Mr John Savident, better known for his playing of the character ‘Fred Elliott’ in the soap ‘Coronation Street’, has sadly passed away, aged 86 years.
Born in Guernsey in 1938, of a local fisherman father and a Swiss mother; Mr Savident and his family left the Channel Islands, then under German occupation, before moving to Ashton-under-Lyne, latter a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, when he was just three years old.
His first adult job for some 6 years, was as a member of the police force in Manchester, where he was stabbed attempting to break up a gang fight.
Mr Savident had quit the police force and was pursuing his acting ambitions in amateur productions, when a producer overheard him talking in a pub and offered him a part as the character ‘Robin Hood’ in an upcoming London panto, thus officially launching him on an acting career. Mr Savident first appeared on ‘Coronation Street’ in 1994 and his booming voiced character; playing the part of butcher ‘Fred Elliot’, quickly became a favourite amongst fans of the ITV soap.
His numerous storylines involved his failed love life, which included three marriages, not to mention several failed proposals. His two other previous wives were Maureen Holdsworth (Sherrie Hewson) and barmaid Eve Sykes (Melanie Kilburn).
A secret son, in the character of, ‘Ashley Peacock’; latter played by actor Mr Steven Arnold, arrived into the show, with the two characters developing a close friendship, while working together in their butchers shop.
The character of ‘Fred Elliot’ was killed off 12 years later, in 2006, having suffering a stroke on the day he was supposed to marry ‘Bev Unwin‘, latter played by actress Ms Susie Blake.
One of ‘Fred Elliott’s’ most distinctive character traits was that he regularly stated things twice, usually inserting the words “I say” between them e.g.“Best of British is that, I say best of British”. Even in his death scene, ‘Fred Elliott’ said to ‘Bev Unwin’, quote, “Be happy, I say, be happy”.
Mr Savident outstanding dramatic skills were quickly recognised, resulting in his being included in many other TV, Film and Stage roles; e.g. ‘Robin Hood’, the political comedy ‘Yes, Minister’, ‘Doctor Who’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Gandhi’, ‘Battle Of Britain’, ‘Middlemarch’, ‘The Remains Of The Day’, and ‘Hobson’s Choice’.
Mr Savident is survived by his wife; latter theatre director Ms Rona Hopkinson and his two children.
The 41st prestigious Co. Tipperary Open Drama Festival will take place in the St. Michael’s Community Centre Theatre, in Holycross, Thurles from Friday, March 15th until Saturday March 23rd, commencing at 8:30pm nightly, except for the final night, when prizes will be awarded and starting time will commence at 8:00pm.
Mr Michael Poynor[Association of Drama Adjudicators (ADA)]
The adjudicator for this year’s event will be Mr Michael Poynor[Association of Drama Adjudicators (ADA)] with the inimitable Mr Donal Duggan as Festival Director and Master of Ceremonies, (as he has been for four decades, latter a feat surely deserving of a special award at this year’s festival).
Nine of Ireland’s top drama groups will be on stage for the festival’s duration and they will be bidding for the “Tipperary Star Cup” in the Confined section and the “Tipp FM Trophy” in the open category. Three Co. Tipperary groups will bid for The “Tipperary Star Cup”, namely Holycross Ballycahill DG; Moyne DG, and Rearcross DG.
Holycross Upcoming Festival Programme
Friday, March 15th, (Open)“Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel. (Holycross/Ballycahill DG).
Saturday March 16th, (Confined)“Stolen Child” by Bairbre Caoimh and Yvonne Quinn. (Moyne Drama Group).
Sunday March 17th, (Confined)”On Raftery’s Hill” by Marina Carr. (Wayside Players).
Monday March 18th, (Open)”The Ferryman” by Jez Butterworth. (Ballyduff DG).
Tuesday March 19th, (Open)”Antigone” by Sophocles and adapted by Don Taylor. (Bride-view DG).
Wednesday March 20th, (Confined)”Same Old Moon“ by Geraldine Aron. (Slieve Aughty DG).
Thursday March 21st, (Confined)”Drama at Inish“ by Lennox Robinson. (Rearcross DG).
Friday March 22nd, (Open)“The Lonesome West” by Martin McDonagh. (Kilmeen DG)
Saturday March 23rd, (Confined) “Now and Then” by Sean Graham and adapted by John Corless (Harvest Moon DG).
(The Festival is held under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland ADCI).
Season tickets are €70 and concessions are €12. For further information you may contact Mobile Tel. No. 0862575159
Meet The Adjudicator.
This year’s adjudicator, Mr Michael Poynor, (pictured above) hails from Derry, and holds an impressive curriculum vitae. Born in the Falkland Islands and educated in Argentina and England, he trained for theatre at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (L.A.M.D.A.), London.
He has been Artistic Director for the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Harrogate Theatre, Yorkshire; Stage ’80 Theatre company, Belfast; Ulster Youth Theatre; The National Youth Theatre Of Wales; and currently Artistic Director at the Ulster Theatre Company. He was Chief Executive of the Millenium Forum, Derry, and Head of Culture and Arts at Queens University, in Belfast.
Mr Poynor is an award winning Director and Lighting Designer having directed over 150 productions, Designed Sets for 120 and Lighting for over 250, as well as Fight Directing for some 100 productions.
He has written a string of burlesque pantomimes including ‘Scrooge’s Christmas‘; ‘Alice!’ (latter a musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s most famous books); a new version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s best known operetta: ‘Rockin’ Mikado‘ which was nominated ‘Best Visiting Production’ in the 1998 Manchester Theatre Awards; ‘Comedy of Errors: The Musical’ (2013) and ‘Jonathan Harker and Dracula’ (2014).
