text:
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, also known as The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, is a 1980 British mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas. It centres on the British punk rock band Sex Pistols and, most prominently, their manager Malcolm McLaren.

Plot
Guitarist Steve Jones plays a shady Private detective who as through a series of set piece acts as uncovers the truth about the band. Drummer Paul Cook and bass guitarist Sid Vicious play smaller roles, and the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, is featured as "The Embezzler", the man who manipulates the Sex Pistols. Fugitive train robber Ronnie Biggs, performer Edward Tudor-Pole, sex film star Mary Millington, and actresses Irene Handl and Liz Fraser also make appearances. Singer and frontman Johnny Rotten refused to have anything to do with the film, stating that it was "a pile of rubbish" and "Malcolm's vision of what he believed as not true in any form".

The movie tells a stylised fictional account of the formation, rise and subsequent break-up of the band, from the point of view of their then-manager McLaren. In the film, McLaren claims to have created the Sex Pistols (in truth, they were already formed, and Jones and Cook asked him to be their manager), and manipulated them to the top of the music business, using them as puppets to both further his own agenda (in his own words: "Cash from chaos"), and to claim the financial rewards from the various record labels the band were signed to during their brief existence as EMI, A&M, Virgin, and Warner Bros. Records.

Cast

 * Malcolm McLaren as The Embezzler
 * Steve Jones as The Crook
 * Paul Cook as The Tea-Maker
 * Sid Vicious as The Gimmick
 * Johnny Rotten as The Collaborator (archive footage)
 * Ronnie Biggs as The Exile
 * Irene Handl as cinema usherette
 * Mary Millington as Mary
 * Liz Fraser as woman in cinema
 * Jess Conrad as Jess
 * Helen of Troy as Helen
 * Edward Tudor-Pole as Tadpole
 * James Aubrey as B.J.
 * Johnny Shannon as Ed Bird
 * Faye Hart as Soo Catwoman
 * Peter Dean as nightclub bouncer (uncredited)
 * James Jeter as Martin Bormann (uncredited)
 * Dave Dee as himself (musician)
 * Alan Jones as himself (reporter)

Background
The title of the movie was inspired by an article written by Skiffle musician Lonnie Donegan in the 1950s titled "Rock and Roll – It's a Swindle". A copy of the article resides in the Jamie Reid archive at the V&A.

The footage was filmed in early to mid-1978, between the departure of singer John Lydon from the band and their subsequent split. The movie was finally released nearly two years later. Lydon (who was listed in the credits as "The Collaborator") and original bass guitarist Glen Matlock only appear in archive footage — Lydon refused to have anything to do with the production.

The film was shown at the wake of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis after his 1980 suicide.

The 2000 documentary The Filth and the Fury, also directed by Julien Temple, re-tells the story of the Sex Pistols from the perspective of the band, thus serving as a response to and rebuttal of McLaren's insistence that he was the driving creative force of the band.

Home media releases
"The Swindle Continues in Your Own Home" was the tagline on the original 18 certificate UK VHS release from Virgin Video in 1982. Warner/Reprise Video released the film on US home video in 1992. In 2005, the film was released on DVD by Shout Factory.

title: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle


text:
User talk:Mark Blackburn

Hello Mark Blackburn, welcome to Wikipedia! Thanks for all your contributions. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them: If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!
 * MediaWiki User's Guide
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

Noldoaran (Talk). 18:20, Dec 8, 2003 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Mark Blackburn


text:
Ringwood, Hampshire

Ringwood is a market town in south-west Hampshire, England, on the River Avon close to the New Forest, northeast of Bournemouth and southwest of Southampton. It was founded by the Anglo-Saxons, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages.

History
Ringwood is recorded in a charter of 961, in which King Edgar gave 22 hides of land in Rimecuda to Abingdon Abbey. The name is also recorded in the 10th century as Runcwuda and Rimucwuda. The second element wuda means a 'wood'; rimuc may be derived from rima meaning 'border' or 'rim', hence "border wood". The name may refer to Ringwood's position on the fringe of Ringwood Forest, or on the border of Hampshire. William Camden in 1607 gave a much more fanciful derivation, claiming that the original name was Regne-wood, the Regni being an ancient people of Britain.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Ringwood (Rincvede) had been appropriated by the Crown and all but six hides taken into the New Forest. Prior to 1066 Ringwood had been held by Earl Tostig. During the 12th and early 13th centuries Ringwood, like other manors of which John and Henry III had the immediate overlordship, frequently changed hands. Thus it was held by Roland de Dinan, a Breton lord, in 1167; Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester before 1204; Theodoric the Teuton, a servant of King John, after 1204; William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, in 1217, and intermittently by the third and fourth Earls up to 1237; Simon de Steyland, the King's clerk, around 1237; John son of Geoffrey, described as "of the lands of the Bretons", from 1240; Nicholas of Ely, Bishop of Winchester, from about 1272; and then by three successive queens: Queen Eleanor, Queen Margaret, and Queen Isabella, from 1280 until 1331.

In January 1331, Ringwood and other manors which Isabella had previously surrendered were granted to William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, whose descendants with some intermission held it for more than two centuries, until the death of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury in 1541. It was held by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset until his execution in 1552, and then briefly by John Gates who was executed in 1553. Queen Mary granted the lands to Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, but by the middle of the 17th century the manor had passed to the Arundells of Wardour, and in 1728 was in the hands of Henry Arundell, 6th Baron Arundell of Wardour. His grandson, the eighth Baron, sold it in 1794 to John Morant of Brockenhurst, and the Morant family held the manor throughout the 19th century.

In 1108, it was recorded that the tenants of the "manor of Ringwood and Harbridge" had common rights in the New Forest, among the knights and esquires, for their farm beasts and plough beasts between "Teg att Brokelisford" and "Ostaven" and in the vill of Beaulieu for all their livestock except goats and geese: for this they paid the King an annual agistment. A valuation of the manor made at the end of the 13th century records the tenants services included mowing the lord's meadow, haymaking on eight acres in "Muchelmershe," carting the hay and making a rick; they were to repair the mills and the houses within the court.

A mill in Ringwood is mentioned in the Domesday Book and later there were two. In March 1226 Henry III granted a weekly market in Ringwood on Wednesdays to Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke and Gervaise his wife to hold until the King should come of age. In 1337 the Earl of Salisbury, as lord of Ringwood Manor, was granted a yearly fair on the feast-day of Saint Andrew (30 November). There was also another fair held on the feast of Saint Peter (29 June) in the 16th century.

After the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth was arrested near Horton, Dorset. Monmouth is believed to have hidden in a ditch under an ash tree disguised as a shepherd, but was betrayed by a local woman who, according to legend, later killed herself in remorse. Monmouth was then taken to the house now named Monmouth House in West Street (between the Market Place and the Fish Inn). It was there that he wrote a letter to James II begging forgiveness. This was not granted, and he was brought to trial in the Tower of London by the infamous "Hanging Judge Jefferies".

Also after the Battle of Sedgemoor, an elderly local lady, Alice Lisle, gave refuge to two wanted men who were escaping the battle. When her home, Moyles Court, (now a private school — Moyles Court School) was raided, the men were found and Alice was arrested. She was sentenced by the same Judge Jefferies to be burned at the stake; she received a late reprieve, and the sentence was reduced to beheading. She is buried at St Mary's Church, Ellingham, one mile from her Moyles Court home. Her tomb can be found to the right of the church entrance; it is easily spotted as the lid has been left unfinished with rough edges. There is now a pub called the Alice Lisle near Moyles Court.

The Town Hall was erected by John Morant in 1868 to designs by the distinguished architect, future president of the Royal Institute of British Architects and future winner of the Royal Gold Medal; Thomas Henry Wyatt. The town was famous in the 19th century for its "Ringwood" woollen gloves, and there was also a large linen collar and cuff factory here.

The site of Royal Air Force Station Ibsley, in use during World War II, is located on the outskirts of the Ringwood hamlet of Poulner. This site has later been used for motor-racing as Ibsley Circuit and today is a quarry lake area.

Geography
Ringwood is a town on the east bank of the River Avon in Hampshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Poulner, Hangersley, Hightown, Crow, Kingston, and Bisterne.

Economy
Ringwood has a weekly market in the traditional market place. A cattle market ran until 1989 in the Furlong, which is now home to a Waitrose supermarket, coffee shops and fashion outlets. Ringwood was noted as the second most expensive market town in England in July 2008 with average property prices of over £380,000.

Ringwood is the home of the Ringwood Brewery, which produces a variety of cask ales and runs five pubs in the local area, such as the Inn on the Furlong in Ringwood. Ringwood brewery also produces a variety of wines. It was taken over by Marston's Brewery, who plan to keep the brewery and all its brands, but lease out its tied public houses.

Politics
Ringwood is within the New Forest West parliamentary constituency. The current Member of Parliament (MP) is Sir Desmond Swayne who represents the Conservative Party. Ringwood is represented by one councillor on Hampshire County Council and six councillors on New Forest District Council (although four of these are shared with neighbouring areas). Currently Ringwood's county councillor is Conservative, and the district councillors feature three Conservative, one Labour, one Green and one Independent.

Ringwood Town Council was formed in 1974 and serves an estimated 14,000 people. The town is divided into three wards. The councillors elect a Mayor every two years who is also the chairman of the council. The current Mayor of Ringwood is Gareth Deboos. The council, which is elected every four years, has 14 councillors: six Independent, four Labour, three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat. Ringwood Town Council provide a variety of services and amenities for the town, including allotments, the cemetery, recreation grounds some public open spaces, the running of events, and a youth service. The council is based in the Ringwood Gateway building on The Furlong in the town centre.

