michael_churchill wrote: ↑06 Jan 2025, 15:40
The late Donald Sutherland studied in London from 1957 to 1960 at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. When he dropped out he became a member of Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland, where his room-mate was Michael Sheard, best known as Mr. Bronson in "Grange Hill".
I saw this in a YouTube video, but it does appear to be true!...
Michael Sheard has also played Adolf Hitler 5 times on TV and in movies, perhaps most famously in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
In the first series of the Doctor Who revival, the family of Billie Piper's character, the Tylers, were named by Russell T. Davies after his neighbour in Swansea, Bonnie Tyler.
Source: "My 80s" on "Sounds of the 80s with Gary Davies", BBC Radio 2, 12 April 2025.
Victor Tourjansky was an extra in three consecutive James Bond films, as an in-joke. Victor was actually an Italian assistant director who worked as a location assistant on the James Bond Films. In each case he appeared as a "Man with Wine" reacting to the event that was happening nearby, in scenes filmed in Italy - after his first appearance went down well, he was put in the next two as well. In "The Spy Who Loved Me", he's on the beach in Sardinia as the Lotus Esprit submarine emerges from the sea. In "Moonraker", he's at a bar in St. Mark's Square, Venice as Bond drives past in the Q-branch gondola / hovercraft. In "For Your Eyes Only", he's at an outdoor restaurant in Cortina as Bond skis through pursued by motorbikes.
michael_churchill wrote: ↑06 Jan 2025, 15:40
The late Donald Sutherland studied in London from 1957 to 1960 at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. When he dropped out he became a member of Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland, where his room-mate was Michael Sheard, best known as Mr. Bronson in "Grange Hill".
Donald Sutherland appeared with my distant relative Sir John Standing in "The Eagle Has Landed", which was filmed within walking distance of where I now live!
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
The "shortcut" from Goodge Street to Russell Square imvolves running through Senate House, which was used as the location of Bertie Wooster's New York apartment in the 1990s series "Jeeves and Wooster" starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
272 stations in 18:30:32
The only person to have used a boat in a Random 15 Challenge!
Three facts about the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale"...
Richard Branson has a cameo in "Casino Royale", being screened by the TSA at Miami International Airport. That scene was cut from the version shown on-board by British Airways.
The actress Tsai Chin appeared in two James Bond films, 39 years apart. She was the Chinese girl at Sean Connery's "death" in the pre-titles scene of "You Only Live Twice", then in "Casino Royale" she played Madame Wu, seen in the poker game on Le Chiffre's yacht then one of the contestants at the final game at Casino Royale.
An even larger gap... Diane Hartford, who was married to Huntington Hartford, who owned the Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, was one of the other players sat at the table during the poker game between James Bond and Alex Dimitrios, when Bond wins Dimitrios' Aston Martin DB5. When "Thunderball" was filmed there, she was the girl that Sean Connery briefly dances with when being chased by Viona Volpe.
The current Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster, who took part in the recent ceremony in Oslo to cut down the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, is Paul Dimoldenberg, the father of Amelia Dimoldenberg of "Chicken Shop Date" fame.
With Team GB currently on three gold medals at the current Winter Olympics, you've probably seen that they keep bringing up the list of all our Winter gold medallists. Here's something you may not know about the first...
The first Winter Olympics, held in Chamonix, France in 1924, were not initially recognised by the IOC. They were organised as an "International Winter Sports Week" by the same committee that was organising the Summer Games that would be held in Paris. This was the first of three times before World War II that both Winter and Summer Games were held in the same country in the same year (1932: Lake Placid / Los Angeles, USA; 1936: Garmisch / Berlin, Germany).
Many reference works did not list the results for Curling and Military Ski Patrol (similar to what is now known as Biathlon) as if they were demonstration sports. However, in 2006, just before the Torino Olympics, the IOC announced that since there was no distinction at the time, Curling and Military Ski Patrol results would be added their database.
The Great Britain team, selected by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, beat both Sweden and France. Switzerland entered, but withdrew.
greatkingrat wrote: ↑16 Feb 2026, 13:51
The first dedicated Winter Olympics took place in 1924, but the first winter olympic events (figure skating) actually took place in London in 1908!
In Knightsbridge! At the Prince's Skating Club. The Men's Gold was won by Ulrich Salchow who invented the jump now named after him. The Ladies Gold was won by GB's Madge Syers, so we actually have one more gold medal in a winter sport.
Figure skating and Ice hockey were also held in Antwerp in 1920.
