title: Steve Jobs (film)

text: John Sculley praised Jeff Daniels' portrayal of him, but claims the film misrepresented Apple's success with the Mac, and argues that Jobs was "much nicer" than depicted. Bill Atkinson denounced the film as "not truthful at all. That wasn't his character, and the events didn't happen. You think of Jobs having a reality distortion field. I think of Aaron Sorkin as having ... a history distortion field". Atkinson said that "the only thing he got right in that movie" was the "spot on" depiction of Hoffman, including her accent and how she "tried to rein in Steve from ... making an ass of himself".


title: Steve Jobs (film)

text: Steve Wozniak (who consulted with Sorkin before he had written the screenplay) commented on a trailer released on July 1, 2015, that he does not "talk that way... I would never accuse the graphical interface of being stolen. I never made comments to the effect that I had credit (genius) taken from me... The lines I heard spoken were not things I would say but carried the right message, at least partly... I felt a lot of the real Jobs in the trailer, although a bit exaggerated." Wozniak did not ask to see the final script because he did not "think that would be appropriate... it is the creative work of the producer and writer and actors and director and others." He also noted that the trailer's reference to Jobs' initial rejection of his daughter Lisa evoked an emotional response: "It was hard on me, even being quiet, when Jobs refused to acknowledge his child when the money didn't matter, and I can almost cry remembering it." In September 2015, after seeing a rough cut of the film, Wozniak stated that he felt like he "was actually watching Steve Jobs and the others [...] not actors playing them, I give full credit to Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin for getting it so right." In an interview with "San Francisco Chronicle" on February 10, 2016, Wozniak claimed that the film's scenes between him and Jobs never occurred in reality. Wozniak specifically mentioned that he never requested Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team onstage, as was shown in the movie. However, he added that Jobs did purportedly show a lack of respect towards the group. When asked about the accuracy of the film's portrayal of Jobs, Wozniak replied: "In real life, to real people, that's the way he could be, very sharp, (although) never quite as much as in the movie."


title: Steve Jobs (film)

text: Edwin Catmull, president of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, felt that Jobs would "be appalled" at his depiction in the film, arguing that he was a kinder person later in life than is portrayed in the picture. In an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", Catmull commented, "When [Jobs] left Apple, he then entered into what really is the classic hero's journey: He's wandering in the wilderness, he's working with NeXT, it's not working. He's working with Pixar, we're failing. In that process, Steve learned some major lessons, and he changed. He became an empathetic person, [...] that aspect of the change of Steve was missed."


title: Steve Jobs (film)

text: In a "Bloomberg West" interview with Emily Chang on August 26, 2015, Andy Cunningham called it "a wonderful film... It's an incredible character study of a really complex man. Aaron [Sorkin] and Danny Boyle did a fabulous job with it." Her portrayal by Sarah Snook was a "small role but professionally done." The film also portrays Andy as participating in the iMac launch, even though she was not working with Apple at that time. Journalist Walt Mossberg compared "Steve Jobs" to the Orson Welles film "Citizen Kane", which was loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. Mossberg has stated that while both films are aesthetically well-developed, Welles created a fictional set of characters in order to clarify that his film was a work of fiction. In contrast, according to Mossberg (who knew Jobs for 14 years), Sorkin's decision to use real instead of fictional names detracts from the quality of a film which appears to be a biopic and yet is a work of fiction. Mossberg states that "the Steve Jobs portrayed in Sorkin's film isn't the man I knew. Sorkin chose to cherry-pick and exaggerate some of the worst aspects of Jobs' character, and to focus on a period of his career when he was young and immature [...] It would be as if you made a movie called "JFK" almost entirely focused on Kennedy's womanizing and political rivalries, and said nothing about civil rights and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sorkin opts to end his story just as Jobs is poised to both reel off an unprecedented string of world-changing products and to mature into a much broader, kinder manager and person."


title: Steve Jobs (film)

text: "Steve Jobs" has received over 4 dozen industry and critic award nominations. The film garnered four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor for Fassbender, Best Supporting Actress for Winslet, Best Screenplay for Sorkin, and Best Original Score for Pemberton. It won two, for both Winslet and Sorkin. On February 14, 2016, Winslet won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Both Fassbender and Winslet received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.


title: IPad (9th generation)

text: The iPad 10.2-inch (officially iPad (9th generation), also referred as iPad 9) is a tablet computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. as the successor to the eighth-generation iPad. It was announced on September 14, 2021.


title: IPad (9th generation)

text: The ninth-generation iPad has the same design as the seventh- and eighth-generation iPads, although all color options now come with a black screen bezel, and the gold option has been removed. It is compatible with the Apple Pencil (1st generation), and the Smart Keyboard and Smart Connector for keyboard attachments. It uses the Apple A13 Bionic chip, which Apple claims gives a 20% CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine increase in performance compared to its predecessor. It features a 10.2-inch retina display identical to the previous models, with 1620 by 2160 pixels at a density of 264 PPI, and includes True Tone technology, meaning the display can adjust its color temperature based on the surrounding lighting temperature. A new 12 MP front camera is fitted in place of the 1.2 MP camera of previous models, which features Center Stage technology that detects the user and moves the camera view accordingly during video recording and calls. The rear 8 MP camera is from the earlier iPad Air 2. The base storage is doubled to 64 GB. iPadOS 15 is pre-installed at release.


title: IPad (9th generation)

text: "The New York Times" called the 9th-generation iPad "the best tablet for almost anyone" in 2022, praising its price, performance and features.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset ( , ; archaically Somersetshire , , ) is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, its coastline facing southeastern Wales. Its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset is currently formed of six council areas, of which two are unitary authorities, until the four second-tier district councils are merged on 1 April 2023, after which the county will comprise three unitary authorities. Its county town is Taunton.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills, the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset's name derives from Old English "Sumorsǣte", short for "Sumortūnsǣte", meaning "the people living at or dependent on Sumortūn (Somerton)". The first known use of "Somersæte" is in the law code of King Ine who was the Saxon King of Wessex from 688 to 726 CE, making Somerset along with Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset one of the oldest extant units of local government in the world. An alternative suggestion is the name derives from "Seo-mere-saetan" meaning "settlers by the sea lakes".


