Croydon

The Battle of Britain Monument in London is a sculpture on the Victoria Embankment overlooking the River Thames in central London, England which pays... tribute to those who took part in the Battle of Britain during World War II. It was unveiled on 18 September 2005, the 65th anniversary of the Battle, by HRH the Prince of Wales and HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in the presence of many of the surviving airmen known collectively as "The Few", following the Royal Air Force Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on Battle of Britain Sunday. This service is an annual event, taking place annually since 1943; the first service took place in St Paul's Cathedral and since has taken place in Westminster Abbey. The monument was conceived by Bill Bond, founder of the Battle of Britain Historical Society, who was later awarded the MBE for his services to heritage. He was solely responsible for negotiating with the City of Westminster to secure the site of the monument, as well as appointing Donald Insall Associates as architects of the project. He also formed the fund-raising committee after raising over £250,000 through an appeal via the Daily Mail. The budget was £1.
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Nicola Tappenden , also known by her modelling name Nicola T, is an English former Page 3 Girl and glamour model. She is also known for appearing in... the 2010 edition of Celebrity Big Brother. She was the sixth contestant evicted, in a secret eviction on 27 January 2010. Tappenden is also a singer, with her first single "Drunk" released in March 2010. Tappenden was born in Croydon, London. She began her topless modelling career as a Page Three girl at the age of 20 in 2002 after winning The Sun's first ever 'Page 3 Idol' competition whilst working for Citigroup asset management - even though press reported inaccurately that she worked at Merrill Lynch investment bank. She has become a regular fixture since, as well as undertaking other glamour and retail fashion modelling assignments. In May 2007, she entered the Miss Great Britain contest as Miss Croydon along with Michelle Marsh as Miss Oldham. Tappenden came in 10th place, with Marsh reaching 4th place. She went to Shirley High School in Croydon. As an actress, Tappenden appeared in the film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo in 2005.
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Stoney is a British musician, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Stoney first appeared on the UK music scene following the release of his debut... inventive and homegrown-style album Amber in 2001. A quirky collection of songs written in his teens, and recorded in his Sheffield basement following his escape from his hometown of Croydon, it was independently distributed initially through a few local record shops on his own Holy Moly label. Stoney played all the instruments on the record. In response to the positive public reaction, a full band was formed to take the songs to the stage, and a three track EP of songs from the album, enitled Amber EP, was released nationally the next year gaining Stoney his first national radio airplay. Stoney signed to Island Records in 2003, teaming up with producers Kevin Bacon and Jon Quarmby to record an album. During this time, Stoney and his band performed under the name of Stoneylacuna, to reflect the change from the singer-songwriter feel of Amber to the bigger, full band sound of the new recordings.
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Derren Victor Brown is an English illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage... productions, photographic memory, and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat. Since the first broadcast of his show Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000, Brown has become increasingly well known for his "mind-reading" act. He has written books for magicians as well as the general public. His caricature artwork has received gallery exhibition and is available in a single volume documenting his portrait collection. Though his performances of mind-reading and other feats of mentalism may appear to be the result of psychic or paranormal practices, he claims no such abilities and frequently denounces those who do. Brown states at the beginning of his Trick of the Mind programmes that he achieves his results using a combination of "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship".
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William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s.... Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as Nell Gwyn and The Thief of Bagdad . He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays Malleson was born in Croydon, England and educated at Brighton College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he created a sensation when it was discovered that he had successfully posed as a visiting politician and given a speech when the man failed to attend a debating society dinner. He was married three times and had many relationships. In 1915, he married the aspiring actress Lady Constance Annesley. Like her, he was interested in social reform, one of his plays being on the subject of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
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Roy Hudd, OBE is an English comedian, actor, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. His father was a carpenter... and he attended Tavistock Secondary Modern School, Croydon and Croydon Secondary Technical School. His jobs then included a messenger for an advertising agency, window dresser and commercial artist. In 1958 he took a summer job as a Redcoat at Butlins, Clacton. From the Daily Mail: Roy and Debbie met nearly 30 years ago in panto in Nottingham. Debbie, a dancer, now directs panto. Roy was already divorced from his first wife, Ann, with whom he has a 45-year-old son, Max, a stage manager. Roy and Debbie married in 1988. 'Debbie is 22 years younger than me, it's amazing, people never picked up on that. It never bothered us.' They have no children. 'We tried and tried, but we didn't get lucky,' says Roy. Hudd first appeared on radio in 1959 on the Workers' Playtime show and he is best known for his very long-running BBC Radio 2 series The News Huddlines.
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Trevor Goddard was an English actor. He played Kano in the first Mortal Kombat movie and Lieutenant Commander Mic Brumby on JAG. Goddard was born in... Croydon, Surrey, England, in 1962. For much of his career, he claimed to be of Australian descent and often played Australian characters. He appeared in cameo roles in many television shows prior to 1995. That same year, Goddard played Kano in the film adaptation of Mortal Kombat. His performance as Kano became the source of the character's evolution in the video games. He would go on to act in other movies such as Gone in Sixty Seconds, Men Of War and Hollywood Vampyr. Goddard played in the television drama series JAG as Lieutenant Commander Mick Brumby and was featured in TV commercials for the Hoover FloorMate. He made his last on-screen appearance in the 2003 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Prior to his death, he was considered to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Casino Royale. On 7 June 2003, Goddard was found dead in his home in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. He was 40 years old.
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Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy. He is... credited with popularising Mother Teresa and in his later years became a Catholic and morals campaigner. Muggeridge's father, Henry , served as a prominent Labour Party councillor in the local government of Croydon, South London, as a founder-member of the Fabian Society, and as a Labour Member of Parliament for Romford . His mother was Annie Booler. One of five brothers, Muggeridge was born in Sanderstead, Surrey and grew up in Croydon and attended Selhurst High School there, and then Selwyn College, Cambridge, for four years, graduating in 1924 with a pass degree in natural sciences. He then went to India to teach. While still a student he had taught for brief periods in 1920, 1922 and 1924 at the John Ruskin Central School, Croydon, where his father was Chairman of the Governors.
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Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ,... Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York. He came to wider attention from 1967 in the title role of the British television spy drama Callan, earning him the 1970 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. Among his film credits, Woodward starred as Police Sergeant Howie in the 1973 cult British horror film The Wicker Man, and in the title role of the 1980 Australian biopic Breaker Morant. From 1985 Woodward starred as British ex-secret agent and vigilante Robert McCall in the American television series The Equalizer, earning him the 1986 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Drama Actor. Woodward was an only child, born in Croydon, Surrey to working class parents Edward Oliver Woodward, a metalworker, and Violet Edith Woodward . As a boy he was bombed out of his home three times during the Blitz.
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