Famous Faces
Jo Brand
Jo Brand is an ex psychiatric nurse with a degree in Social Sciences (yep, the skiver's degree), who took up stand up comedy at the rather late age of twenty-nine, because she was too scared to do it when she was younger. After two years on the comedy circuit, she left her nursing job and gradually worked her way up the comedy ladder. She has had three telly series and been in such diverse programmes as 'Country File' and 'Question Time'. She has also done loads of radio including 'The News Quiz' and 'Desert Island Discs'. Unfortunately, her meagre talents do not extend to singing, as evidenced by her early exit from 'Comic Relief Does Fame Academy', although this allowed her to do Trinny and Susannah and become a contemporary fashion icon, with many of her outfits coming from a skip in Anne Widdecombe's garden.
She agreed to do 'The Pirates Of Penzance' in a moment of weakness after a couple of sherries and would like to apologise in advance for her mediocre to dreadful performance. She is happily married. Unfortunately, her husband isn't!
She agreed to do 'The Pirates Of Penzance' in a moment of weakness after a couple of sherries and would like to apologise in advance for her mediocre to dreadful performance. She is happily married. Unfortunately, her husband isn't!
Also performed in
- The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan (Mon, 18 Feb 2008)
Robert Powell
Robert is currently starring as 'Mark Williams' in HOLBY CITY for the BBC.
Robert's extensive theatre credits include repertory seasons at Stoke, Scarborough and Bolton; A SMASHING DAY at the Arts Theatre; UBU ROI and PIRATES at The Royal Court Theatre; HAMLET at The Leeds Playhouse; THE LADY FROM THE SEA (Greenwich Theatre); GLASSTOWN (Prospect Theatre Company); TRAVESTIES by Tom Stoppard for The Royal Shakespeare Company; TERRA NOVE at the Watford Palace Theatre; PRIVATE DICK at the Whitehall Theatre and TOVARICH at the Chichester Festival Theatre and a season in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre. He starred in SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE MUSICAL at the Bristol Old Vic and then on a national tour and played Louis Mazzini in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS and starred with Suzannah York in DOUBLE DOUBLE on national tours. In the spring of 2002 he played Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt in a tour of Alan Bennett's SINGLE SPIES alongside Liza Goddard, and in 2003 toured THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, playing Lord Henry.
For his portrayal of 'Jesus' in Franco Zefferelli's JESUS OF NAZARETH, Robert received Best Actor awards from TV Times and Italian TV Times, The International Arts Prize at the Fiuggi Film Festival, Grand Prize at the Saint-Vincent Film Festival and a nomination as Best Actor from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Other television appearances include DOOMWATCH, the title role in the 1971 BBC TV film SHELLEY, 'Jude' in JUDE THE OBSCURE, MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION, YOU NEVER CAN TELL, MR ROLLS AND MR ROYCE, LOOKING FOR CLANCY, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, PYGMALION etc. etc. He starred in the 10 part TV serial, SHAKA ZULU, played 'Richard Hannay' in two series of HANNAY for Thames Television, starred as 'Cortez' in the world TV premiere of Arthur Miller's THE GOLDEN YEARS and recently filmed a two hour pilot for a TV series set in South Africa, PRIDE OF AFRICA. Robert has made five series of the BBC TV comedy series THE DETECTIVES.
US television credits include THE FOUR FEATHERS (NBC), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (CBS), FRANKENSTEIN (Showtime) and an adaptation of Solzhenitsyn's THE FIRST CIRCLE for US and Canadian TV playing the lead role of Gleb Nerzhin.
Robert's many film appearances include SECRETS, RUNNING SCARED, THE ASPHYX, Liliana Cavani's BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, Merchant Ivory's JANE AUSTEN IN MANHATTAN, Sergio Nasca's D'ANNUNZIO, THE SURVIVOR, THE JIGSAW MAN, Krzyzstof Zanussi's THE LONG CONVERSATION WITH A BIRD, Dale Bradley's acclaimed New Zealand film CHUNUK BAIR and THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. For Ken Russell, he played the title role in MAHLER and 'Captain Walker' in TOMMY and was 'Richard Hannay' in THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS. He won Best Actor Award at the Paris Film Festival for HARLEQUIN and was adjudged Best Actor at Venice Film Festival for his performance in IMPERATIVE, directed by Krzystof Zanussi.
