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Shoreditch
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Shoreditch is an inner city district in the historic East End of London and modern Central London within the London Borough of Hackney, lying immediately to the north of the City of London. The districts of Hoxton and Haggerston are part of Shoreditch, but the Shoreditch High Street railway station, lies just outside, the etymology of Shoreditch is debated. One legend holds that the place was originally named Shores Ditch, after Jane Shore, the mistress of Edward IV, however, the area was known as Soersditch long before Jane Shores life. A more plausible origin for the name is Sewer Ditch, in reference to a drain or watercourse in what was once a boggy area and it may have referred to the headwaters of the river Walbrook, which rose in the Curtain Road area. In a further theory, antiquarian John Weever claimed that the derived from Sir John de Soerdich. Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland road are a small sector of the Roman Ermine Street, known also as the Old North Road, it was a major coaching route to the north, exiting the City at Bishopsgate. The east–west course of Old Street–Hackney Road was also originally a Roman Road, connecting Silchester with Colchester. Shoreditch Church is of ancient origin and features in the line when I grow rich say the bells of Shoreditch, from the nursery rhyme Oranges. Shoreditch was the site of a house of canonesses, the Augustinian Holywell Priory and this priory was located between Shoreditch High Street and Curtain Road to east and west and Batemans Row and Holywell Lane to north and south. In 1576 James Burbage built the first playhouse in England, known as The Theatre, some of Shakespeares plays were performed here and at the nearby Curtain Theatre, built the following year and 200 yards to the south. It was here that Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet gained Curtain plaudits, in 1599 Shakespeares Company literally upped sticks and moved the timbers of The Theatre to Southwark at expiration of the lease to construct The Globe. The Curtain continued performing plays in Shoreditch until at least 1627, the suburb of Shoreditch was attractive as a location for these early theatres because it was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. During the 17th century, wealthy traders and Huguenot silk weavers moved to the area, by the 19th century Shoreditch was also the locus of the furniture industry, now commemorated in the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road. However the area declined along with textile and furniture industries and by the end of the 19th century Shoreditch was a byword for crime, prostitution. This situation was not improved by extensive devastation of the stock in the Blitz during World War II. In the late 19th century this was one of the largest theatres in London, in 1926 it was converted into a cinema called The New Olympia Picturedrome. The building was demolished in 1940, sims Reeves, Mrs Marriott and James Anderson all appeared here, also performed were programmes of classical opera and even Shakespeare, with such luminaries as Henry Irving. There was considerable rivalry with the West End theatres, with real rain, a real flood, and a real balloon
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London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
4.
Rent (musical)
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Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson, loosely based on Giacomo Puccinis opera La Bohème. The musical was first seen in a production at New York Theatre Workshop in 1993. This same Off-Broadway theatre was also the initial home following its official 1996 opening. The shows creator, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly of a dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome. The show won a Pulitzer Prize, and the production was a hit, the musical moved to Broadways larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29,1996. On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won a Tony Award for Best Musical among other awards, the Broadway production closed on September 7,2008 after a 12-year run of 5,123 performances. On February 14,2016, the musical Wicked surpassed Rents number of performances with a 2pm matinee, the production grossed over $280 million. The success of the led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions. In 2005, it was adapted into a picture featuring most of the original cast members. In 1989, Jonathan Larson, a 29-year-old composer, began collaborating with Aronson on this project, and he also came up with the shows ultimate title. In 1991, he asked Aronson if he could use Aronsons original concept, Larson had ambitious expectations for Rent, his ultimate dream was to write a rock opera to bring musical theater to the MTV generation. Aronson and Larson made an agreement that if the show went to Broadway, Aronson would share in the proceeds, Jonathan Larson focused on composing Rent in the early 1990s, waiting tables at the Moondance Diner to support himself. Over the course of years, Larson wrote hundreds of songs and made drastic changes to the show. In the fall of 1992, Larson approached James Nicola, artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop, with a tape, Larson continued to work on Rent, gradually reworking its flaws and staging more workshop productions. Larson would not live to see Rents success, he died from an aortic aneurysm in the early morning of January 25,1996. The first preview of Rent was canceled and instead, friends, the show premiered as planned and quickly gained popularity fueled by enthusiastic reviews and the recent death of its composer. It proved extremely successful during its run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theater Workshop. Due to such overwhelming popularity and a need for a larger theater, Larsons inspiration for Rents content came from several different sources
5.
