BBC Four presents a documentary, ‘A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman‘, airing on Sunday, 26 May 2024, at 7.00 pm. First broadcast in 1963, the program features John Betjeman as he explores the Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea railway line in Somerset, offering a unique glimpse into a working steam branch line railway. John Betjeman […]
Let’s Imagine: A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman...
Let’s Imagine: A Branch Line Railway with John Betjeman...
- 5/26/2024
- by Izzy Jacobs
- MemorableTV
Jim Parker, a four-time BAFTA-winning composer whose credits included the original House of Cards and Midsomer Murders, has died aged 88 after a long illness.
Parker’s daughter Claire Parker issued a statement earlier today confirming the news and paying tribute.
“He wore his talent lightly and had a quiet passion and great sense of humour,” she said. “His ambition was, first and foremost, for audiences to enjoy his music. He was both well-respected and well-liked within the music and television industry, writing so many memorable theme tunes, and always giving 100% commitment.”
Born in Hartlepool in 1934, Parker started his career in a Britsh army band. He subsequently composed the music for Banana Blush, an album he made in 1974 with the poet John Betjeman, before turning to TV.
Parker composed the likes of the original UK version of House of Cards and Midsomer Murders. He won four Baftas, one for the second...
Parker’s daughter Claire Parker issued a statement earlier today confirming the news and paying tribute.
“He wore his talent lightly and had a quiet passion and great sense of humour,” she said. “His ambition was, first and foremost, for audiences to enjoy his music. He was both well-respected and well-liked within the music and television industry, writing so many memorable theme tunes, and always giving 100% commitment.”
Born in Hartlepool in 1934, Parker started his career in a Britsh army band. He subsequently composed the music for Banana Blush, an album he made in 1974 with the poet John Betjeman, before turning to TV.
Parker composed the likes of the original UK version of House of Cards and Midsomer Murders. He won four Baftas, one for the second...
- 7/31/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The most striking thing about Parkinson’s Disease, as we learn in Jeremy Paxman’s Paxman: Putting up with Parkinson’s (ITV), is the way that it just creeps up and mugs people. In this rather touching and very candid account of his life since he was formally diagnosed with it 18 months ago, Paxman explains that he only knew he had the condition after he’d been admitted to hospital when he slipped over on some ice and suffered some cuts to his face.
“I was in a real mess in A&e, and the doctor said, ‘I think you’ve got Parkinson’s.’ And it turned out he’d been watching University Challenge and he’d noticed my face had acquired what’s known as the ‘Parkinson’s mask’. I wasn’t as effusive and ebullient as normal. I had no idea.”
And so the tests were done, and at 72 years of age,...
“I was in a real mess in A&e, and the doctor said, ‘I think you’ve got Parkinson’s.’ And it turned out he’d been watching University Challenge and he’d noticed my face had acquired what’s known as the ‘Parkinson’s mask’. I wasn’t as effusive and ebullient as normal. I had no idea.”
And so the tests were done, and at 72 years of age,...
- 10/4/2022
- by Sean O'Grady
- The Independent - TV
The Death Wheelers are coming to the UK! Well, they are coming to Blu-ray / DVD in the UK, anyway. Don Sharp’s PsychoMania aka The Death Wheelers (1973) follows Tom, a motorcycle gang leader, who kills himself and is successfully resurrected from the dead by his mother and a very knowledgeable cult. Psychomania will be released via the British Film Institute (BFI) on Blu-ray / DVD in the UK on September 19th:
From Blu-ray.com: “Look Out! The Living Dead motorcycle gang is on the rampage, wreaking havoc in their small English town. For gang leader Tom (Nicky Henson), however, mere earthly violence is not enough: he’s obsessed with the occult and is convinced that he can kill himself and then return from the dead – with the help of a frog-worshipping cult and his seance-conducting mother (Beryl Reid). Remarkably, Tom succeeds and soon joins the ranks of the walking – and riding – dead!
From Blu-ray.com: “Look Out! The Living Dead motorcycle gang is on the rampage, wreaking havoc in their small English town. For gang leader Tom (Nicky Henson), however, mere earthly violence is not enough: he’s obsessed with the occult and is convinced that he can kill himself and then return from the dead – with the help of a frog-worshipping cult and his seance-conducting mother (Beryl Reid). Remarkably, Tom succeeds and soon joins the ranks of the walking – and riding – dead!