Robert's extensive theatre credits include repertory seasons at Stoke, Scarborough and Bolton; A SMASHING DAY at the Arts Theatre; UBU ROI and PIRATES at The Royal Court Theatre; HAMLET at The Leeds Playhouse; THE LADY FROM THE SEA (Greenwich Theatre); GLASSTOWN (Prospect Theatre Company); TRAVESTIES by Tom Stoppard for The Royal Shakespeare Company; TERRA NOVE at the Watford Palace Theatre; PRIVATE DICK at the Whitehall Theatre and TOVARICH at the Chichester Festival Theatre and a season in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre. He starred in SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE MUSICAL at the Bristol Old Vic and then on a national tour and played Louis Mazzini in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS and starred with Suzannah York in DOUBLE DOUBLE on national tours. In the spring of 2002 he played Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt in a tour of Alan Bennett's SINGLE SPIES alongside Liza Goddard, and in 2003 toured THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, playing Lord Henry.
For his portrayal of 'Jesus' in Franco Zefferelli's JESUS OF NAZARETH, Robert received Best Actor awards from TV Times and Italian TV Times, The International Arts Prize at the Fiuggi Film Festival, Grand Prize at the Saint-Vincent Film Festival and a nomination as Best Actor from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Other television appearances include DOOMWATCH, the title role in the 1971 BBC TV film SHELLEY, 'Jude' in JUDE THE OBSCURE, MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION, YOU NEVER CAN TELL, MR ROLLS AND MR ROYCE, LOOKING FOR CLANCY, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, PYGMALION etc. etc. He starred in the 10 part TV serial, SHAKA ZULU, played 'Richard Hannay' in two series of HANNAY for Thames Television, starred as 'Cortez' in the world TV premiere of Arthur Miller's THE GOLDEN YEARS and recently filmed a two hour pilot for a TV series set in South Africa, PRIDE OF AFRICA. Robert has made five series of the BBC TV comedy series THE DETECTIVES.
US television credits include THE FOUR FEATHERS (NBC), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (CBS), FRANKENSTEIN (Showtime) and an adaptation of Solzhenitsyn's THE FIRST CIRCLE for US and Canadian TV playing the lead role of Gleb Nerzhin.
Robert's many film appearances include SECRETS, RUNNING SCARED, THE ASPHYX, Liliana Cavani's BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, Merchant Ivory's JANE AUSTEN IN MANHATTAN, Sergio Nasca's D'ANNUNZIO, THE SURVIVOR, THE JIGSAW MAN, Krzyzstof Zanussi's THE LONG CONVERSATION WITH A BIRD, Dale Bradley's acclaimed New Zealand film CHUNUK BAIR and THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. For Ken Russell, he played the title role in MAHLER and 'Captain Walker' in TOMMY and was 'Richard Hannay' in THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS. He won Best Actor Award at the Paris Film Festival for HARLEQUIN and was adjudged Best Actor at Venice Film Festival for his performance in IMPERATIVE, directed by Krzystof Zanussi.
John Savident
John Savident was born in Guernsey of a Swiss Mother and made his debut in 1961.
In the course of his career he has played principal roles in some fifteen musicals. They include Peachum in Richard Eyre’s production of
The Beggar’s Opera and Otto Preminger in Jean Seberg directed by Peter Hall, both at the Royal National Theatre. He created the role of Mr. Duncalf in The Card (Queens) and was M. Firmin in the original cast of The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s). At Chichester he played Edward Moulton Barratt in Robert and Elizabeth and Daddy Warbucks in Annie at Sheffield. On television he was in The Merry Widow and The Various Ends of Mrs. F’s Friends, the latter directed by Gillian Lynne. He played at Windsor Castle before Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family in a private performance of a Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical Cricket directed by TrevorNunn, commissioned by H.R.H. Prince Edward for the Queen’s Birthday. He made five appearances with the Halle Orchestra including concert versions of two Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.Other Theatre: At the Royal National Theatre his appearances include
Saint Joan, Mandragola, A Little Hotel on the Side, Animal Farm, Coriolanus, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and his one-man show Jerome K. Jerome. At the Old Vic he was in Ivanov, Twelfth Night, The Lady’s Not for Burning and The Trial of Queen Caroline and for Jonathan Miller One Way Pendulum. Other London appearances include The Portage to San Cristobel of A.H. (Mermaid) and co-starring with Richard Harris in Pirandello’s Henry IV (Wyndham’s). Theatre outside London includes the British premiere of Sweet Bird of Youth (Watford), Shylock in a Far East tour of The Merchant of Venice, Oleg Tabarkov’s production of The Government Inspector(Crucible), Clifford William’s production of She Stoops to Conquer (Tour) and Terry Hand’s production of Hadrian VII (Chichester and Tour). John is currently starring as ‘Hobson’ in Hobson’s Choice (Chichester and Tour) directed by Jonathan Church.Television includes:
Middlemarch, Moll Flanders, Sharpe, Lovejoy, Jane In The Desert, Parnell and the English Woman, The Cleopatras, Clapperclaw, Jeeves and Wooster, Blake’s Seven, Boon, Pyrates, Doctor Who, The Saint, Department S, The Adventurer, Man In A Suitcase, The Avengers, The Professionals, The Mystery of the Missing Schoolgirls, Tightrope, David Copperfield, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Rasputin, The Silent Twins, The Inquest of Christopher Marlowe, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Yes, Minister, Aladdin (his first and only Dame!) and Coronation Street for which he received four awards. The Law Society of U.C.D. inducted him as an Honorary Life-Member, and he was made a Freeman of the City of London.Films include:
Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris, Brain Donors, Tom and Viv, Remains Of The Day, Little Dorrit, Summer Story, Ghandi, Trial by Combat, Heart of Darkness, Before Winter Comes, The Wicked Lady, Oliver Twist, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, A Clockwork Orange.
Julian Lloyd Webber
Widely regarded as one of the most creative musicians of his generation, Julian Lloyd Webber has collaborated with an extraordinary array of musicians from Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner and Georg Solti to Stephane Grappelli, Elton John and Cleo Laine. Julian has made many outstanding recordings, including his Brit-Award winning Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin (chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine) and more than fifty premier recordings of contemporary music.
Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward was born in Croydon, Surrey. He is best known for his role in the 1960's spy series, Callan, and also for his lead role in The Equalizer. Other appearances include cult 1973 film The Wicker Man and the BBC drama series, Messiah. He also had minor success as a singer, including appearing and using his voice to good effect as a 'turn' in the BBC's Victorian era music hall programme, The Good Old Days. He joined forces with Raymond Gubbay in 2005 when he presented the 'Battle of Trafalgar Proms' in both Birmingham and Manchester.
Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman has had a long and varied career in films, television and theatre, although everyone particularly remembers 'Cathy Gale', the original partner of Steed in THE AVENGERS, and 'Pussy Galore' in the Bond film GOLDFINGER. Her many other films include LIFE AT THE TOP, MOMENT TO MOMENT, QUARTET, SO LONG AT THE FAIR and THE VIRGIN AND THE GYPSY.
Honor's stage appearances have been many. Her West End appearances include WAIT UNTIL DARK, WHO KILLED SANTA CLAUS? and THE DEEP BLUE SEA. At the Apollo Victoria Theatre Honor appeared as 'Elsa Schraeder' in THE SOUND OF MUSIC Last year Honor played Mrs Higgins in MY FAIR LADY for Cameron Mackintosh, and toured with Francis Matthews in THE KINGFISHER. She has just finished performing the role of Fraulein Schneider in CABARET. Honor's forth one woman show, WORD OF HONOR continues to tour nationally.
Honor has been seen by television audiences in many roles including 'Laura West' in six series of the highly successful comedy THE UPPER HAND. Other appearances in recent years have included playing the role of 'Joy Adamson' in the feature film TO WALK WITH LIONS, as herself in THE ARMANDO IANUCCI SHOW, a guest lead in the BBC serial DOCTORS, Margaret Smith in THE SIGHT for Twentieth Century Fox and Penny Husband-Bosworth in BRIDGET JONES' DIARY for Working Title Films.
Earlier this year Honor was a jury member in BBC1 's THE VERDICT and filmed a new comedy pilot SOUND for the BBC.
Honor will be presenting our Silver Screen Classics concerts which are taking place at the Barbican in London, The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Birmingham's Symphony Hall over the festive season.
Honor's stage appearances have been many. Her West End appearances include WAIT UNTIL DARK, WHO KILLED SANTA CLAUS? and THE DEEP BLUE SEA. At the Apollo Victoria Theatre Honor appeared as 'Elsa Schraeder' in THE SOUND OF MUSIC Last year Honor played Mrs Higgins in MY FAIR LADY for Cameron Mackintosh, and toured with Francis Matthews in THE KINGFISHER. She has just finished performing the role of Fraulein Schneider in CABARET. Honor's forth one woman show, WORD OF HONOR continues to tour nationally.
