List activity
1.3K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
66 people
- Academy Award-winning, legendary English actress - who maintained her status in the British acting elite for decades. Made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956. Almost always on stage, she appeared rarely in film, her first being The Wandering Jew (1933). On stage she was cast in many a Shakespearean role, but in film she usually played sympathetic characters. She won an Oscar for A Passage to India (1984), and her last TV film was She's Been Away (1989). She died from a stroke.Plot: Poets Corner
- Edmund Allenby was born in 1861 at Brackenhurst Hall, Nottinghamshire county, England, one of six children and the son of a country gentleman. His military service began when he entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1881 where he was commissioned into the Royal Cavalry and sent to South Africa a year later where, as a 2nd Lieutenant, he participated in Bechuanaland and Zululand military expeditions from 1884 to 1888. Allenby attended Staff College in 1896 and was given command of the Royal 3rd Cavalry Squadron which fought in the Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. He worked his way up the military ladder to Brigadier-General commanding the BEF calvary at the start of World War I in 1914. In May 1915 Allenby was promoted to full General and took over the 5th Corps, and later the 3rd Army in France. He led the British Cavalry at the Battle of Arras (April 9-May 3, 1917) until he was removed to Egypt to take over the British-Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine in June 1917, which saw the high point of his military career with the Battle of Beersheba (October 31-November 7) where he defeated the Turkish army in Palestine which led to the capture of Jerusalem on December 9. In 1918, Allenby led the Jordan Valley operations and launched the final offensive against the Turks at the Battle of Megiddo (September 19-30) which destroyed the last Turkish armies in Palestine and secured an armistice in October ending World War I in the Middle East. After the end of the war, Allenby was made Special High Commissioner for Egypt in March 1919, was promoted to Field Marshall in July, and created a Viscount in October, positions he held until he retired from the British army in 1925 and lived the rest of his life in London until his death in 1936.Plot: Nave
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Clement Attlee was one of Britain's most significant political figures. He was the leader of Britain's Labour Party from 1935-1955 and Deputy Prime Minister of the UK during the wartime coalition against Nazi Germany (1940-45). He won a landslide victory in the 1945 general election, defeating Churchill, and while Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1945-1951) he established the National Health Service and India gained Independence from the British empire.Plot: North aisle
- Stanley Baldwin was born on 3 August 1867 in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England, UK. He died on 14 December 1947 in Astley Hall, Worcestershire, England, UK.Plot: Cremated at Golders Green, buried in the Nave
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Michael William Balfe was born on 15 May 1808 in Dublin, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]. He was a writer, known for Chaplin (1992), The Bohemian Girl (1936) and The Bohemian Girl (1922). He was married to Magdalena Roser. He died on 20 October 1870 in Romney Abbey, Hampshire, England, UK.Plot: North Choir- Francis Beaumont was born in 1584. Francis was a writer, known for The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1938). Francis died in 1616.Plot: Poets Corner, name on Abraham Cowley's grave marker, actual grave is unmarked [unmarked]
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Ernest Bevin was born on 9 March 1881 in Winsford, Somerset, England, UK. He died on 14 April 1951 in London, England, UK.Plot: Nave
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Writer
- Soundtrack
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 - 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humor, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax. His early long poems Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835) were acclaimed, but his reputation dwindled for a time - his 1840 poem Sordello was seen as willfully obscure - and took over a decade to recover, by which time he had moved from Shelleyan forms to a more personal style. In 1846 he married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett and moved to Italy. By her death in 1861 he had published the collection Men and Women (1855). His Dramatis Personae (1864) and book-length epic poem The Ring and the Book (1868-1869) made him a leading poet. By his death in 1889 he was seen as a sage and philosopher-poet who had fed into Victorian social and political discourse. Societies for studying his work survived in Britain and the US into the 20th century.Plot: Poet's Corner, alongside Tennyson
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton was born on 25 May 1803 in London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1959), In the Name of Love (1925) and The Last Days of Pompeii (1913). He was married to Rosina Doyle Wheeler. He died on 18 January 1873 in Torquay, Devon, England, UK.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Lord Byron seemed destined from birth to tragedy. His father was the handsome but feckless Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron and his mother the Scottish heiress Catherine Gordon, the only child of the Laird of Gight.
Captain Byron abandoned his wife and child leaving Catherine to bring up young Byron on her own. A harsh and dependent parent, Catherine was just the wrong sort of person to raise a sensitive child, clinging to him one moment, and the next denouncing Byron as a "lame brat." Born with a club foot, Byron (no-one ever called him George) was kept separated from peers and his elder half-sister, Augusta, by his over-protective mother. At fourteen he fell in love with a neighbor, Mary Chaworth, and wrote love poetry to her. Byron was heartbroken, however, when he overheard Mary callously call him "that little lame boy" while talking to a friend.
Always deeply sensitive about his deformity, he finally received adequate medical care in his teens which corrected the problem. A hedonist in school, Byron was popular and outgoing, though by his own admission he did very little schoolwork. The publication of his poem, "Childe Harold", prompted Byron to remark famously, "I awoke one day to find myself famous." When a distant cousin died, Byron unexpectedly found himself heir to the baronetcy, at which point he became the 6th Baron Byron. The most popular person in Regency London, he wrote more poetry and carried on illicit affairs, most notably with Lady Caroline Lamb, who inspired one of his best and shortest poems: "Caro Lamb, Goddamn."
After the spectacular flaming disintegration of his relationship with Caroline, a woman stepped into his life who would become his greatest love and the cause of his eventual downfall -- his half-sister, Augusta. Augusta occupied the central place in his heart, and he wrote many passionate poems in her honor.
On April 15th, 1814, Augusta gave birth to Elizabeth Medora Leigh. Byron was ecstatic over the birth of the girl, who was nicknamed "Libby". The child bore the name Leigh, and Augusta's husband, her cousin Colonel George Leigh, apparently had no suspicions regarding her paternity. Libby herself claimed in her autobiography she was always a favorite of the Colonel's.
Augusta herself pressured her brother Byron to wed, in order to avert a scandal. He reluctantly chose the intelligent and confident Annabella Milbanke, a cousin of his old flame Caroline Lamb. Enamoured with her handsome husband, Annabella even became friendly with Augusta, but it was not long before her marriage began to fall apart. Byron treated her coldly, and was very disappointed when their only child, Ada Byron, was not a boy.
Byron went into self-imposed exile in Italy, though he remained in contact with Augusta. Byron befriended fellow rogue poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who had shocked the world by running away and living in sin with Mary Wollenstonecraft Godwin (better known as Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein"). Percy and Mary joined Byron for the summer at Geneva, accompanied by Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont. Byron and Claire had a brief romance, which resulted in daughter Allegra, who Byron raised himself. Allegra saw little of her mother, and referred to Byron's Italian mistress as "mamma". When Allegra died at the age of six in 1822, Claire was enraged and refused to have anything to do with Byron ever again. Depressed by both his daughter's death and the drowning of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron took up a new cause - that of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Summoning support, he arrived in Greece with weapons and supplies, but before he could join the fight, went down with a deadly fever. He died in 1824, and his last words were, "My daughter! My sister!"Plot: Poet's Corner- Neville Chamberlain was born on 18 March 1869 in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, UK. He was married to Anne de Vere Cole. He died on 9 November 1940 in Heckfield, Hampshire, England, UK.Plot: Just south of the nave altar (cremated at Golders Green)
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1343 in London, Kingdom of England [now UK]. He was a writer. He was married to Philippa Roet. He died on 25 October 1400 in London, Kingdom of England [now UK].Plot: Poets Corner, name is on Abraham Cowley's marker, actual grave is unmarked. [unmarked]- William Congreve was born on 24 January 1670. He was a writer, known for Beryl Reid (1977), BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950) and Drama (1977). He died on 19 January 1729.GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)
- Writer
- Actor
- Music Department
Noel Coward virtually invented the concept of Englishness for the 20th century. An astounding polymath - dramatist, actor, writer, composer, lyricist, painter, and wit -- he was defined by his Englishness as much as he defined it. He was indeed the first Brit pop star, the first ambassador of "cool Britannia." Even before his 1924 drugs-and-sex scandal of The Vortex, his fans were hanging out of their scarves over the theater balcony, imitating their idol's dress and repeating each "Noelism" with glee. Born in suburban Teddington on 16 December 1899, Coward was on stage by the age of six, and writing his first drama ten years later. A visit to New York in 1921 infused him with the pace of Broadway shows, and he injected its speed into staid British drama and music to create a high-octane rush for the jazz-mad, dance-crazy 1920s. Coward's style was imitated everywhere, as otherwise quite normal Englishmen donned dressing gowns, stuck cigarettes in long holders and called each other "dahling"; his revues propagated the message, with songs sentimental ("A Room With A View," "I'll See You Again") and satirical ("Mad Dogs and Englishmen," "Don't Put Your Daughter On the Stage, Mrs. Worthington"). His between-the-wars celebrity reached a peak in 1930 with "Private Lives," by which time he had become the highest earning author in the western world. With the onset of World War II he redefined the spirit of the country in films such as This Happy Breed (1944), In Which We Serve (1942), Blithe Spirit (1945) and, perhaps most memorably, Brief Encounter (1945). In the postwar period, Coward, the aging Bright Young Thing, seemed outmoded by the Angry Young Men, but, like any modern pop star, he reinvented himself, this time as a hip cabaret singer: "Las Vegas, Flipping, Shouts "More!" as Noel Coward Wows 'Em in Cafe Turn" enthused Variety. By the 1960s, his reappraisal was complete -- "Dad's Renaissance", called it -- and his "Hay Fever" was the first work by a living author to be produced at the National Theatre. He was knighted -- at last -- in 1970, and died in his beloved Jamaica on 26 March 1973. Since his death, his reputation has grown. There is never a point at which his plays are not being performed, or his songs being sung. A playwright, director, actor, songwriter, filmmaker, novelist, wit . . . was there nothing this man couldn't do? Born into a musical family he was soon treading the boards in various music hall shows where he met a young girl called Gertrude Lawrence, a friendship and working partnership that lasted until her death. His early writings were mainly short songs and sketches for the revue shows popular in the 1920s, but even his early works often contained touches of the genius to come ("Parisian Pierrot" 1923). He went on to write and star (with Gertie) in his own revues, but the whiff of scandal was never far away, such as that from the drug addict portrayed in "The Vortex." Despite his obvious homosexual lifestyle he was taken to the hearts of the people and soon grew into one of the most popular writer/performers of his time.Plot: Nave Memorial- Soundtrack
William Croft was born in December 1678 in Nether Ettington, Warwickshire, England, UK. William died on 14 August 1747 in Bath, Somerset, England, UK.Plot: Nave- George Nathaniel Curzon was born on 11 January 1859 in Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, England, UK. He was married to Grace Elvina Hinds and Mary Victoria Leiter. He died on 20 March 1925 in 1 Carlton House Terrace, London, England, UK.Plot: South aisle
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Plot: The North Choir ailse, close to Sir Isaac Newton
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Additional Crew
John Denham is known for The Glowing Hours (2012).Plot: Poets Corner, name is on Abraham Cowley's marker, actual grave is unmarked [unmarked]
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Charles Dickens' father was a clerk at the Naval Pay Office, and because of this the family had to move from place to place: Plymouth, London, Chatham. It was a large family and despite hard work, his father couldn't earn enough money. In 1823 he was arrested for debt and Charles had to start working in a factory, labeling bottles for six shillings a week. The economy eventually improved and Charles was able to go back to school. After leaving school, he started to work in a solicitor's office. He learned shorthand and started as a reporter working for the Morning Chronicle in courts of law and the House of Commons. In 1836 his first novel was published, "The Pickwick Papers". It was a success and was followed by more novels: "Oliver Twist" (1837), "Nicholas Nickleby" (1838-39) and "Barnaby Rudge" (1841). He traveled to America later that year and aroused the hostility of the American press by supporting the abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement. In 1858 he divorced his wife Catherine, who had borne him ten children. During the 1840s his social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage: novels like "David Copperfield" (1849-50), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1959) and "Great Expectations" (1860-61) only increased his fame and respect. His last novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", was never completed and was later published posthumously.Plot: Poets Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Actor
- Producer
Richard Dimbleby was born on 25 May 1913 in Richmond, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor and producer, known for Libel (1959), This Is the BBC (1959) and School for Sinners (1965). He died on 22 December 1965 in London, England, UK.Plot: Nave
memorial- Paul Dirac was born on 8 August 1902 in Bishopton, Bristol, England, UK. He was married to Margit Balazs. He died on 20 October 1984 in Tallahassee, Florida, USA.Plot: Nave Memorial
- Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, DL, JP, FRS was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire, and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish origin. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister.Cenotaph
- Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG (24 April 1882 - 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defense, and hence, the defeat of Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain.Plot: RAF Chapel with his wife Muriel Dowding
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Location Management
Michael Drayton is known for From Barbados with Love (2006).Plot: Poet's Corner- Plot: Poets Corner, name is on Abraham Cowley's marker, actual grave is unmarked [unmarked]
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Edward Elgar was born on June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, near Worcester, where his father named William Elgar, was a music shop owner and a piano technician. Elgar was the fourth of six children. He was self-taught in all musical instruments, that were at his disposal in his father's shop, and he studied all the sheet music available in the shop.
Unrestricted by rules of "teaching", he remained highly original in developing his unique musical personality, that allowed him to surpass the other leading composers of his time. But having no teachers who would connect him into the entrenched musical establishment, it took all his genius, persistence and determination to advance through the rigid class structure of Victorian society. In 1889 Elgar married his student, Alice Roberts, daughter of the late General Sir Henry Roberts. She married beneath herself in opposition to her relatives. Alice played a vital role in Elgar's career by keeping a dogged faith in his genius.
Elgar was 42 when his "Enigma Variations" (1899) was premiered in London and brought him the first big success outside of his native Worcester. The performance of "The Dream of Gerontius" (1900) at the Rhine Festival in Dusseldorf earned him highest praise from Richard Strauss, who considered Elgar as the first English progressive musician.
The Coronation Ode "Land of Hope and Glory" came from his first "Pomp and Circumstance March" in D major (1901). Elgar prophesied: "I've got a tune that will knock'em-knock'em flat!... a tune like that comes once in a lifetime..." This piece became extremely popular and was later used in more than 30 films. In 1904 an all-Elgar festival was held at Covent Garden. In July of 1904, Elgar was knighted by King Edward VII.
Spending the winter of 1907-08 in Italy, Elgar composed the "Symphony No 1" in A flat. In just one year it had 100 performances all over Europe and in America, Australia and Russia, and was compared to the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. The "Symphony No 2" in E flat was written during 1909-1911. It was dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII and was considered by many the greatest of Elgar's symphonic works.
Elgar's incidental music for a children's play "The Starlight Express" (1915) and his patriotic "The Spirit of England" (1917) on the war poems by Laurence Binyon preceded his last great masterpiece, the elegiac "Cello Concerto" in E minor (1919). It was used as a main theme in Hilary and Jackie (1998).
The death of Alice Elgar in 1920 took away much of Elgar's inspiration and will to write music. He made a series of studio recordings of his works for HMV. In 1928 he was created Knight Commander of the Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.). In 1933 he recorded his "Violin Concerto" in B minor with then young Yehudi Menuhin and a few weeks later both flew to Paris for performances of this concerto. Elgar died on February 23, 1934 and was laid to rest beside his wife.Memorial- Mary Anne Evans was born on 22 November 1819 at South Farm, Arbury Hall near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Her parents were Robert Evans, the manager of Arbury Hall, and Christina Evans. She had four siblings: Robert, Fanny, Chrissy and Isaac. Mary was always considered a serious child and she always had free access to books. She soon became a great literature admirer. She had a special fall for Greek Literature and she would include many elements of Greek tragedy on her books. She also had a strong influence of social issues and religion. This latter was probably due to the Baptist education she would receive later.
Mary Anne attended Miss Latham's boarding school and then (in 1828) Mrs. Wallington's Boarding School at Nuneaton. At this second school she met Maria Lewis who was the governess of the school and had strong evangelical believes. Mary Anne then moved to Miss Franklin's school at Coventry. At this third school she developed her knowledge in literature and also studied French and the piano.
When her mother died in 1838 Mary had to leave school and come back to her father, but she never gave up studying. Her father bought her books and paid private tutor for her. She had Italian and German lessons too.
Some time after, Mary and her father moved to Foleshill where she later met many intellectuals and thinkers and these people may have had strong influence on her later work. She stopped going to the church, what made the relation with her father and close friendship with Maria Lewis unstable. In 1844 she begun working on the translation of "Das Leben Jusu" written in German by theologian David Strauss (1808 - 1874).
When her father died she traveled with the Brays (her friends) to Switzerland in order to refresh her mind. In 1850 she moved to London and then became friend of John Chapman, a publisher and bookseller. In 1851 Chapman bought "Westminister Reviwe" and hired Mary Anne, who was then calling herself Marian Evans, as the editor. With Mary, the journal became a success.
Marian then met George Lewes and they became close friends. George's marriage to Agnes Jervis had been over and he and Mary started dating and. In 1854 they started living together, but George was still legally married to Agnes. This had a very negative impact onto the London society and many people stopped talking to the couple.
In 1856 she published "Scenes of Clerical Life" under the male name of George Eliot - because she believed it would make her job more respected. In 1859 another work came out, "Adam Bede", a great success. When "The Mill of the Floss", was published, the real identity of George Eliot was not a secret anymore, but the book was successful.
She published other successful books later: "Silas Marner" (1861) and "Romola"(1863). It took her three more years until "Felix Holt, the Radical" came out. After the serious publication of "Middelmarch"(1871- 1872), she became even more famous and rich. Unfortunately her health
George Lewes died in 1878 and Mary Anne became alone. In 1880 she married John Cross, a close friend she and George had. However, seven months after their marriage, Mary Anne died.Plot: Poets Corner - Writer
- Soundtrack
David Garrick was born on 19 February 1717 in Hereford, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Miss in Her Teens (2014), Il matrimonio segreto (1943) and The Country Girl (1915). He was married to Eva Maria Veigel. He died on 20 January 1779 in London, England, UK.Plot: Poets Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Robert Gascoyne-Cecil was born on 27 August 1893 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, UK. He was married to Elizabeth Vere Cavendish. He died on 23 February 1972 in London, England, UK.Plot: Nave
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Born February 23 1685 in Halle, Germany, he was christened "Georg Friederich Händel" but always signed his name "Georg Friedrich Händel". His father intended for him to go into law, but Händel studied music clandestinely and was eventually allowed to study under an organist. He achieved some success early on, and toured Italy in 1706. He briefly worked in Hannover before departing for London in 1711. While in England Händel composed a number of anthems, operas, and church music, and in 1723 he became a British citizen. He premiered "Messiah" in Ireland as a charity aid, and this quickly became his most famous work. He died early in the morning on 14 April 1759, and was buried in Westminster Abbey under a monument that reads: "George Frederic Handel". 3,000 people attended his funeral.Plot: Poets Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Writer
- Soundtrack
Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in Upper Bockhampton, Dorset, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), Tess (1979) and Maiden No More. He was married to Florence Emily Dugdale and Emma Lavinia Gifford. He died on 11 January 1928 in Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK.Plot: Poets Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)
Body minus heart interred here.- Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on 28 July 1844 in Stratford, London, England, UK. Gerard was a writer, known for Camera Three (1955), The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo (1955) and Spring: An Animation of the Hopkins Poem (2010). Gerard died on 8 June 1889 in Dublin, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland].Plot: Poets Corner
Memorial - Robert Howard Lindsay was born in 1910 in Canada. Robert Howard was a writer, known for Matinee Theatre (1955), Scarlett Hill (1962) and Kraft Theatre (1947). Robert Howard was married to Kathleen Lindsey. Robert Howard died on 22 January 1962 in Greenlawn, Long Island, New York, USA.
- Henry Irving is known for Soldier of Liberty (2003).Plot: Poets Corner (Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium)
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Writer
- Soundtrack
Benjamin Jonson was born 1571 as the posthumous son of a Protestant minister. His mother then moved him to Westminster, where she married a bricklayer. He attended a free parish school as a boy, and thanks to the sponsorship of the headmaster, was able to attend Westminster Grammar School. Unofortunately, Ben lost his scholarship and was forced to take up bricklaying alongside his stepfather. This occupation did not appeal to him, and he left for military duty in Flanders and did not return to England until 1592. He married in 1594, and joined a touring acting company in 1597. Ben Jonson and another playwright then wrote a play called "Isle of Dogs" which was immediately banned on charges of sedition, and he and his friends found themselves in Fleet Prison. He was released after a few months and managed to restart his acting career. In December of 1598 he fought a duel with another actor named Gabriel Spencer; fortunately for Ben, he won, but unfortunately, he was imprisoned on charges of murder and given the death sentence. He managed to escape the gallows and returned to playwriting. He set out on foot in 1618 to visit Scotland and on his return began lecturing on rhetoric at colleges. He died in 1637 and was buried in Westminster Abbey; his epitaph reads: "O Rare Ben Jonson"Plot: The Nave
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)
Plot: Poets' Corner, above Poets' Door- Writer
- Music Department
- Production Designer
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was sent "home" to England at the age of six to live with a foster mother, who treated him very cruelly. He then spent five formative years at a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho! which inspired "Stalky & Co.". He returned to India as a journalist in 1882. By 1890 he had published, in India, a major volume of verse, "Departmental Ditties", and over 70 Indian tales in English, including "Plain Tales from the Hills" and the six volumes of the "Indian Railway Library". When he arrived in London in October 1889, at the age of 23, he was already a literary celebrity. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, the daughter of an American lawyer, and set up house with her in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they lived for four years. While in Vermont he wrote the two "Jungle Books" and "Captains Courageous". In 1901 he wrote "Kim" and in 1902 "The Just So Stories" that explained things like "How the Camel Got Its Hump". From 1902 they made their home in Sussex, England. He subsequently published many collections of stories, including "A Diversity of Creatures", "Debits and Credits" (1926) and "Limits and Renewals" (1932). These are now thought by many to contain some of his finest writing, although his introspection may well have been influenced by the death of their only son in the First World War. Although vilified by some as "the poet of British imperialism" in the past, nowadays he may be regarded as a great story-teller with an extraordinary gift for writing of peoples of many cultures and classes and backgrounds from the inside.Plot: Poets Corner (Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium)
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Constant Lambert was born on 23 August 1905 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Anna Karenina (1948), Merchant Seamen (1941) and Bar aux Folies-Bergère (1938). He was married to Isabel Agnes Delmar and Florence Chuter. He died on 21 August 1951 in London, England, UK.Plot: Poet's Corner, South Transept, near tomb of Handel- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Henry Lawes was born in 1960 in Kingston, Jamaica. Henry is known for You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Be Kind Rewind (2008) and Boogie (2021). Henry died on 13 June 1999 in London, England, UK.- David Lloyd George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The First World War (2003), Hearst-Selig News Pictorial, No. 26 (1915) and Pathé News, No. 24 (1915). He was married to Frances Stevenson and Mrs. Lloyd George. He died on 26 March 1945 in Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd, Wales, UK.Plot: The North Aisle of The Nave.
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Writer
- Soundtrack
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on 27 February 1807 in Portland, Maine, USA. He was a writer, known for Temple of Our Fathers, The Wreck of the Hesperus (1948) and The Village Blacksmith (1922). He was married to Frances Elizabeth Appleton and Mary Storer Potter. He died on 24 March 1882 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.Plot: Poets Corner- Ramsay MacDonald was born on 12 October 1866 in Lossiemouth, Morayshire, Scotland, UK. He was married to Margaret Ethel Gladstone. He died on 5 November 1937 in Atlantic Ocean.Plot: Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd) - Writer
- Soundtrack
Born the son of a shoe-maker two months before the birth of another famous playwright, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe achieved fame as an Elizabethan dramatist as well as an atheist. He was killed in a tavern brawl by a former friend, allegedly over a bill. There is now some evidence that suggests his death was in fact an assassination.Plot: Poets' Corner, memorial window panel between Oscar Wilde and Elizabeth Gaskell- Elizabeth Gaskell was born on 29 September 1810 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Heartstrings (1923), Cranford (2007) and North & South (2004). She was married to Rev. William Gaskell. She died on 12 November 1865 in Holybourne, Hampshire, England, UK.Plot: Poets' Corner, memorial window panel between Oscar Wilde and Christopher Marlowe.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
John Masefield was a poet, known for his poems of the sea (as a young man, he was apprenticed aboard a sailing ship) and his narrative poems, although he also wrote a number of novels. He became Poet Laureate in 1930.Plot: Poets Corner- English author Richard Aldington was born in Hampshire, England, in 1892. He was educated at Dover College and the University of London. Determined from an early age to be a writer, in 1913 he became literary editor of a magazine called 'The Egoist". In that same year he married Hilda Doolittle, an American poet, but the marriage didn't last long and they eventually divorced.
In 1916, at the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted in the British army as a private, serving in an infantry division in France, and was later promoted to officer. He survived the war but with a severe case of "shell shock"--what is now called PTSD--and broke. He got work as a literary reviewer for "The London Times", but his shell shock was so severe he only lasted a few months and his doctors ordered him to take a extended stay in the country, away from frenetic pace of city life.
It took him almost a year, but in 1919 he was well enough to return to writing. He traveled around Europe, living in France, Italy and Switzerland among other places, and eventually wound up in the US. He died there on 9/3/1943.Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner - Rupert Brooks is known for Star Tonight (1955).Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner - Music Department
Wilf Gibson was born on 28 February 1945 in Dilston, Northumberland, England, UK. He is known for Summer of Sam (1999), Game for Vultures (1979) and The Last September (1999). He died on 21 October 2014 in the UK.Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
British poet and novelist Robert Graves was born Robert von Ranke Graves in London, England, in 1895. He began to write poetry while a student at London's Charterhouse School, and even while serving as an officer in the British army during World War I he kept at it, turning out three books of poetry in 1916 and 1917 while posted to the western front, where he was seriously wounded in 1916. His war experiences resulted in his well-received autobiography, "Goodbye to All That", in 1919. They also contributed to a long spell of mental problems in the 1920s, culminating in his divorce in that same period. In 1929 he moved to Majorca, Spain, with an American poet he had met, Laura Riding, and the two were together for almost 15 years.
In 1934 he wrote what is his most famous novel, "I, Claudius", a first-person narrative "written" by the Roman emperor Claudius, chronicling life during the reigns of Augustus, Tiberias and the notorious Caligula. Other historical novels followed, including "Claudius the God" (1934), "Count Belisarius" (1936) and 1944's "The Golden Fleece" (aka "Hercules, My Shipmate"). It was while conducting research for this novel that Graves became interested in mythology, resulting in what is arguably his most controversial work, "The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth" in 1948. That same year he published his "Collected Poems", which he subsequently revised over the years, and turned out a translation of "The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam" in 1967. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford University in 1961, and stayed there until 1966.
He died in Majorca, Spain, in 1985.Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner- Writer
- Soundtrack
British poet Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. He attended London University, but moved to France in 1913 to escape the harsh English winters, which were bad for his health. He secured a job in Bordeaux as a tutor for a wealthy family and wrote a poetry book, "Minor Poems", which he never published.
When World War I broke out he returned to England and enlisted in the army, being assigned to a unit called the Artists Rifles. However, his poor health resulted in his being invalided out in 1917. He spent four months in a military hospital in Scotland, where he met Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon took the young Owen under his wing, and after reading some of his poems encouraged Owen to continue with his writing. His health began to improve, so he began to study and lecture in Edinburgh, took part in concerts there and edited the hospital's in-house magazine. He eventually got a job as a major-domo in a hotel where many officers from his old unit were staying. When his health had recovered sufficiently he tried to find a post in England, but the army sent him back to France as a commander of front-line troops. He saw combat and was awarded the Military Cross for "gallantry under fire" in October of 1918. However, the next month while leading his men in an attack across the Sabre River in France, he was shot and killed.Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner- Writer
- Soundtrack
Siegfried Sassoon was born on 8 September 1886 in Matfield, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The First World War (2003), Aftermath (2016) and T. E. Lawrence 1888-1935 (1962). He was married to Hester Gatty. He died on 1 September 1967 in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, England, UK.Memorial stone for the poets of World War I. Those memorialised on the stone are: Richard Aldington B.1892 D.1962., Laurence Binyon B.1869 D.1945., Edmund Blunden B.1896 D.1974., Rupert Brooke B.1887 D.1915., Wilfrid Gibson B.1878 D.1962., Robert Graves B.1895 D.1985., Julian Grenfell B.1888 D.1915., Ivor Gurney B.1890 D.1937., David Jones B.1895 D.1974., Robert Nichols B.1893 D.1944., Wilfred Owen B.1893 D.1918., Siegefried Sassoon B.1886 D.1967., Charles Sorley B.1895 D.1915 and Edward Thomas B.1878 D.1917. The stone was unveiled on the 11th November, 1985 by the poet Ted Hughes.
Burial:
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
Greater London, England
Plot: Poets Corner- Writer
- Soundtrack
John Milton was an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious and political instability, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667). Written in blank verse, Paradise Lost is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.Plot: Poet's Corner Cenotaph- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High Anglican priest. His surname came from a great-great-grandfather who was of French Huguenot origin.
One of Olivier's earliest successes as a Shakespearean actor on the London stage came in 1935 when he played "Romeo" and "Mercutio" in alternate performances of "Romeo and Juliet" with John Gielgud. A young Englishwoman just beginning her career on the stage fell in love with Olivier's Romeo. In 1937, she was "Ophelia" to his "Hamlet" in a special performance at Kronborg Castle, Elsinore (Helsingør), Denmark. In 1940, she became his second wife after both returned from making films in America that were major box office hits of 1939. His film was Wuthering Heights (1939), her film was Gone with the Wind (1939). Vivien Leigh and Olivier were screen lovers in Fire Over England (1937), 21 Days Together (1940) and That Hamilton Woman (1941).
There was almost a fourth film together in 1944 when Olivier and Leigh traveled to Scotland with Charles C. Bennett to research the real-life story of a Scottish girl accused of murdering her French lover. Bennett recalled that Olivier researched the story "with all the thoroughness of Sherlock Holmes" and "we unearthed evidence, never known or produced at the trial, that would most certainly have sent the young lady to the gallows". The film project was then abandoned. During their two-decade marriage, Olivier and Leigh appeared on the stage in England and America and made films whenever they really needed to make some money.
In 1951, Olivier was working on a screen adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie" (Carrie (1952)) while Leigh was completing work on the film version of the Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She won her second Oscar for bringing "Blanche DuBois" to the screen. Carrie (1952) was a film that Olivier never talked about. George Hurstwood, a middle-aged married man from Chicago who tricked a young woman into leaving a younger man about to marry her, became a New York street person in the novel. Olivier played him as a somewhat nicer person who didn't fall quite as low. A PBS documentary on Olivier's career broadcast in 1987 covered his first sojourn in Hollywood in the early 1930s with his first wife, Jill Esmond, and noted that her star was higher than his at that time. On film, he was upstaged by his second wife, too, even though the list of films he made is four times as long as hers.
More than half of his film credits come after The Entertainer (1960), which started out as a play in London in 1957. When the play moved across the Atlantic to Broadway in 1958, the role of "Archie Rice"'s daughter was taken over by Joan Plowright, who was also in the film. They married soon after the release of The Entertainer (1960).Plot: Poets Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Purcell grew up in a musical family. As a boy he attended the Chapel Royal church choir. His talent earned him training as an organist. In 1677, the 18-year-old became "composer for the violins" at the English court. Two years later he took up the position of organist at Westminster Abbey. Purcell thus took over the post from John Blow, one of his organist teachers, which he held until his death. In 1682 he became organist of the Chapel Royal and a year later, royal instrument manager. During this time he primarily composed sacred music and works for celebratory occasions, including the celebratory compositions "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing" from 1685.
Two years later the music for the tragedy "Tyrannick Love" by John Dryden was created. In 1689, Purcell's first opera, Dido and Aeneas, was performed. The following year he created songs for Shakespeare's "The Tempest" based on an adaptation by John Dryden and for his comedy title "Amphitryon". In 1691 and the following year the baroque operas "King Arthur" and "The Fairy Queen" were written. Purcell composed the titles "Te Deum" and "Jubilate" on the occasion of St. Cecilia's Day in 1694. They are both considered masterpieces. In the same year he wrote an anthem, a choral piece with sacred text, for the memorial service on the occasion of the death of Queen Mary II of England. This piece in particular shows the lasting impact of Purcell's musical work up to modern times: it was electronically edited by Wendy Carlos for the theme music of Stanley Kubrick's film "A Clockwork Orange".
Purcell was only 36 years old, but he was very productive in his musical life. His work includes around 40 masterpieces, stage works, plays, odes, songs, cantatas, chamber music, church choir and piano works. With his three- to five-part sonatas and fantasies for string instruments, he continued the older English consort music, which gained recognition for its artistic polyphony, highly cromatic and dissonant harmony of the modern style. His other semi-operas also include the titles "The prophetess, or the history of Dioclesian" (1690) and "The Indian Queen" (1695).
Henry Purcell died in London on November 21, 1695.- Charles Villiers Stanford was born on 30 September 1852 in Dublin, Irish Free State. He was married to Jane Anna Maria Wetton. He died on 29 March 1924 in London, England, UK.Plot: North Choir Aisle
- Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was a popular English poet. He served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom for 42 years (term 1850-1892). He often wrote poetry based on mythology. Among his most famous works was the "Idylls of the King" (printed in updated versions, 1859-1885), a collection of narrative poems based on Arthurian legends. It was the most famous Victorian era-version of the legends, and remains popular. His poems typically reflect intense feelings of "grief, melancholy, and loss", as Tennyson struggled with depression throughout his life.
In 1809, Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. Somersby is a small village, located within a range the low hills known as the Lincolnshire Wolds. His father was the Anglican clergyman George Clayton Tennyson (1778-1831). George served as the rector of Somersby (term 1807-1831), the rector of Benniworth (term1802-1831) the rector of Bag Enderby, and the vicar of Grimsby. He was shrewd at managing his money and fairly affluent throughout his career. Tennyson's mother was Elizabeth Fytche (1781-1865), daughter of another clergyman.
In 1816. Tennyson started his education at the King Edward VI Grammar School, an all-boys grammar school located in Louth. It had been established in 1551, with financing provided by Edward VI of England (1537-1553, reigned 1547-1553). Tennyson finished his schooling there in 1820.
George Tennyson was an amateur poet, and encouraged his sons to write their own poetry. In 1826, at age 17, Alfred Tennnyson co-wrote a poetry collection with two of his older brothers, These brothers were Frederick Tennyson (1807-1898) and Charles Tennyson Turner (1808-1879) ,who went on to have literary careers of their own.
In 1827, Tennyson started his tertiary education at the Trinity College of Cambridge. While there, he joined a local intellect society, the Cambridge Apostles. Tennyson met and befriended fellow poet Arthur Hallam (1811-1833) and aspiring clergyman William Henry Brookfield (1809-1874).
In 1829, Tennyson won the Chancellor's Gold Medal, a prestigious literary award granted by the University of Cambridge. In 1830, Tennyson published "Poems Chiefly Lyrical", his first solo poetry collection. Its popularity helped him build a reputation as a promising writer. Among the poems included was "Mariana", a narrative poem about a woman who is isolated from society and has suicidal thoughts. The poem was loosely inspired by the play "Measure for Measure" (1604) by William Shakespeare, but rejected the play's happy ending. It was the first poem about social isolation Tennyson ever published, and the theme would appear frequently in his future poems.
In 1831, George Tennyson died at the age of 53. Alfred Tennyson dropped out of College and returned home to the rectory. He had to financially support his widowed mother. The Tennyson family was granted permission to keep using the rectory, even after George's death. At about this point, Tennyson arranged his sister Emilia engagement to his best friend Arthur Hallam.
In 1833, Tennyson published a second poetry collection under the generic title "Poems". It included the earliest version of "The Lady of Shallott", which would later become one his most famous poets. However this collection met with harsh criticism, and Tennyson's reputation suffered. He did not dare publish anything for the next decade, though he privately continued writing poems.
In September 1833, Arthur Halam died of cerebral hemorrhage during his vacation in Vienna. Halam was only 22-years-old, and his death surprised his family and friends. Tennyson mourned him, and started writing poets in his memory. The most important of them was "In Memoriam A.H.H.", first published in 1850. It contained Tennyson's thoughts on mortality, and also his thoughts on the then-popular scientific theory of the "transmutation of species". Tennyson wondered whether life was guided by the inherent cruelty of nature, and explored the implications of natural selection a decade before scientist Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) wrote on the same topic.
In 1837, Tennyson and his family moved away from the rectory. He settled in Beech Hill Park, within the village of High Beach. The location was deep within Epping Forest, an ancient woodland in Essex. In wintertime, Tennyson had access to a frozen pond. He enjoyed skating there. His new house was not far from London, and he could socialize with friends who lived there. His needy mother, however, demanded his presence at home. She prevented him from ever spending the night in London.
In the late 1830s, Tennyson befriended Dr. Allen, the administrator of a local asylum. Allen also managed an ecclesiastical wood-carving enterprise, and convinced Tennyson to invest in it. When this business venture failed, Tennyson lost much of the family fortune. In 1840, Tennyson moved to London.
In May 1842, Tennyson published a new poetry collection under the generic title "Poems". Some of the poems had been published before, others were brand new. Its sales were surprisingly good, and he also earned profits from its reprint in the United States. By 1846, Tennyson had earned more than 600 pound pounds sterling from this single work. This helped him escape serious financial difficulties, which had lasted for years. His critical reputation also improved, with some critics viewing as the leading poet of his generation.
In 1850, Tennyson was appointed as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. He succeeded the Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who died from pleurisy earlier that year. He was reportedly only chosen because the older poet Samuel Rogers (1763 - 1855) had refused his appointment to the position.
In June 1850, Tennyson married his childhood acquaintance, the hymn-writer Emily Sellwood. Emily was better at at conducting business tasks than her husband, and she became Tennyson's business manager. They would have two sons. A difficult second pregnancy left Emily with permanent health problems.
From 1851 to 1853, Tennyson and his family lived in Chapel House, a Georgian brick house located in Twickenham. The house has been preserved as a Grade II-listed building. It is considered of historical significance due to its connection to Tennyson. Other famous figures resided there during the 20th century.
In 1853, Tennyson rented Farringford House, a country house located in the Isle of Wight. In 1856, he bought the country house from its previous owners. He lived there until 1869. The place eventually attracted tourists who wanted to meet Tennyson, much to his annoyance. He moved out in 1869, but continued to use Farringford as his winter home.
In December 1854, Tennyson published the narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade". It commemorated an ill-fated cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava (October 1854), where about 110 British soldiers were killed and other 161 wounded due to their blind obedience to an order by a superior. It became one of Tennyson's most famous poems, inspiring sequels and adaptations by other writers and musicians.
In 1865, Tennyson was offered the rank of baronet by the government, but denied the honor. In 1868, he was offered the same rank, but again denied the honor. In 1883, the Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809 - 1898) offered him the rank of a baron, and Tennyson took the offer. In 1884, he was officially appointed as the 1st Baron Tennyson. It was a new hereditary title that would be inherited by his descendants. From this point Alfred became known under the name "Lord Tennyson". Tennyson was reportedly the first person to be raised to a British peerage for their writing.
Tennyson continued writing well into his old age. He tried to become a playwright as well, though his plays were not considered particularly memorable. His last major work was the play "The Foresters" (1892), featuring incidental music by Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900). It was unpopular in the United Kingdom, but met with success in the United States.
Tennyson died in October 1892, at the age of 83. He was buried at Westminster Abbey. He left an estate of 57,206 pounds sterling. His eldest son Hallam Tennyson (1852-1928) succeeded him as the 2nd Baron Tennyson. Hallam published a biography of his father in 1897. Hallam is mainly remembered for a brief term as the Governor-General of Australia (term 1903-1904).
Tennyson was succeeded as Poet Laureate with Alfred Austin (1835 - 1913), a poet chiefly noted as a nature-lover. Austin was widely considered to be inferior to Tennyson. Tennyson's fame has far outlasted many of his contemporaries, and he is among the relatively few Victorian era-writers whose works remain popular with the wider public.Plot: Poet's Corner
GPS coordinates: 51.5000801, -0.1292300 (hddd.dddd)- Writer
- Director
- Music Department
Dylan Thomas was born at the start of the First World War in the "ugly, lovely town" of Swansea, an industrial, coastal town on the South Wales Coast. He published his first volume of poetry, "Eighteen poems" in 1934 and went on to write many more volumes of poetry as well as many short stories, filmscripts, broadcast stories and talks. His work is mainly known for the darkly brooding Welsh Puritanism contrasting with the strong emotions and sensuality. Although regarded as a "Classic Welsh writer," he never spoke Welsh. He is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and the wonderful "Under Milk Wood." The latter was broadcast by the BBC with the subtitle "A play for voices" and, although people have since attempted films and plays, none are as successful as the simple radio version.Plot: Poets Corner Memorial- Actress
- Soundtrack
This distinguished theatrical tragedienne will be remembered forever if only for the fact George Bernard Shaw wrote his classic "Saint Joan" work specifically for her. Her over six-decade career allowed for a gallery of sterling, masterful portrayals, both classic and contemporary, performing all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and both Western and Eastern Europe. She was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1931, when her career was not quite half over, and in 1970 was made Companion of Honor to Queen Elizabeth.
Born Agnes Sybil Thorndike on October 24, 1882 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, she was the daughter of a minor canon of Rochester Cathedral. She was the eldest of four children. One younger brother, Frank, was killed in WWI action, a tragedy that left her father inconsolable. He himself would die a few months later. Sybil first became a concert pianist until nerve injuries in her hands quickly altered her destiny. She, at brother Russell Thorndike's suggestion, decided upon acting. Russell would later become a novelist and his sister's biographer.
Not a classic beauty by any stretch, Dame Sybil had sharp features, prominent cheek bones and a pronounced chin that gave her a rather severe look. At age 21 she and her brother began professionally in a touring company guided by actor-manager Ben Greet. She performed as Portia in a production of The Merchant of Venice in 1907 while touring in New York. The following year she met playwright George Bernard Shaw while understudying the role of Candida in a tour which was being directed by the writer himself. It was also during this tour that Sybil met and married actor Sir Lewis Casson and solidified one of the most respected personal and professional relationships the acting realm has known. She stayed with The Old Vic for five years (1914-1919) and in 1924 earned stardom as Shaw's Joan of Arc.
Sybil's film career, unlike that of her esteemed contemporary Edith Evans, fell far short of expectations. Silent films recreated some of her finest theatrical experiences, including Lady Macbeth and, of course, Joan of Arc, but she would not evolve into a film star. She was sporadically utilized in later years as a flavorful character support and played a number of queens, dowagers and old crones with equal finesse. Such classic costumed fare would include Major Barbara (1941), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947), Stage Fright (1950), Gone to Earth (1950), The Lady with a Lamp (1951), Melba (1953), as Queen Victoria, and The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) in which she managed to grab focus during her scenes with Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. In 1969, Sybil lent her name to the new theatre in Leatherhead, Surrey, which became The Thorndike. Despite her 87 years, she performed in the new play There Was An Old Woman in its first season. It was to be her final theatrical performance. Always a healthy, vigorous woman, she died of a heart attack on June 9, 1976 at the ripe young age of 93. She was survived by four children and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams was perhaps the most important English composer of the 20th Century. His influence on the development of 20th Century music was immense. Benjamin Britten and numerous film composers (Jerry Goldsmith, etc.) owe a lot to him. He created a truly contemporary idiom whose roots reached back to Tudor times and folk music.
He first made a name as one of the leading collector/researcher of traditional English folk music at the turn of the century. He worked also as organist, conductor, lecturer, teacher, editor and writer. He studied under Sir Hubert Parry, Max Bruch and Maurice Ravel. He had a life-long friendship with Gustav Holst, and if one listens carefully one can hear crossover 'hommages' in their works. His professional career spanned more than six decades, with nine Symphonies, several concertos, a ballet, a few operas and countless choral works. The latter are often performed in church services, not bad for an agnostic composer. In 1941, at an age most people have retired (almost 70), he entered the movies with the score to Michael Powell's '49th Parallel'. He composed 11 motion picture scores. Out of his score to 'Scott of the Antarctic' he developed his majestic 7th Symphony.Plot: His ashes are buried in the North Choir Aisle. Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
William Walton came from a musical family. He entered Christ Church, Oxford at the early age of sixteen but left without a degree in 1920. A fine musician, he was essentially self-taught as a composer, except some instruction from Hugh Allen, the cathedral organist. Through literary friends and other associations he became acquainted with the London music and cultural scene. In addition to his own genius for harmonies and texturing (as seen in early choral works), Walton was influenced by the works of Stravinsky, Sibelius, and jazz. The use of the latter brought some early snubbing as a modernist among conservative music critics. But during some lean years of the 1920s, Walton helped support himself playing piano at jazz clubs. But he devoted most time to composing (chamber, concerto, and vocal music) which paid off initially in 1929 with his Viola Concerto, putting him solidly in the British classical music scene. Through the 1930s his choral and symphonic works bolstered that reputation all the more.
His first ventures into film music were in association with the Hungarian émigré director/producer Paul Czinner. Walton did four scores for him, including Walton's first Shakespearean effort, As You Like It (1936) which starred Laurence Olivier. With the outbreak of World War II, Walton entered military service but was given leave to compose music for propaganda films based on his already proficient examples of ceremonial themes. One of these film tasks put him back in acquaintance with Olivier who was adapting Shakespeare's Henry V (1944). Having scored five war period films so far, this would be the first of three scores for Olivier's filmed Shakespeare plays. With its implied spirit of nationalism, the music ranged over rousing heroic sections to Renaissance dance and pastoral elements, so familiar to the public in the efforts of such older contemporaries as Ralph Vaughn Williams. The score was nominated for an Oscar, and it remains perhaps the best known of Walton's film music.
After the war Walton continued to be a public favorite, and though ranging over new projects in all composing areas, his post-Romantic sentiments would continue to be his foundation. Once again Olivier wanted a score, now for his Hamlet (1948). The music was appropriately subdued to reflect the nature of the play. The film was a landmark for the time and garnered four Oscars with Walton again being nominated for the score. He continued work on an opera (Troilus and Cressida, 1954) and his general musical output, which, all told, would surpass 75 works. Walton did no more film work until Olivier came knocking for the third and final time for a Shakespearean score. This time Walton's music for Richard III (1955) swelled with the facade of pomp that edges the play-repeating the main theme throughout-while keeping the nuances of treachery which dominates the play's content to dramatic economy. Although the film proved to be the most popular and perhaps influential of Olivier's trilogy, it received only one nomination as best picture.
The years following into the 1960s were challenging for Walton as composing became difficult and focused on recasting previous work. He scored the music for Battle of Britain (1969), but it was replaced only two weeks before the film was released. Walton composed his last big screen score-again for Olivier-this time for Three Sisters (1970).
Walton was knighted in 1951 and received the Order of Merit in 1968. But as fate will often have it, Walton was not finished with Shakespeare. Into the 1970s he was commissioned to do the music for twelve new productions of plays as part of the ambitious BBC effort "The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (1978 thru 1985). Though his screen music output of some 28 scores was modest compared to that of Hollywood contemporaries (Steiner, Rozsa, and Newman, but similar to Korngold,), his brand of thematic delivery, a British twist as it were, departed from classic Hollywood scores with their continental Romantic traditions.Composer. His ashes were interred at his home in Ischia, Italy. A cenotaph for Walton was dedicated in Westminster Abbey on July 20, 1983. Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Greater London, England
Plot: Musicians' Corner (Cenotaph).- Frank Whittle was born on 1 June 1907 in Coventry, West Midlands, England, UK. He died on 9 August 1996 in Columbia, Maryland, USA.
- Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 on Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. He was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.
His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Hawking was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009 and achieved commercial success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; his book "A Brief History of Time" appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.
At the release party for the home video version of A Brief History of Time (1991), Leonard Nimoy, who had played Spock on Star Trek (1966), learned that Hawking was interested in appearing on the series. Nimoy made the necessary contact, and Hawking played a holographic simulation of himself in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) in 1993. The same year, his synthesizer voice was recorded for the song "Keep Talking" by the rock band Pink Floyd, and in 1999 for an appearance on The Simpsons (1989). Hawking also guest-starred on Futurama (1999) and The Big Bang Theory (2007).
Hawking allowed the use of his copyrighted voice in the biographical drama The Theory of Everything (2014), in which he was portrayed by Eddie Redmayne in an Academy Award-winning role. Hawking died at age 76 in his home in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, early in the morning of 14 March 2018. - Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
John Gay was born on 30 June 1685 in Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Emma (1996), Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945) and The Beggar's Opera (1953). He died on 4 December 1732 in London, England, UK.- Writer
- Music Department
- Production Designer
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was sent "home" to England at the age of six to live with a foster mother, who treated him very cruelly. He then spent five formative years at a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho! which inspired "Stalky & Co.". He returned to India as a journalist in 1882. By 1890 he had published, in India, a major volume of verse, "Departmental Ditties", and over 70 Indian tales in English, including "Plain Tales from the Hills" and the six volumes of the "Indian Railway Library". When he arrived in London in October 1889, at the age of 23, he was already a literary celebrity. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, the daughter of an American lawyer, and set up house with her in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they lived for four years. While in Vermont he wrote the two "Jungle Books" and "Captains Courageous". In 1901 he wrote "Kim" and in 1902 "The Just So Stories" that explained things like "How the Camel Got Its Hump". From 1902 they made their home in Sussex, England. He subsequently published many collections of stories, including "A Diversity of Creatures", "Debits and Credits" (1926) and "Limits and Renewals" (1932). These are now thought by many to contain some of his finest writing, although his introspection may well have been influenced by the death of their only son in the First World War. Although vilified by some as "the poet of British imperialism" in the past, nowadays he may be regarded as a great story-teller with an extraordinary gift for writing of peoples of many cultures and classes and backgrounds from the inside.Cremation Location: Plot: Ashes removed to Westminster Abbey.