Sir Michael Edward Palin is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Randall Stuart Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs, and various film scores. His hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995) with Lyle Lovett, while other artists have enjoyed success with cover versions of his "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1966), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968) and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972).
The South Bank Show is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, and presented by former BBC arts broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.
Adam Curtis is an English documentary filmmaker.
Fergal Patrick Keane is an Irish foreign correspondent with BBC News, and an author. For some time, Keane was the BBC's correspondent in South Africa. He is a nephew of the Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. Keane.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which aired between 5 January and 9 February 1981 on BBC Two in the United Kingdom. The adaptation follows the original radio series in 1978 and 1980, the first novel and double LP, in 1979, and the stage shows, in 1979 and 1980, making it the fifth iteration of the guide.
Pete Mitchell was a British radio DJ and presenter. He was born in Crumpsall, Manchester. Mitchell was a radio presenter for Manchester's Piccadilly Radio, Key 103, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X and Absolute Radio, and was one half of duo Pete and Geoff on Virgin Radio. His music documentaries have been aired in the US, Canada, Australia and Asia. He later worked for the relaunched Virgin Radio and wrote for the Radio Times, the Daily Express and Q magazine.
David Ellery is a documentary film-maker, director and writer, author and ship historian based in Hampshire. He has written and produced/ directed a variety of stand-alone documentaries and five series' for television and is credited with more than 150 published magazine articles and several books. A new edition of RMS Queen Mary 101 Questions & Answers was launched by Bloomsbury in 2022. He also appears as part of the on-screen team for The Great British Home Movie Roadshow, first broadcast in August and September 2010. In 2011 he received his second Royal Television Society Award. Recent work includes the documentary: P&O Cruises - Celebrating 175 Years of Heritage, which he wrote, edited and directed, a short film with actors Sarah Parish and husband James Murray about the Murray Parish Trust [2015], The Ultimate Challenge - a 6-part travel/ roadshow series for television [2016] and Wattisham Both Sides of the Fence, the story of an airfield with a unique place in British aviation history [2017], which Ellery wrote, narrated, filmed and edited, and for which he received his third RTS Award [2018]. In 2019 David Ellery wrote, narrated and directed Britain's Last Paddle Steamers, followed by Cold War East Anglia - the front line, a broadcast quality documentary [2020]. Ellery's background is in writing. As a freelance feature writer he produced articles for a variety of regional and national magazines and papers, including Women's Realm, Woman & Home, Homes & Gardens and the Express newspaper group. They include celebrity interviews with stars like Stefanie Powers, Heather Lockyear, Peter Davison and Sir Norman Wisdom, and articles on travel, art, and motoring. In September 1992 he became the Motoring Correspondent for regional radio station Spire FM in Salisbury, reporting on motoring matters from events like the London Motorshow and presenting a weekly slot. He then moved into television production, scripting and voice-over work. David Ellery has also been commissioned by EMTAS to produce several educational films, including programmes to introduce and support the award-winning Young Interpreters Scheme and New Arrivals Ambassadors, for schools across the UK.
The Bell System Science Series consists of nine television specials made for the AT&T Corporation that were originally broadcast in color between 1956 and 1964. Marcel LaFollette has described them as "specials that combined clever story lines, sophisticated animation, veteran character actors, films of natural phenomena, interviews with scientists, and precise explanation of scientific and technical concepts—all in the pursuit of better public understanding of science." Geoff Alexander and Rick Prelinger have described the films as "among the best known and remembered educational films ever made, and enthroning Dr. Frank Baxter, professor at the University of Southern California, as something of a legend as the omniscient king of academic science films hosts."
The animated documentary is a moving image form that combines animation and documentary. This form should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts.
Our America is a film based on the book Our America: Life And Death on the South Side of Chicago.
Eric Elléna is a French film maker.
Monty Python: Almost the Truth is a 2009 television documentary series in six parts that covers 40 years of the surreal comedy group Monty Python, from Flying Circus to present day projects such as the musical Spamalot. The series highlights their childhood, schooling and university life, and pre-Python work. The series featured new interviews with surviving members John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, alongside archive interview footage of Graham Chapman and interviews with several associates of the Pythons, including Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes and Chapman's partner David Sherlock, along with commentary from modern comedians.
David Avram "Dave" Isay is an American radio producer and founder of Sound Portraits Productions. He is also the founder of StoryCorps, an ongoing oral history project. He is the recipient of numerous broadcasting honors, including six Peabody Awards and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. He is the author/editor of numerous books that grew out of his public radio documentary work.
LeAlan Marvin Jones is an American journalist who lives in Chicago's South Shore. His radio documentaries have received critical acclaim and numerous awards. Jones was the Green Party's 2010 nominee for United States Senate from Illinois.
The Ida B. Wells Homes, which also comprised the Clarence Darrow Homes and Madden Park Homes, was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project located in the heart of the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was bordered by 35th Street to the north, Pershing Road to the south, Cottage Grove Avenue to the east, and Martin Luther King Drive to the west. The Ida B. Wells Homes consisted of rowhouses, mid-rises, and high-rise apartment buildings, first constructed 1939 to 1941 to house African American tenants. They were closed and demolished beginning in 2002 and ending in 2011.
Eric Morse was a five-year-old African-American boy from Chicago, Illinois, who was murdered in October 1994. Morse was dropped from a high-rise building in the Ida B. Wells Homes by ten-year-old Jesse Rankins and 11-year-old Tykeece Johnson. Morse's murder was notable for the young ages of the victim and the killers, and brought further national attention to the plight of children in Chicago's housing projects. Rankins and Johnson, both minors at the time, were convicted for the murder of Morse and sentenced to five years' imprisonment each.
Life of Python is the name of two documentaries, both intended to mark 20 years of the Monty Python team in 1989, but broadcast the following year after the death of team member Graham Chapman on 4 October - the eve of the 20th anniversary.
David Bowie: Sound and Vision is a 2002 documentary film about the English musician, made by the American television network A&E for their long running documentary television series and media franchise Biography. It was first broadcast on A&E on 4 November 2002. It was released as a DVD the following year.