Honor has been seen by television audiences in many roles including 'Laura West' in six series of the highly successful comedy THE UPPER HAND. Other appearances in recent years have included playing the role of 'Joy Adamson' in the feature film TO WALK WITH LIONS, as herself in THE ARMANDO IANUCCI SHOW, a guest lead in the BBC serial DOCTORS, Margaret Smith in THE SIGHT for Twentieth Century Fox and Penny Husband-Bosworth in BRIDGET JONES' DIARY for Working Title Films.
Earlier this year Honor was a jury member in BBC1 's THE VERDICT and filmed a new comedy pilot SOUND for the BBC.
Honor will be presenting our Silver Screen Classics concerts which are taking place at the Barbican in London, The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Birmingham's Symphony Hall over the festive season.
Also performed in
- Silver Screen Classics (Fri, 28 Dec 2007)
Peter Snow
Peter Snow was born in Dublin and studied at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1962 he joined ITN as a script-writer and reporter, remaining there until 1979 when he joined the BBC as one of the first presenters of Newsnight, going on to cover elections and other live political events for the BBC until 2005. Since then he has become one of the BBC's best-known faces, presenting Tomorrow's World, the America's Cup programme for BBC Sport, The Abyss for BBC Natural History and What the World thinks of America as well as Battlefield Britain in which he worked alongside his son, Dan. Peter is married with six children, and enjoys sailing, skiing, and model railways.
Rula Lenska
Rula Lenska is a British actress, of Polish descent, who notoriously became famous in the US by pretending to be famous in a series of commercials. She has since appeared in many television roles, including Special Branch, Doctor Who and Eastenders. Rula joins us on tour for our 2005 Christmas Festival, where she will be appearing alongside the London Gay Men's Chorus, for their Make the Yuletide Gay showcase.
Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon has one of the best-known faces and voices in British Broadcasting. Since her very first television broadcast for BBC Plymouth on September 5th 1966, the career of this award winning journalist has embraced an impressive variety of programmes on both radio and television for both commercial and BBC stations, in Britain and America. The scope and quality of her work has been recognised by The Royal Television Society who have entered her on their Roll Of Honour.
Until September 2005 Angela presented her own Saturday and Sunday morning show on the ITV News Channel, Live with Angela Rippon. She has also recently fronted special reports for ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald and for Channel 5 News and she was one of the anchors for ITV News' coverage of the war in Iraq. While her work has mainly been centred on her first love of News and Current Affairs, Angela is equally at home presenting programmes in a lighter vein ranging from the arts to quiz programmes. She is currently filming her second series of Sun, Sea & Bargain Spotting for BBC2 which is due for transmission in spring 2007.
In August 2000, Angela was appointed Chairman of the English National Ballet. She was named European Woman of Achievement 2002 and in June 2004 she was awarded the OBE for services to broadcasting, the arts and charity.
Until September 2005 Angela presented her own Saturday and Sunday morning show on the ITV News Channel, Live with Angela Rippon. She has also recently fronted special reports for ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald and for Channel 5 News and she was one of the anchors for ITV News' coverage of the war in Iraq. While her work has mainly been centred on her first love of News and Current Affairs, Angela is equally at home presenting programmes in a lighter vein ranging from the arts to quiz programmes. She is currently filming her second series of Sun, Sea & Bargain Spotting for BBC2 which is due for transmission in spring 2007.
In August 2000, Angela was appointed Chairman of the English National Ballet. She was named European Woman of Achievement 2002 and in June 2004 she was awarded the OBE for services to broadcasting, the arts and charity.
Lesley Joseph
Lesley Joseph has established herself as a very successful British actress on both television and the stage, but she will always be most remembered as the notorious Dorian Green, whom she played for almost ten years in the BBC comedy 'Birds of a Feather'. February 2006 saw Lesley join Raymond Gubbay to host our 'In the Mood for Valentine's Day' concerts in Nottingham and Basingstoke.
Carol Vorderman
Carol grew up in Wales, and went on to graduate from Cambridge University, where she read Engineering. Making her name as both an author and television presenter, she is best known for her work on the Channel 4 game show 'Countdown'. She was awarded an MBE in June 2000. Carol joined us in December 2005, when she starred as presenter of the BT Christmas Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