Ringwood was the birthplace of British communist leader and anti-fascist Bill Alexander, who was present at the Battle of Cable Street and commanded the British Battalion near the end of the Spanish Civil War.

Education
The senior school is Ringwood School, a national teaching academy. The state primary schools are Ringwood Junior, Poulner Junior, Ringwood CofE Infants and Poulner Infants. There is also a Waldorf school, the Ringwood Waldorf School a centre for Steiner Education for ages 3 to 18 years with around 260 pupils. The Ringwood Waldorf school is near a Camphill community. Ringwood also has an independent 3–16-day and boarding school called Moyles Court School.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Rowridge TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated in the Poulner area of the town.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Solent, Heart South, Capital South, Easy Radio South Coast, Nation Radio South Coast, and Forest FM, a community based station.

The town is served by the local newspaper, Lymington Times and New Milton Advertiser.

Sport and leisure
Ringwood has a Non-League football club Ringwood Town F.C., which plays at Long Lane.

Ringwood is home to Ellingham and Ringwood Rugby Club who play at Parsonage Barn Lane. They run 3 senior sides, a women's side and all mini and junior ages. There are also two Cricket clubs, Ringwood Cricket Club who play at Carvers Recreation Ground and Ellingham Cricket Club who play at Picket Post.

Until 2022, Speedway has been staged at nearby Ringwood Raceway at Matchams Park. The team, known as the Ringwood Turfs, featured in the Southern Area League in the mid-1950s. There is also a long-standing and active Judo club

Ringwood has a Sailing Club, the Spinnaker Club, based on Blashford Lake in Ivy Lane, about 1 mile North from the town centre. A number of academic institutions (3 Universities, 3 Schools) and Sailability are affiliated. The club has a racing programme for several classes of sailing dinghy, for adults and children, and a programme for training for various levels of competence and experience. Many sailors from this Club have had championship success, nationally and internationally, and the club has been successful in Teams Sailing, winning the National Champs, and The British Open many times.

Millstream Model Centre & Raceway is the UK's largest slotcar racing centre.

Road
The main road through Ringwood is the A31, which runs west to Dorchester and east to Southampton via the New Forest. A bypass of the town was completed in two stages; the first to the west in the 1940s and the second to the east in 1975. The other significant road is the A338, which goes north to Salisbury and south to Bournemouth.

Rail
Ringwood railway station opened in 1847. It lay on the Southampton and Dorchester Railway. In 1862 the Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway created a new link with Christchurch. The line to Christchurch was closed in 1935, and the station ceased operating when the Southampton and Dorchester Railway line was closed in 1964. A report (Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network) from the Association of Train Operating Companies in 2009 recommended rebuilding part of the line from Brockenhurst to Ringwood.

Bus and coach
Several bus stands are located at Meeting House Lane next to The Furlong Car Park. National Express Coaches provide twice-daily services to and from London Victoria, Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport. Morebus route X3 between Salisbury and Bournemouth calls at Ringwood twice an hour. There are also less-frequent services to Brockenhurst and Poulner.

Church of St Peter and St Paul
A church in Ringwood is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was rebuilt in the 13th century and survived until 1853, when it was completely knocked down and rebuilt. The church contains a 15th-century monumental brass of John Prophete, Dean of Hereford and York.

Filming Location
The swimming pool, sports hall and exterior scenes of the BBC television comedy series The Brittas Empire were filmed at Ringwood Health and Leisure Centre, at the time known as Ringwood Recreation Centre. Mr and Mrs Brittas' house was filmed at 47 Northfield Road, and Laura Lancing's house was filmed at 1 Highfield Road. Various other buildings in the town featured including 1 High Street which appeared as Le Jollie Chocolatier, Church Hatch in the Market Place appeared as ‘Archdeacon’s Residence, Romsey’ in Series 9, and the flash forward in Series 5 when Gavin is campaigning for election was filmed in the cul de sac area outside 28-38 Kingsfield.

Some scenes from some episodes of Not the Nine O'Clock News were also filmed in the town.

Areas
Northbound
 * Salisbury
 * Fordingbridge
 * New Forest
 * Southampton

Southbound
 * Ferndown
 * Bournemouth Airport
 * Christchurch
 * Bournemouth
 * Poole

Twin towns
Ringwood is twinned with:

Ringwood and Pont-Audemer in Normandy were first twinned in 1986.
 * 🇫🇷 Pont-Audemer, France

Ringwood also has three 'sister' towns:

The mayor of the borough of Ringwood, New Jersey approached Ringwood Town Council in September 1976, advising that the borough had, in recognition of the 750th anniversary of the Ringwood, Hampshire's market carter, resolved that the Hampshire town would become their Sister City. A laminated copy of the resolution was sent and several visits were subsequently exchanged on an official basis.
 * 🇺🇸 Ringwood, New Jersey, United States of America

In the Silver Jubilee year of 1977 the city of Ringwood, Victoria approached Ringwood Town Council and subsequently became the town's second sister town. Visits were later exhanged and correspondence ensued.
 * 🇦🇺 Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

The third sister town was contacted in late 1978.
 * 🇨🇦 Ringwood, Ontario, Canada

title: Ringwood, Hampshire


text:
FIGlet

FIGlet is a computer program that generates text banners, in a variety of typefaces, composed of letters made up of conglomerations of smaller ASCII characters (see ASCII art). The name derives from "Frank, Ian and Glenn's letters".

Being free software, FIGlet is commonly included as part of many Unix-like operating systems (Linux, BSD, etc.) distributions, but it has been ported to other platforms as well. The official FIGlet FTP site includes precompiled ports for the Acorn, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, BeOS, Mac, MS-DOS, NeXTSTEP, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, as well as a reimplementation in Perl (Text::FIGlet ). There are third-party reimplementations of FIGlet in Java (including one embedded in the JavE ASCII art editor), JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Go.

Behavior
FIGlet can read from standard input or accept a message as part of the command line. It prints to standard output. Some common arguments (options) are:
 * to select a font file. (font files are available here)
 * to change the directory for fonts.
 * centers the output.
 * left-aligns the output.
 * right-aligns the output.
 * sets the output width to the terminal width.
 * specifies a custom output width.
 * enables kerning, printing each letter of the message individually, instead of merged into the adjacent letters.

Sample usage
An example of output generated by FIGlet is shown below.

The following command:

generates this output:

oooooo  oooooo     oooo  o8o  oooo         o8o                             .o8   o8o `888.   `888.     .8'   `"'  `888         `"'                            "888   `"'              `888.   .8888.   .8'   oooo   888  oooo  oooo  oo.ooooo. .ooooo. .oooo888 oooo   .oooo. `888 .8'`888. .8'    `888   888 .8P'   `888   888' `88b d88' `88b d88' `888  `888  `P  )88b      `888.8'  `888.8'      888   888888.     888   888   888 888ooo888 888   888   888   .oP"888       `888'    `888'       888   888 `88b.   888   888   888 888    .o 888   888   888  d8(  888        `8'      `8'       o888o o888o o888o o888o  888bod8P' `Y8bod8P' `Y8bod88P" o888o `Y888""8o 888                                                                                o888o

The  options centers the text and makes it take up the full width of the terminal. The  option specifies the 'roman' font file.

Invita
__      __)                            |  / , /)   ,           /) ,       | /| /    (/_    __    _  _(/    _     |/ |/  _(_/(___(_/_)__(/_(_(__(_(_(_   /  |          .-/                                   (_/

Larry3d
__     __      __                             __                  /\ \  __/\ \  __/\ \      __                   /\ \  __             \ \ \/\ \ \ \/\_\ \ \/'\ /\_\  _____      __   \_\ \/\_\     __      \ \ \ \ \ \ \/\ \ \, < \/\ \/\ '__`\  /'__`\ /'_` \/\ \  /'__`\     \ \ \_/ \_\ \ \ \ \ \\`\\ \ \ \ \L\ \/\  __//\ \L\ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_ \ `\___x___/\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \ ,__/\ \____\ \___,_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ '\/__//__/ \/_/\/_/\/_/\/_/\ \ \/  \/____/\/__,_ /\/_/\/__/\/_/                                 \ \_\                                                                \/_/

FIGlet-based ASCII typefaces
Eric Olson's 2002 FIG typeface family is a series of OpenType fonts similar to the output of FIGlet.

TOIlet seeks to extend FIGlet to use colour text. FIGlet supports TOIlet fonts as of version 2.2.4.

title: FIGlet


text:
Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service (NHS) hospital located on the parish borders of Aylesbury and Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, England. It is managed by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

It was established in 1830 as a cholera hospital intentionally on the parish border between the neighbouring village of Stoke Mandeville and the town of Aylesbury to serve the residents of both settlements.

The hospital's National Spinal Injuries Centre is one of the largest specialist spinal units in the world, and the pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there by Sir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of the Paralympic Games. Mandeville, one of the official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, was named in honour of the hospital's contribution to Paralympic sports.

Foundation and growth
In the early 1830s the village of Stoke Mandeville was badly affected by cholera epidemics that swept across England. A cholera hospital was established on the parish border between Stoke Mandeville and Aylesbury.

In September 1943 the government asked German-expatriate spinal injuries specialist Ludwig Guttmann to establish the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. The centre opened on 1 February 1944, and Guttmann was appointed its director (a position he held until 1946). As director of the UK's first specialist unit for treating spinal injuries, he believed that sport was a major method of therapy for injured military personnel helping them build up physical strength and self-respect. Guttmann became a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom in 1945. Guttmann organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games for disabled personnel on 28 July 1948, the same day as the start of the London 1948 Summer Olympics.