Amongst the many productions he has directed are: The UK provincial premiere of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’; ‘‘Grease’‘; ‘Hello Dolly’, and ‘Once a Catholic’ (at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast); ‘Interview’, and ‘The Bald Prima Donna’ (at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon); ‘Indians’, ‘Schweyk in the Second World War’; ‘What the Butler Saw’, and ‘Noises Off’ (at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast); ‘The Glass Menagerie’; ‘Relatively Speaking’, and ‘The Happiest of the Three’, (at the Overground Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames), ‘Alphabetical Order’; ‘Equus’, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’, and ‘Candida’, (at Harrogate Theatre); ‘The Snoopy Show’; ‘Hello and Goodbye’; ‘Ashes’; ‘Kelly’s Book’, and ‘Crack-Up’ (for Stage ’80), ‘How the Other Half Loves’; ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, and ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’, (for Theatre Ulster); ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’; ‘The Mating Season’; ‘The Boyfriend’, and ‘Leave Him to Heaven’, (for the Arts Theatre, Belfast), ‘Oh, What A Lovely War’ and ‘The War of the Worlds’ (for the Ulster Youth Theatre), ‘La Belle Helene’, (for Castle Ward Opera Co.) and ‘West Side Story’, (with the Ulster Orchestra at the Klondike in Belfast for Opera Northern Ireland).
For the Ulster Theatre Company, he directed ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ (1998), (latter a sell-out production for Belfast Festival at Queen’s at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast); ‘West Side Story’; ‘A Chorus Line’; ‘Oklahoma’, and the RSC’s version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, (all of which toured the UK and Ireland). In 2019 he directed and designed the world premiere of Hennessy Award winner, Sam Burnside’s ‘The Long Now’, (for the Seamus Heaney Home Place Theatre).
Sadly, we learn this morning that ‘Friends’ actor, Mr Matthew Perry, who found fame playing the character Chandler Bing, has died in a suspected accidental drowning in a jacuzzi at his home. Mr Bing was aged just 54 years old.
His death comes after he recently published his memoir, informing his fans of how he had overcome drink and drug addictions, which had almost brought about his death.
Mr Perry was discovered dead at his mansion on Saturday morning last, October 28th; his body discovered by his assistant. It is understood that no foul play was involved.
In all Mr Perry spent 10 seasons playing ‘Chandler’ on ‘Friends’, while struggling with a string of addictions. His memoir ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: A Candid, Darkly Funny Book’ exposed his struggles with addictions that became so severe that 5 years ago, at the age of 49 years, he suffered a gastrointestinal perforation, as a result of his extreme opiate usage. Same issue gave him then just a 2% chance of living after being placed in a coma for some weeks, following which he had to use a colostomy bag, while his colon healed.
At the peak of his addictions he was consuming about 55 Vicodin (Trade Name) tablets a day and weighed just 128 pounds. This combination medication is used to relieve moderate to severe pain. It contains an opioid pain reliever hydrocodone and a non-opioid pain reliever acetaminophen. Same is an antitussive (cough suppressant) and narcotic analgesic agent for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe pain. Hydrocodone works in the brain to change how your body feels and responds to pain and since 2009, has been the second most frequently encountered opioid.
Mr Perry had stated “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills; when I have a goatee, it’s a lot of pills.”
“Thank you for the years of laughter. In ár gcroíthe go deo”.
There goes my heart beating, ‘Cause you are the reason, I’m losing my sleep. Please come back now, And there goes my mind racing, And you are the reason, That I’m still breathing. I’m hopeless now, I’d climb every mountain, And swim every ocean, Just to be with you, And fix what I’ve broken. Oh, ’cause I need you to see, That you are the reason. There goes my hands shaking, And you are the reason. My heart keeps bleeding. I need you now, And if I could turn back the clock, I’d make sure the light defeated the dark. I’d spend every hour, of every day, Keeping you safe. And I’d climb every mountain, And swim every ocean, Just to be with you, And fix what I’ve broken. Oh, ’cause I need you to see, That you are the reason, I don’t wanna fight no more. I don’t wanna hide no more. I don’t wanna cry no more. Come back I need you to hold me, (you are the reason). I need you to hold me tonight. I’d climb every mountain, And swim every ocean, Just to be with you, And fix what I’ve broken. ‘Cause I need you to see, That you are the reason.
The finial (from Latin: finis, meaning end), which originally donned the flag on the 1798 memorial statue when it was first erected on Liberty Square, Thurles in 1901, has now, at last been, replaced.
Pic (1): 1798 Memorial Flag with finical replaced. Pic (2): Old picture showing original finical prior to accident.
Accidently broken, together with the tip of the Arming Sword, during the erection of Christmas lighting some years back; while the Arming Sword tip was replaced, alas the finial was not and same vanished.
Back in the 19th century, this finial shape would have been better known as a “truck”, with its original purpose meant to keep a wooden flag pole from splitting.
At the very top of every flagpole can be found a finial, which is not just a decorative piece that users construct. Most finials today appear in the form of a gold ball and a few are observed as an eagle. Back on September 16th 1898 the flag pole finial on the White House, latter located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. United States, was replaced by a patriotic eagle, same made of aluminium and coated in a gold anodized finish.
A finial ball is truly required for pole maintenance. A number of military flagpoles were at one time topped with gold-coloured eagles, but these proved impractical because flags would become entangled and torn, during high winds; hence the switch to spheres shapes, which eliminated this unnecessary waste and expense.
In the absence of the Stone Mans finical, many local people in Thurles believed the flag pole represented a pike, but of course it never was a pike.
The new finical is made from a left over piece of lime stone slab, which was used to replace a badly cracked piece of limestone previously, in Holycross Abbey, and carved by stonemason and sculptor Mr Philip Quinn.
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