The Hobbit (film series)
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The Hobbit is a film series consisting of three high fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. They are based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R, together they act as a prequel to Jacksons The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The films are subtitled An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, the screenplay was written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, who was originally chosen to direct before his departure from the project. The films also feature Manu Bennett, Sylvester McCoy, Stephen Fry, Mikael Persbrandt, Barry Humphries, the first film in the series premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand on 28 November 2012. One hundred thousand people lined the red carpet on Courtenay Place, the second film of the series premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on 2 December 2013. The third and final film premiered at Leicester Square in London on 1 December 2014, the series was a major financial success, with the films classified as one of the highest-grossing film series of all time, going on to outgross The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Although critically considered to be inferior to The Lord of the Rings, it was nominated for awards and won several. Jackson and Walsh originally expressed interest in filming The Hobbit in 1995, frustration arose when Jacksons producer, Harvey Weinstein, discovered that Saul Zaentz had production rights to The Hobbit, but that distribution rights still belonged to United Artists. The United Artists studio and its parent corporation Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was for sale in 2005, Weinstein asked Jackson to press on with adapting The Lord of the Rings. Ultimately, The Lord of the Rings was produced by New Line Cinema, not the Weinsteins, in September 2006, the new ownership and management of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer expressed interest in teaming up with New Line and Jackson to make The Hobbit. In March 2005, Jackson launched a lawsuit against New Line, claiming he had lost revenue from merchandising, video and he did not seek a specific settlement, but requested an audit to see whether New Line had withheld money owed him. Although Jackson wanted it settled before he would make the film, he felt the lawsuit was minor, New Line co-founder Robert Shaye was annoyed with the lawsuit and said in January 2007 that Jackson would never again direct a film for New Line, accusing him of being greedy. MGM boss Harry Sloan halted development, as he wanted Jackson to be involved, by August, after a string of flops, Shaye tried to repair his relationship with the director. He said, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be involved in some way in The Hobbit. The following month, New Line was fined $125,000 for failing to provide requested accounting documents, on 16 December 2007, New Line and MGM announced that Jackson would be executive producer of The Hobbit and its sequel. The two studios would co-finance the film and the studio would distribute the film outside North America—New Lines first ever such deal with another major studio. Each films budget was estimated at US$150 million, which compares to the US$94 million budget for each of the films in Jacksons Lord of the Rings trilogy. After completion of the merger of New Line Cinema with Warner Bros. in February 2008, producer Mark Ordesky, the executive producer of The Lord of the Rings, planned to return to supervise the prequels
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J. R. R. Tolkien
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He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972, after Tolkiens death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his fathers extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term legendarium to the part of these writings. While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien and this has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the father of modern fantasy literature—or, more precisely, of high fantasy. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945, forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009. Tolkiens paternal ancestors were middle-class craftsmen who made and sold clocks, watches and pianos in London, the Tolkien family had emigrated from Germany in the 18th century but had become quickly intensely English. According to the tradition, the Tolkiens had arrived in England in 1756. Several families with the surname Tolkien or similar spelling live in northwestern Germany, mainly in Lower Saxony, however, this origin of the name has not been proven. A German writer has suggested that the name is likely to derive from the village of Tolkynen near Rastenburg. Although that village is far from Lower Saxony, its name is derived from the now-extinct Old Prussian language. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State to Arthur Reuel Tolkien, an English bank manager, the couple had left England when Arthur was promoted to head the Bloemfontein office of the British bank for which he worked. Tolkien had one sibling, his brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel. In another incident, a family servant, who thought Tolkien a beautiful child, took the baby to his kraal to show him off. When he was three, he went to England with his mother and brother on what was intended to be a family visit. His father, however, died in South Africa of rheumatic fever before he could join them and this left the family without an income, so Tolkiens mother took him to live with her parents in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Soon after, in 1896, they moved to Sarehole, then a Worcestershire village, Mabel Tolkien taught her two children at home. Ronald, as he was known in the family, was a keen pupil and she taught him a great deal of botany and awakened in him the enjoyment of the look and feel of plants. Young Tolkien liked to draw landscapes and trees, but his lessons were those concerning languages
7.