The games were held again at the same location in 1952, and Dutch World War II veterans took part alongside the British, making it the first international competition of its kind. These Stoke Mandeville Games have been described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games. The Paralympics were subsequently officialised as a quadrennial event tied to the Olympic Games, and the first Paralympic Games, no longer open solely to war veterans, were held in Rome in 1960.

Recent history
After the hospital joined the National Health Service in 1948, it sought to establish the Stoke Mandeville Stadium which was opened by the Queen in 1969.

The hospital was visited by Diana, Princess of Wales who opened the new International Spinal Injuries Centre when it was refurbished in August 1983.

A redevelopment scheme over much of the site was procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 2004. The construction work was carried out by Alfred McAlpine at a cost of £47 million and completed in 2006. Sodexo was contracted to carry out the facilities management services on the site. A new maternity unit was opened in 2009.

Historic sexual abuse at the hospital
The joint Metropolitan Police Service and National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children report of the investigations into sexual abuse committed by disc jockey Jimmy Savile found that Savile, who was a valued fundraiser for the institution (including raising money for the Spinal Injuries Unit), committed offences there between 1965 and 1988. Twenty-two offences there between those dates have been formally recorded as crimes by the police. A former child patient at the hospital has said that nurses warned her to stay in bed and pretend to be asleep when Savile was due to visit.

Michael Salmon, consultant paediatrician at Stoke Mandeville hospital, was convicted and jailed for three years in 1990 for indecent assaults on teenaged girl patients, two thirteen-year-olds and one sixteen-year-old girl. In the aftermath of the Savile scandal, Salmon was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree on 17 December 2013. He was subsequently convicted of nine indecent assaults and two rapes, with victims' ages ranging from eleven to eighteen and having occurred between 1973 and 1988 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Despite working at the hospital at the same time as Savile, there is no known link between the two. Salmon was also convicted of 14 charges in December 2016 and received an additional sentence of four years in prison.

Independent investigator Androulla Johnstone published a report on Savile's activities at the hospital on 26 February 2015. The report found that he had sexually abused more than 50 people there, including staff, patients and visitors; one was an eight-year-old child. Savile had full access to all parts of the hospital. The report stated that it was widely known at the hospital that Savile was a "sex pest", and that 10 complaints had been made at the time, but no action was taken. The report also found that three doctors, including Salmon, had been convicted of sex crimes against their patients in the preceding four decades.

Criticism
On 27 February 2013, Buckinghamshire disability charity BuDS announced that it was compiling a dossier of evidence about risks to patient safety at Stoke Mandeville hospital to send to the Care Quality Commission. The charity claimed that it had received "alarming reports from various sources ... expressing serious concerns about patient safety at the hospital".

Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust responded by saying "it was 'somewhat irresponsible of BuDS to potentially worry patients by hinting at patient safety issues at the hospital". The charity, however, defended its action and said "BuDS wanted to give staff, patients and visitors at Stoke Mandeville hospital a wholly anonymous way to report any concerns they might have".

On 20 April 2013 the CQC published a report after an unannounced inspection at the hospital. It found that the hospital did not meet the standards for staffing levels and for providing support to staff. Enforcement action was taken regarding supporting staff and a warning notice was served.

Facilities
The facilities at the hospital include:

Transport links
The hospital is served by the London to Aylesbury Line and the Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line from Aylesbury railway station. There are bus services connecting the hospital with Aylesbury and High Wycombe run by Arriva and also with Leighton Buzzard.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio
Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio (SMHR) is a non-profit hospital radio station which was founded on 4 December 1978. It is located within the hospital complex and provides a 24-hour radio service to the patients and staff streaming its service online, on 87.7MHz (FM) and through the use of their mobile device app, SMHR which was released in 2015.

The first broadcast was on 4 December 1978 at 7:30pm. The first sentence was: 'Good evening and welcome to Stoke Mandeville Hospital's very own radio station'."

In 1997, it was one of two hospital radio stations in the UK (the other being Radio Tyneside) to be awarded a temporary AM broadcasting licence from the Radio Authority (became Ofcom in 2003) as part of a pioneering trial as per the then recent passed Broadcasting Act. The success of the experiment led to the station, along with Tyneside Radio and many others, gaining a permanent broadcasting licence.

In 2018, former mayor of Aylesbury and long-standing patron and co-founder of the station, Freda Roberts MBE JP stood down as patron, being replaced by Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce. Ken said "Hospital Radio continues to thrive and I am delighted to take on the role of patron."

The station is a volunteer-run not-for-profit charity and has live request shows every weekday from 8pm till 10pm.

On 24 May 2019, SMHR was granted an FM broadcasting licence at 87.7 MHz by the industry regulator Ofcom. The move was linked to Local Radio day, in which the station celebrated with a six hour live broadcast from the Royal Voluntary Services Café in the Hospital.

Notable patients
British entertainer and actor Nicholas Parsons, best known for hosting Just a Minute and Sale of the Century died there on 28 January 2020.

title: Stoke Mandeville Hospital


text:
Peak Tram

The Peak Tram is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island. Running from Garden Road Admiralty to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels, it provides the most direct route and offers good views over the harbour and skyscrapers of Hong Kong. Operated since 1888, it was the first funicular railway in Asia.

The Peak Tram is owned and operated by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (HSH), the owner of Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel along with other properties. The line, along with HSH's Peak Tower leisure complex at the line's summit, is promoted using the brand The Peak. After a lengthy renovation and upgrade project, the Peak Tram reopened on 27 August 2022.

Route
The Peak Tram's route from Central district to Victoria Peak covers a distance of about 1.4 km and an elevation of just under 400 m. The line has two pronounced curves, one to the left immediately after leaving the lower terminus, and the other to the right in the upper half of the ascent. The gradient also varies considerably throughout the ascent. It is a single track route and a passing loop, with two trams.

The lower terminus station, Central, is located on Garden Road near St. John's Cathedral. The original station was incorporated into St. John's Building, an office tower, with the tram terminus at the ground level. The station comprises a single track, with platforms on both sides. One platform is used for boarding, the other for exiting the tram.

The upper terminus, The Peak, is located below the Peak Tower shopping and leisure complex at Victoria Gap, some 150 m below the summit of Victoria Peak. The station has the same arrangement of boarding and alighting platforms as the lower terminus. The haulage and control equipment for the funicular is located in a basement below the station.

There are also four intermediate stops, each of which is a request stop consisting of a single stepped platform and a shelter:

 * Kennedy Road. Located on Kennedy Road, named after Arthur Edward Kennedy, a former Governor of Hong Kong.
 * MacDonnell Road. Located on MacDonnell Road, named after Richard Graves MacDonnell, a former Governor of Hong Kong; the depot storing two historic cars is next to the stop.
 * May Road. Located on May Road, named after Francis Henry May, a former Governor of Hong Kong.
 * Barker Road. Located on Barker Road, named after George Digby Barker, a former military commander and acting administrator of Hong Kong.

History

In 1881, Alexander Findlay Smith first put the project of a Peak Railway into shape and presented a petition for a concession to the governor of Hong Kong. The necessary legislation was passed two years later.

Findlay Smith did not approach the project rashly. Travelling extensively in Europe and America, he made himself conversant with nearly every existing method of railway employed for mountain ascent — San Francisco, Scarborough, Rigi, Monterey, Lucerne, the Rhine, Mount Vesuvius — and returned to Hong Kong thoroughly convinced of the feasibility of his idea. The actual construction was begun in September 1885 and in May 1888 the line was officially opened.

Smith's business partner, N. J. Ede, owned and lived in the house next to the Upper Terminus, originally named Dunheved, which they converted into the original Peak Hotel.

It took three years to build the Peak Tram. Most of the heavy equipment and rails needed for the construction were hauled uphill by the workers with no mechanical support. As a revolutionary new form of transport for Asia at the time, the tramway was considered a marvel of engineering upon its completion. A wooden structure was built for the terminal. According to photographs, the Garden Road terminus was originally an unadorned building, a large clock face was added to the edifice probably between the 1910s and 1920s.

The Peak Tram was opened for public service on 28 May 1888 by the then governor Sir George William des Voeux. As built, the line used a static steam engine to power the haulage cable. It was at first used only for residents of Victoria Peak. Despite that, it carried 800 passengers on its first day of operation, and about 150,000 in its first year, transported in the line's original wooden-bodied cars. The tram's existence accelerated the residential development of Victoria Peak and the Mid-Levels.

From its opening in 1888 until 1926, the Peak Tram divided into three classes: The initial round trip charges, HKD 30 cents (First Class), 20 cents (Second Class) and 10 cents (Third Class), had risen 50 per cent by 1926.
 * First Class: British colonial officials and residents of Victoria Peak
 * Second Class: British military and Hong Kong Police Force personnel
 * Third Class: Other people and animals

From 1908 to 1949, the first two seats in the front of the tram were reserved for the governor of Hong Kong, to which was attached a bronze plaque reading: "This seat is reserved for His Excellency the Governor". The seats were not available to ordinary passengers until two minutes before departure.

In the course of its history, the tram has been a victim of two natural disasters, caused by floods from heavy rainfall, which washed away steep sections of the track between Bowen Road and Kennedy Road. The first was in 1899, and the second occurred on 12 June 1966.