title: Somerset

text: The Old English name is used in the motto of the county, , meaning "all the people of Somerset". Adopted as the motto in 1911, the phrase is taken from the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". Somerset was a shire of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and the phrase refers to the wholehearted support the people of Somerset gave to King Alfred in his struggle to save Wessex from Viking invaders.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin (for example, Bath, Somerton, Wells and Keynsham), but numerous place names include British Celtic elements, such as the rivers Frome and Avon, and names of hills. For example, an Anglo-Saxon charter of 682 refers to Creechborough Hill as "the hill the British call "Cructan" and the Anglo-Saxons call "Crychbeorh"". Some modern names are wholly Brittonic in origin, like Tarnock, Priddy, and Chard, while others have both Saxon and Brittonic elements, such as Pen Hill.


title: Somerset

text: The caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Palaeolithic period, and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. Bones from Gough's Cave have been dated to 12,000 BCE, and a complete skeleton, known as Cheddar Man, dates from 7150 BCE. Examples of cave art have been found in Aveline's Hole. Some caves continued to be occupied until modern times, including Wookey Hole.


title: Somerset

text: The Somerset Levels—specifically dry points at Glastonbury and Brent Knoll— also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by Mesolithic hunters. Travel in the area was facilitated by the construction of one of the world's oldest known engineered roadways, the Sweet Track, which dates from 3807 BCE or 3806 BCE.


title: Somerset

text: The exact age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be Neolithic. There are numerous Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like Cadbury Castle and Ham Hill, were later reoccupied in the Early Middle Ages.


title: Somerset

text: On the authority of the future emperor Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in 47 CE. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around 409 CE, when the Roman occupation of Britain came to an end.


title: Somerset

text: A variety of Roman remains have been found, including Pagans Hill Roman temple in Chew Stoke, Low Ham Roman Villa and the Roman Baths that gave their name to the city of Bath.


title: Somerset

text: After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples. By 600 CE they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands. The British held back Saxon advance into the south-west for some time longer, but by the early eighth century King Ine of Wessex had pushed the boundaries of the West Saxon kingdom far enough west to include Somerset. The Saxon royal palace in Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot.


title: Somerset

text: The nature of the relations between the Britons and the Saxons in Somerset is not entirely clear. Ine's laws demonstrate that the Britons were considered to be a significant enough population in Wessex to merit provisions; however, the laws also suggest that Britons could not attain the same social standing as the Saxons, and that many were slaves. In light of such policies, many Britons might have chosen to emigrate to places such as Brittany while those who remained would have had incentives to adopt Anglo-Saxon culture.


title: Somerset

text: After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs, and large areas were owned by the crown, with fortifications such as Dunster Castle used for control and defence. Somerset came under the political influence of several different nobles during the Middle Ages. During the Wars of the Roses, an important magnate was Humphrey Stafford, earl of Devon whose wider influence stretched from Cornwall to Wiltshire. After 1485, one of the county's most influential figures was Henry VII's chamberlain Giles Daubeney.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was England's oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2013, having opened in 1610. During the English Civil War, Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, with key engagements being the Sieges of Taunton and the Battle of Langport.


title: Somerset

text: In 1685, the Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset. The rebels landed at Lyme Regis and travelled north, hoping to capture Bristol and Bath, but they were defeated in the Battle of Sedgemoor at Westonzoyland, the last pitched battle fought in England. Arthur Wellesley took his title, Duke of Wellington from the town of Wellington; he is commemorated on a nearby hill by a large, spotlit obelisk, known as the Wellington Monument.


title: Somerset

text: The Industrial Revolution in the Midlands and Northern England spelled the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. Farming continued to flourish, and the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce was founded in 1777 to improve farming methods. Despite this, two decades later agriculturist John Billingsley conducted a survey of the county's agriculture in 1795 and found that agricultural methods could still be improved.


title: Somerset

text: Coal mining was an important industry in north Somerset during the 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1800 it was prominent in Radstock.


title: Somerset

text: The Somerset Coalfield reached its peak production by the 1920s. All the pits have now been closed, the last in 1973. Most of the surface buildings have been removed, and apart from a winding wheel outside Radstock Museum, little evidence of their former existence remains. Further west, the Brendon Hills were mined for iron ore in the late 19th century; this was taken by the West Somerset Mineral Railway to Watchet Harbour for shipment to the furnaces at Ebbw Vale.


title: Somerset

text: Many Somerset soldiers died during the First World War, with the Somerset Light Infantry suffering nearly 5,000 casualties. War memorials were put up in most of the county's towns and villages; only nine, described as the Thankful Villages, had none of their residents killed. During the Second World War the county was a base for troops preparing for the D-Day landings. Some of the hospitals which were built for the casualties of the war remain in use. The Taunton Stop Line was set up to repel a potential German invasion. The remains of its pill boxes can still be seen along the coast, and south through Ilminster and Chard.


title: Somerset

text: A number of decoy towns were constructed in Somerset in World War II to protect Bristol and other towns. They were designed to mimic the nighttime geometry of "blacked out" streets, railway lines, and Bristol Temple Meads railway station, to encourage German bombers away from these targets. One, on the German radio navigation beam flight path to Bristol, was constructed on Beacon Batch. It was laid out by Shepperton Studios, based on aerial photographs of the city's railway marshalling yards. The decoys were fitted with dim red lights, simulating activities such as the stoking of steam locomotives. Burning bales of straw soaked in creosote were used to simulate the effects of incendiary bombs dropped by the first wave of Pathfinder night bombers; meanwhile, incendiary bombs dropped on the correct location were quickly smothered, wherever possible. Drums of oil were also ignited to simulate the effect of a blazing city or town, with the aim of fooling subsequent waves of bombers into dropping their bombs on the wrong location.


title: Somerset

text: The Chew Magna decoy town was hit by half a dozen bombs on 2 December 1940, and over a thousand incendiaries on 3 January 1941. The following night the Uphill decoy town, protecting the airfield at Weston-super-Mare, was bombed; a herd of dairy cows was hit, killing some and severely injuring others.


title: Somerset

text: The boundaries of Somerset are very similar to how they were in medieval times. They have been largely unaltered. The River Avon formed much of the border with Gloucestershire, except that the hundred of Bath Forum, which straddles the Avon, formed part of Somerset. Bristol began as a town on the Gloucestershire side of the Avon, however as it grew it extended across the river into Somerset. In 1373 Edward III proclaimed "that the town of Bristol with its suburbs and precincts shall henceforth be separate from the counties of Gloucester and Somerset ... and that it should be a county by itself".


