Sir George Ivan MorrisonOBE is a singer-songwriter and musician from Northern Ireland whose recording career spans seven decades.
Sir Terence Hardy Waite is an English humanitarian and author.
John Patrick McCarthy is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. McCarthy was the United Kingdom's longest-held hostage in Lebanon, where he was a prisoner for more than five years.
Brian Keenan is a Northern Irish writer whose work includes the book An Evil Cradling, an account of the four and a half years he spent as a hostage in Beirut, Lebanon from 11 April 1986 to 24 August 1990.
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967 for Bang Records owner and producer Bert Berns, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It featured the Sweet Inspirations singing back-up vocals and is considered to be Van Morrison's signature song.
Philip Blake Morrison FRSL is an English poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? (1993), which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a study of the murder of James Bulger, As If. Since 2003, Morrison has been Professor of Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sons and Daughters is an Australian Logie Award-winning soap opera/drama serial, broadcast by the Seven Network between January 1982 and December 1987 and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation. It was created by executive Reg Watson, and is distributed by Fremantle.
The Philosopher's Stone is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison released in 1998.
Blind Flight is a 2003 British prison film directed by John Furse and starring Ian Hart and Linus Roache. It is based on the true-life story of the kidnapping and imprisonment of the Irish academic Brian Keenan and the English journalist John McCarthy, two of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. The film is based on Keenan's memoir, An Evil Cradling and Some Other Rainbow by John McCarthy who was a screenplay consultant. The film received widespread critical acclaim, being nominated for six awards, and winning a BAFTA.
Jill Morrell is a British charity worker and former journalist. She came to the public eye following the kidnapping of her boyfriend John McCarthy, in 1986. Morrell was a tireless and effective campaigner for McCarthy's release from captors who held him in Lebanon for more than 5 years.
Orangefield High School was a secondary school in east Belfast, Northern Ireland. Formerly Orangefield Boys' Secondary School and Orangefield Girls' Secondary School, it became coeducational before it closed in 2014.
"Wonderful Remark" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and first released on the soundtrack album for the 1983 film The King of Comedy. This recording later appeared on the benefit compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and on several compilations of Morrison's works. At least two earlier recordings exist, one of which appeared on Morrison's 1998 album The Philosopher's Stone, a collection of previously-unreleased tracks.
The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of adequate medical attention to illnesses. During the fifteen years of the Lebanese civil war an estimated 17,000 people disappeared after being abducted.
Jackie Mann, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, who in later life was kidnapped by Islamists in Lebanon in May 1989 and held hostage for more than two years.
Trinity Academy is a non-selective co-educational secondary school in the English Academy programme, at Thorne near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.
Van Morrison: No Surrender is a biography of musician Van Morrison, written by Johnny Rogan. It was first published in 2005 by Secker & Warburg, and another edition was published by Vintage Books in 2006. Rogan interviewed musicians and friends of Morrison, and spent 20 years researching the book and four years writing it. The book is comprehensive, and goes into detail about multiple facets of Morrison's life. Rogan recounts Morrison's youth in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and how early experiences there informed his music. He discusses how Morrison joined various bands before experiencing success with Them. Morrison later signed a contract with Bert Berns and moved to New York, where he became quite popular after recording "Brown Eyed Girl" and albums Astral Weeks and Moondance. Rogan comments on Morrison's exploration of spirituality, and describes how these experiences influenced his musical work. The biography discusses Morrison's move to Britain and then Dublin, and his relationship with model Michelle Rocca.
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now is a biography of musician Van Morrison, written by Steve Turner. It was first published in 1993 in the United States by Penguin Group, and in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing. Turner first met Van Morrison in 1985; he interviewed approximately 40 people that knew the subject in his research for the biography. Van Morrison did not think positively of the biography, and multiple newspapers reported he attempted to purchase all of the book's 25,000 copies. He sent a letter to the author asserting the 40 individuals interviewed for the book were not his friends, and accused Turner of "peddling distortions and inaccuracies about me personally".
Anthony Grey is a British journalist and author. While working for Reuters, he was imprisoned by the Chinese government for 27 months from 1967 to 1969. He has written a series of historical novels and non-fiction books, including several relating to his detention.
The Tree of Seasons is a children's book written by Boyzone member Stephen Gately and published posthumously by Hodder & Stoughton in 2010. It follows the adventures of three siblings - Josh, Michael and Beth Lotts - who are on their summer holidays, and is said to be similar in style to the works of Enid Blyton, C. S. Lewis and Walt Disney.
Hostages is a 1992 American drama film directed by David Wheatley and written by Bernard MacLaverty. The film stars Kathy Bates, Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds, Natasha Richardson, Jay O. Sanders, Josef Sommer and Harry Dean Stanton. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on ITV on September 23, 1992, and in the United States on HBO on February 20, 1993.
