My favourite English Actors and Actresses

Emma Thompson

I have just watched Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson's great audio commentary together with the producer Lindsay Doran and have been utterly enchanted once more! The commentary is witty and profoundly honest.
Emma is an outstanding actress that has reached international stardom, but yet never behaves like a movie star. She also is a highly capable writer, having received an oscar and a golden globe for her S & S screenplay. She also published her diary of the creation of S & S which is profoundly frank and moving.

My favourites of her movies: Sense and Sensibility (she did the big crying scene at the end 11 times in a row), Peter's Friends (playing a hilarious eccentric), Wit (playing an English professor faced with terminal cancer), Love Actually (the Joni Mitchell scene is THE best acting in the entire movie), Remains of the day
I have yet to see Howards End, which earned her her first oscar.

Alan Rickman

Talking about Emma, Alan immediately comes to ones mind (no, not Kennegh!). It is probably harder to find a movie they did NOT both star in than the other way round. They make a superb couple in Love Actually! He also directed Emma in the film The WInter Guest. And of course he makes a great Coronel Brandon in S & S. And can we imagine anyone else playing Snape? Oh, and don't get me started on the voice :)...

Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry



They both did a lot of comedy work while at Cambridge, together with Emma Thompson, and later starred in the comedy series A bit of Fry an Laurie together. Hugh Laurie is an actor that knows and to outstanding by being subtle. He know is very successful as the main character in the tv series House, MD.
As for Fry, I think he is genius! I loved him in Peter's Friends. And the Harry Potter audio books are beyond brilliant.

Imelda Staunton


A very fine English actress. She hardly gets the leading roles, apart from Vera Drake, but always delivers quality. Yet again, she is deeply moving in Peter's Friends, plays the villain in Harry Potter and Freedom writers, and plays Hugh Laurie's wife twice, in Peter's Friends as well as Sense and Sensibility. That's probably also due to how great their difference in height looks...

Philip Glenister

Away from period drama (although he does that in Cranford) to police drama. The Gene Genie! Glenister plays Gene Hunt, a rough, but at times heroic DCI, in the series Life on Mars as well as the sequel Ashes to Ashes. His original but very rude quotes are unique. He achieves to behave apallingly badly, but yet to be very likable to his audience.

This list could be continued forever with Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Jude Law,...

BBC Radio 4 - not just for the middle aged!

... which is the title of a facebook group I recently joined. Actually, this is going to be a declaration of love. According to my hostmum, Radio 4 has "the best and the worst programmes on the radio", but personally, I just think it's brilliant!
Actually, the first thing I do in the morning when I enter the kitchen is turning the radio on. This is normally during the Today programme. It isn't my favourite, but sometimes it has highly fascinating items, such as the "six words life story", asking listener's to sum up their life in 6 words. This originated from a bet by Ernest Hemingway that he could tell a story in 6 words, which he did: For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

My other favourites include:

Women's Hour: Every Day at 10:00 am. which is usually on during the time that I clean the kitchen. People complain about one of the hosts, Jane Garvey, but I like her. I have discovered some interestings things because they were featured on this show: Stacey Kent's Jazz music, the play "Shadowlands" because Janie Dee, the main actress, was on the show, which I saw twice and which has become my favourite play ever and the BBC 1 series "Ashes to Ashes", sequel to "Life on Mars" which I loved, as Keeley Hawes was on the show.

Desert Island Discs: Every Friday.
Every one knows the opening music. On this show hosted by Kirsty Young, the guest is asked to pick 8 records that he would take to a desert Island and explain why. Finally, he also has to pick a book (everyone gets the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare) and a Luxury.

Just a minute:
A hilarious show. The guests have to talk about a certain topic for a minute, The rules are: no hesitation, repetition or deviation. If one of the rules is broken, the other guests can press a buzzer and take over.

Book of the week:
Each week, one book is read. Usually, the choice is good and the radio adaptation high quality.

Afternoon play:
A different radio play every day. Wants me want to become a writer for radio drama :).

You and Yours:
A costumer affairs programme covering all sorts of topics. I like it because one of the hosts has the funniest voice ever :D. It sounds as if he is talking with a constant big grin :).

Thanks to Radio 4, I actually have an idea of what is going on in the world (which I never did ;)). I even gave up reading The Independent having tried for a while, because the radio covers the news so well.

Food in London: pros and cons

Pros:

- quality supermarkets: probably as an effect of the class system, there seems to exist a certain kind of grocery store ladder ranging from cheap stores such as Tesco (selling turkey with mold under the skin because the refrigerators broke down over night - no, I did not make this up!) to top-notch expensive brands like Waitrose, and the queen of supermarkets: Marks and Spencer. If one is willing to pay considerably higher prices, one can get considerably better quality which outshines any German supermarket.

- authentic Asian food: London, with it's high number of asian immigrants, has an Indian restaurant around every corner. Though varying in quality, one can find some really tasty food made by real indian chefs. It is not surprising that the Bangladeshi dish Chicken Tikka Masala is labelled the nation's favourite food, which can be found in the countless restaurants down the famous Brick Lane.
Needless to say that China Town offers some very tasty Chinese food, advertised by roasted duck hanging in the windows.
The current sushi trend has led to an number of chains and restaurants opening and it is part of every supermarket's read made food offers. Those, however, often consist of tuna out of a jar and smoked salmon, so it is advisable to look for the more authentic places. Or to try making some home made sushi; as there are 3 japanese grocery stores between brewer street and Piccadilly circus.


Cons:

- the "bread": The English seem to believe in the equation bread=toast, as one can buy any sort of grain combination from white to brown, but it is always the sponge kind of toast that can be completely squished flat...

to be continued...