Something Else, an 'open-door' programme made by young people for young people - "WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
was certainly right about youth being wasted on the young." - Panorama on CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
- "Pol PotPol PotSaloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
ranks high on the list of Great Bastards in History. There was film of the Khmer RougeKhmer RougeThe Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
's now happily abandoned torture factory, where the torturers apparently kept a photographic record of everything they got up to, thereby revealing a metaphysical interest in agony which sorted ill with their materialist pretensions. Enough of these photographs were fleetingly on show to make you very glad that you weren't seeing the rest, or the same ones longer." - Frederick AshtonFrederick AshtonSir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...
- "At 75 he still moves like a boy." - Churchill and the Generals, by Ian CurteisIan CurteisIan Bayley Curteis is a British television dramatist and former television director.In a career as a television dramatist from the late 1960s onwards, Curteis wrote for many of the series of the day, including The Onedin Line and Crown Court. In 1979, two television plays by Curteis were...
- "Chosen for the mighty task of reincarnating our hero, Timothy WestTimothy WestTimothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
was the man responsible for ultimate victory. He started the war facing grave difficulties. He was critically short of proper scenes." - Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
- "the last episode of Star Trek was made years ago, but the series obeys Einstein's laws of space and time, forever circum-navigating the universe on its way back to your living room.... Spock, Kirk, Scottie and Mr Sulu have suddenly appeared on the surface of a planet that looks exactly like a set. Appropriately enough, the planet seems to be populated exclusively by bad actors." - Tosca in Tokyo - "featured Montserrat CaballéMontserrat CaballéMontserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
. The Japanese were impressed. It was clear that they hadn't seen anything that size since the battleship Missouri anchored in Tokyo BayTokyo Bayis a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
in 1945." - Friday Night...Saturday Morning - "Latest guest host was Sir Harold WilsonHarold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, erstwhile Prime Minister of Great Britain. Those of us who expected him to be terrible received a shock. He was really terrible." - Shirley Williams in Conversation - "Her latest guest was Willy BrandtWilly BrandtWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
... a man of stature and vision. As a result we heard the rationale of the OstpolitikOstpolitikNeue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
directly from its inventor's mouth." - Newsweek with Chairman HuaHua GuofengSu Zhu, better known by the nom de guerre Hua Guofeng , was Mao Zedong's designated successor as the Paramount Leader of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China. Upon Zhou Enlai's death in 1976, he succeeded Zhou as the second Premier of the People's Republic of China...
of China - "MaoMao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
it appears, remains the fountainhead of all wisdom. His wonderful revolution came within a whisker of being hijacked by the Gang of FourGang of FourThe Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...
. Everything that went wrong after Mao's death was due to 'sabotage by Lin Piao and the Gang of Four.' " - Kissinger and Frost - "Nixon and KissingerHenry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
might have had short-term military reasons for their policy on Cambodia, but the ruinous long-term consequences were easily predictable.... Nor was there anything legal about the way he and his President tried to keep the bombing secret. In fact they conspired to undermine the United States Constitution. Kissinger's personal tragedy is that his undoubted hatred of totalitarianism leads him to behave as if democracy is not strong enough to oppose it." "By what right did he topple Salvador AllendeSalvador AllendeSalvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
?" - Vera BrittainVera BrittainVera Mary Brittain was a British writer, feminist and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.-Life:Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Brittain was the...
's Testament of YouthTestament of YouthTestament of Youth is the first installment, covering 1900–1925, in the memoir of Vera Brittain . It was published in 1933. Brittain's memoir continues with Testament of Experience, published in 1957, and encompassing the years 1925–1950...
- "Vera BrittainVera BrittainVera Mary Brittain was a British writer, feminist and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.-Life:Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Brittain was the...
was obviously ideally equipped to tell two great stories at once. One story was about her own education as a liberated young woman. The other story was about how the First World War cut down the generation of young men of whom she aspired to be an equal." - The Magic of Dance with Margot FonteynMargot FonteynDame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
- "the American ballet critic Arlene CroceArlene CroceArlene Croce founded Ballet Review magazine in 1965. She was a dance critic for The New Yorker magazine from 1973 to 1998. Prior to her long career as a dance writer, she also wrote film criticism for Film Culture and other magazines. The keynote of her criticism can be grasped from her ability to...
explains that the whole idea of ballet is to transcend sex and that any man who is aroused by looking at a ballerina is missing the point. I am afraid I have been missing the point in a big way, and that when I look at Dame Margot I go on missing it." "NureyevRudolf NureyevRudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
, whom Dame Margot interviewed at length, was the lad who opened ballet up for the male stars. One is glad about this, but finally it is the ballerinas who are the fons et origo of the art." - MastermindMastermind (TV series)Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
- "gets battier all the time. In the latest instalment a man took agriculture as his special subject. Yes, all of agriculture, any time, anywhere. He did not do well. A woman, on the other hand, took the Dragon Books of Anne McCaffreyAnne McCaffreyAnne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
. Not surprisingly she did very well indeed."
- The Arts of Chinese Communism - "It seems that the arts in China are now being allowed to recover from the damage done to them by the Cultural RevolutionCultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
in general and the vengeful puritanism of the Mk II Mrs MaoJiang QingJiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
in particular. She was obviously an even bigger bitch than we thought. Like all cultural commissars, she was an artist manqué." - DallasDallas (TV series)Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
- "It transpires that Sue Ellen's baby may well be suffering from neuro-fibrowhosis, a rare disease which attacks children who have been written into a long-running series and may have to be written out again later." - The South Bank Show with Germaine GreerGermaine GreerGermaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
on women painters - " using as examples the star graduates of the Slade School in the 1890s. Brilliantly refuting her own argument, she inadvertently stumbled on the real reason why so few women painters have been geniuses like Gwen JohnGwen JohnGwendolen Mary John was a Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her career. She is noted for her still lifes and for her portraits, especially of anonymous female sitters...
. According to Dr. Greer, men painters make women painters neurotic. But the case of Gwen John suggested that only the rare woman is neurotic enough."
External links
- The Crystal Bucket on Clive James' official website