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1-9 of 9
- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, north London, in the United Kingdom, to Lesley Angold (Harrison), a dancer, and Kyriacos Panayiotou, a restaurateur. His father was a Greek Cypriot, and his mother was of English background. He first discovered fame as a musician when he and school friend, Andrew Ridgeley, formed the pop group Wham!. Success came fast and furious with their first album, 'Fantastic' (1983) hitting the UK number one spot. Wham! survived for five years and during that time the group notched up four number one singles and two number one albums. Most of their other releases made top three. George also contributed to the Band Aid Single 'Do They Know It's Christmas' (1984), and scored two further solo number one hits with 'Careless Whisper' and 'A Different Corner'.
Following the break-up of Wham!, George went on to have a hugely successful career as a solo artist, his debut album 'Faith' (1987) - and the single of the same name - both achieving instant and international success. The album has since been certified Diamond.
Over the last four decades George has notched up 8 number one albums in the and 13 number one singles in the UK (including Wham!, Band Aid, and the 'Five Live' EP). In the U.S. he has achieved 2 number one albums and 10 number one singles, with numerous other number one hits throughout the rest of the world.
He has performed duets with artists including Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield, and actively participates in charitable causes, Live Aid and the Freddie Mercury concert for AIDS being just two of the more prominent examples. According to a BBC documentary, George donated more than five million pounds towards various charities. Whilst with Wham!, he donated all the proceeds of 'Last Christmas' (1984) to charity. The single reached number two in the UK and George also performed simultaneously on the number one charity record 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.
George released the single 'December Song' in 2008 as a free download: his hope was that purchasers would donate money to charity.
He remained in contact with his Wham! partner and long-time friend Andrew Ridgeley until his death in 2016.- Actress
Ivy Close began a dynasty that has now covered four generations of the history of Cinema and Television. She married the photographer Elwin Neame (1885-1923) and reared two sons Ronald Neame (1911-2010), a successful cinematographer, screenwriter, producer and director and Derek Neame (1915-1979), an author who scripted several films. Her grandson Christopher Neame (1942- ) and her great-grandson Gareth Neame (1967- ) have become successful producers. Her second husband was the Australian-born make-up artist and former stuntman Curly Batson, who died in 1957.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Britain's most iconic and prolific composer of music for TV action/adventure in the 1950's and 60's was born in Cheshire, the son of a builder. He dropped out of school to work for a gas oven manufacturer at the tender age of fourteen. Music was in his blood and jazz was a particularly strong influence. Equally adept at playing and at composing/arranging, Edwin Astley began playing clarinet and saxophone for the Royal Army Service Corps while in his teens. After World War II, he joined a dance band, before long, fronting his own orchestra. Some time later, he moved to London to join a prominent music publishing firm as arranger for singers Vera Lynn and Ann Shelton. By 1953, Astley had also started in the film business (hired by the ever budget-conscious Danziger brothers), initially as a writer of incidental music.
Popularly, he first attracted attention with his nine-note fanfare introducing The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) (though the actual theme song was written by American Carl Sigman). This inaugurated Astley's advancement to composer of scores for A-grade feature films (The Mouse That Roared (1959), The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), etc.), always preferring to work freelance, never under contract. In between writing operatic pieces and music for son et lumière performances, Astley tended to reserve his best work for television, beginning with the classic jazzy harpsichord theme for Danger Man (1960). This was followed by similarly evocative, syncopated themes for The Saint (1962), The Baron (1966), The Champions (1968) and Department S (1969) -- instantly recognizable music which all but defined television in the swinging sixties.
Britain's film industry declined in the decade which followed and Astley retired to Goring-on-Thames, a village in Oxfordshire. There, he spent his remaining years growing vegetables, building a summer house and a recording studio in his garage, boating on the Thames, playing golf and travelling. Until his death in 1998, he continued to dabble in composition, working with his son on arrangements of The Who and The Rolling Stones, as well as providing music (commissioned by such employers as Pan Am, BOAC and the British Stock Exchange) for documentaries, travelogues and educational subjects.- Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet, GCB, OBE, AFC (13 April 1892 - 5 April 1984), commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press and often within the RAF as "Butch" Harris,[a] was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) RAF Bomber Command during the height of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Eddie Willis was born in 1936 in Grenada, Mississippi, USA. He is known for The Ring (2002), Phil Collins: Going Back (2010) and Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002). He was married to Rosemary. He died on 20 August 2018 in Gore Springs, Mississippi, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Glen Byam Shaw was born on 13 December 1904 in West Kensington, London, England, UK. He was a director and actor, known for Look Back in Anger (1959), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1955) and The Dance of Death (1969). He was married to Angela Baddeley. He died on 29 April 1986 in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK.- Omar Diop was born on 18 September 1946 in Niamey, Niger. He was an actor, known for La chinoise (1967) and Soul in a White Room (1968). He died on 11 May 1973 in Gorée, Sénégal.
- Irving Steen was born on 5 March 1904 in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Fall of the House of Usher (1950). He died on 14 March 1970 in Goring-by-Sea, Sussex, England, UK.
- Henry Harwood was born on 19 January 1888 in London, England, UK. He was married to Joan Chard. He died on 9 June 1950 in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK.