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1-8 of 8
- Anna Keaveney was born on 5 October 1949 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Formula 51 (2001), Vera Drake (2004) and Ali G Indahouse (2002). She died on 20 November 2004 in London, England, UK.
- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Susan Nickson was born in 1982 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. She is a writer and producer, known for Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001), Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything (2022) and Grownups (2006).- Keith Bell was born in 1940 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Island of Terror (1966), First Love (1970) and Boy Meets Girl (1967).
- Novelist and dramatist Hall Caine, though largely forgotten now, was a hugely popular writer in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Born Thomas Henry Hall Caine on May 14, 1853, in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, his father was a Manx Man who moved to Liverpool, where he apprenticed as a ship's smith. After Hall's birth (he hated the name Thomas and never used it, even after he was knighted), the family moved back to Liverpool, where young Hall grew up. Hall Caine frequently took many trips to visit the Caine family on the Isle of Man.
He was apprenticed to an architect and surveyor and plied his trade as a surveyor while self-educating himself through wide reading. He became a lecturer and theatrical critic, which introduced him to some influential people such as actor Sir Henry Irving and author Bram Stoker, who dedicated Dracula (1931) to him. He became the secretary, factotum and nurse to Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the last years of the great poet's life.
Aside from a memoir of Rossetti that sold well, Caine's early endeavors in serious literature met with little success. However, when he abandoned literary criticism for romantic fiction (in the Walter Scott vein), he became popular. "Shadow of a Crime", an 1885 novel featuring a love triangle, was a best-seller. In 1887 he published a critical book about Samuel Taylor Coleridge that failed, but his return to fiction that same year with The Deemster (1917), a romance set in the Isle of Man, was a hit (a deemster is a judge on the Isle of Man).
In all, he published 15 romantic novels over 40 years. Many had themes influenced by his Christian socialist political sympathies. His popularity was immense, and his 1897 novel "The Christian" (later made into a film, The Christian (1915)) was the first novel to sell over a million copies in the United Kingdom. In August 1902, when King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited the Isle of Man, Caine was invited on board the royal yacht as the royal couple toured the island (the queen was a fan). He was a major celebrity in his own right, as well as a celebrated author.
During World War One he wrote propaganda articles urging the United States to join the fight against Germany and her allies. He declined a baronetcy in 1917 but accepted a knighthood, insisting he be styled Sir Caine Hall. After the Great War his popularity began to decline, as his style was considered old-fashioned. His return to fiction in 1921 with "The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin", another romance set in the Isle of Man, did not reach the level of popular success he was accustomed to and was poorly received by critics. He was derided as Victorian.
Many of his novels were made into movies during the silent era. "The Manxman" was turned into The Manxman (1929), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The last film made from a Hall Caine property was The Bondman (1929), also released in 1929. Such was the decline of his reputation and popularity that no sound film has ever been made from his works.
Caine is little remembered today, as his novels are considered badly written; the characterizations are fuzzy and one plot is much like the other. In 1931 G.K. Chesterton wrote his literary epitaph: "Bad story writing is not a crime. Mr. Hall Caine walks the streets openly, and cannot be put in prison for an anticlimax."
He died on August 31, 1931, at the age of 78, the same year that Chesterton dismissed him as a bad writer. He was the father of Sir Derwent Hall Caine, 1st Baronet (1891-1971), actor, publisher and Labour politician. - Graham Rowe was born on 4 May 1926 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Herries Chronicle (1960), Sorry! (1981) and Killer's Moon (1978). He was married to Jill Cary. He died on 29 January 2001 in City of London, London, England, UK.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Steve work in many studios during his lifetime, Elstree, Bray, Shepperton, Twickenham, Isleworth and Pinewood to name a few. He started his career in the film industry in the late forties and his first major film was The African Queen (1951) filmed in Africa and at Shepperton and Isleworth studios.- Actress
Hilary Bamford was born on 7 May 1925 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for R3 (1964), Mrs Thursday (1966) and Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962). She was married to John Abineri. She died on 4 February 2013 in the UK.- Alistair Taylor was born on 21 June 1935 in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, UK. He was married to Lesley Gillibrand. He died on 9 June 2004 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, UK.