title: Somerset

text: The present-day northern border of Somerset (adjoining the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire) runs along the southern bank of the Avon from the Bristol Channel, then follows around the southern edge of the Bristol built-up area, before continuing upstream along the Avon and then diverges from the river to include Bath and its historic hinterland to the north of the Avon, before meeting Wiltshire at the "Three Shire Stones" on the "Fosse Way" at Batheaston.


title: Somerset

text: Somerton took over from Ilchester as the county town in the late thirteenth century, but it declined in importance and the status of county town transferred to Taunton about 1366. The county has two cities, Bath and Wells, and (including the county town of Taunton, which has no town council but instead is the chief settlement of the county's only extant borough). The largest urban areas in terms of population are Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater.


title: Somerset

text: Many settlements developed because of their strategic importance in relation to geographical features, such as river crossings or valleys in ranges of hills. Examples include Axbridge on the River Axe, Castle Cary on the River Cary, North Petherton on the River Parrett, and Ilminster, where there was a crossing point on the River Isle. Midsomer Norton lies on the River Somer; while the Wellow Brook and the "Fosse Way" Roman road run through Radstock. Chard is the most southerly town in Somerset and one of the highest, though at an altitude of Wiveliscombe is the highest town in the county.


title: Somerset

text: The county contains several-miles-wide sections of the Avon green belt area, which is primarily in place to prevent urban sprawl from the Bristol and Bath built up areas encroaching into the rural areas of North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, and Mendip districts in the county, as well as maintaining surrounding countryside. It stretches from the coastline between the towns of Portishead and Clevedon, extending eastwards past Nailsea, around the Bristol conurbation, and through to the city of Bath. The green belt border intersects with the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) along its south boundary, and meets the Cotswolds AONB by its eastern extent along the Wiltshire county border, creating an extended area protected from inappropriate development.


title: Somerset

text: Much of the landscape of Somerset falls into types determined by the underlying geology. These landscapes are the limestone karst and lias of the north, the clay vales and wetlands of the centre, the oolites of the east and south, and the Devonian sandstone of the west.


title: Somerset

text: To the north-east of the Somerset Levels, the Mendip Hills are moderately high limestone hills. The central and western Mendip Hills was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1972 and covers . The main habitat on these hills is calcareous grassland, with some arable agriculture. To the south-west of the Somerset Levels are the Quantock Hills which was England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designated in 1956 which is covered in heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands with plantations of conifer and covers 99 square kilometres. The Somerset Coalfield is part of a larger coalfield which stretches into Gloucestershire. To the north of the Mendip hills is the Chew Valley and to the south, on the clay substrate, are broad valleys which support dairy farming and drain into the Somerset Levels.


title: Somerset

text: There is an extensive network of caves, including Wookey Hole, underground rivers, and gorges, including the Cheddar Gorge and Ebbor Gorge. The county has many rivers, including the Axe, Brue, Cary, Parrett, Sheppey, Tone and Yeo. These both feed and drain the flat levels and moors of mid and west Somerset. In the north of the county the River Chew flows into the Bristol Avon. The Parrett is tidal almost to Langport, where there is evidence of two Roman wharfs. At the same site during the reign of King Charles I, river tolls were levied on boats to pay for the maintenance of the bridge.


title: Somerset

text: The Somerset Levels (or Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known) are a sparsely populated wetland area of central Somerset, between the Quantock and Mendip hills. They consist of marine clay levels along the coast, and the inland (often peat based) moors. The Levels are divided into two by the Polden Hills. Land to the south is drained by the River Parrett while land to the north is drained by the River Axe and the River Brue. The total area of the Levels amounts to about


title: Somerset

text: and broadly corresponds to the administrative district of Sedgemoor but also includes the south west of Mendip district. Approximately 70% of the area is grassland and 30% is arable.


title: Somerset

text: Stretching about inland, this expanse of flat land barely rises above sea level. Before it was drained, much of the land was under a shallow brackish sea in winter and was marsh land in summer. Drainage began with the Romans, and was restarted at various times: by the Anglo-Saxons; in the Middle Ages by the Glastonbury Abbey, during 1400–1770; and during the Second World War, with the construction of the Huntspill River. Pumping and management of water levels still continues.


title: Somerset

text: The North Somerset Levels basin, north of the Mendips, covers a smaller geographical area than the Somerset Levels; and forms a coastal area around Avonmouth. It too was reclaimed by draining. It is mirrored, across the Severn Estuary, in Wales, by a similar low-lying area: the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels.


title: Somerset

text: In the far west of the county, running into Devon, is Exmoor, a high Devonian sandstone moor, which was designated as a national park in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act.


title: Somerset

text: The highest point in Somerset is Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, with a maximum elevation of . Over 100 sites in Somerset have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.


title: Somerset

text: The coastline of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary forms part of the northern border of Somerset.


title: Somerset

text: The Bristol Channel has the second largest tidal range in the world. At Burnham-on-Sea, for example, the tidal range of a spring tide is more than .


title: Somerset

text: Proposals for the construction of a Severn Barrage aim to harness this energy. The island of Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel is within the ceremonial county and is now administered by North Somerset Council.


title: Somerset

text: The main coastal towns are, from the west to the north-east, Minehead, Watchet, Burnham-on-Sea, Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead. The coastal area between Minehead and the eastern extreme of the administrative county's coastline at Brean Down is known as Bridgwater Bay, and is a National Nature Reserve.


title: Somerset

text: North of that, the coast forms Weston Bay and Sand Bay whose northern tip, Sand Point, marks the lower limit of the Severn Estuary. In the mid and north of the county the coastline is low as the level wetlands of the levels meet the sea. In the west, the coastline is high and dramatic where the plateau of Exmoor meets the sea, with high cliffs and waterfalls.


title: Somerset

text: Along with the rest of South West England, Somerset has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately . Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately . In winter mean minimum temperatures of or are common. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, but convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours.


title: Somerset

text: In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around . About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.


title: Somerset

text: The ceremonial county of Somerset currently consists of a two-tier non-metropolitan county, which is administered by Somerset County Council and four district councils, and two unitary authority areas (whose councils combine the functions of a county and a district). The four districts of Somerset are Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Mendip, and Sedgemoor, and will be replaced by a new single unitary authority in April 2023. The two existing unitary authorities – which were established on 1 April 1996 following the break-up of the short-lived county of Avon — are North Somerset, and Bath & North East Somerset. In 2019 West Somerset and Taunton Deane merged to form Somerset West and Taunton.


title: Somerset

text: These unitary authorities formed part of the administrative county of Somerset before the creation of Avon (a county created to cover Bristol and its environs in north Somerset and south Gloucestershire) in 1974. Bath however was a largely independent county borough during the existence of the administrative county of Somerset (from 1889 to 1974).


title: Somerset

text: In 2007, proposals to abolish the five district councils in favour of a unitary authority (covering the existing two-tier county) were rejected following local opposition. In September 2016, West Somerset and Taunton Deane councils agreed in principle to merge the districts. This was achieved on 1 April 2019 with the first elections to the new council being held in May 2019. The new district is not a unitary authority, with Somerset County Council still performing its functions.


title: Somerset

text: In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023, the non-metropolitan county will be reorganised into a unitary authority. The four district councils (Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Mendip, and Sedgemoor) are to be abolished and their functions transferred to a single authority. The existing unitary authorities will not be altered.


title: Somerset

text: The county is divided into nine constituencies, each returning one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons. In the June 2017 general election, eight constituencies of the county elected Conservative MPs, while Bath elected a Liberal Democrat. The ceremonial county of Somerset contains the constituencies of Bridgwater and West Somerset, North East Somerset, North Somerset, Bath, Somerton and Frome, Taunton Deane, Wells, Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare. Traditionally several of these have been relatively strong constituencies for the Liberal Democrats, with Labour often getting few votes, even in larger towns such as Yeovil. In the 2019 general election, all nine seats were held, with Jacob Rees-Mogg increasing his majority in North East Somerset, as well as Wera Hobhouse doubling her majority in the Liberal Democrat Bath seat.


title: Somerset

text: From 1984 to 1994, Somerset was represented by Conservative Margaret Daly as part of the Somerset and Dorset West constituency for elections to the European Parliament.


title: Somerset

text: From 1994 to 1999, Somerset was represented by Liberal Democrat Graham Watson as part of the Somerset and North Devon constituency for elections to the European Parliament.


title: Somerset

text: From 1999 to 2020, Somerset was part of the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament.


title: Somerset

text: Almost all of the county is covered by the lowest/most local form of English local government, the civil parish, with either a town or parish council (a city council in the instance of Wells) or a parish meeting; some parishes group together, with a single council or meeting for the group. The city of Bath (the area of the former county borough) and much of the town of Taunton are unparished areas.


title: Somerset

text: with 193,400 in Bath and North East Somerset, and 216,700 in North Somerset giving a total for the ceremonial county of 981,700.


title: Somerset

text: Population growth is higher than the national average, with a 6.4% increase, in the Somerset County Council area, since 1991, and a 17% increase since 1981. The population density is 1.4 persons per hectare, which can be compared to 2.07 persons per hectare for the South West region. Within the county, population density ranges 0.5 in West Somerset to 2.2 persons per hectare in Taunton Deane. The percentage of the population who are economically active is higher than the regional and national average, and the unemployment rate is lower than the regional and national average.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset has a high indigenous British population, with 94.6% registering as white British, and 2.0% as belonging to black and ethnic minority (BME) groups, according to the 2011 Census. Over 25% of Somerset's population is concentrated in Taunton, Bridgwater and Yeovil. The rest of the county is rural and sparsely populated. Over 9 million tourist nights are spent in Somerset each year, which significantly increases the population at peak times.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset has few industrial centres, but it does have a variety of light industry and high technology businesses, along with traditional agriculture and an increasingly important tourism sector, resulting in an unemployment rate of 2.5%. Tourism was estimated in 2013 to support around 26,000 people.


title: Somerset

text: Bridgwater was developed during the Industrial Revolution as the area's leading port. The River Parrett was navigable by large ships as far as Bridgwater. Cargoes were then loaded onto smaller boats at Langport Quay, next to the Bridgwater Bridge, to be carried further up river to Langport; or they could turn off at Burrowbridge and then travel via the River Tone to Taunton. The Parrett is now only navigable as far as Dunball Wharf. Bridgwater, in the 19th and 20th centuries, was a centre for the manufacture of bricks and clay roof tiles, and later cellophane, but those industries have now stopped.


title: Somerset

text: With its good links to the motorway system, Bridgwater has developed as a distribution hub for companies such as Argos, Toolstation, Morrisons and Gerber Juice. AgustaWestland manufactures helicopters in Yeovil, and Normalair Garratt, builder of aircraft oxygen systems, is also based in the town.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset is an important supplier of defence equipment and technology. A Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Bridgwater was built at the start of the Second World War, between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington, to manufacture explosives. The site was decommissioned and closed in July 2008. Templecombe has Thales Underwater Systems, and Taunton presently has the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and Avimo, which became part of Thales Optics. It was announced twice, in 2006 and 2007, that manufacturing is to end at Thales Optics' Taunton site, but the trade unions and Taunton Deane District Council are working to reverse or mitigate these decisions. Other high-technology companies include the optics company Gooch and Housego, at Ilminster. There are Ministry of Defence offices in Bath, and Norton Fitzwarren is the home of 40 Commando Royal Marines. The Royal Naval Air Station in Yeovilton, is one of Britain's two active Fleet Air Arm bases and is home to the Royal Navy's AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat helicopters and the Royal Marines Commando AgustaWestland AW101 Merlins.


title: Somerset

text: Agriculture and food and drink production continue to be major industries in the county, employing over 15,000 people. Apple orchards were once plentiful, and Somerset is still a major producer of cider. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet are involved with the production of cider, especially Blackthorn Cider, which is sold nationwide, and there are specialist producers such as Burrow Hill Cider Farm and Thatchers Cider. Gerber Products Company in Bridgwater is the largest producer of fruit juices in Europe, producing brands such as Sunny Delight and Ocean Spray. Development of the milk-based industries, such as Ilchester Cheese Company and Yeo Valley Organic, have resulted in the production of ranges of desserts, yoghurts and cheeses.


title: Somerset

text: Traditional willow growing and weaving (such as basket weaving) is not as extensive as it used to be but is still carried out on the Somerset Levels and is commemorated at the Willows and Wetlands Visitor Centre. Fragments of willow basket were found near the Glastonbury Lake Village, and it was also used in the construction of several Iron Age causeways. The willow was harvested using a traditional method of pollarding, where a tree would be cut back to the main stem. During the 1930s more than of willow were being grown commercially on the Levels. Largely due to the displacement of baskets with plastic bags and cardboard boxes, the industry has severely declined since the 1950s. By the end of the 20th century only about were grown commercially, near the villages of Burrowbridge, Westonzoyland and North Curry.