In 1926, the steam engine was replaced by an electric motor. On 11 December 1941, during the Battle of Hong Kong, the engine room was damaged in an attack. Services were not resumed until 25 December 1945, after the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

In 1956, the Peak Tram was equipped with a new generation of lightweight metal-bodied cars, each of which seated 62 passengers. Unusually for a funicular line, three such cars were provided, only two of which were in use at any one time. The third spare car was kept in a car shed near the Kennedy Road station.

The system was comprehensively rebuilt in 1989 by the Swiss company, Von Roll, with a new track, a computerized control system, and two new two-car trams with a capacity of 120 passengers per tram. By the time of the handover in 1997, the system carried some 2 million passengers annually. Today, more than 4 million people ride the Peak Tram annually, or an average of over 11,000 every day.

Of prior rolling stock, only two 1956 fourth generation all-aluminium cars and one 1989 fifth generation car survive. Two cars, one from both previous generations, can be seen on a disused spur track that led to the former tram depot near the Kennedy Road station. An additional fourth generation car is displayed near the upper terminal, now serving as a Tourism Board Information Center. None of the cars from the first three generations exist, but a replica of the first car is displayed in the Peak Tram Historical Gallery.

The Peak Tram Upgrade Project
In view of the continuous increase in the number of tourists visiting Hong Kong, passenger usage of the tram was increasing by more than one digit percentage every year, especially on Sundays and public holidays. It was taking at least two hours to board; passenger demand far exceeded capacity. By 2012, average daily passenger usage reached 12,000, of which around 90% were tourists. At that period, Peak Tramways Company Limited hired a consultant to study how to improve the Peak Tram terminal and facilities to increase the available space, also considering re-laying tracks and to renovate the cable car cabins to increase the passenger capacity.

At the end of 2015, Peak Tramways Company Limited's right to operate the Peak Tram expired. In the same year, it stated that it planned to spend about HK$684 million to launch a development plan to upgrade the Peak Tram system and improve existing facilities. It was implemented in phases and to be completed in 4 to 5 years. The development plan included:
 * Purchasing new trams to increase the passenger capacity of the Peak Tram from 120 to 210 passengers per trip, which will greatly reduce the waiting time for passengers by approximately 75–91%
 * Extend the Garden Road tram station and build the platform about 70 m uphill, after arriving at the "Red Brick House" in the WWF Central Visitor Center, providing a covered, temperature-controlled and comfortable waiting area for queuing, as well as providing a moderate amount of entertainment (such as historical exhibits on the Peak Tram) for approximately 1,300 waiting passengers
 * Refurbishment of the upper platform of the Peak Tram Station, including widening the boarding platform; increasing the number of gates and ticket counters, and setting up a larger waiting area in front of the ticket office
 * More effective crowd monitoring to ensure the safety of tourists, employees and pedestrians
 * Further enhancement of the image of the Peak Tram and maintaining the status of the tram as an important tourism and leisure facility

The project was expected to be completed in 2021, during which the construction was divided into two phases. The first phase, which lasted from April 23, 2019, saw the Peak Tram being suspended for 2 to 3 months. The maintenance plan included the extension of the Peak Terminus and Garden Road Terminus, which was completed on July 22 of the same year. After the completion of the first phase of the project, the Peak Tram service was resumed for about 12 to 15 months. During this period, due to the expansion and renovation of the Garden Road Terminus, passengers used the temporary platform and queue outside the station.

The Second phase began on June 28, 2021, with the closure of the line. New tram carriages were installed, with longer bodies, and passenger capacity increased from 120 to 210. At the same time, power and towing systems, rail, control and signal systems and cables were replaced, and the renovation of the Peak Terminus and the Garden Road Terminus were complete, with the expansion of the former to cater for the new and larger tram carriage.

The project improved the waiting environment, replaced tracks, improved foundations, cable car bridges and other structures. The government stated that the entire development plan invested more than 700 million Hong Kong dollars. Final project costs were $799m HKD (£87m). After a closure of 14 months, the tram was reopened on 27 August 2022, though tourist numbers in Hong Kong are a fraction of their pre-COVID levels.

Statistics
The Peak Tram is a funicular railway, with the following technical parameters:

 * Length: 1364 m
 * Height: 28 m to 396 m
 * Maximum Steepness: 48%
 * Track Gradient: 4–27 degrees
 * Cars: 2 two-car train sets''
 * Car Builder: CWA, Switzerland
 * Capacity: 210 passengers per train set
 * Configuration: Single track with passing loop
 * Journey time: average 5 minutes
 * Maximum speed: 6 m/s
 * Track gauge:
 * Traction: Electric

No. 1 Lugard Road

The building at No. 1 Lugard Road, located next to the Peak Tower and The Peak Lookout, was built about 1927 by The Peak Tramways Co. Ltd. as a workshop, with an additional floor added in 1953 to provide a flat for the General Manager of Company. The building is still owned and used by the Peak Tramways Company. It is a Grade III historic building since 2010.

title: Peak Tram


text:
Voltage divider

In electronics, a voltage divider  (also known as a potential divider) is a passive linear circuit that produces an output voltage (Vout) that is a fraction of its input voltage (Vin). Voltage division is the result of distributing the input voltage among the components of the divider. A simple example of a voltage divider is two resistors connected in series, with the input voltage applied across the resistor pair and the output voltage emerging from the connection between them.

Resistor voltage dividers are commonly used to create reference voltages, or to reduce the magnitude of a voltage so it can be measured, and may also be used as signal attenuators at low frequencies. For direct current and relatively low frequencies, a voltage divider may be sufficiently accurate if made only of resistors; where frequency response over a wide range is required (such as in an oscilloscope probe), a voltage divider may have capacitive elements added to compensate load capacitance. In electric power transmission, a capacitive voltage divider is used for measurement of high voltage.

General case
A voltage divider referenced to ground is created by connecting two electrical impedances in series, as shown in Figure 1. The input voltage is applied across the series impedances Z1 and Z2 and the output is the voltage across Z2. Z1 and Z2 may be composed of any combination of elements such as resistors, inductors and capacitors.

If the current in the output wire is zero then the relationship between the input voltage, Vin, and the output voltage, Vout, is:
 * $$V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{Z_2}{Z_1+Z_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}$$

Proof (using Ohm's law):
 * $$V_\mathrm{in} = I\cdot(Z_1+Z_2)$$
 * $$V_\mathrm{out} = I\cdot Z_2$$
 * $$I = \frac {V_\mathrm{in}}{Z_1+Z_2}$$
 * $$V_\mathrm{out} = V_\mathrm{in} \cdot\frac {Z_2}{Z_1+Z_2}$$

The transfer function (also known as the divider's voltage ratio) of this circuit is:
 * $$H = \frac {V_\mathrm{out}}{V_\mathrm{in}} = \frac{Z_2}{Z_1+Z_2}$$

In general this transfer function is a complex, rational function of frequency.

Resistive divider
A resistive divider is the case where both impedances, Z1 and Z2, are purely resistive (Figure 2).

Substituting Z1 = R1 and Z2 = R2 into the previous expression gives:
 * $$V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{R_2}{R_1+R_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}$$

If R1 = R2 then
 * $$V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{1}{2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}$$

If Vout = 6 V and Vin = 9 V (both commonly used voltages), then:
 * $$\frac{V_\mathrm{out}}{V_\mathrm{in}} = \frac{R_2}{R_1+R_2} = \frac{6}{9} = \frac{2}{3}$$

and by solving using algebra, R2 must be twice the value of R1.

To solve for R1:
 * $$R_1 = \frac{R_2 \cdot V_\mathrm{in}}{V_\mathrm{out}} - R_2 = R_2 \cdot \left({\frac{V_\mathrm{in}}{V_\mathrm{out}}-1}\right)$$

To solve for R2:
 * $$R_2 = R_1 \cdot \frac{1} {\left({\frac{V_\mathrm{in}}{V_\mathrm{out}}-1}\right)}$$

Any ratio Vout / Vin greater than 1 is not possible. That is, using resistors alone it is not possible to either invert the voltage or increase Vout above Vin.

Low-pass RC filter
Consider a divider consisting of a resistor and capacitor as shown in Figure 3.

Comparing with the general case, we see Z1 = R and Z2 is the impedance of the capacitor, given by

 * $$Z_2 = -\mathrm{j}X_{\mathrm{C}} =\frac{1}{\mathrm{j} \omega C} \ ,$$

where XC is the reactance of the capacitor, C is the capacitance of the capacitor, j is the imaginary unit, and ω (omega) is the radian frequency of the input voltage.

This divider will then have the voltage ratio:
 * $$\frac{V_\mathrm{out}}{V_\mathrm{in}}

= \frac{Z_\mathrm{2}}{Z_\mathrm{1} + Z_\mathrm{2}} = \frac{\frac{1}{\mathrm{j} \omega C}}{\frac{1}{\mathrm{j} \omega C} + R} = \frac{1}{1 + \mathrm{j} \omega R C} \ .$$

The product τ (tau) = RC is called the time constant of the circuit.

The ratio then depends on frequency, in this case decreasing as frequency increases. This circuit is, in fact, a basic (first-order) low-pass filter. The ratio contains an imaginary number, and actually contains both the amplitude and phase shift information of the filter. To extract just the amplitude ratio, calculate the magnitude of the ratio, that is:

 * $$\left| \frac{V_\mathrm{out}}{V_\mathrm{in}} \right| = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 + (\omega R C)^2}} \ .$$

Inductive divider
Inductive dividers split AC input according to inductance:

$$V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{L_2}{L_1 + L_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}$$

(with components in the same positions as Figure 2.)