- 8/9/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Tony Warren 8th July 1936-1st March 2016
'The first Coronation Street writing team contained some of the biggest homophobes I've ever met. I remember getting on my feet in a story conference and saying "Gentlemen, I have sat here for two-and-a-half hours and listened to three poof jokes, a storyline dismissed as poofy, and an actor described as 'useless as he's a poof'. As a matter of fact he isn't! but I would like to point out that I am, and without a poof none of you would be in work today." So reflected the writer & television dramatist Tony Warren on his early uphill, but routine struggle with homophobia of late 1950s Britain. It was a brave and brazen stance given that homosexuality was still illegal. He also stated later that "the outsider sees more, hears more, and has to remember more to survive" and that in those days if...
'The first Coronation Street writing team contained some of the biggest homophobes I've ever met. I remember getting on my feet in a story conference and saying "Gentlemen, I have sat here for two-and-a-half hours and listened to three poof jokes, a storyline dismissed as poofy, and an actor described as 'useless as he's a poof'. As a matter of fact he isn't! but I would like to point out that I am, and without a poof none of you would be in work today." So reflected the writer & television dramatist Tony Warren on his early uphill, but routine struggle with homophobia of late 1950s Britain. It was a brave and brazen stance given that homosexuality was still illegal. He also stated later that "the outsider sees more, hears more, and has to remember more to survive" and that in those days if...
- 3/5/2016
- by robert cochrane
- www.culturecatch.com
The Observer photographer Jane Bown is profiled in this intelligent and unfussily traditional documentary
The Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, partly funded this film about one of its greatest staff photographers, the peerless Jane Bown. She's a figure well-loved around the Guardian Media Group's headquarters, a backdrop for many of the interviews shown here. It is an excellent, intelligent and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures, including Mick Jagger, John Betjeman, Queen Elizabeth and Samuel Beckett. Now 89, a frail and lucid Bown reflects on her life, revealing a troubled childhood that may have nourished her ability to connect with subjects. Others pay homage without gushing too much, and speak insightfully about aesthetics, technique and the context of Bown's work. Directors Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte's austere film-making eminently suits the material, especially when they eschew all sound and just hold for several seconds on the pictures themselves,...
The Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, partly funded this film about one of its greatest staff photographers, the peerless Jane Bown. She's a figure well-loved around the Guardian Media Group's headquarters, a backdrop for many of the interviews shown here. It is an excellent, intelligent and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures, including Mick Jagger, John Betjeman, Queen Elizabeth and Samuel Beckett. Now 89, a frail and lucid Bown reflects on her life, revealing a troubled childhood that may have nourished her ability to connect with subjects. Others pay homage without gushing too much, and speak insightfully about aesthetics, technique and the context of Bown's work. Directors Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte's austere film-making eminently suits the material, especially when they eschew all sound and just hold for several seconds on the pictures themselves,...
- 4/24/2014
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
The Observer photographer Jane Bown is profiled in this intellingent and unfussily traditional documentary
The Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, partly funded this film about one of its greatest staff photographers, the peerless Jane Bown. She's a figure well-loved around the Guardian Media Group's headquarters, a backdrop for many of the interviews shown here. It is an excellent, intelligent, and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures, including Mick Jagger, John Betjeman, Queen Elizabeth and Samuel Beckett. Now 89, a frail and lucid Bown reflects on her life, revealing a troubled childhood that may have nourished her ability to connect with subjects. Others pay homage without gushing too much, and speak insightfully about aesthetics, technique, and the context of Bown's work. Directors Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte's austere filmmaking eminently suits the material, especially when they eschew all sound and just hold for several seconds on the pictures themselves,...
The Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, partly funded this film about one of its greatest staff photographers, the peerless Jane Bown. She's a figure well-loved around the Guardian Media Group's headquarters, a backdrop for many of the interviews shown here. It is an excellent, intelligent, and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures, including Mick Jagger, John Betjeman, Queen Elizabeth and Samuel Beckett. Now 89, a frail and lucid Bown reflects on her life, revealing a troubled childhood that may have nourished her ability to connect with subjects. Others pay homage without gushing too much, and speak insightfully about aesthetics, technique, and the context of Bown's work. Directors Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte's austere filmmaking eminently suits the material, especially when they eschew all sound and just hold for several seconds on the pictures themselves,...
