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Sir Michael Gambon was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland, to Mary (Hoare), a seamstress, and Edward Gambon, an engineer. After joining the National Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier, Gambon went on to appear in a number of leading roles in plays written by Alan Ayckbourn. His career was catapulted in 1980 when he took the lead role in John Dexter's production of "Galileo". Since then, Gambon has regularly appeared at the Royal National Theatre and the RSC. Roles include, King Lear, Othello, Mark Anthony and Volpone. He was described by the late Sir Ralph Richardson as being "The Great Gambon" and he is now considered to be one of the British theatre's leading lights. He was made a CBE in 1992.- Tall, incisive, aquiline-featured British character actor. Born in Fulham, London, Archard won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1938. The following year, he made his stage debut opposite Jessica Tandy in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, at the Regent's Park Theatre. A conscientious objector during the war, Archard made the rounds of repertory theatre for several years, with intermittent periods of unemployment. In 1959, he decided to emigrate to Canada for a fresh start. Having already booked his passage, he suddenly received several offers to appear in television dramas. The resulting body of work led to an audition with writer/producer Elwyn Jones for the central role in the projected BBC series Spy-Catcher (1959).
For four seasons (24 episodes), Archard played the role of the real life Lt.Col. Oreste Pinto, who used psychology and guile to unmask foreign spies entering Britain during the Second World War. With the part came recognition and a steady stream of work. Ironically, given his pacifist disposition, Archard was frequently cast as military men or police officers. He performed these to perfection, with his trademark authoritative bearing and icy delivery. He was equally effective as a vicar in Village of the Damned (1960), and a Soviet intelligence operative in The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966). On television, he had a recurring role in Z Cars (1962) and played the ill-fated Egyptologist Marcus Scarman in Doctor Who (1963), 'The Pyramids of Mars'. A frequent face in horror movies, he essayed the vampire hunter Van Helsing in the 'Dracula' instalment of the anthology series Mystery and Imagination (1966). He was also somewhat memorable as Major General Fullard in the film version of Dad's Army (1971), in which he contemptuously referred to Captain Mainwaring as "a damn bank clerk".
On stage he was seen in Terence Rattigan's 'Cause Celebre' at the West End (1977) and in Peter O'Tooles ill-received 'Macbeth' at the Old Vic in 1980. Bernard Archard retired to his home in Somerset after his character in Emmerdale Farm (1972) was killed off. He died in May 2008 at the ripe old age of 91. - Dorothy L. Sayers was an English crime writer, one of the most popular writers of the so-called Golden Age of Detective Fiction (1920s-1930s). She was known as one of the four Queens of Crime, alongside her fellow novelists Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Ngaio Marsh. Sayers' most popular character was Lord Peter Wimsey, an aristocratic gentleman detective who viewed mystery solving as an amusing hobby. Sayers wrote 11 Wimsey novels and several short stories featuring Wimsey and his family. In addition to her crime fiction works, Sayers wrote plays, works of literary criticism, and essays on various topics. She also translated works by other writers into English. Her English translation of the "Divine Comedy" is considered her most notable work in that field.
In 1893, Sayers was born in Oxford. Her father was the Reverend Henry Sayers, chaplain of the Christ Church Cathedral. Henry also served for some time as the headmaster of the Christ Church Cathedral School. Sayers' mother was Helen Mary Leigh, daughter of a prominent solicitor. Helen was a member of the extended Leigh family, landed gentry from the Isle of Wight.
Sayers was primarily raised in the tiny village of Bluntisham, after her father was appointed as the rector of the local church. In 1909, she started attending the Godolphin School as a full-time student. It was a boarding school for girls, located in Salisbury. The school was named after its founder, Elizabeth Godolphin (c. 1663 --1726), and was originally devoted to the education of orphan girls from prosperous families.
In 1912, Sayers won a scholarship that allowed her to attend Somerville College, in Oxford. She studied both modern languages and medieval literature at the college. Her most prominent teacher was Mildred K. Pope (1872 - 1956), a historian specializing in Anglo-Norman England. Sayers graduated with first-class honors in 1915, but did not actually receive her Master of Arts degree until 1920. Sayers was among the first female students to receive degrees from the University of Oxford. Women were previously allowed to attend Oxford, but there was a college policy against granting them degrees.
Sayers started her literary career as a poet, publishing her first volume of poems in 1916. Her poems were regularly published at "The Oxford Magazine" (1883-) , a literary magazine associated with Oxford University. Sayers initially supported herself financially by working as a teacher. In the early 1920s, she started working for the publishing company Victor Gollancz. From 1922 to 1931, Sayers worked as a copywriter and advertiser for the advertising agency S.H. Benson. She is credited with creating successful advertising campaigns for Colman's mustard and Guinness beer.
Sayers started work on her first crime novel in 1920, but did not complete it until 1923. The novel was "Whose Body?" (1923), the debut novel for Peter Wimsey. The novel begins with the discovery of an unidentified man's corpse in the bathroom of a private apartment, whose owner had never met the dead man. The dead man was a look-alike of a famous financier who had mysteriously disappeared the previous night. Wimsey has to discover what connected the two men, and what happened to them. The novel was met with praise for its plot twists, and established Sayers' reputation as a novelist.
Sayers published the rest of the Wimsey novels between 1926 and 1937. She eventually lost interest in writing crime novels, ending her career as a novelist in 1939. She reportedly found it pointless to write murder mysteries at a time when real-life mass murders were monopolizing the news. She briefly re-used Wimsey and his supporting cast in ""The Wimsey Papers" (1939-1940), a series of magazine articles commenting on wartime conditions in Britain.
During the early phases of World War II, Sayers published the theology book "The Mind of the Maker" (1941). Its primary topic was the nature of the Trinity, and its connection to the creative process in art. She explored the central doctrines of Christianity in several other theological works. In 1943, she was offered a doctorate in divinity by the then-Archbishop of Canterbury. She declined the offer, as she did not view herself as a professional theologian.
Sayers published non-fiction works on various topics throughout the 1940s and the 1950s. Sayers died in December 1957, due to coronary thrombosis (a heart disease). She was 64-years-old at the time of her death. Her remains were cremated and her ashes buried beneath the tower of St Anne's Church, Soho, London. The sole beneficiary of her will was her illegitimate son, John Anthony Fleming.
Sayer's reputation as a theologian has endured into the 21st century. In 2022, Sayers was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 17 December. Her novels remain popular, and have received a number of adaptations for television and radio. - Rose Rowbotham was born on 9 April 1903 in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Mikado (1926). She died on 8 February 1987 in Witham, Essex, England, UK.