The above equation is for non-interacting inductors; mutual inductance (as in an autotransformer) will alter the results.

Inductive dividers split AC input according to the reactance of the elements as for the resistive divider above.

Capacitive divider
Capacitive dividers do not pass DC input.

For an AC input a simple capacitive equation is:

$$V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{Xc_2}{Xc_1 + Xc_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in} = \frac{1/C_2}{1/C_1 + 1/C_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in} = \frac{C_1}{C_1 + C_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}$$

(with components in the same positions as Figure 2.)

Any leakage current in the capactive elements requires use of the generalized expression with two impedances. By selection of parallel R and C elements in the proper proportions, the same division ratio can be maintained over a useful range of frequencies. This is the principle applied in compensated oscilloscope probes to increase measurement bandwidth.

Loading effect
The output voltage of a voltage divider will vary according to the electric current it is supplying to its external electrical load. The effective source impedance coming from a divider of Z1 and Z2, as above, will be Z1 in parallel with Z2 (sometimes written Z1 // Z2), that is: (Z1 Z2) / (Z1 + Z2) = HZ1.

To obtain a sufficiently stable output voltage, the output current must either be stable (and so be made part of the calculation of the potential divider values) or limited to an appropriately small percentage of the divider's input current. Load sensitivity can be decreased by reducing the impedance of both halves of the divider, though this increases the divider's quiescent input current and results in higher power consumption (and wasted heat) in the divider. Voltage regulators are often used in lieu of passive voltage dividers when it is necessary to accommodate high or fluctuating load currents.

Applications
Voltage dividers are used for adjusting the level of a signal, for bias of active devices in amplifiers, and for measurement of voltages. A Wheatstone bridge and a multimeter both include voltage dividers. A potentiometer is used as a variable voltage divider in the volume control of many radios.

Sensor measurement
Voltage dividers can be used to allow a microcontroller to measure the resistance of a sensor. The sensor is wired in series with a known resistance to form a voltage divider and a known voltage is applied across the divider. The microcontroller's analog-to-digital converter is connected to the center tap of the divider so that it can measure the tap voltage and, by using the measured voltage and the known resistance and voltage, compute the sensor resistance. This technique is commonly used to measure the resistance of temperature sensors such as thermistors and RTDs.

Another example that is commonly used involves a potentiometer (variable resistor) as one of the resistive elements. When the shaft of the potentiometer is rotated the resistance it produces either increases or decreases, the change in resistance corresponds to the angular change of the shaft. If coupled with a stable voltage reference, the output voltage can be fed into an analog-to-digital converter and a display can show the angle. Such circuits are commonly used in reading control knobs.

High voltage measurement
A voltage divider can be used to scale down a very high voltage so that it can be measured by a volt meter. The high voltage is applied across the divider, and the divider output—which outputs a lower voltage that is within the meter's input range—is measured by the meter. High voltage resistor divider probes designed specifically for this purpose can be used to measure voltages up to 100 kV. Special high-voltage resistors are used in such probes as they must be able to tolerate high input voltages and, to produce accurate results, must have matched temperature coefficients and very low voltage coefficients. Capacitive divider probes are typically used for voltages above 100 kV, as the heat caused by power losses in resistor divider probes at such high voltages could be excessive.

Logic level shifting
A voltage divider can be used as a crude logic level shifter to interface two circuits that use different operating voltages. For example, some logic circuits operate at 5 V whereas others operate at 3.3 V. Directly interfacing a 5 V logic output to a 3.3 V input may cause permanent damage to the 3.3 V circuit. In this case, a voltage divider with an output ratio of 3.3/5 might be used to reduce the 5 V signal to 3.3 V, to allow the circuits to interoperate without damaging the 3.3 V circuit. For this to be feasible, the 5 V source impedance and 3.3 V input impedance must be negligible, or they must be constant and the divider resistor values must account for their impedances. If the input impedance is capacitive, a purely resistive divider will limit the data rate. This can be roughly overcome by adding a capacitor in series with the top resistor, to make both legs of the divider capacitive as well as resistive.

title: Voltage divider


text:
Rugeley

Rugeley is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated 8 mi north of Lichfield, 10 mi south-east of Stafford, 5 mi north-east of Hednesford and 11 mi south-west of Uttoxeter. At the 2021 Census, the population was 26,156.

Rugeley is twinned with Western Springs, Illinois and, in July 1962, both towns made telephone history on national television when the chairman of Rugeley Urban District Council made the first telephone call via the new Telstar satellite to the mayor of Western Springs. It was also featured in an article about workers' rights and town transformation in the 21st century.

History
The town, historically known as Rudgeley or Ridgeley, is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. This name is thought to be derived from 'Ridge lee', or 'the hill over the field'. In the mediaeval period, it thrived on iron workings and was also a site of glass manufacturing. During the Industrial Revolution the economy of Rugeley benefited from the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal and then from it becoming a junction on the railway network.

Rugeley was considered royal land and Cannock Chase was considered a royal forest. In 1189, Rugeley was sold to the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry by King Richard I the Lionheart. Rugeley was still relatively small at this point.

By 1259, Rugeley had grown significantly enough to be granted the right to hold a weekly market. To this day there is a weekly outdoor market held in the town.

In 1532, the manor of Rugeley was inherited by the Chetwynd family who held it until 1764. In 1768, the manor passed to Thomas Anson, later Viscount Anson.

In 1709 Rugeley was hit with two disasters. One was a fire that ravaged the town (the town had been hit by a fire sixty years prior to this too, making this the second such disaster) and the other was when the Rising Brook which runs through the town broke its banks and flooded the town.

Rugeley was an agricultural community for hundreds of years and held regular sheep, cattle and horse fairs. This reached its peak in the mid 19th century and lasting until the 1930s. The Rugeley annual horse fair was known internationally and attracted trade from far and away. To this day there is a main road in Rugeley town centre called Horsefair honouring this, as well as another street honouring the sheep fair.

St. Augustine's Church in Rugeley has memorials to the Levett family, who live at nearby Milford Hall and who established the Rugeley Home and Cottage Hospital on Church Street in 1866.

From 1894 to 1974 the town was administered by Rugeley Urban District Council which was based at Rugeley Town Hall; the town hall was largely demolished in 1978 and all that remains of the building now is the clock tower.

Between 1793 and 1967 Rugeley Grammar School provided selective secondary education for the town and also for Hednesford. Historical characters who were educated at RGS include the banker and railway promoter Edward Charles Blount and the Australian pioneer and politician Charles Bonney.

Although smaller pits had existed beforehand, the town became a centre of industrial scale deep-shaft coal mining from the 1950s, to access similar coal seams to those under Cannock Chase. The Lea Hall Colliery that opened in July 1960 was the first modern coal mine opened by the National Coal Board, which managed the United Kingdom's nationalized coal industry. Nearby the Central Electricity Generating Board built the two Rugeley power stations. With the construction of Rugeley A and B power stations Rugeley became a major centre for electricity generation. These developments led to the town growing very quickly in the 1960s. The Rugeley A power station was designed to take its fuel directly from Lea Hall by conveyor belt (although the coal was of poor quality not suitable for Rugeley B). This was the first such arrangement in Britain. Rugeley power station was shut in 2016 and demolished in stages in 2021. Rugeley was once home to an Amazon Fulfilment centre, which was built at the Tower Business Park. The centre permanently closed in March 3, 2024.

Climate
Like most of the United Kingdom, Rugeley has an oceanic climate, with warm summers and cool but not extremely cold winters.

Railway
For many years in the 1970s and 1980s, Rugeley was served by British Rail with four services each way to and from Stafford and Rugby/Coventry. After the closure of Rugeley A power station and Lea Hall Colliery, with the consequential reduction in rail freight, it became possible to open up the Rugeley to Walsall line for passenger traffic. Rugeley now has two railway stations: Rugeley Trent Valley and Rugeley Town.

Rugeley Trent Valley lies on the West Coast Main Line; it has a regular hourly service to London via Lichfield, Nuneaton, Rugby and Milton Keynes, and to Crewe via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. Rugeley Trent Valley also has a half-hourly service via Rugeley Town railway station and the Chase Line suburban route connecting to Walsall and Birmingham New Street.

Buses
Regular bus services 826 and 828 link Rugeley to the town of Stafford (going north-west) and city of Lichfield (going south). Service 63 links Rugeley to Hednesford (going south-west) and Uttoxeter (going North). These Chaserider operated routes also link nearby rural villages of Colwich and Great Haywood. They also link the towns neighbourhoods including Springfields, Brereton and Pear Tree. Since cut backs in 2018, no buses operate on Sunday or bank holidays.

Canal
The town continues to benefit from the Trent and Mersey Canal on its eastern side which, since the popularity of canals as a leisure activity, brings additional tourism into the town. The canal runs from Preston Brook to Shardlow, through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

Roads
The major roads into Rugeley are the A460 from Wolverhampton and the A51, via Tamworth, Lichfield to Stone before going through Nantwich and ending at Chester. A new eastern bypass was opened in 2007, to facilitate the development of new employment areas on the former colliery site and to reduce congestion in the town centre.

Television
BBC Midlands Today and ITV News Central cover Rugeley from studios in Birmingham. These are mainly received from the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station; however, some parts of the town are shielded from Sutton Coldfield and rely on the Rugeley relay, located at The Hart School.

Some parts of Rugeley can also receive good signals from the Waltham transmitting station near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, which carries BBC East Midlands and the East Midlands variant of ITV Central.

