Hi there and welcome to Ado's Blog. I am obsessed with nostalgia, especially 1960s & 1970s nostalgia and I enjoy nothing more than reflecting on days and times that have sadly long since gone! So join me, as I take a nostalgic gander down Memory Lane and celebrate all things past and occasional present, both good and bad! (All images used that are copyrighted are copyrighted to their respective publishers and are only used here for review purposes.)
This Corgi 290 “Kojak Buick” comes still strapped to its inner-carded tray. It was made in Great Britain and the box is marked “1976 The Mettoy Co. Ltd”.
The Buick Regal is 6" long. It is metallic bronze with white interior. The scene shows Kojak and Crocker in a shootout. The car is equipped with a detachable beacon and has a wheel on the rear bumper that rotates to get gun shot sounds, which works great.
The police station featured in the opening titles was the previous Ealing police station, located at number 5 High Street, just north of Ealing Green.
The main character, Police Constable George Dixon, played by Jack Warner, was an old-style British "bobby" (Police Man). The character first appeared in a 1950 British film by Ealing, The Blue Lamp, in which he was shot and killed by a criminal played by Dirk Bogarde. However, it was decided to bring him back to life for a television series, written by Ted Willis. Designer was Laurence Broadhouse.
If Dixon was known to the public, the actor Jack Warner was even better known. Born in London in 1896, Warner had been a Comedian in radio and in his early film career. Starting in the early 1940s, he broadened his range to include dramatic roles, becoming a warmly human character actor in the process. But as well as playing in films with dramatic themes, such as The Blue Lamp, Warner continued to play in comedies such as the successful Huggett family programmes on BBC Radio and films made between 1948 and 1953.
In Dixon of Dock Green, Dixon is a "bobby" on the beat - lowest-ranking policeman on foot patrol. With the inevitable heart of gold, Dixon was a widower raising an only daughter Mary (Billie Whitelaw in early episodes, later replaced by Jeanette Hutchinson).
Subtitled in the early days: Some Stories of a London Policeman, each episode started with Dixon speaking to the camera. He began with a salute and the greeting "Good evening all", which was changed to "Evening all" in the early 1970s, which has lived on in Britain as a jocular greeting. In similar fashion, episodes finished with a few words to camera from Dixon in the form of philosophy on the evils of crime.
Initially, Dixon continued in the same role as in the film The Blue Lamp, a constable based at the fictitious Dock Green police station in the East End of London. The character of Andy Mitchell (played by Jimmy Hanley), the young constable in the film, became a detective named Andy Crawford (played by Peter Byrne), in the CID at Dock Green, and he was married to Dixon's 23 year old daughter, Mary (who did not appear in the film) in the 19th episode, Father in Law (1st Sept 1956). Dixon sings a few songs at the wedding and wishes the viewers goodbye at the end of the episode (this was the end of series 2 and series 3 was four months away). The couple moved to a flat in Chelmsford.
By the final years of the series in the 1970s, Warner was getting elderly and looking increasingly implausible even in a desk job (as he had increasing difficulty moving about, helped slightly by a treatment involving bee stings). In the final series, when Warner was 80, George Dixon was shown as retired from the police and being re-employed as a civilian collator.
In 2005, the series was revived for BBC radio, adapted by Sue Rodwell, with David Calder as George Dixon, David Tennant as Andy Crawford, and Charlie Brooks as Mary Dixon. A second series followed in 2006, with Hamish Clark replacing Tennant owing to the latter's Doctor Who recording commitments.
The BBC scheduled Dixon in the family time slot of 6:30 on Saturday night. At the time it started on air in 1955, the drama schedule of the BBC was mostly restricted to television plays so that Dixon of Dock Green had little trouble in building and maintaining a large and loyal audience. In 1961, the series was voted second most popular programme on British television with an estimated audience of 13.85 million. Even in 1965 after three years of the gritty and grimy procedural police-work of Z-Cars, the audience for Dixon stood at 11.5 million. However as the 1960s wore on, ratings began to fall and this, with health questions around Jack Warner, led the BBC to end the series in 1976.