Vampire
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A vampire is a being from folklore who subsists by feeding on the life essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and they wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from todays gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism. In modern times, however, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, porphyria was also linked with legends of vampirism in 1985 and received much media exposure, but has since been largely discredited. However, it is Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula which is remembered as the vampire novel. The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, the vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre. Vampires had already discussed in French and German literature. After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the practice of exhuming bodies. These reports, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity, among the proposed proto-Slavic forms are *ǫpyrь and *ǫpirь. Another, less widespread theory, is that the Slavic languages have borrowed the word from a Turkic term for witch. Czech linguist Václav Machek proposes Slovak verb vrepiť sa, or its hypothetical anagram vperiť sa as an etymological background, and thus translates upír as someone who thrusts, bites. An early use of the Old Russian word is in the anti-pagan treatise Word of Saint Grigoriy, dated variously to the 11th–13th centuries, the notion of vampirism has existed for millennia. Cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. It is difficult to make a single, definitive description of the folkloric vampire, vampires were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour, these characteristics were often attributed to the recent drinking of blood. Indeed, blood was often seen seeping from the mouth and nose when one was seen in its shroud or coffin and its left eye was often open. It would be clad in the linen shroud it was buried in, and its teeth, hair, although vampires were generally described as undead, some folktales spoke of them as living beings. The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore, in Slavic and Chinese traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal, particularly a dog or a cat, was feared to become one of the undead
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Count Dracula
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Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stokers 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the vampire in subsequent works of fiction. He is also depicted in the novel to be the origin of werewolf legends, some aspects of the character are believed to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler, who was also known as Dracula. Other character aspects have been added or altered in subsequent popular fictional works, the character has subsequently appeared frequently in popular culture, from films to animated media to breakfast cereals. Bram Stokers novel takes the form of a tale, in which Count Draculas characteristics, powers, abilities and weaknesses are narrated by multiple narrators. Count Dracula is an undead, centuries-old vampire, and a Transylvanian nobleman who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun and he inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, details of his early life are obscure, but it is mentioned he was in life a most wonderful man. Which latter was the highest development of the knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond compare, there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay. He studied the arts at the academy of Scholomance in the Carpathian Mountains, overlooking the town of Sibiu and has a deep knowledge of alchemy. Taking up arms, as befitting his rank and status as a voivode, according to his nemesis Abraham Van Helsing, He must indeed have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. In Draculas Guest, the narrative follows an unnamed Englishman traveller as he wanders around Munich before leaving for Transylvania and it is Walpurgis Night and the young Englishman foolishly leaves his hotel, in spite of the coachmans warnings, and wanders through a dense forest alone. Along the way, he feels that he is being watched by a tall, the short story climaxes in an old graveyard, where the Englishman encounters a sleeping female vampire called Countess Dolingen in a marble tomb with a large iron stake driven into it. This malevolent and beautiful vampire awakens from her marble bier to conjure a snowstorm before being struck by lightning and returning to her eternal prison, however, the Englishmans troubles are not quite over, as he is dragged away by an unseen force and rendered unconscious. He awakens to find a wolf lying on his chest and licking at his throat, however. When the Englishman is finally back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about dangers from snow and wolves. As the Dracula novel begins in the late 19th century, Dracula acts on a plan for world domination. He summons Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, to legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harkers employer
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
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Founded on October 16,1923, it is a division of The Walt Disney Studios. The studio has produced 56 feature films, from Snow White and it was founded as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923 and incorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. The studio was dedicated to producing short films until it expanded into feature production in 1934. In 1983, Walt Disney Productions named its film studio Walt Disney Pictures. In 2006, Walt Disney Feature Animation took on its current name, the studio also pioneered the art of storyboarding, which is now a standard technique used in both animated and live-action filmmaking. Walt Disney Animation Studios continues to produce films using both traditional animation and computer-generated imagery, at the present, Andrew Millstein is the general manager of the studio for day-to-day business affairs, under the direction of Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter who also oversee Pixar. Kansas City, Missouri, natives Walt Disney and Roy O, in February 1924, the studio moved next door to office space of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. Disney refused, and as Universal owned the rights to Oswald rather than Disney, most of Disneys staff was hired away by Mintz to move over, once Disneys Oswald contract was done in mid-1928. The first two Mickey Mouse cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho, were previewed in limited engagements during the summer of 1928, the Mickey Mouse series of sound cartoons, distributed by Powers through Celebrity Productions, quickly became the most popular cartoon series in the United States. A second Disney series of cartoons, the Silly Symphonies. Powers in return signed away Ub Iwerks, who began producing cartoons at his own studio, columbia distributed Disneys shorts for two years before the Disney studio entered a new distribution deal with United Artists in 1932. The result was the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees, the first film released in full Technicolor. Flowers and Trees was a success, and all Silly Symphonies were subsequently produced in Technicolor. In 1934, Walt Disney gathered several key members and announced his plans to make his first feature animated film. In the course of teaching the classes, Graham and the created or formalized many of the techniques and processes that became the key tenets. During the production of Snow White, work had continued on the Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse switched to Technicolor in 1935, by which time the series had added several major supporting characters, among them Mickeys dog Pluto and their friends Donald Duck and Goofy. Donald, Goofy, and Pluto would all be appearing in series of their own by 1940, the Silly Symphonies, which garnered seven Academy Awards, ended in 1939. The success of Snow White allowed Disney to build a new, larger studio on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, Walt Disney Productions had its initial public offering on April 2,1940, with Walt Disney as president and chairman and Roy Disney as CEO