Radio
Rugeley lies within the coverage areas of the West Midlands regional stations, like Heart and Greatest Hits Radio, Capital Mid-Counties and Signal 1 in Stoke-on-Trent. BBC Local Radio is covered by BBC Radio WM from Birmingham on 95.6 FM, though reception is not good and, in some parts, BBC Radio Stoke on 94.6 FM is better received.

The town is covered by Cannock Chase Radio, a community radio station.

Newspapers
For many years up to 1980, Rugeley had its own newspaper: the Rugeley Times, published from Bow Street. The newspaper was sold to the Staffordshire Newsletter. Today, the town is covered by the Express and Star. A team of students from The Hart School began writing a local newspaper called The Hart of Rugeley; this is now published three times a year.

Demography
In the 2011 census, Rugeley was 96.5% White British. Much of the ageing population and their families are linked to the ex-mining communities, with an increasing proportion of the younger population being new to the area and associated with the services sector. As former mining towns, Rugeley including the Brereton area suffer from a moderate level of social deprivation, with parts of the town consisting of council or ex-council house stock (such as the Springfield Estate and parts of Brereton) or former National Coal Board housing, such as the Pear Tree Estate. However, on the fringes of Rugeley there is more affluence, and some of the older Georgian streets including the conservation area of Crossley Stone or waterfront properties along the Trent and Mersey Canal. A number of new houses were built in the housing boom of the early 2000s, providing a mixture of affordable and higher-end properties.

Church of England
The parish church of Rugeley is St Augustine's Church, dedicated to St Augustine of Canterbury. The present church, a Grade II* listed building, was built in 1822–23 to replace the medieval parish church. What remains of the former church, primarily the tower and chancel, is a Grade II listed building and is known as the 'Old Chancel'. A school next to it is called Chancel School. Other churches within the Rugeley area include The Church of the Good Shepherd, Rugeley Community Church, Victory Church, The Church of the Holy Spirit and St Michael's Church.

Roman Catholic
St Joseph and St Etheldreda is a Roman Catholic church in Rugeley, dedicated to St Joseph and St Etheldreda. It is in the Gothic revival style of the 19th Century and was designed by Charles Hansom and built between 1849 and 1851 out of local stone. There is a Catholic primary school in the town dedicated to St Joseph as the Church is. The Parish is part of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Methodist
The Methodist church of Rugeley is named after St Paul and located close to the town centre on Lichfield Street. It is a Methodist/ United Reformed Church. Along with the main town centre Methodist church there is also one in the Brereton area of the town.

Sport
Rugeley is home to two cricket clubs (Rugeley C.C. and Trent Valley C.C.), several football clubs, Rugeley Rugby Club and Staffordshire Quantums Rugby League.

Rugeley Snooker Club meets in Heron Court Hall.

Rugeley Rifle Club, catering to .22 and air gun target shooting, moved to its current location near the Town Station in 1971 and is noted for member Victoria Bradbury, bronze medallist at the 2018 ISSF World Shooting Championships.

The Lea Hall Social Club, which underwent extensive renovation between 2005 and 2011, serves Rugeley residents with a variety of facilities including cricket and football pitches, a crown bowling green. There used to be tennis courts, but they are now gone and replaced with housing.

Etching Hill Tennis Club has offered casual and competitive hard court play to members since 1952.

Hawkesyard Golf (formerly known as the St. Thomas Priory Golf Course) is to the east of the town on the Hawkesyard Estate.

Events
The town council also puts on a fireworks display during the last weekend of the school summer holidays, known as "Back to School with a Bang". A Christmas lights switch-on during December includes a market and late-night opening of shops, with the local traders association joining in the organising of street entertainment.

A Pagan conference happens on the May bank holiday every year. Staffordshire Pagan Conference started in 2015 and was held at Lea Hall Social Club. The conference is attended by over 250 people from all over the country. Over £1,000 has been donated to Staffordshire Wildlife Trust with the profit from the event. As of 2018 the conference relocated to The Rose Theatre and become Witchfest Midlands.

In 2016 and 2017, the British Quidditch Cup was held at Rugeley Leisure Centre. The third British Quidditch Cup took place on 19 and 20 March 2016, with 32 teams competing, and the winners were Oxford's team, the Radcliffe Chimeras. The fourth British Quidditch Cup took place on 11 and 12 March 2017, with 32 teams competing, and the winners were Velociraptors QC.

In February 2020 a new "Fringe Festival" was announced with a variety of events intended to be held in the town over the May Bank Holiday. The Festival was cancelled in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cannock Chase is a venue for the Forest Live series of music events, with concerts held at Birches Valley Forest Centre, Rugeley. As with other Forest Live events it hosts different live acts from big name bands each year. Past acts have included Paul Weller, UB40, Kaiser Chiefs and Paloma Faith.

Future
Rugeley suffered an increase in unemployment when Lea Hall Colliery closed in 1990. Following many years of demolition and regeneration, a number of large industrial units have been built on the Towers Business Park, a brownfield site situated on the former ground of the colliery. In August 2011, Amazon.co.uk opened a 700,000 sq ft fulfillment centre on the Towers Park, creating between 700 and 900 full-time jobs as well as generating a large pool of seasonal work around Christmas.

Rugeley's future looks set to benefit from the recent closure and demolition of the power station. The Brownfields site will be developed. This development has been earmarked to include 2,300 new homes as well as housing for the elderly. There will be a new All through school; the first in Staffordshire, which will accommodate 1,400 pupils. There will be over 12 acres used for employment as well as a riverside country park and a new water sports leisure facility at the Borrow Pit Lake. There will also be added commercial development to the area. This new development will be a massive boost to the area and the whole new development will be low carbon.

Notable people

 * Thomas Weston (1584–1646) Merchant adventurer, admitted to the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers in 1609
 * Mary Knowles (1733–1807), English Quaker poet, supported abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
 * John Stevenson Salt (1777–1845) English barrister, banker and land owner, served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1838
 * William Palmer (1824–1856), surgeon and serial murderer known as "The Prince of Poisons".
 * Thomas George Bonney FRS (1833–1923) English geologist, president of the Geological Society of London
 * John Porter (1838–1922) English thoroughbred flat racing trainer, founder of Newbury Racecourse
 * Frederic Bonney FRS (1842–1921) British land owner, photographer and anthropologist
 * Ethelred Luke Taunton (1857–1907) English Roman Catholic priest and historical writer.
 * Selwyn MacGregor Grier (1878–1946) was a British colonial administrator, Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands from 1935 to 1937.
 * Lynda Grier (1880–1967) was a British educational administrator and policy advisor
 * William Beaumont Burns (1883–1916) English cricketer, played more than 200 first-class matches mainly for Worcestershire.
 * Wilfred John Simkin CMG (1883–1967) was the 6th Anglican Bishop of Auckland
 * Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton (born 1938) British Conservative Party politician, MP for Macclesfield 1971 / 2015
 * Paul Davies-Hale (born 1962) British long-distance runner, competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the 3000m steeplechase and at 1992 Summer Olympics in the marathon
 * Scout Niblett (born 20 September 1973) Singer-Songwriter-Musician.
 * Robert Rock (born 6 April 1977) is an English professional golfer. He has played on the European Tour since 2003.
 * George Pilkington (born 7 November 1981) is an English former professional footballer.

Nearby towns and cities
• Burton upon Trent

• Burntwood

• Hednesford

• Stafford

• Lichfield

• Uttoxeter

• Birmingham

• Walsall

• Stone

• Stoke-on-Trent

• Tamworth

• Wolverhampton

Villages
• Abbots Bromley

• Admaston

• Armitage

• Bellamour

• Blithbury

• Colton

• Colwich

• Great Haywood

• Hamstall Ridware

• Handsacre

• Hill Ridware

• Kings Bromley

• Little Haywood

• Longdon

• Mavesyn Ridware

• Pipe Ridware

• Rake End

• Stockwell Heath

• Upper Longdon

Other
• Blithfield Reservoir

• Brindley Heath

• Chasewater

• Shugborough

• Wolseley Centre

• Cannock Chase

Twin town
Rugeley is twinned with:

 * Western Springs, Illinois 🇺🇸

title: Rugeley


text:
Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English writer-director with a career spanning film, theatre and television. He has received numerous accolades, including prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, three BAFTA Awards, and nominations for seven Academy Awards. He also received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2014, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry.

Leigh studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. His short-lived acting career included the role of a mute in the 1963 Maigret episode "The Flemish Shop". He began working as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s, before transitioning to making televised plays and films for BBC Television in the 1970s and '80s. Leigh is known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques with actors to build characters and narrative for his films. His purpose is to capture reality and present "emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films".

Leigh's early films include Bleak Moments (1971), Meantime (1983), Life Is Sweet (1990), and Naked (1993). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Secrets & Lies (1996). He received further Oscar nominations for Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004), and Another Year (2010). Other notable films include All or Nothing (2002), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Mr. Turner (2014), and Peterloo (2018). His stage plays include Smelling A Rat, It's A Great Big Shame, Greek Tragedy, Goose-Pimples, Ecstasy and Abigail's Party.

Early life and education
Leigh was born to Phyllis Pauline (née Cousin) and Alfred Abraham Leigh, a doctor. Leigh was born at Brocket Hall in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, at the time a maternity home. His mother, in her confinement, went to stay with her parents in Hertfordshire for comfort and support while her husband was serving as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Leigh was brought up in the Broughton area of Salford, Lancashire. He attended North Grecian Street Junior School. He is from a Jewish family; his paternal grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants who settled in Manchester. The family name, originally Lieberman, was anglicised in 1939 "for obvious reasons". When the war ended, Leigh's father began his career as a general practitioner in Higher Broughton, "the epicentre of Leigh's youngest years and the area memorialised in Hard Labour." Leigh went to Salford Grammar School, as did the director Les Blair, his friend, who produced Leigh's first feature film, Bleak Moments (1971). There was a strong tradition of drama in the all-boys school, and an English master, Mr Nutter, supplied the library with newly published plays.

