Desmond Bernard O'Connor was an English comedian, singer and television presenter.
The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Alexei Sayle and others.
Aled Jones, is a Welsh singer, radio and television presenter, and actor. As a teenage chorister, he gained widespread fame in 1985 with his recording of "Walking in the Air", which reached the UK top five. Since then he has worked in television with the BBC and ITV, and on radio.
Brian Paul Conley is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of The Brian Conley Show, as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-year television career, he has starred in multiple award-winning television sitcoms including Time After Time and The Grimleys. In the West End, he has played the lead role in musicals such as Me and My Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hairspray, Oliver!, The Music Man, Barnum and Jolson for which he was nominated for a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. As a musician, he has released five albums, including Brian Conley Sings, Let the Good Times Roll, and Stage to Stage. He has won numerous awards in his career including The National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performer, Best Live Performer in Manchester Evening News and a British Comedy Award.
Howard Lindsay Goodall is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was named as a presenter and "Composer-in-Residence" with the UK radio channel Classic FM. In May 2009, he was named "Composer of the Year" at the Classic BRIT Awards.
Lipstick on Your Collar is a 1993 British television serial written by Dennis Potter. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 in February and March 1993. Expanded from Potter's earlier television play Lay Down Your Arms (1970), it features Ewan McGregor in his first major role.
Reginald Herbert Dixon, MBE, ARCM was an English theatre organist who was primarily known for his position as organist at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, a position he held from March 1930 until March 1970. He made and sold more recordings than any other organist before him, or since. He was in high demand throughout the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. During his fifty-year career he was one of the top-selling artists, his prolific output ranking alongside that of Victor Silvester and Bing Crosby.
Roderick Hallowell "Sandy" MacPherson was a Canadian-born theatre organist in Britain. As the second official BBC Theatre Organist, in succession to Reginald Foort, he achieved considerable broadcasting time during and after World War II.
Ena Baga was a British pianist and theatre organist. She is best known for improvising accompaniments to silent films, both in the 1920s and during the revival of interest in silent films that began in the 1970s.
Bernie Anderson Jr. is a silent film music composer, organist and orchestrator. He has presented live accompaniments for silent films, with theatre organ and piano since 1995. He is also active in the preservation and restoration of Movie Palaces, Theatre organs and Classic Film.
The Playhouse Theatre, as of 2024 a community arts centre called the Niamos Centre, is a theatre in Hulme, Manchester, England. It is a grade II listed building. Originally built as the Hulme Hippodrome in 1902, the building has also been known as the Grand Junction Theatre, Junction Picture Theatre, The Playhouse, and the Nia Centre. Between 1955 and 1986 it was used as studios by the BBC and known as the BBC Playhouse.
Philip Julian Kelsall MBE ALCM is an English theatre organist who has been principal organist at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom since 1977. Born in Warrington, Lancashire, he was inspired to learn the instrument by Reginald Dixon, and was initially appointed as organist for the Tower Circus band aged 18 in 1975; he also deputised for Ernest Broadbent in the Ballroom itself. This followed his attending Rossall School in Fleetwood, an independent day and boarding school where he was taught by Robin Proctor, who subsequently became Director of Music at Cheltenham College. After Ernest Broadbent's retirement, he was appointed Tower organist in 1977.
The Organist Entertains was a long-running music programme broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The 30 minute programme focused on the organ in its many guises, and played recordings and live broadcasts of theatre organs, pipe organs and electronic organs around the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.
Martin Ellis is an American church, concert and theatre organist. He is currently the organist for Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. He was Principal Organist and Assistant Music Director at North United Methodist Church, and Senior Staff Pianist/Organist, Staff Arranger and Orchestrator for the Indianapolis Children's Choir and Youth Chorale in Indianapolis, Indiana until August, 2014. He works with Gresham High School's Theatre Arts Department as their resident piano accompanist.
Gordon Brodie Stewart is a British organist, conductor, and teacher.
Reginald John Foort, FRCO, ARCM, was a cinema organist and theatre organist. He was the first official BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938, during which time he made 405 broadcasts on the organ at St George's Hall, Langham Place. 'Reggie' was a hugely popular broadcaster in his heyday in the late 1930s and 1940s in Britain and later settled in the United States, where he similarly enjoyed an illustrious career performing and recording.
Robin Richmond was an English cinema organist and BBC Radio presenter and performer.
Rosemary Squires MBE was an English jazz, big band, cabaret and concert singer and recording artist. Her career started in 1940 with an appearance on the BBC Home Service's Children's Hour, and endured into the 21st century. Squires was also the president of the Studio Theatre in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
The BBC Theatre Organ has existed in various guises and locations since 1933, used for in-house, often live broadcasts of organ music from the British Broadcasting Corporation. In theatre organ circles there are just three "official" BBC Theatre Organs: the St George's Hall Compton, Foort's Travelling Moller replacement, and the Manchester Wurlitzer.
Doreen Chadwick was a British pianist and theatre organist. She was known for being the organist at the Odeon and Gaumont cinemas in Manchester, broadcasting organ recitals on BBC Radio, including on the The Organist Entertains, and for her performances in the US, Holland, and Britain.