- 4/24/2014
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Bernardo Bertolucci, Jeanette Winterson and Paul Weller also among 75 public figures revealing favourite works
BBC Radio 4 is lining up 75 leading public figures, including film director Bernardo Bertolucci, singer Paul Weller and novelist Jeanette Winterson, to reveal their most treasured cultural influences for what the station claims will be one of the most comprehensive arts events broadcast.
The network has already confirmed 30 names for the project, Cultural Exchange, which will see individuals selecting a single item to talk about, with the choices ranging from the King James Bible to an obscure 1960s album.
It will feature every weekday on Front Row until the end of July.
Artist Tracey Emin will launch the series on 22 April with her insights into a Vermeer painting – Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. She describes Vermeer as "one of the first feminists", pointing to the unusual and fascinating way he depicted women. "He showed that...
BBC Radio 4 is lining up 75 leading public figures, including film director Bernardo Bertolucci, singer Paul Weller and novelist Jeanette Winterson, to reveal their most treasured cultural influences for what the station claims will be one of the most comprehensive arts events broadcast.
The network has already confirmed 30 names for the project, Cultural Exchange, which will see individuals selecting a single item to talk about, with the choices ranging from the King James Bible to an obscure 1960s album.
It will feature every weekday on Front Row until the end of July.
Artist Tracey Emin will launch the series on 22 April with her insights into a Vermeer painting – Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. She describes Vermeer as "one of the first feminists", pointing to the unusual and fascinating way he depicted women. "He showed that...
- 4/17/2013
- by Ben Dowell
- The Guardian - Film News
Tamasin and Daniel Day-Lewis hand over poet laureate's archive including manuscripts and letter from Wh Auden.
Wh Auden did not want to appear condescending but his criticism of Cecil Day-Lewis's poem would certainly appear to be crushing: "You are not taking enough trouble about your medium, your technique of expression," he wrote, adding that one line sounded as if Day-Lewis was waiting for his tea.
The letter, from around 1928 or 1929 when both poets were still in their 20s, is one of many to appear in an extensive literary archive that has been donated to Oxford University's Bodleian Library by Day-Lewis's children, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and the food writer Tamasin Day-Lewis.
The library will on Tuesday host a symposium celebrating the life and work of the former poet laureate and marking what Chris Fletcher, keeper of special collections, said was an extremely generous gift.
"It is a wonderful archive...
Wh Auden did not want to appear condescending but his criticism of Cecil Day-Lewis's poem would certainly appear to be crushing: "You are not taking enough trouble about your medium, your technique of expression," he wrote, adding that one line sounded as if Day-Lewis was waiting for his tea.
The letter, from around 1928 or 1929 when both poets were still in their 20s, is one of many to appear in an extensive literary archive that has been donated to Oxford University's Bodleian Library by Day-Lewis's children, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and the food writer Tamasin Day-Lewis.
The library will on Tuesday host a symposium celebrating the life and work of the former poet laureate and marking what Chris Fletcher, keeper of special collections, said was an extremely generous gift.
"It is a wonderful archive...
- 10/30/2012
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
While real bears often attack humans, sometimes fatally, the stuffed version can be an emotional crutch for people of all ages
Only in a film comedy, you might think, would a 35-year-old man otherwise in possession of his senses still be clinging to his teddy bear; and even then only if it happened to be able to talk. In fact, more than a third of British adults sleep alongside a prosaically mute ursine stuffed toy, if a recent Travelodge survey is to be believed. Fifteen per cent of men and 10% of women regard their teddy as their best friend.
Perhaps few go as far as 28-year-old Charles Marshall of Cincinnati, who was arrested in June for the fourth time for sexual behaviour with a teddy bear in public. Nonetheless, teddies have been exerting an ever-tightening grip on the human heart since they we first hugged them a century ago.
As is well known,...
Only in a film comedy, you might think, would a 35-year-old man otherwise in possession of his senses still be clinging to his teddy bear; and even then only if it happened to be able to talk. In fact, more than a third of British adults sleep alongside a prosaically mute ursine stuffed toy, if a recent Travelodge survey is to be believed. Fifteen per cent of men and 10% of women regard their teddy as their best friend.