title: Somerset

text: Towns such as Castle Cary and Frome grew around the medieval weaving industry. Street developed as a centre for the production of woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes, with C&J Clark establishing its headquarters in the village. C&J Clark's shoes are no longer manufactured there as the work was transferred to lower-wage areas, such as China and Asia.


title: Somerset

text: The county has a long tradition of supplying freestone and . Quarries at Doulting supplied freestone used in the construction of Wells Cathedral. Bath stone is also widely used. Ralph Allen promoted its use in the early 18th century, as did Hans Price in the 19th century, but it was used long before then. It was mined underground at Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines, and as a result of cutting the Box Tunnel, at locations in Wiltshire such as Box. Bath stone is still used on a reduced scale today, but more often as a cladding rather than a structural material. Further south, Hamstone is the colloquial name given to stone from Ham Hill, which is also widely used in the construction industry. Blue Lias has been used locally as a building stone and as a raw material for lime mortar and Portland cement. Until the 1960s, Puriton had Blue Lias stone quarries, as did several other Polden villages. Its quarries also supplied a cement factory at Dunball, adjacent to the King's Sedgemoor Drain. Its derelict, early 20th century remains, was removed when the M5 motorway was constructed in the mid-1970s. Since the 1920s, the county has supplied aggregates. Foster Yeoman is Europe's large supplier of limestone aggregates, with quarries at Merehead Quarry. It has a dedicated railway operation, Mendip Rail, which is used to transport aggregates by rail from a group of Mendip quarries.


title: Somerset

text: In November 2008, a public sector inward investment organisation was launched, called Into Somerset, with the intention of growing the county's economy by promoting it to businesses that may wish to relocate from other parts of the UK (especially London) and the world. This now part of the Heart of the South West Growth Hub.


title: Somerset

text: Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is a project to construct a 3,200 MW two reactor nuclear power station. On 18 October 2010, the British government announced that Hinkley Point – already the site of the disused Hinkley Point A and the still operational Hinkley Point B power stations – was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations. NNB Generation Company, a subsidiary of EDF, submitted an application for development consent to the Infrastructure Planning Commission on 31 October 2011. A protest group, Stop Hinkley, was formed to campaign for the closure of Hinkley Point B and oppose any expansion at the Hinkley Point site. In December 2013, the European Commission opened an investigation to assess whether the project breaks state-aid rules. On 8 October 2014 it was announced that the European Commission has approved the project, with an overwhelming majority and only four commissioners voting against the decision. Construction is underway and is projected to be completed in 2025.


title: Somerset

text: All of the ceremonial county of Somerset is covered by the Avon and Somerset Police, a police force which also covers Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The police force is governed by the elected Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner. The Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service was formed in 2007 upon the merger of the Somerset Fire and Rescue Service with its neighbouring Devon service; it covers the area of Somerset County Council as well as the entire ceremonial county of Devon. The unitary districts of North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset are instead covered by the Avon Fire and Rescue Service, a service which also covers Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The South Western Ambulance Service covers the entire South West of England, including all of Somerset; prior to February 2013 the unitary districts of Somerset came under the Great Western Ambulance Service, which merged into South Western. The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is a charitable organisation based in the county.


title: Somerset

text: In Arthurian legend, Avalon became associated with Glastonbury Tor when monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered the bones of King Arthur and his queen. What is more certain is that Glastonbury was an important religious centre by 700 and claims to be "the oldest above-ground Christian church in the World" situated "in the mystical land of Avalon". The claim is based on dating the founding of the community of monks at AD 63, the year of the legendary visit of Joseph of Arimathea, who was supposed to have brought the Holy Grail.


title: Somerset

text: During the Middle Ages there were also important religious sites at Woodspring Priory and Muchelney Abbey. The present Diocese of Bath and Wells covers Somerset – with the exception of the Parish of Abbots Leigh with Leigh Woods in North Somerset – and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is now in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells, having previously been at Bath Abbey. Before the English Reformation, it was a Roman Catholic diocese; the county now falls within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton. The Benedictine monastery Saint Gregory's Abbey, commonly known as Downside Abbey, is at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, and the ruins of the former Cistercian Cleeve Abbey are near the village of Washford.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset has traditions of art, music and literature. Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote while staying in Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey. The novelist John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) lived in the Somerset village of Montacute from 1885 until 1894 and his novels "Wood and Stone" (1915) and "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932) are set in Somerset. The writer Evelyn Waugh spent his last years in the village of Combe Florey.


title: Somerset

text: Traditional folk music, both song and dance, was important in the agricultural communities. Somerset songs were collected by Cecil Sharp and incorporated into works such as Holst's "A Somerset Rhapsody". Halsway Manor near Williton is an international centre for folk music. The tradition continues today with groups such as The Wurzels specialising in Scrumpy and Western music.


title: Somerset

text: The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts takes place most years in Pilton, near Shepton Mallet, attracting over 170,000 music and culture lovers from around the world to see world-famous entertainers.


title: Somerset

text: The Big Green Gathering which grew out of the Green fields at the Glastonbury Festival is held in the Mendip Hills between Charterhouse and Compton Martin each summer.


title: Somerset

text: The annual Bath Literature Festival is one of several local festivals in the county; others include the Frome Festival and the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival, which, despite its name, is held at Farleigh Hungerford in Somerset. The annual circuit of West Country Carnivals is held in a variety of Somerset towns during the autumn, forming a major regional festival, and the largest Festival of Lights in Europe.


title: Somerset

text: The county has several museums; those at Bath include the American Museum in Britain, the Museum of Bath Architecture, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, the Jane Austen Centre, and the Roman Baths. Other visitor attractions which reflect the cultural heritage of the county include: Claverton Pumping Station, Dunster Working Watermill, the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, Nunney Castle, The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare, King John's Hunting Lodge in Axbridge, Blake Museum Bridgwater, Radstock Museum, Museum of Somerset in Taunton, the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury, and Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset has 11,500 listed buildings, 523 scheduled monuments, 192 conservation areas, 41 parks and gardens including those at Barrington Court, Holnicote Estate, Prior Park Landscape Garden and Tintinhull Garden, 36 English Heritage sites and 19 National Trust sites, including Clevedon Court, Fyne Court, Montacute House and Tyntesfield as well as Stembridge Tower Mill, the last remaining thatched windmill in England. Other historic houses in the county which have remained in private ownership or used for other purposes include Halswell House and Marston Bigot. A key contribution of Somerset architecture is its medieval church towers. Jenkins writes, "These structures, with their buttresses, bell-opening tracery and crowns, rank with Nottinghamshire alabaster as England's finest contribution to medieval art."