The series was the creation of writer Ted Willis, who not only wrote the series over its 20 years on British television but had a controlling hand in production. Longtime producer of the series was Douglas Moodie whose other television credits include The Inch Man and The Airbase. Dixon was originally produced at the BBC's studios at Lime Grove. Altogether some 430 episodes were made, at first running 30 minutes and later 45 minutes.
In 1988, a screenplay called The Black and Blue Lamp was shown on BBC TV. In it two identical criminals named Tom Riley, one from the 1950 film (in which Dixon dies) and one from the 1980s, swap places in time. The one from the 80's experiences the soft policing of the Dixon TV series. Meanwhile, the one from 1950 experiences the very harsh policing of the 80's, represented by a parody of violent police procedurals called The Filth. There he discovers that the Dixon of the divergent Dock Green timeline, who has also just been killed, was as bad as any copper could be.
One of Dixon's closing monologues from Dixon of Dock Green was recycled for the final scene of Ashes to Ashes in 2010. Like The Black and Blue Lamp, characters in Ashes to Ashes and its predecessor, Life on Mars, were seemingly sent into different eras of policing. Moreover, Dixon's 'resurrection' for Dixon of Dock Green, after having been killed in The Blue Lamp, parallels the stories of the principal characters in Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, having been explained in the final episode.
The Belles of St Trinian's (d. Launder, 1954) reunited Alastair Sim andJoyce Grenfell and threw in a bevy of 1950s character actors. The standout is George Cole as Flash Harry, Arthur Daley's spiritual ancestor, but there's sterling support from Hermione Baddeley, Irene Handl, Beryl Reid, Joan Sims and Sid James, while cameos include Searle and his wife and editor Kaye Webb as concerned parents.
St Trinian's is presided over the genial Miss Millicent Fritton (Sim in drag), whose philosophy is summed up as: "in other schools girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared".
The girls themselves come in two categories - the fourth form, most closely resembling Searle's original drawings of ink-stained, ungovernable pranksters, and the much older sixth form (one of them is even married), sexually precocious to a degree that must have seemed somewhat alarming in 1954.
Sex, smoking, drinking and especially gambling aren't on the official curriculum, but they're not exactly frowned upon, and one of the most telling moments comes when the spiv Flash Harry is asked if he's a teacher and he replies "In a way" - his role as their bookie has certainly taught the girls plenty about economics.
Although much sillier than Launder and co-writer/co-producer Sidney Gilliat's previous films, there are glimpses of more sophisticated satire drawing upon images of (then) contemporary British society. Here, targets include "progressive" education (usually anything but) and the precarious situation faced by private boarding schools in the postwar years, extreme cash shortages affecting not only facilities and staff salaries but also basic necessities like food. It's no wonder Miss Fritton turns to gambling to keep the school afloat - there's precious little else holding it together.
Four sequels followed - Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957), The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) andThe Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980). All were directed and co-written byLaunder, with both Gilliat's involvement and the films' quality progressively diminishing. Sim dropped out after Blue Murder, Grenfelland Cole after Pure Hell.
The Cast
Alastair Sim (Miss Millicent Fritton/Clarence Fritton); Joyce Grenfell (Police Sergeant Ruby Gates); George Cole (Flash Harry); Hermione Baddeley (Miss Drownder); Betty Ann Davies (Miss Waters)
Volume 21, No.249, October 1954, page 142
Miss Fitton is headmistress-proprietor of the unruly and near bankrupt St. Trinians. She is delighted to receive a new pupil, the daughter of a wealthy race-horse owner, but dismayed when her bookmaker brother Clarence plants his daughter Arabella in the sixth form, to pick up racing information from the new girl. Clarence, having heavily backed a horse of his own, learns that Arab Boy, a horse belonging to the new girl's father, is running to much better form. Arabella and the sixth form decide to kidnap Arab Boy, but they are forestalled by the fourth form, whose money, like Miss Fitton's and the entire school funds, is on the horse. The Fourth take Arab Boy to their dormitory, where they are besieged by the Sixth and Clarence's men. The besiegers are finally driven off by St. Trinians' O.G.S., though not before the resourceful Fourth have smuggled Arab Boy out of the school between the shafts of a milk-cart. Arab Boy wins the race and St. Trinians is saved.