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Jehovah's Witnesses
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Jehovahs Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a membership of more than 8.3 million adherents involved in evangelism. Jehovahs Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses, a group of elders in Warwick, New York and they prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other Bible translations. The name Jehovahs witnesses was adopted in 1931 to distinguish themselves from other Bible Student groups, Jehovahs Witnesses are best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake. and refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider use of the name Jehovah vital for proper worship and they reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider to be unscriptural doctrines. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays or other holidays, adherents commonly refer to their body of beliefs as the truth and consider themselves to be in the truth. They consider secular society to be corrupt and under the influence of Satan. Congregational disciplinary actions include disfellowshipping, their term for formal expulsion, baptized individuals who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Disfellowshipped and disassociated individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant, the religions position regarding conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute national flags has brought it into conflict with some governments. Consequently, some Jehovahs Witnesses have been persecuted and their activities are banned or restricted in some countries, persistent legal challenges by Jehovahs Witnesses have influenced legislation related to civil rights in several countries. The organization has received criticism over issues surrounding biblical translation, doctrines, handling of abuse cases. The claims are rejected by the leaders, and some have been disputed by courts. In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, in 1876, Russell met Nelson H. Barbour, later that year they jointly produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitutionist views with end time prophecy. Beginning in 1878 Russell and Barbour jointly edited a religious journal, from 1879, Watch Tower supporters gathered as autonomous congregations to study the Bible topically. Thirty congregations were founded, and during 1879 and 1880, Russell visited each to provide the format he recommended for conducting meetings, as congregations continued to form during Russells ministry, they each remained self-administrative, functioning under the congregationalist style of church governance. In 1881, Zions Watch Tower Tract Society was presided over by William Henry Conley, by about 1900, Russell had organized thousands of part- and full-time colporteurs, and was appointing foreign missionaries and establishing branch offices. By the 1910s, Russells organization maintained nearly a hundred pilgrims, Russell engaged in significant global publishing efforts during his ministry, and by 1912, he was the most distributed Christian author in the United States. He identified the movement as Bible Students, and more formally as the International Bible Students Association
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Edinburgh Festival
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The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that takes place each summer, mostly in August, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Edinburgh Festival is member of the Global Cultural Districts Network, the Edinburgh International Festival was established in 1947 in a post-war effort to provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit. The EIF and the Fringe remain independent bodies and run separate programmes each year, in more recent years various other annual cultural festivals have been created in Edinburgh, again by separate organizations, though taking place at around the same time. Edinburgh Festival Fringe * — now the largest of all the festivals, includes theatre, comedy, music, musicals, dance and childrens shows. co
12.
Robin Hood (2010 film)
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It was released in 12 countries on 12 May 2010, including the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and was also the opening film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival the same day. It was released in a further 23 countries the following day, among them Australia, the film received mixed reviews, but made more than $320 million at the box office. In 1199, Robin Longstride is an archer in the army of King Richard the Lionheart. A veteran of Richards crusade, he now takes part in the siege of Chalus Castle, when the King is slain during an attack on the castle, Robin and his men decide to free themselves and desert. They come across an ambush of the English royal guard by Godfrey, after chasing away Godfrey, Robin decides to take advantage of the situation by having his men impersonate the dead English knights to return to England. As they depart, Robin promises one of the knights, Sir Robert Loxley. Awaking to find theyve been brought to London, Robin must continue to assume the identity of Loxley to inform the family of the Kings death. Robin and his companions head to Nottingham, where Loxleys elderly and blind father, Sir Walter, Loxleys widow, Lady Marion, is initially cold toward Robin, but warms to him when he and his men merrily recover tithed grain for the townsfolk to plant. Godfreys actions incite the northern barons, who march to meet King John, speaking now for Sir Walter, Robin proposes the King agree to a charter of rights to ensure the rights of every Englishman and unite his country. Having realized Godfreys deception, and knowing he must meet the French invasion with an army, meanwhile, the French marauders plunder Nottingham. Robin and the northern barons arrive to stop Godfreys men, as the French begin their invasion on the beach below the Cliffs of Dover, Robin leads the now united English army against them. In the midst of the battle, Robin duels with Godfrey, Philip realizes that his plan to divide England has failed and calls off his invasion. When King John sees the French surrendering to Robin instead of himself, in London, John reneges on his promise to sign the charter, instead declaring Robin an outlaw to be hunted throughout the kingdom. The Sheriff of Nottingham announces the decree as Robin and his men flee to Sherwood Forest with the orphans of Nottingham, Marion narrates their new life in the greenwood, noting that they live in equality as they right the many wrongs in the kingdom of King John. Their script portrayed a more sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham and less virtuous Robin Hood, the writers received a seven-figure deal for the purchase. Actor Russell Crowe was cast into the role of Robin Hood with a fee of $20 million against 20% of the gross, the following April, Ridley Scott was hired to direct Nottingham. He had attempted to get rights for himself and 20th Century Fox, Scott was not a fan of previous film versions of Robin Hood, saying the best, frankly, was Mel Brookss Men in Tights, because Cary Elwes was quite a comic. Scotts dissatisfaction with the script led him to filming, and during 2008 it was rewritten into a story about Robin Hood becoming an outlaw
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