title: Somerset

text: Bath Rugby play at the Recreation Ground in Bath, and the Somerset County Cricket Club are based at the County Ground in Taunton. The county's highest ranked football club is Yeovil Town, currently playing in the National League. Horse racing courses are at Taunton, Bath and Wincanton.


title: Somerset

text: The county is served by the regional "Western Daily Press" and local newspapers including the "Weston & Somerset Mercury", the "Bath Chronicle", "Chew Valley Gazette", "Somerset County Gazette," "Clevedon Mercury" "Mendip Times", and the "West Somerset Free Press". Television is provided by BBC West and ITV Wales & West, while southwestern parts of the county can receive BBC South West. Local radio stations are BBC Somerset, BBC Radio Bristol (in northern parts of the county), Heart West Country, and The Breeze in Yeovil.


title: Somerset

text: The Flag of Somerset, representing the ceremonial county, has been registered with the Flag Institute following a competition in July 2013.


title: Somerset

text: Somerset has of roads. The main arterial routes, which include the M5 motorway, A303, A37, A38, A39, A358 and A361 give good access across the county, but many areas can only be accessed via narrow country lanes.


title: Somerset

text: Rail services are provided by the West of England Main Line through Yeovil Junction, the Bristol to Exeter line, Heart of Wessex line which runs from Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth and the Reading to Taunton line. The main train operator in Somerset is Great Western Railway, with other services operated by South Western Railway and CrossCountry.


title: Somerset

text: The Somerset Coal Canal was built in the early 19th century to reduce the cost of transportation of coal and other heavy produce. The first , running from a junction with the Kennet & Avon Canal, along the Cam valley, to a terminal basin at Paulton, were in use by 1805, together with several tramways. A planned branch to Midford was never built, but in 1815 a tramway was laid along its towing path. In 1871 the tramway was purchased by the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), and operated until the 1950s.


title: Somerset

text: The 19th century saw improvements to Somerset's roads with the introduction of turnpikes, and the building of canals and railways. Nineteenth-century canals included the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal, Westport Canal, Glastonbury Canal and Chard Canal. The Dorset & Somerset Canal was proposed, but little of it was ever constructed and it was abandoned in 1803.


title: Somerset

text: The usefulness of the canals was short-lived, though some have now been restored for recreation. The 19th century also saw the construction of railways to and through Somerset. The county was served by five pre-1923 Grouping railway companies: the Great Western Railway (GWR); a branch of the Midland Railway (MR) to Bath Green Park (and another one to Bristol); the S&DJR, and the London & South Western Railway (L&SWR).


title: Somerset

text: The former main lines of the GWR are still in use today, although many of its branch lines were scrapped as part of the Beeching cuts. The former lines of the S&DJR closed completely, as has the branch of the Midland Railway to Bath Green Park (and to Bristol St Philips). The L&SWR survived as a part of the present West of England Main Line. None of these lines, in Somerset, are electrified. Two branch lines, the West and East Somerset Railways, were rescued and transferred back to private ownership as "heritage" lines. The fifth railway was a short-lived light railway, the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway. The West Somerset Mineral Railway carried the iron ore from the Brendon Hills to Watchet.


title: Somerset

text: Until the 1960s the piers at Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon, Portishead and Minehead were served by the paddle steamers of P & A Campbell who ran regular services to Barry and Cardiff as well as Ilfracombe and Lundy Island. The original stone pier at Burnham-on-Sea was used for commercial goods, one of the reasons for the S&DJR was to provide a link between the Bristol Channel and the English Channel. The newer concrete pier at Burnham-on-Sea is claimed to be the shortest pier in Britain. In the 1970s the Royal Portbury Dock was constructed to provide extra capacity for the Port of Bristol.


title: Somerset

text: For long-distance holiday traffic travelling through the county to and from Devon and Cornwall, Somerset is often regarded as a marker on the journey. North–south traffic moves through the county via the M5 motorway. Traffic to and from the east travels either via the A303 road, or the M4 motorway, which runs east–west, crossing the M5 motorway just beyond the northern limits of the county.


title: Somerset

text: State schools in Somerset are provided by three local education authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and the larger Somerset County Council. All state schools are comprehensive. In some areas primary, infant and junior schools cater for ages four to eleven, after which the pupils move on to secondary schools. There is a three-tier system of first, middle and upper schools in the Cheddar Valley, and in West Somerset, while most other schools in the county use the two-tier system. Somerset has 30 state and 17 independent secondary schools; Bath and North East Somerset has 13 state and 5 independent secondary schools; and North Somerset has 10 state and 2 independent secondary schools, excluding sixth form colleges.


title: Somerset

text: Some of the county's secondary schools have specialist school status. Some schools have sixth forms and others transfer their sixth formers to colleges. Several schools can trace their origins back many years, such as The Blue School in Wells and Richard Huish College in Taunton. Others have changed their names over the years such as Beechen Cliff School which was started in 1905 as the City of Bath Boys' School and changed to its present name in 1972 when the grammar school was amalgamated with a local secondary modern school, to form a comprehensive school. Many others were established and built since the Second World War. In 2006, 5,900 pupils in Somerset sat GCSE examinations, with 44.5% achieving 5 grades A-C including English and Maths (compared to 45.8% for England).


title: Somerset

text: Sexey's School is a state boarding school in Bruton that also takes day pupils from the surrounding area. The Somerset LEA also provides special schools such as Newbury Manor School, which caters for children aged between 10 and 17 with special educational needs. Provision for pupils with special educational needs is also made by the mainstream schools.