It is generally impossible to transmute a creation from one medium to another without loss. This transportation of Ronald Searle's awful school has been effected with the greatest possible success. Only once or twice - the explosion in the stinks lab; the sneak on the rack-does the film directly imitate the original drawings, and it is then at its weakest. For the rest, the quintessential spirit has been distilled, transported and reconstituted in proper film terms. Quite new, but in spirit perfectly faithful to the original, are Miss Fitton (a gigantic creation, superbly played with ineffable majesty and langour by Alastair Sim), her disreputable staff, and George Cole's excellent Flash Harry. The farcical story holds itself together pretty well, and every corner, as in Searle's own drawings, has been filled with wildly imaginative images and incidents: at some corner of the screen there is always a blank lunatic child with bird's-nest hair, or a fiendish innocent peering through banisters, or poor Hermione Baddeley trampled underfoot. Joyce Grenfell's business in the film is best known to herself, but it provides the indispensable picture of her desperate horseback ride to deliver a roll of chequered lino, on which she happens to have written a report to her superiors in the police force. And so on.Belles of St. Trinians is not so much a film as an entertainment on celluloid, a huge charade, a rich pile of idiot and splendidly senseless images.
The Monthly Film Bulletin was published by the British Film Institute between 1934 and 1991. Initially aimed at distributors and exhibitors as well as filmgoers, it carried reviews and details of all UK film releases. In 1991, the Bulletin was absorbed by Sight and Sound magazine.
Amos Brearly was played by Ronald Magill and appeared in Emmerdale Farm from 1972 - 1995. He ran the Woolpack Public house, along with Henry Wilks for 19 years.
When Emmerdale Farm began, Amos had been the landlord of the Woolpack for several years. He originated from a family of undertakers in Bridlington.
Amos was Beckindale's local gossip, he was at the centre of all the local news, in the Woolpack. In 1973, Amos was convinced that the brewery liked couples to run pubs and Amos saw a decent woman in Annie Sugden. Annie turned Amos down gently, later he went into business with Henry Wilks and they ran the pub together until Amos retired. In 1976 The Woolpack premises had to be moved when it was found to be suffering from subsidence. In 1978 while closing up The Woolpack Amos and Mr Wilks were thretened by burglars and were locked in the cellar all night. However, later that year he was proud to give his barmiad Dolly Acaster away when she married Matt Skilbeck.
In summer 1980, gamekeeper Seth Armstrong switched from The Malt Shovel to The Woolpack- Seth continuously irritated Amos. Amos gained an allotment in 1980, and this was the scene of much rivalry between himself and Seth for many years. In 1981, Amos set up his own village newsletter - The Beckindale Bugle. It was short-lived.
In 1983, Amos sought upward mobility by cultivating the friendship of NY Estates boss Alan Turner. He was distressed to hear Alan criticising him to a golfing pal. From then on, Amos treated Alan frostily, insisting on calling him "Mr Turner". Amos had a brother Ezra Brearly who made a few appearances in the 1980s. He also mentioned another brother who had died young.
In July 1990, while celebrating friend Annie's 70th birthday, Amos suffered a stroke. Shortly after he decided to retire to Spain in January 1991 handing the pub over to Alan Turner he returned to the village in October for Henry's funeral. Even though Amos left the show as a regular character he was to make several guest appearances over the coming years. He made a brief return in 1992. In 1993 he was present when Annie married Leonard Kempinski, whom she had met a year earlier while staying with Amos in Spain.
He made several appearances throughout 1994, first returning for the funeral of the Plane Crash victims where he did the same reading he had done at Wilks funeral 2 years previously. In February he served as best man when Alan Turner married former prostitute Shirley Foster. He returned again in May for Jack & Sarah's wedding, at the reception - held in a barn at Emmerdale Farm - he made the announcement that the residents of Beckindale had decided to rename the village Emmerdale in honour of Annie Sugden.
Amos made his final appearance in the show in June 1995 when he came home with Annie for her son Joe Sugden's funeral. Joe had died in a car crash while staying with Amos & Annie in Spain. Amos later remarked that one night while enjoying a drink with Joe in Spain, Joe had asked Amos to make sure that if anything was to happen to him that there would be a few free drinks given in The Woolpack after the funeral. Amos thought that this request to him was strange considering that Joe was more likely to outlive him, hinting that Joe's death may not have been an accident.