Outside school, Leigh thrived in the Manchester branch of Labour Zionist youth movement Habonim. In the late 1950s, he attended summer camps and winter activities over the Christmas break all round the country. During this time the most important part of his artistic consumption was cinema, although this was supplemented by his discovery of Picasso, Surrealism, The Goon Show, and even family visits to the Hallé Orchestra and the D'Oyly Carte. His father strongly opposed the idea that Leigh might become an artist or an actor. He forbade him his frequent habit of sketching visitors who came to the house and regarded him as a problem child because of his creative interests. In 1960, "to his utter astonishment", Leigh won a scholarship to RADA. Initially trained as an actor at RADA, Leigh started to hone his directing skills at East 15 Acting School, where he met the actress Alison Steadman.

Leigh responded negatively to RADA's agenda, finding himself being taught how to "laugh, cry and snog" for weekly rep purposes, and became a sullen student. He later attended Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (in 1963), the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique on Charlotte Street. When he had arrived in London, one of the first films he had seen was Shadows (1959), an improvised film by John Cassavetes, in which a cast of unknowns was observed "living, loving and bickering" on the streets of New York, and Leigh "felt it might be possible to create complete plays from scratch with a group of actors". Other influences from this time included Harold Pinter's The Caretaker—"Leigh was mesmerised by the play and the (Arts Theatre) production"—Samuel Beckett, whose novels he read avidly, and Flann O'Brien, whose "tragi-comedy" Leigh found particularly appealing. Influential and important productions he saw in this period included Beckett's Endgame, Peter Brook's King Lear and in 1965 Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade, a production developed through improvisation, the actors basing their characterisations on people they had visited in a mental hospital. The visual worlds of Picasso, Ronald Searle, George Grosz, and William Hogarth exerted another kind of influence. Leigh had small roles in several British films in the early 1960s (West 11, Two Left Feet), and played a young deaf-mute, interrogated by Rupert Davies, in the BBC Television series Maigret. In 1964–65, he collaborated with David Halliwell, and designed and directed the first production of Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs at the Unity Theatre.

Leigh has been called "a gifted cartoonist ... a northerner who came south, slightly chippy, fiercely proud (and critical) of his roots and Jewish background; and he is a child of the 1960s and of the explosion of interest in the European cinema and the possibilities of television."

1965–1979: Plays and television films
In 1965, Leigh went to work at the Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham as a resident assistant director and started to experiment with the idea that writing and rehearsing could be part of the same process. The Box Play, a family scenario staged in a cagelike box, "absorbed all sorts of contemporary ideas in art such as the space frames of Roland Pichet..it was visually very exciting," and two more "improvised" pieces followed.

After the Birmingham interlude, Leigh found a flat in Euston, where he lived for the next ten years. In 1966–67, he worked as an assistant director with the Royal Shakespeare Company on productions of Macbeth, Coriolanus, and The Taming of the Shrew. He worked on an improvised play of his own with some professional actors called NENAA (an acronym for "North East New Arts Association"), which explored the fantasies of a Tynesider working in a café, with ideas of founding an arts association in the northeast.

In 1970, Leigh wrote, "I saw that we must start off with a collection of totally unrelated characters (each one the specific creation of its actor) and then go through a process in which I must cause them to meet each other, and build a network of real relationships; the play would be drawn from the results." After Stratford-upon-Avon, Leigh directed a couple of London drama school productions that included Thomas Dekker's The Honest Whore at E15 Acting School in Loughton—where he met Alison Steadman for the first time. In 1968, wanting to return to Manchester, he sublet his London flat and moved to Levenshulme. Taking up a part-time lectureship in a Catholic women teachers training college, Sedgley Park, he ran a drama course and devised and directed Epilogue, focusing on a priest with doubts, and for the Manchester Youth Theatre he devised and directed two big-cast projects, Big Basil and Glum Victoria and the Lad with Specs.

As the decade came to a close, Leigh knew he wanted to make films, and that "The manner of working was at last fixed. There would be discussions and rehearsals. Plays or films would develop organically with actors fully liberated into the creative process. After an exploratory improvisation period, Leigh would write a structure, indicating the order in which scenes happened, usually with a single bare sentence: Johnny and Sophie meet; Betty does Joy's hair; [etc.] And it was rehearsed and rehearsed until it achieved the required quality of 'finish'."

In the 1970s, Leigh made nine television plays. Earlier plays such as Nuts in May (1976) and Abigail's Party (1977) tended more toward bleak yet humorous satire of middle-class manners and attitudes. His plays are generally more caustic, stridently trying to depict society's banality. Goose-Pimples and Abigail's Party focus on the vulgar middle class in a convivial party setting that spirals out of control. The television version of Abigail's Party was made at some speed; Steadman was pregnant at the time, and Leigh's objections to flaws in the production, particularly the lighting, led to his preference for theatrical films.

1980–1993: Early British films
In 1983, Leigh directed the comedy-drama film Meantime, starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. The project was shown on Channel 4 and premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. For The Criterion Collection, Sean O'Sullivan wrote that the film was addressing "the crisis of national identity triggered by Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979".

There was something of a hiatus in Leigh's career after his father died in February 1985. Leigh was in Australia at the time—having agreed to attend a screenwriters' conference in Melbourne at the start of 1985, he had then accepted an invitation to teach at the Australian Film School in Sydney—and he then "buried his solitude and sense of loss in a busy round of people, publicity and talks". He gradually extended "the long journey home", visiting Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. He has said, "The whole thing was an amazing, unforgettable period in my life. But it was all to do with personal feelings, my father, where to go next, and my desire to make a feature film. I felt I was at the end of one stage of my career and at the start of another."

Leigh's 1986 project code-named "Rhubarb", for which he had gathered actors in Blackburn, including Jane Horrocks, Julie Walters and David Thewlis, was cancelled after seven weeks' rehearsals, and Leigh returned home. "The nature of what I do is totally creative, and you have to get in there and stick with it. The tension between the bourgeois suburban and the anarchist bohemian that is in my work is obviously in my life, too...I started to pull myself together. I didn't work, I simply stayed at home and looked after the boys." In 1987 Channel 4 put up some money for a short film and, with Portman Productions, agreed to co-produce Leigh's first feature film since Bleak Moments.

In 1988, Leigh and producer Simon Channing Williams founded Thin Man Films, a film production company based in London, to produce Leigh's films. They chose the company name because neither of them was thin. Later in 1988, Leigh made High Hopes, about a disjointed working-class family whose members live in a rundown flat and a council house. His later films, such as Naked and Vera Drake, are somewhat starker and more brutal, and concentrate more on the working class. His stage plays include Smelling A Rat, It's A Great Big Shame, Greek Tragedy, Goose-Pimples, Ecstasy, and Abigail's Party.

In the 1990s, Leigh enjoyed critical successes, including such films as the comedy Life Is Sweet (1990) starring Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Claire Skinner, and Jane Horrocks. It was his third feature film, and follows a working-class North London family over a few summer weeks. Film critic Philip French in The Observer defended the film against criticism that it was patronising: "Leigh has been called patronising. The charge is false. The Noël Coward/David Lean film This Happy Breed, evoked by Leigh in several panning shots across suburban back gardens, is patronising. Coward and Lean pat their characters on the back...Leigh shakes them, hugs them, sometimes despairs over them, but never thinks that they are other than versions of ourselves." Independent Spirit Awards nominated Life Is Sweet for Best International Film.

Leigh's fourth feature film was the black comedy Naked (1993), starring David Thewlis. It premiered at the 46th Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won Best Director for Leigh and Best Actor for Thewlis. Derek Malcolm of The Guardian wrote that the film "is certainly Leigh's most striking piece of cinema to date" and that "it tries to articulate what is wrong with the society that Mrs Thatcher claims does not exist."

1996–2009: International recognition
In 1996, Leigh directed his fifth feature film, the drama Secrets & Lies (1996). Its ensemble cast included Leigh regulars Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The film premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Palme d'Or and the Best Actress award for Blethyn. It was a financial and critical success. Film critic Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave Secrets & Lies four out of four stars, writing, "moment after moment, scene after scene, Secrets & Lies unfolds with the fascination of eavesdropping". He called the film "a flowering of his technique. It moves us on a human level, it keeps us guessing during scenes as unpredictable as life, and it shows us how ordinary people have a chance of somehow coping with their problems, which are rather ordinary, too." In 2009, Ebert added the film to his "Great Movies" list. It received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

He followed that success with Career Girls (1997) and Topsy-Turvy (1999), a period drama about the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The anger inherent in Leigh's material, in some ways typical of the Thatcher years, softened after her departure from the political scene. In 2005, Leigh returned to directing for the stage after many years with a new play, Two Thousand Years, at the Royal National Theatre. The play deals with divisions within a left-wing secular Jewish family when one of the younger members finds religion. It was the first time Leigh had drawn on his Jewish background for material. In 2002, Leigh directed the working-class drama All or Nothing. The same year, he became chairman for his alma mater, London Film School. He remained chair until March 2018, when he was succeeded by Greg Dyke.

