Walter William "Max" Bygraves was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. He made twenty Royal Variety Performance appearances and presented numerous programmes, including Family Fortunes between 1983 and 1985. His catchphrase "I wanna tell you a story" became an integral part of his act, although it had originated with comedian Mike Yarwood impersonating Bygraves.
Two-Way Stretch, also known as Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Robert Day and starring Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lionel Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins. The screenplay is by Vivian Cox, John Warren and Len Heath. A group of prisoners plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into their jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred. However, their plans are disrupted by the arrival of a strict new Chief Prison Officer.
Lionel Bart was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical Oliver! (1960). With Oliver! and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End.
Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price was an English actor. He played as Louis Mazzini in the Ealing Studios film Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and the omnicompetent valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse's stories.
Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films.
Shirley Jean Eaton is an English former actress. Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and gained her highest profile for her iconic appearance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964), which gained her bombshell status. Eaton also had roles in the early Carry On films.
Reginald Arkell was a British script writer and comic novelist who wrote many musical plays for the London theatre. The most popular of those was an adaptation of the spoof history book 1066 and All That: 1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman. He was the author of A Cottage in the Country and the Green Fingers series of garden verse.
Who Done It? is a 1956 British slapstick black and white comedy crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Benny Hill, Belinda Lee, David Kossoff, Garry Marsh, and George Margo. One of the last Ealing comedies, it was Benny Hill's film debut.
It's a Wonderful World is a 1956 British musical film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, George Cole, Mylène Demongeot and Kathleen Harrison. It also features Dennis Lotis, a popular singer at the time. It was made at Shepperton Studios. Songs include: "Rosanne", "When You Came Along", "Girls! Girls! Girls!", "A Few Kisses Ago", and "The Hawaiian War Chant".
Play It Cool is a 1962 British musical film directed by Michael Winner and starring Billy Fury, Michael Anderson Jr., Helen Shapiro, Bobby Vee, Shane Fenton, Danny Williams, Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Maurice Kaufmann and Anna Palk.
What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy-horror film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Sid James, Kenneth Connor, and Shirley Eaton. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide. It was loosely based on the 1928 novel The Ghoul by Frank King. A previous version, titled The Ghoul, was filmed in 1933 by Gaumont-British Pictures.
Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Ronald Lewis. It was released in the United States by Distributors Corporation of America in 1957 as Panic in the Parlor.
Jumping for Joy is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries. It tells of the comic adventures of an ex-worker at a greyhound racing track.
Oh, Lady! Lady!! is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse and lyrics by Wodehouse. It was written for the Princess Theatre on Broadway, where it played in 1918 and ran for 219 performances. The story concerns an engaged young man, Bill, whose ex-fiancée arrives unexpectedly on his wedding day. Bill works to convince his old flame that he was not worthy to marry her, but his clumsy efforts do not make him look good to his new fiancée, whose mother already dislikes Bill. A couple of crooks cause further complications.
Date with Disaster is a 1957 British crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Tom Drake, William Hartnell and Shirley Eaton. An innocent man becomes a suspect for a crime he did not commit.
Watch it, Sailor! is a 1961 black and white British comedy film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Dennis Price, Liz Fraser and Irene Handl. It was based on the 1960 play of the same name by Falkland L. Cary and Philip King, which was a sequel to their earlier play, Sailor Beware, and was filmed in 1956.
The Ugly Duckling is a 1959 British science fiction comedy film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Bernard Bresslaw, Jon Pertwee and Reginald Beckwith. The film is a comic adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde storyline and the opening credits include "with ideas stolen from Robert Louis Stevenson". The film has no connection to the Hans Christian Andersen story. The tagline on posters was "He's a changed man after taking Jekyll's family remedy."
The Gay Dog is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Wilfred Pickles, Petula Clark and Megs Jenkins. It was filmed at Southall Studios, and features Petula Clark singing "A Long Way to Go", written by Joe Henderson and Leslie Clark. The film was based on a play by Joseph Colton; also starring Pickles and Jenkins, it had run at London's Piccadilly Theatre for 276 performances from June 1952 to February 1953. The film was shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith with sets designed by the art director Cedric Dawe.
Where's Charley? is a 1952 British musical comedy film directed by David Butler. It starred Ray Bolger, Allyn Ann McLerie and Robert Shackleton. It is an adaptation of the musical Where's Charley?, which was in turn based on the 1892 play Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas.
Reginald Arthur Dixon, always known professionally as Reg Dixon to distinguish him from the ballroom organist, was a British comedian, best known for his appearances on stage and radio.