Perhaps few go as far as 28-year-old Charles Marshall of Cincinnati, who was arrested in June for the fourth time for sexual behaviour with a teddy bear in public. Nonetheless, teddies have been exerting an ever-tightening grip on the human heart since they we first hugged them a century ago.
As is well known,...
- 8/6/2012
- by David Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
Inevitably for someone whose creative life stretched more than half a century, Ken Russell's long career had its peaks and troughs
Inevitably for someone whose creative life stretched more than half a century, Ken Russell's long career had its peaks and troughs. But Russell's work for the BBC – in particular for Huw Wheldon's Monitor programme – from 1959 to 1970 was a whole mountain range, a before and after of the arts on television. The Russell who developed from the short early films about the likes of John Betjeman and Shelagh Delaney to the full-length and increasingly cinematic programmes on Delius and Richard Strauss was a director who was stretching his medium to the limit. But his BBC work had a heady mix of individuality, creativity and – until the Strauss film – a passionate seriousness that has never been surpassed in arts television. Russell's film on Elgar was not just a...
Inevitably for someone whose creative life stretched more than half a century, Ken Russell's long career had its peaks and troughs. But Russell's work for the BBC – in particular for Huw Wheldon's Monitor programme – from 1959 to 1970 was a whole mountain range, a before and after of the arts on television. The Russell who developed from the short early films about the likes of John Betjeman and Shelagh Delaney to the full-length and increasingly cinematic programmes on Delius and Richard Strauss was a director who was stretching his medium to the limit. But his BBC work had a heady mix of individuality, creativity and – until the Strauss film – a passionate seriousness that has never been surpassed in arts television. Russell's film on Elgar was not just a...
- 11/29/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
London — Ken Russell, an iconoclastic British director whose daring films blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn straight from his subconscious, has died at age 84.
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
"My father died peacefully," Verney-Elliott said. "He died with a smile on his face."
Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with "Women in Love," based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a "Best Actress" Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
It included one of the decade's most famous scenes – a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.
Reed said at the time that the...
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
"My father died peacefully," Verney-Elliott said. "He died with a smile on his face."
Russell was a fiercely original director whose vision occasionally brought mainstream success, but often tested the patience of audiences and critics. He had one of his biggest hits in 1969 with "Women in Love," based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and a "Best Actress" Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
It included one of the decade's most famous scenes – a nude wrestling bout between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.
Reed said at the time that the...
- 11/28/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Ken Russell, the British director whose daring and sometimes outrageous films often tested the patience of audiences and critics, has died at age 84.
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
One of Russell’s biggest successes came in 1969 with Women in Love, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and an Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films including The Music Lovers in 1970, and Lisztomania and Tommy in 1975.
“My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face.”...
Russell died in a hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes, his son Alex Verney-Elliott said Monday.
One of Russell’s biggest successes came in 1969 with Women in Love, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, which earned Academy Award nominations for the director and for writer Larry Kramer, and an Oscar for the star, Glenda Jackson.
Music played a central role in many of Russell’s films including The Music Lovers in 1970, and Lisztomania and Tommy in 1975.
“My father died peacefully,” Verney-Elliott said. “He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face.”...
- 11/28/2011
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
The Poet Laureate is to pen "something special" to mark Coronation Street's golden anniversary. Carol Ann Duffy - the first woman to hold the ancient office since it was established in medieval times - joined Corrie creator Tony Warren on a tour of the set in Manchester on Friday afternoon, 32 years after Sir John Betjeman did the same. While there, the (more)...
- 3/23/2010
- by By Kris Green
- Digital Spy
This film is vesting a whole lot in the concept of the purity of the child's soul. The opening title card alone displays a quote by John Betjeman, and it reads, "Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows." That's all well and good, but honestly it's a theory I never really stood behind myself. Have you ever met a kid? Have you ever witnessed the unabashed joy that comes over a kid's face as he's, I don't know, burning a line of ants to death with a magnifying glass? A lot of these so called pure beings are nothing more than tiny little sociopaths who have yet to learn the rules of society. And humanity, for that matter.
But hell, this movie won me over. It's kind of like a slightly tweaked, slightly more relevant version of Au Revoir les Enfants.
But hell, this movie won me over. It's kind of like a slightly tweaked, slightly more relevant version of Au Revoir les Enfants.
- 3/20/2009
- by Inna Mkrtycheva
- JustPressPlay.net
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