Bath

The Circus is an example of Georgian architecture in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, begun in 1754 and completed in 1768. The name comes from... the Latin 'circus', which means a ring, oval or circle. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. Divided into three segments of equal length, the Circus is a circular space surrounded by large townhouses. Each of the curved segments faces one of the three entrances, ensuring that whichever way a visitor enters there is a classical facade straight ahead. The Circus, originally called King's Circus, was designed by the architect John Wood, the Elder, although he never lived to see his plans put into effect as he died less than three months after the first stone was laid. It was left to his son, John Wood, the Younger to complete the scheme to his father's design. The initial leases for the south west segment were granted in 1755-67, those for the south east segment in 1762-6, and those for the north segment in 1764–6. The Circus was part of John Wood the Elder's grand vision to recreate a classical Palladian architectural landscape for the city. Other projects included nearby Queen Square and the Forum .
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Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and... television productions. Curry first became known to film audiences with his breakthrough role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reprising the role he played in the 1973 London and 1974 Los Angeles stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show, then later for his supporting roles as Rooster in the film adaption of Annie , Lord of Darkness in the film Legend , Wadsworth in the movie Clue , as well as a starring role portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the horror film It . He played Nigel Thornberry, the father in the Nickelodeon children's TV show The Wild Thornberrys. He originated the role of King Arthur in the Broadway hit Monty Python's Spamalot. He is notable for often playing or voicing villainous characters in film. Curry resides in Beverly Hills, California and London. Curry's father, James, was a Methodist chaplain in the Royal Navy, and his mother, Patricia, was a school secretary.
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Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group... Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. His 1986 album, So, is his most commercially successful, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, and the song is the most played music video in the history of the station. More recently, Gabriel has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. Gabriel has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1987, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2007 he was honoured as a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his “influence on generations of music makers.” Gabriel was also awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. Peter Gabriel was born in Chobham, Surrey, England.
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Julia Sawalha is an English actress known for her roles as Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous; Lynda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in Press... Gang; and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She also played Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford. Sawalha was born in London, the daughter of Roberta and actor Nadim Sawalha. She was named after her grandmother, a Jordanian businesswoman who had received an award from Queen Noor for enterprise. She is of Jordanian, English, and French Huguenot ancestry. She was born into an acting family: her father Nadim is an actor who appeared in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and The Living Daylights, while her sister Nadia starred in the soap EastEnders and is now a television presenter and chat show host. Sawalha made her debut in the 1982 BBC mini series Fame is the Spur and in 1988, played a small role in Inspector Morse on the episode "Last Seen Wearing". She first gained attention for her starring role in the Bafta award-winning ITV teenage comedy/drama Press Gang, which ran from 1989 to 1993.
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Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his role in Black Books and... his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI. Bailey was listed by the Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the 7th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. Bailey was born in Bath, Somerset and spent most of his childhood in Keynsham, a town situated between Bath and Bristol in the West of England. His father was a medical practitioner and his mother was a hospital ward sister. His maternal grandparents lived in an annexe, built on the side of the house by his maternal grandfather who was a stonemason and builder. Two rooms at the front of the family house were for his father's surgery. Bailey was educated at King Edward's School, an independent school in Bath where he was initially a highly academic pupil winning most of the prizes.
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Jonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.... Lynn was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, between 1954 and 1961, after which he studied Law at Pembroke College, Cambridge . There he participated in the Cambridge University Footlights Club revue Cambridge Circus . In 1967, he played Motel the tailor in the original West End production of Fiddler on the Roof . From the late 1960s, Jonathan Lynn was appearing in and writing television sitcoms, including the television comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Tony Buffery. He also played the Irish medical student Danny Hooley in the second series of the television comedy Doctor in the House in 1970 .
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Major William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for... portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the British sitcom Dad's Army . Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where his father was a gymnastics instructor and ran a boot and shoe shop. He attended the Clarendon School and the Bath City Secondary School where he was a keen sportsman. A graduate of the University of Bristol, he studied at the Education Department, and played Hamlet in a student production. Ridley undertook teaching practice at an Elementary School in Bristol. Ridley was a student teacher and had made his theatrical debut in Prunella at the Theatre Royal, Bristol when he volunteered for British Army service in August 1914. He was rejected due to a toe injury, but in 1915 was able to enlist as a private in the Somerset Light Infantry.
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Jeremy Clayton Guscott is a former rugby union outside centre who played for Bath, England and the British and Irish Lions. On rare occasions, he... has also appeared for England on the wing. Guscott was born in Bath, and he played for his home city throughout his career, most of which was during the amateur era. Guscott was originally a bricklayer, then worked for British Gas in a public-relations role before the game turned professional. During the English off season of 1987, Guscott travelled to Australia and played for Wollongong Waratahs RFC in the Illawarra District Rugby Union competition. Later in his career he also secured work as a fashion model. Known for his smooth running style, Guscott was often considered one of the finest ball-players of any rugby age. Former England Coach Clive Woodward called Guscott the "Prince of Centres", and rugby-writer Stephen Jones hails Guscott as part of his 'dream centre combination', along with former New Zealand All Black Frank Bunce.
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Melanie Gemma Gabriel is a British musician. Gabriel is the second daughter of musician Peter Gabriel and his first wife Jill Moore, making her the... granddaughter of the Baron Moore of Wolvercote. As a child she appeared, along with her older sister Anna-Marie, as one of the extras in the music video for her father's 1986 hit single "Sledgehammer". She joined her father as a singer on his Growing Up tours from 2002 to 2004; and provided backing vocals on his ten-date 2010 tour supporting Scratch My Back. As well as studying photography and painting, Melanie recently began to pursue a musical career, collaborating with artists such as Joy Askew and French producer Hector Zazou in addition to writing her own material. In 1999, she co-wrote the song "Broken Line" for the album Refuge: A benefit for the people of Kosovo. Melanie has recently embarked on an ambitious musical journey, "Taïga Maya", with the expert help of Belgian producer/composer Thierry Van Roy. They premiered their show at WOMAD, on 11 November 2006, in Las Palmas .
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Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have... been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness. Addressing these issues has made her controversial because of her young readership. Wilson may be best known for her series of novels featuring the character Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in Wilson's 1991 novel The Story of Tracy Beaker, from which has followed three sequels, as well as two CBBC television adaptations: The Story of Tracy Beaker and Tracy Beaker Returns. Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath, England, in 1945. Her father, Harry Aitkin, was a civil servant; her mother, Margaret "Biddy" Aitkin, was a housewife, having various jobs as a dinnerlady and a bakery worker. She spent most of her childhood in Kingston upon Thames, where she went to Latchmere Primary School. She was an imaginative child and enjoyed reading and making up stories. She particularly enjoyed books by Noel Streatfeild, as well as American classics like Little Women and What Katy Did.
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