Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, 8 miles (13 km) west of Charing Cross.
The Brentford Trilogy is a series of eleven novels by writer Robert Rankin. They humorously chronicle the lives of a couple of drunken middle-aged layabouts, Jim Pooley and John Omally, who confront the forces of darkness in the environs of West London, usually with the assistance of large quantities of beer from their favourite public house, The Flying Swan.
Robert Fleming Rankin is a prolific British author of comedic fantasy novels. Born in Parsons Green, London, he started writing in the late 1970s, and first entered the bestsellers lists with Snuff Fiction in 1999, by which time his previous eighteen books had sold around one million copies. His books are a mix of science fiction, fantasy, the occult, urban legends, running gags, metafiction, steampunk and outrageous characters. According to the biography printed in some Corgi editions of his books, Rankin refers to his style as 'Far Fetched Fiction' in the hope that bookshops will let him have a section to himself. Many of Rankin's books are bestsellers.
The Return of the King is a 1980 animated musical fantasy television film created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. It is an adaptation of the 1955 high fantasy novel Lord of the Rings, taking its name from The Return of the King, the third and final volume of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and is a sequel to the 1977 film The Hobbit.
The Hobbit is a 1977 American animated musical television special created by Rankin/Bass, a studio known for their holiday specials, and animated by Topcraft, a precursor to Studio Ghibli. The film is an adaptation of the 1937 book of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien, and was first broadcast on NBC in the United States on Sunday, November 27, 1977.
Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was known for being the only English league football ground to have a pub on each corner. The ground's name referred to the griffin featured in the logo of Fuller's Brewery, which at one point owned the orchard on which the stadium was built.
Watermans Art Centre is a combined arts centre. It is located in Brentford, England alongside the banks of the River Thames overlooking Kew Gardens in West London, England.
The Brightonomicon is a novel by British fantasy author Robert Rankin. The title parodies that of the fictional grimoire Necronomicon from the Cthulhu Mythos. The author lives in Brighton, England, and the book is set in an accurate fictional depiction of the town. The book is based on "The Brighton Zodiac", a map consisting of carriageway constellations found in the city of Brighton and Hove, similar to the purported landscape zodiacs of Glastonbury and Kingston. The 2010 edition features a new cover design and internal illustrations by Rankin himself, who studied at the Ealing School of Art and worked briefly as an illustrator in the 1970s.
Brentford is a town in Middlesex, West of London in England.
Isaiah Marcus Rankin is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1996 to 2014.
Set in Darkness is a 2000 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the eleventh of the Inspector Rebus novels. It won the 2005 Grand Prix du Roman Policier (France) under the title Du fond des ténèbres.
The Antipope is a comic fantasy novel by the British author Robert Rankin. It is Rankin's first novel, and the first book in the Brentford Trilogy which, as of 2020, consists of 10 novels. The book was first published in 1981 by Pan Books, and from 1991 by Corgi books, an imprint of Transworld Publishers. Although typically found in the science fiction section of bookshops, it is a difficult novel to categorise; Rankin himself joked that he wanted to create a new genre of fiction, called "Far Fetched Fiction", so that he would have his own bookshelf in Smiths.
Charles Thomas George Brodie was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper who made 400 appearances in The Football League, most notably for Brentford, Aldershot and Northampton Town. His professional career came to an end in 1970, when he was seriously injured after a dog ran onto the field of play. The dog ran into Brodie's knee after he grabbed the ball, which the dog was chasing. Brodie suffered severe ligament damage.
East of Ealing is a novel by Robert Rankin published in 1984. It is the third novel in Rankin's Brentford Trilogy.
Erika Mitchell, known by her pen name E. L. James, is a British author. She wrote the best-selling erotic romance trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed, along with the companion novels Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian, Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian, and Freed: Fifty Shades Freed as Told by Christian. Prior to this, she wrote the Twilight fan fiction "Master of the Universe" that served as the basis for the Fifty Shades trilogy under the web name Snowqueens Icedragon. In 2019 she published her first book unconnected with the fictional world of Fifty Shades, The Mister, to negative critical reaction.
Robert Booker is an English former footballer who primarily played as a midfielder but often filled other roles in his later years. Born in Watford, England he started his career at Brentford in 1978 where he spent ten seasons playing in the lower divisions before switching to Sheffield United with whom he enjoyed his most successful period, gaining two promotions and playing in the top flight. He returned to Brentford for a further two seasons before injuries prompted him to retire. A spell on the coaching staff at Brentford was followed by a period as assistant manager at Brighton & Hove Albion where he was twice installed as caretaker manager during his tenure.
Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Brentford.
During the 1995–96 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division. After spending over two mid-season months in the relegation places, the club achieved a 15th-place finish. A bright spot was a run to the fourth round of the FA Cup, falling to First Division high-flyers Charlton Athletic.
During the 1994–95 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division. After a runners-up finish in the league, club's season ended with defeat in the 1995 play-off semi-finals.
The 2020 EFL Championship play-off final was an association football match which was played on 4 August 2020 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Brentford and Fulham, a West London derby. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, to the FA Premier League. The top two teams of the 2019–20 EFL Championship season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; Brentford ended the season in third position while Fulham finished fourth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2020–21 season in the Premier League. Cardiff City and Swansea City were the losing semi-finalists.