title: Somerset

text: There is also a range of independent or public schools. Many of these are for pupils between 11 and 18 years, such as King's College, Taunton, Wellington School, Somerset and Taunton School. King's School, Bruton, was founded in 1519 and received royal foundation status around 30 years later in the reign of Edward VI. Millfield is the largest co-educational boarding school. There are also preparatory schools for younger children, such as All Hallows, and Hazlegrove Preparatory School. Chilton Cantelo School offers places both to day pupils and boarders aged 7 to 16. Other schools provide education for children from the age of 3 or 4 years through to 18, such as King Edward's School, Bath, Queen's College, Taunton and Wells Cathedral School which is one of the five established musical schools for school-age children in Britain.


title: Somerset

text: Some of these schools have religious affiliations, such as Monkton Combe School, Prior Park College, Sidcot School which is associated with the Religious Society of Friends, Downside School which is a Roman Catholic public school in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, situated next to the Benedictine Downside Abbey, and Kingswood School, which was founded by John Wesley in 1748 in Kingswood near Bristol, originally for the education of the sons of the itinerant ministers (clergy) of the Methodist Church.


title: Somerset

text: A wide range of adult education and further education courses is available in Somerset, in schools, colleges and other community venues. The colleges include Weston College, Bridgwater and Taunton College (formed in 2016 when Bridgwater College and Somerset College of Arts and Technology merged, and includes the Taunton-based University Centre Somerset), Bath College, Frome Community College, Richard Huish College, Strode College and Yeovil College. Somerset County Council operates Dillington House, a residential adult education college located in Ilminster.


title: Somerset

text: The University of Bath, Bath Spa University and University Centre Weston are higher education establishments in the north of the county. The University of Bath gained its Royal Charter in 1966, although its origins go back to the Bristol Trade School (founded 1856) and Bath School of Pharmacy (founded 1907). It has a purpose-built campus at Claverton on the outskirts of Bath, and has 15,000 students. Bath Spa University, which is based at Newton St Loe, achieved university status in 2005, and has origins including the Bath Academy of Art (founded 1898), Bath Teacher Training College, and the Bath College of Higher Education. It has several campuses and 5,500 students.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Brenda Blethyn ("née" Bottle; 20 February 1946) is an English actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and two Academy Award nominations.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn pursued an administrative career before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting in her late 20s. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and gained attention for her performances in "Troilus and Cressida" (1976), "Mysteries" (1979), "Steaming" (1981), and "Benefactors" (1984), receiving an Olivier nomination for the latter.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's "Grown-Ups". She later won leading roles on the short-run sitcoms "Chance in a Million" (1984–1986) and "The Labours of Erica" (1989–1990). She made her big-screen debut with a small role in Nicolas Roeg's 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's "The Witches". She experienced a major career breakthrough with her leading role in Mike Leigh's 1996 drama "Secrets & Lies", for which she received multiple awards, including Best Actress at Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award nomination. She earned her second Academy Award nomination two years later, for her performance in "Little Voice" (1998).


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn has since appeared in a range of big-budget and independent features, including "Girls' Night", "Music from Another Room", "Night Train" (all 1998), "Saving Grace" (2000), "Lovely and Amazing" (2001), "Pumpkin", "Sonny", "Plots with a View" (all 2002), "Beyond the Sea", "A Way of Life" (both 2004), "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), "Clubland", and "Atonement" (both 2007). In addition, she has continued to appear frequently on television, in productions such as "" (2001) and "War and Peace" (2007). Since 2011, she has played the title role of DCI Vera Stanhope in the British crime drama series "Vera".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Born in Ramsgate, Kent, Blethyn was the youngest of nine children in a Roman Catholic, working-class family. Her mother, Louisa Kathleen (née Supple; 10 May 1904 – 1992), was a housewife and former maid, who met Blethyn's father, William Charles Bottle (5 March 1894–c. 1984) in approximately 1922 while working for the same household in Broadstairs, Kent. Bottle had previously worked as a shepherd, and spent six years in British India with the Royal Field Artillery immediately prior to returning home to Broadstairs to become the family's chauffeur. Before WWII, he found work as a mechanic at the Vauxhall car factory in Luton, Bedfordshire.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: The family lived in poor circumstances at their maternal grandmother's home. It was, however, not until 1944, after an engagement of 20 years and the births of eight children, that the couple wed and moved into a small rented house in Ramsgate. By the time Blethyn was born in 1946, her three eldest siblings, Pam, Ted and Bernard, had already left home. Her parents were the first to introduce Blethyn to the cinema, taking her to the cinema weekly.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn originally trained at technical college and worked as a stenographer and bookkeeper for a bank. At the end of a marriage, she opted to turn her hobby of amateur dramatics to her professional advantage. After studying at the Guildford School of Acting, she went onto the London stage in 1976, performing several seasons at the Royal National Theatre. The shows she participated in during the following three years included "Troilus and Cressida", "Tamburlaine the Great", "The Fruits of Enlightenment" opposite Sir Ralph Richardson, "Bedroom Farce", "The Passion" and "Strife".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: After winning the London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress (for "Steaming") in 1980, Blethyn made her screen debut, starring in the play "Grown Ups" as part of the BBC's "Playhouse" strand. Directed by Mike Leigh, their first collaboration marked the start of a professional relationship which would later earn both of them huge acclaim. Blethyn followed this with roles in Shakespearean adaptations for the BBC, playing Cordelia in "King Lear" and Joan of Arc in "Henry VI, Part 1". She also appeared with Robert Bathurst and others in the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy series "Dial M For Pizza".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In the following years, Blethyn expanded her status as a professional stage actress, appearing in productions including "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Dalliance", "The Beaux' Stratagem" and "Born Yesterday". She was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance as Sheila in "Benefactors". Meanwhile, she continued with roles on British television, playing opposite Simon Callow as Tom Chance's frustrated fiancée Alison Little in three series of the sitcom "Chance in a Million". She also had roles in comedies such as "Yes Minister" (1981), "Who Dares Wins" and a variety of roles in the BBC Radio 4 comedy "Delve Special" alongside Stephen Fry and a role in the school comedy/drama "King Street Junior".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 1989, she starred in "The Labours of Erica", a sitcom written for her by "Chance in a Million" writers Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss. Blethyn played Erica Parsons, a single mother approaching her fortieth birthday who realises that life is passing her by. Finding her teenage diary and discovering a list of twelve tasks and ambitions which she had set for herself, Erica sets out to complete them before reaching the milestone.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: After 15 years of working in theatre and television, Blethyn made her big screen debut with a small role in 1990s dark fantasy film "The Witches". The film, based on the same-titled book by Roald Dahl, co-starred actresses Anjelica Huston and Jane Horrocks. "Witches" received generally positive reviews, as did Blethyn, whom Craig Butler of All Media Guide considered as a "valuable support" for her performance of the mother, Mrs Jenkins.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 1991, after starring in a play in New York City, Blethyn was recommended to Robert Redford to audition for the soft-spoken mother role in his next project "A River Runs Through It" (1992). A period drama based on the same-titled 1976 novel by Norman Maclean, also starring Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, the film revolves around two sons of a Presbyterian minister—one studious and the other rebellious—as they grow up and come of age during the Prohibition era in the United States. Portraying a second generation immigrant of Scottish heritage, Redford required Blethyn to adopt a Western American accent for her performance, prompting her to live in Livingston, Montana in preparation of her role. Upon its release, the film, budgeted at US$19 million, became a financial and critical success, resulting in a US box office total of US$43.3 million.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Simultaneously Blethyn continued working on stage and in British television. Between 1990 and 1996, she starred in five different plays, including "An Ideal Husband" at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, "Tales from the Vienna Woods" and "Wildest Dreams" with the Royal Shakespeare Company and her American stage debut "Absent Friends", for which eventually received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent. She played character parts in the BBC adaptation of Hanif Kureishi's "The Buddha of Suburbia" and the ITV cricketing comedy-drama series "Outside Edge", based on the play by television writer Richard Harris. Blethyn also performed in a variety of episodes of "Alas Smith & Jones" and "Maigret".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn's breakthrough came with Mike Leigh's 1996 drama "Secrets & Lies". Starring alongside Marianne Jean-Baptiste, she portrayed a lower-class box factory worker, who after years once again comes in contact with her illegitimate grown-up black daughter, whom she gave up for adoption 30 years earlier. For her improvised performance, Blethyn was praised with a variety of awards, including the Best Actress Award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Upon its success, Blethyn later stated: "I knew it was a great film, but I didn't expect it to get the attention it did because none of his other films had and I thought they were just as good. Of course, I didn't know what it was about until I saw it in the cinema because of the way that he works—but I knew it was good. That it reached a wider audience surprised me." Besides critical acclaim "Secrets & Lies" also became a financial success; budgeted at an estimated $4.5 million, the film grossed an unexpected $13.5 million in its limited theatrical run in North America.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: The following year, Blethyn appeared in a supporting role in Nick Hurran's debut feature "Remember Me?" (1997), a middle class suburban farce revolving around a family whose life is thrown into chaos upon the arrival of an old university crush. Forging another collaboration with the director, the actress was cast alongside Julie Walters for Hurran's next project, 1998's "Girls' Night", a drama film about two sisters-in-law, one dying of cancer, who fulfil a lifelong dream of going to Las Vegas, Nevada after an unexpected jackpot win on the bingo. Loosely based upon the real experiences by writer Kay Mellor, the production was originally destined for television until Granada Productions found backing from Showtime. Premiered to a mixed response by critics at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, who noted it a "rather formulaic tearjerker [with] two powerhouse Brit actresses," Hurran won a Silver Spire at the San Francisco International Film Festival and received a Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival for his work.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In John Lynch's "Night Train" (1998), Blethyn played a timid spinster who strikes up a friendship with John Hurt's character, an ex-prisoner, who rents a room in her house while on the run from some nasty gangsters. A romantic drama with comedic and thrilling elements, the film was shot at several locations in Ireland, England and Italy in 1997, and received a limited release the following year. The film received a mixed reception from critics. Adrian Wootton of "The Guardian" called it "an impressive directorial debut [that] mainly succeeds because [of] the talents of its lead actors". The film was nominated for a Crystal Star at the Brussels International Film Festival. In the same year, Blethyn also starred in James Bogle's film adaption of Tim Winton's 1988 novel "In the Winter Dark" (1998).


