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On This Day (USA) - 17 May



The War Games: Episode Five premiered on BBC One in 1969 at 5:14pm BST, watched by 5.10 million viewers.

In the American Civil War zone, Jamie and Lady Jennifer join forces with resistance fighters from various time zones and prepare to launch an attack on Central Control.


The Unicorn and the Wasp premiered on BBC One in 2008 at 6:58pm BST, watched by 8.41 million viewers.

Nemesis premiered on BBC Three in 2008 at 7:45pm BST

 Birthdays
Erin Richards will be 38 - credited as Freda in Asylum(TW)

Erin Richards is a Welsh actress, best known for playing detective Nancy Reid in the television series, Being Human.

She voiced Freda in the audio play Asylum.


Corey Johnson will be 63 - 4 credits, including Henry van Statten in Dalek

Corey Johnson is an American character actor largely active in the UK, best known for his supporting roles in Hellboy, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Captain Philips, The Bourne Ultimatum, Kick-Ass, the Spooks episode "The Special" and the Doctor Who episode "Dalek".

Personal life

Johnson was born John Johnson in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was one of five children, having two brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers is a sports talk radio personality in New Orleans. He trained professionally at London's Central School of Speech and Drama where he met actress Lucy Cohu. The two married but they later divorced.

Career

His films include Out for a Kill, The Contract, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy, Saving Private Ryan, Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Hellboy, the 2005 Ray Bradbury film A Sound of Thunder, and Harrison's Flowers. He also appeared in the award-winning mini series by HBO; Band of Brothers. Johnson had a breakout year in 1999, first playing the wiseguy American tomb-raider Daniels in The Mummy, then the bungling, dim-witted assassin Bruno Decker in Do Not Disturb opposite William Hurt and Michael Chiklis.

Johnson appeared as smug business tycoon Henry van Statten in "Dalek", an episode of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who. Other TV guest spots include Spooks, Foyle's War, Celeb and Nash Bridges. He played the role of Louis Nacke II, a passenger, in United 93. In April 2007 Johnson made his Broadway debut as Nixon's Chief of Staff Jack Brennan in Frost/Nixon.

While appearing on Broadway, Johnson also filmed The Caller starring Elliott Gould and Frank Langella.

In 2004, Johnson was nominated for a Best Actor award at the British TMAs for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. He has also provided voice acting for several video games including the video game tie-in with the movie Reign of Fire and Constantine.

Johnson then played The Judge/Saint Peter in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida Theatre in London.

Until 19 September 2014, Johnson played Mitch in Benedict Andrews´ revival of Tennessee Williams´ A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic theatre in London alongside Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster. Johnson´s performance was described as "lovely" and "measured" by The Evening Standard´s theatre critic and the overall production also received considerable critical acclaim. 2015 portrayed a helicopter pilot in the Science fiction film Ex Machina, which is set in the leading roles with Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac.

Biography from the wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


Catherine Howe will be 74 - credited as Ara in The Underwater Menace

Catherine Howe (born HalifaxWest YorkshireEngland) is an English singer-songwriter. She is an Ivor Novello Award winner who has earned critical acclaim in dozens of music magazines both in the UK and the US, including Folk Album of the Year from the Sunday Times.

Howe began an acting career in the late 1960s, where she appeared in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Underwater Menace. 

Howe trained as an actress at the Corona Drama School in London. She commenced an acting career in the late 1960s, performing in contemporary television dramas such as Z CarsThe Wednesday Play and Dixon of Dock Green. Howe went on to appear in Barney Platts-Mill's filmPrivate Road. In 1970, Howe met Andrew Cameron Miller, an executive at Reflection, a subsidiary of CBS Records, resulting in her recording her debut album What A Beautiful Place at Trident Studios in London, in February 1971. Miller paired Howe with Bobby Scott, an American pianist and record producer who had previously co-written The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". However, Reflection ceased to trade when the album was on the point of release, and as a result it remained largely unheard until it was reissued in 2007 on the Numero label. The re-release met with critical acclaim; gaining a five-star review from Observer Music.

Howe featured on soundtrack recordings in the UK and Europe throughout the 1970s, and provided the lead vocal for Ennio Morricone's theme song "Un genie, deux associes, une cloche" in 1976. She worked with the Italian jazz musician Piero Piccioni, recording two songs for his 1972 film God Under the Skin and singing in an Italian television broadcast with Piccioni two years later. Howe's second LP Harry was released in the UK in 1975 on RCA, for which the title track received an Ivor Novello Award (only the second female recording artist to achieve this). Harry remains available as a mobile phone ringtone. Also in 1975, Howe appeared on film as the singer during the title credits of the British sex farce, Can You Keep It Up For A Week? RCA released a follow-up album,Silent Mother Nature in 1976, winning Folk Album of the Year from the Sunday Times. A single was released entitled "Until The Morning Comes" written by the Scottish singer/guitarist Dave Kelly and Ray McRiner, and was performed on LWT'sSupersonic. The following year, the title tracks of both RCA albums were re-released (together with the aforementioned single) on the EP The Truth of the Matter, and was one of the Top 75 selling EPs of 1977. Throughout that year Howe produced and sang the songs for BBC Television's That's Life!. Howe's fourth album came two years later, Dragonfly Days, released on Ariola Records. Ariola also released singles by Howe prior to and following the album, some of which are not included on the LP, and promoted as far away as South America. The third single "Quietly and Softly" also featured as the B-side to "Switchboard" by Georg Kajanus' group "April Love".

One was with Mike Batt, Howe's self-penned "Sit Down And Think Again", another was a cover of Carole King's "Goin' Back" produced by Pip WilliamsDragonfly Days remains her only record not reissued on CD. In 1979, the BBC filmed Rhythm on 2: Catherine Howe and Judie Tzuke, a live concert at Ipswich's Corn Exchange. The following year, again for the BBC, Howe featured on both the Jeremy Taylor and Sacha Distel shows.

None of Howe's albums sold in large quantity in their time, and after Dragonfly Days, she decided to retire from the music industry. Howe explained in her own words on the tradmusic.com website: "Despite promotion and tours with Andy Fairweather-Low, Chris de Burgh, David Soul and later with Randy Edleman, the albums and singles didn't sell enough. I thought it was because of me, but it was as much (I've since learned) because they weren't in the shops to buy. To remedy this it was suggested that maybe I should write 'country and western', maybe I should change my hair, maybe wear black leather. So the music business, which I loved, and I parted company. Like a bad marriage, some damage was sustained before separation took place...." There was some activity in the 1980s with a re-issue of the "Harry" single in 1984 (due to public demand with the birth of Prince Harry). A year later, Howe contributed two songs to the Sounds of Yorkshire LP: a re-recording of "Lucy Snow" ("Lucy Snowe") from the Silent Mother Nature album; and a new piece in a traditional vein, "Yorkshire Hills". In 1989 Howe had a daughter, Jenny, and later earned a first class degree in History and Religion from the Open University.

Howe is currently working on a book on the life of the 19th-century secularist George Holyoake as well as continuing with her songwriting. In 2002 Howe returned to recording, producing a new CD, her fifth: Princelet Street. This coincided with the launch of anofficial website and preceded the re-issue of her 1970s albums What a Beautiful Place (with the Numero label), Harry (with BGO) and Silent Mother Nature (with BGO). 

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


David Simeon will be 81 - 2 credits, including Private Latimer in Inferno

David Simeon appeared in two Doctor Who stories: as Private Latimer in Inferno and Alastair Fergus in The D�mons.


Tenniel Evans (died 2009 aged 83) would be 98 - credited as Major Daly in Carnival Of Monsters

Tenniel Evans was a British actor. He played Major Daly in the 1973 story Carnival or Monsters.

Evans was born in NairobiKenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director.

Tenniel Evans was a direct descendent of Isaac Evans, brother of George Eliot (born as Mary Ann Evans).[3]

Educated at Christ's Hospital, the University of St Andrews and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Evans is best known for his long-running role as Leading Seaman "Taffy" Goldstein (plus other occasional characters) on The Navy Lark, a popular BBC comedy radio series of the 1950s, which starred Jon Pertwee, with Ronnie BarkerRichard Caldicot and Leslie Phillips. Pertwee became one of Evans' best friends - he encouraged Pertwee to audition for Doctor Who, although both were unaware that Pertwee was already being considered for the role; Pertwee subsequently helped Evans get cast in the Doctor Who story Carnival of Monsters.

Frequently cast as a policeman, doctor or priest, Tenniel Evans appeared in many of the most popular and successful British TV series of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as well as many one-off programmes, over a period of 44 years. His TV debut was in the series No Hiding Place in 1960; shortly after this he played Jonathan Kail in Tess, the 1960 ITV adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which also featured Geraldine McEwan and Jeremy Brett.

Among Evans' most notable TV credits are The Forsyte Saga (1967), The Saint (1967), four appearances in The Avengers between 1961 and 1968, Softly Softly, (1966, 1969), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)(1969), A Family at War (1970), Paul Temple (1970, 1971), multiple appearances in Z-Cars between 1963 and 1972, a regular role in Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), The Liver Birds (1972), The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976), Yes Minister (1980), Coronation Street (1980), Rumpole of the Bailey (1983), The Citadel (1983) and "The Dancing Men" (1984), an episode of the Granada series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which reunited him with Jeremy Brett.

In 1985 Evans was ordained as a non-stipendiary minister of the Church of England and he retired from stage acting, although he continued to perform in TV programmes until shortly before his death and during that year he had a recurring role in the comedy Shine on Harvey Moon. In 1987 he had a recurring role in the children's sci-fi series Knights of God (1987).

Evans' TV credits from the late 1980s to 2004 include Inspector MorseLovejoySeptember SongPeak PracticeThe BillPie in the SkyHeartbeatHetty Wainthropp InvestigatesCasualty and Dalziel and Pascoe. His final screen appearance was in an episode of the romantic comedy series William and Mary(2004).

Evans made few appearances in film; his most prominent part was as a detective in the thriller 10 Rillington Place (1971), the film about the infamous British serial killer John Christie, which starredRichard Attenborough.

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


 Deaths
Hugh Burden (died 1985 aged 72) - credited as Channing in Spearhead From Space

Hugh Burden  was an English actor and playwright.

He played Channing in the 1970 Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space

He was educated at Beaumont College and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA. He then appeared on stage in repertory theatre in Croydon and in London's West End before military service in the Hampshire Regiment and the Indian Army from 1939 to 1942.

Other roles include  The Avengers (1963) and The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder (1969).

Film appearances include One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), The Way Ahead (1944), Fame is the Spur (1947), Malta Story (1953), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) and The Ruling Class (1972).

He also acted in radio plays and was known for readings of the works of authors such as T. S. Eliot and Evelyn Waugh. He also wrote several television and stage plays and was an Equity council member.