Following the funeral, Annie contemplating life alone shocked Amos by proposing but Amos told her he would have to think about it and Annie, feeling embarrassed, told him to forget about it. After Amos discussed it with Alan, he proposed to Annie, 23 years after his first proposal. This time Annie accepted. Sarah then waved them off as they left Emmerdale Farm, returning to their home in Spain. Amos was never seen in the village again. Him and Annie married, offscreen, on 5 November 1995.
Amos was not present for his stepson Jack Sugden's funeral in 2009, as the actor Ronald Magill had died in 2007. As of 2010 it is not known whether Amos is still alive, though it has been implied that Annie lives alone in Spain.
| Amos Brearly | |
|---|---|
| Emmerdale character | |
| Portrayed by | Ronald Magill |
| Created by | Kevin Laffan |
| Duration | 1972–1991, 1992–1995 (recurring) |
| First appearance | 16 October 1972 |
| Last appearance | 7 July 1995 |
| Classification | Former Regular |
| Profile | |
| Date of birth | 21 April 1920 |
| Home | Spain |
| Occupation | Retired |
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song has no chorus, instead consisting of three main parts: a ballad segment ending with a guitar solo, an operatic passage, and a heavy rock section.
When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a huge commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and selling more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. It reached number one again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury's death, eventually becoming the UK's third best selling single of all time. It topped the charts in several other markets as well, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and The Netherlands. In the United States the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976; however, it returned to the chart at number two in 1992 following its appearance in the film Wayne's World revived its American popularity.
The single was accompanied by a promotional video, considered ground-breaking. Although critical reaction was initially mixed, particularly in the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" remains one of Queen's most popular songs. Rolling Stone ranked it as the number 163 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of all time".
Freddie Mercury wrote most of "Bohemian Rhapsody" at his home in Holland Road, Kensington, in west London. The song's producer, Roy Thomas Baker, related how Mercury once played the opening ballad section on the piano for him: "He played the beginning on the piano, then stopped and said, 'And this is where the opera section comes in!' Then we went out to eat dinner." Guitarist Brian May says the band thought that Mercury's blueprint for the song was "intriguing and original, and worthy of work." Much of Queen's material was written in the studio according to May, but this song "was all in Freddie's mind" before they started. Music scholar Sheila Whiteley suggests that "the title draws strongly on contemporary rock ideology, the individualism of the Bohemian artists' world, with Rhapsody affirming the romantic ideals of art & rock. Commenting on bohemianism, Judith Peraino said that "Mercury intended... [this song] to be a 'mock opera,' something outside the norm of rock songs, and it does follow a certain operatic logic: choruses of multi-tracked voices alternate with arialike solos, the emotions are excessive, the plot confusing."
Recording began at Rockfield Studio 1 near Monmouth on 24 August 1975, after a 3-week rehearsal in Herefordshire. During the making of the track, an additional four studios—Roundhouse, SARM (East), Scorpion, and Wessex—were used. According to some band members, Mercury mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout. Mercury used a Bechstein "concert grand" piano, which he played in the promotional video and the UK tour. Due to the elaborate nature of the song, it was recorded in various different sections, held together merely by a drum click to keep it in time. May, Mercury, and Taylor sang their vocal parts continually for ten to twelve hours a day. The entire piece took three weeks to record, and in places featured 180 separate overdubs. Since the studios of the time only offered 24-track analogue tape, it was necessary for the three to overdub themselves many times and "bounce" these down to successive sub-mixes. In the end, eighth-generation tapes were used. The various sections of tape containing the desired submixes had to be spliced (cut with razor blades and assembled in the correct sequence using adhesive tape). May recalled placing a tape in front of the light and being able to see through it, as they had been recording so intensely. It was the most expensive single ever made and remains one of the most elaborate recordings in popular music history.
"It's one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them... "Bohemian Rhapsody" didn't just come out of thin air. I did a bit of research although it was tongue-in-cheek and mock opera. Why not?"
