by Malcolm Pheby | Nov 23, 2019 | Celebrity, Liverpool
A ground-breaking moment for British television took the nation by storm on the evening of Tuesday November 1st 1977. It was a drama from the BBC’s Play for Today series, which often pushed TV boundaries by giving opportunities to bold new writers. But this time,...
by Malcolm Pheby | Nov 20, 2019 | Celebrity
Wednesday November 7th 1962 was a big night for dancers at the Mecca Casino in Ashton-under-Lyne. A very big night indeed! For regular club-goers were joined by an international film crew and one of the most popular British movie-stars of the 1960s – Tom Courtenay. He...
by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 9, 2019 | Celebrity, Manchester, Music
Forty five years ago this week, a budding solo singer from Openshaw, Manchester, was waiting to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in America. On the same programme in 1964 were a fresh-faced young band from Liverpool who were taking the music world by storm. The singer...
by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 31, 2019 | Celebrity, Liverpool, Movies
Actors and actresses have odd high points in their careers. Sometimes the most unusual roles or cameos attract the greatest public acclaim. So it was for double Oscar-winning actress Glenda Jackson, who made her name at the Royal Shakespeare Company after learning her...
by Malcolm Pheby | Aug 22, 2019 | Celebrity, Theatre
What do Ralph Fiennes, Minnie Driver, Dame Thora Hird and Eric Sykes all have common? It’s not Academy Awards or BAFTAS. Neither is it appearances in the same movies or TV shows. The link they share is much closer to home. It’s the Oldham Coliseum. All four spent part...
by Malcolm Pheby | Feb 14, 2019 | Celebrity, Manchester, Uncategorised
American tennis legend Billie Jean King smiled for the cameras, shouldered her rackets and made her way back to her Manchester hotel. There would be no play again in the 1964 Northern Lawn Tennis Tournament at Didsbury. A weekend of torrential rain meant the courts...
