Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. With a career spanning more than sixty years, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne was an English actor. He is known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role, he won four BAFTA TV Awards for Best Light Entertainment Performance.
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless character called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of Trouble in Store, his first film in a lead role.
Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Sir Ben Kingsley is an English actor. He has received accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and received the Britannia Award in 2013.
The Madness of King George is a 1994 British biographical comedy drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his own 1991 play The Madness of George III. It tells the true story of George III of Great Britain's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, particularly focusing on the period around the Regency Crisis of 1788–89. Two text panels at the end of the film note that the colour of the King's urine suggests that he was suffering from porphyria, adding that the disease is "periodic, unpredictable and hereditary."
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn is an English theatre director. He has been the artistic director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal Haymarket. He has directed dramas for the stage, including Macbeth, as well as opera and musicals, such as Cats (1981) and Les Misérables (1985).
Sir Trevor Lawson McDonald is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with Independent Television News (ITN).
The Clandestine Marriage is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. It is both a comedy of manners and a comedy of errors. The idea came from a series of pictures by William Hogarth entitled Marriage à-la-mode.
Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to road cycling. He won world titles in four disciplines, and Olympic gold in three. He is the only rider to have won both World and Olympic championships on both the track and the road as well as winning the Tour de France. He has worn the leader's jersey in each of the three Grand Tours of cycling and held the world record in team pursuit on multiple occasions. He won a gold medal at four successive Olympic Games from 2004 to 2016, and held the record as Great Britain's most decorated Olympian with 8 medals until Jason Kenny won his 9th in 2021. He is the only rider to win both the Tour de France and Olympic Gold in the same year, winning them a week apart in 2012.
Paul Clark Eddington was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom The Good Life (1975–1978) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom Yes Minister (1980–1984) and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988).
Sir Humphrey Appleby is a fictional character from the British television series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played originally by Sir Nigel Hawthorne, and both on stage and in a television adaptation of the stage show by Henry Goodman in a new series of Yes, Prime Minister. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs. In the last episode of Yes Minister, "Party Games", he becomes Cabinet Secretary, the most powerful position in the service and one he retains during Yes, Prime Minister. Hawthorne's portrayal won the British Academy Television Awards Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times: 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1987.
From Hell is a 2001 period detective horror film directed by the Hughes Brothers and written by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias. It is loosely based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the Jack the Ripper murders. The film stars Johnny Depp as Frederick Abberline, the lead investigator of the murders, and Heather Graham as Mary Kelly, a prostitute targeted by the Ripper. Other cast members include Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson and Jason Flemyng. It is an international co-production film between the United Kingdom, the United States and Czech Republic.
Sir Elton Hercules John is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. Acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his work during the 1970s, his music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry. His songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin is one of the most successful in history.
Nicky Piper MBE is a retired Welsh super middleweight and light heavyweight boxer from Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff. His career was at its peak in the 1990s; he became the Commonwealth Light-heavyweight champion in 1995. He was trained by Charlie Pearson and managed by Frank Warren. Since retiring from boxing, Piper has become a notable administrator in British boxing and currently works for The City Hospice as their Corporate Partnerships Manager.
Events from the year 1929 in the United Kingdom. This year sees the start of the Great Depression.
Twelfth Night is a 1996 romantic comedy film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Trevor Nunn and featuring an all-star cast. Set in the late 19th century, it was filmed on location in Cornwall, including scenes shot at Padstow and at Lanhydrock House near Bodmin, with Orsino and his followers wearing uniforms that evoke the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Radwell is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated close to the A1 a little to the north of Baldock and Letchworth Garden City and is in the district of North Hertfordshire.
Sir Nigel Leonard Wicks is a British financier and former senior British civil servant. He also served as Chairman of Euroclear.
Cold Christmas is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Thundridge, in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is near to the South bank of the River Rib which flows in the valley below towards Wadesmill. The name "Cold Christmas" may have come from a number of supposed deaths around Christmas time. Cold Christmas has been noted for its unusual place name.