In 2004, he directed his ninth feature film, Vera Drake, a period film about a working-class woman (Imelda Staunton) who performs illegal abortions during the 1950s. The film premiered at the 61st Venice International Film Festival to rapturous reviews, winning the Golden Lion for Best Film and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for Staunton. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 92% with the consensus, "with a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion." The film received 11 British Academy Film Award nominations, winning three awards, for Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Costume Design. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards, for Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.

In 2008, Leigh released a modern-day comedy, Happy-Go-Lucky, starring Sally Hawkins. It debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival, where Hawkins won the Silver Bear for Best Actress. The film was a critical success, with many praising Hawkins's performance. She received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. The same year, Leigh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

2010–present
In 2010, Leigh released his film Another Year, starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, and Lesley Manville. It premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or. The film was shown at the 54th London Film Festival before its general British release date on 5 November 2010. The film was also a success in the U.S., with Ebert giving the film his highest rating, four out of four stars, and writing, "Not quite every year brings a new Mike Leigh film, but the years that do are blessed with his sympathy, penetrating observation, and instinct for human comedy...Leigh's 'Another Year' is like a long, purifying soak in empathy." At the 83rd Academy Awards, Leigh was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, losing to The King's Speech.

In 2012, Leigh was selected to be jury president of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Leigh released his 12th feature film, the biographical period film Mr. Turner (2014), based on the life and artworks of J. M. W. Turner, portrayed by Timothy Spall. The film premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won rave reviews, with many critics praising Spall's performance. Spall received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the film won the Vulcan Award for its cinematography by Dick Pope. Observer critic Mark Kermode called the film a "portrait of a man wrestling light with his hands as if it were a physical element: tangible, malleable, corporeal". That year, Leigh joined The Hollywood Reporter for an hourlong roundtable discussion with other directors who had made films that year: Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Angelina Jolie (Unbroken), and Christopher Nolan (Interstellar). Mr. Turner received Academy Award nominations for Cinematography, Production Design, and Costume Design.

In 2015, Leigh accepted an offer from English National Opera to direct the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance (with conductor David Parry, designer Alison Chitty, and starring Andrew Shore, Rebecca de Pont Davies and Jonathan Lemalu). The production then toured Europe, visiting Luxembourg (Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg), Caen (Théâtre de Caen) and Saarländisches Staatstheater. In 2018, Leigh released another historical feature, Peterloo, based on the 1819 Peterloo Massacre. The film was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival. It was distributed in the UK by Entertainment One and in the US by Amazon Video. It received mixed reviews; The New York Times called it a "brilliant and demanding film".

In February 2020, it was reported that Leigh would begin shooting his latest film in the summer. After a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced that the film, Hard Truths, would go into production in 2023. Set in contemporary times, it stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin.

Style
Leigh uses lengthy improvisations developed over several weeks to build characters and storylines for his films. He starts with some ideas of how he thinks things might develop, but does not reveal all his intentions to the cast, who gradually discover their fates and act out their responses. Initial preparation is in private with Leigh, and then the actors are introduced to each other in the order that their characters would have met in their lives. Intimate moments are explored that will not even be referred to in the final film to build insight and understanding of history, character and personal motivation. When an improvisation needs to be stopped, he tells the actors, "Come out of character", before they discuss what happened or might have happened in a situation. According to critic Michael Coveney, Leigh's films and stage plays "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period."

Final filming is more traditional as a definite sense of story, action and dialogue is then in place. Leigh reminds the cast of material from the improvisations that he hopes to capture on film. "The world of the characters and their relationships is brought into existence by discussion and a great amount of improvisation ... And research into anything and everything that will fill out the authenticity of the character." After months of rehearsal, or "preparing for going out on location to make up a film", Leigh writes a shooting script, a bare scenario. Then, on location, after further "real rehearsing", the script is finalized: "I'll set up an improvisation, ... I'll analyse and discuss it, ... we'll do another and I'll ... refine and refine... until the actions and dialogue are totally integrated. Then we shoot it."

In an interview with Laura Miller, Leigh said, "I make very stylistic films indeed, but style doesn't become a substitute for truth and reality. It's an integral, organic part of the whole thing." He strives to depict ordinary life, "real life", unfolding under extenuating circumstances. He has said, "I'm not an intellectual filmmaker. These are emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films. And there's a feeling of despair...I think there's a feeling of chaos and disorder." Of the criticism Naked received, Leigh said: "The criticism comes from the kind of quarters where 'political correctness' in its worst manifestation is rife. It's this kind of naive notion of how we should be in an unrealistic and altogether unhealthily over-wholesome way."

Leigh's characters often struggle "to express inexpressible feelings. Words are important, but rarely enough. The art of evasion and failure in communication certainly comes from Pinter, whom Leigh acknowledges as an important influence. He especially admires Pinter's earliest work and directed The Caretaker while still at RADA."

Leigh has helped to create stars—Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life Is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked—and has said that the list of actors who have worked with him—including Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, and Julie Walters—"comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent." His sensibility has been compared to those of Yasujirō Ozu and Federico Fellini. In The New York Review of Books, Ian Buruma wrote: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo."

Influences
Leigh has cited Jean Renoir and Satyajit Ray among his favourite film makers. In a 1991 interview, he also cited Frank Capra, Fritz Lang, Yasujirō Ozu and even Jean-Luc Godard, "until the late '60s." When pressed for British influences in that interview, he referred to the Ealing comedies, "despite their unconsciously patronizing way of portraying working-class people" and the early '60s British New Wave films. Asked for his favourite comedies, he replied, One, Two, Three, La règle du jeu and "any Keaton". The critic David Thomson has written that, with the camera work in his films characterised by "a detached, medical watchfulness", Leigh's aesthetic may justly be compared to Ozu's. Michael Coveney wrote: "The cramped domestic interiors of Ozu find many echoes in Leigh's scenes on stairways and in corridors and on landings, especially in Grown-Ups, Meantime and Naked. And two wonderful little episodes in Ozu's Tokyo Story, in a hairdressing salon and a bar, must have been in Leigh's subconscious memory when he made The Short and Curlies (1987), one of his most devastatingly funny pieces of work and the pub scene in Life Is Sweet".

Favourite films
In 2012, Leigh participated in that year's Sight & Sound film polls. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films. Leigh named the following ten:

Leigh participated again in the 2022 poll, selecting the following ten films:
 * American Madness (USA, 1932)
 * Barry Lyndon (UK/USA, 1975)
 * The Emigrants (Sweden, 1970)
 * How a Mosquito Operates (USA, 1912)
 * I Am Cuba (Cuba, 1964)
 * Jules and Jim (France, 1962)
 * Radio Days (USA, 1987)
 * Songs from the Second Floor (Sweden, 2000)
 * Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953)
 * The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Italy, 1978)

 * How a Mosquito Operates (USA, 1912)
 * Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953)
 * The 400 Blows (France, 1959)
 * Some Like It Hot (USA, 1959)
 * The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Italy, 1964)
 * Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia, 1965)
 * Here Is Your Life (Sweden, 1966)
 * Barry Lyndon (UK/USA, 1975)
 * Songs from the Second Floor (Sweden, 2000)
 * The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania, 2005)

Personal life
In September 1973, Leigh married actress Alison Steadman. They have two sons. Steadman appeared in seven of his films and several of his plays, including Wholesome Glory and Abigail's Party. They divorced in 2001. Leigh then lived in central London with the actress Marion Bailey.

Political activism
Leigh is an atheist and a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK. He is also a republican (anti-monarchist). In 2014, Leigh publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign for UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable."

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Leigh signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, calling him "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsing him in the 2019 UK general election. In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Leigh signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated: "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."

Accolades and honours
Leigh has been nominated at the Academy Awards seven times: twice each for Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake (Best Original Screenplay and Best Director) and once for Topsy-Turvy, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Another Year (Best Original Screenplay only). Leigh has also won several prizes at major European film festivals. Most notably, he won the Best Director award at Cannes for Naked in 1993 and the Palme d'Or in 1996 for Secrets & Lies. He won the Leone d'Oro for the best film at the International Venice Film Festival in 2004 with Vera Drake.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 Birthday Honours, for services to the film industry.

In 2002 he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Essex.

title: Mike Leigh


text:
Warlock (comics)

In comics, Warlock may refer to:

 * Warlock (New Mutants), a cybernetic alien member of the New Mutants superhero team in Marvel Comics
 * Warlock, a villain in the 1966 animated TV series The New Adventures of Superman
 * Adam Warlock, a space-traveling superhero in Marvel Comics
 * Maha Yogi, a Marvel Comics character who has also gone by the names Warlock and Mad Merlin

title: Warlock (comics)


text:
Talk:Customer-premises equipment

My commandment, people!
Reduce jargon in opening sentence -Hemanshu 18:46, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Certified Professional Electrologist
Someone recently added this text, and I've removed it to here:

 * In Electrolysis a Board Certified Electrologist who has passed training and exam criteria established by The American Electrology Association and Educational Testing Service's The Chauncey Group Although established in The United States Of America, the CPE is a recognized credential all over the world.

I think they probably added it here because "CPE" hard-redirects here. It should instead go into a free-standing article and "CPE" should be turned from a hard-redirect into a disambiguation page.

Atlant 16:08, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

Isn't it "Customer Premise Equipment"?
I thought it was "Customer Premise Equipment". [sic] That is, the singular rather than the plural. It was back in the 1980's, anyway.

Erikb495 (talk) 09:18, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

Nevermind. I looked it up in the PDF (?) of the 1934 Communications Act. It is "Premises".

Erikb495 (talk) 09:51, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Customer-premises equipment