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn's last film of 1998 was "Little Voice" opposite Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine. Cast against type, she played a domineering yet needy fish factory worker who has nothing but contempt for her shy daughter and lusts after a local showbiz agent. A breakaway from the kind at heart roles Blethyn had previously played, it was the character's antipathy that attracted the actress to accept the role of Mari: "I have to understand why she is the way she is. She is a desperate woman, but she also has an optimistic take on life which I find enviable. Whilst I don't approve of her behaviour, there is a reason for it and it was my job to work that out." Both Blethyn's performance and the film received rave reviews, and the following year, she was again Oscar nominated, this time for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn's first film of 2000 was the indie comedy "Saving Grace" with Craig Ferguson. Blethyn played a middle-aged newly widowed woman who is faced with the prospect of financial ruin and turns to growing marijuana under the tutelage of her gardener to save her home. Her performance in the film received favourable reviews; Peter Travers wrote for "Rolling Stone": "It's Blethyn's solid-gold charm [that] turns "Saving Grace" into a comic high." The following year, Blethyn received her third Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film, which grossed an unexpected $24 million worldwide. That same year, she also had a smaller role in the short comedy "Yes You Can".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2001, Blethyn signed on to star in her own CBS sitcom, "The Seven Roses", in which she was to play the role of a widowed innkeeper and matriarch of an eccentric family. Originally slated to be produced by two former executive producers of "Frasier", plans for a pilot eventually went nowhere due to early casting conflicts. Afterwards, Blethyn accepted a supporting role as Auguste van Pels in the ABC mini series "" based on the by Melissa Müller, for which she garnered her first Emmy Award nomination.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Following this, Blethyn starred in the films "Daddy and Them", "On the Nose", and "Lovely & Amazing". In Billy Bob Thornton's "Daddy and Them", she portrayed an English neurotic psychologist, who feels excluded by the American clan she married into due to her nationality. The film scored a generally positive reception but was financially unsuccessful, leading to a direct-to-TV release stateside. In Canadian-Irish comedy "On the Nose", Blethyn played the minor role of the all-disapproving wife of Brendan Delaney, played by Robbie Coltrane. Her appearance was commented as "underused" by Harry Guerin, writer for "RTÉ Entertainment". Blethyn depicted an affluent but desperate and distracted matriarch of three daughters in Nicole Holofcener's independent drama "Lovely & Amazing", featuring Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film became Blethyn's biggest box-office success of the year with a worldwide gross of $5 million only, and earned the actress mixed reviews from professional critics. She also did the UK voice of Dr. Florence Mountfitchet in the Bob the Builder special, "The Knights of Can-A-Lot".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2002, Blethyn appeared with Christina Ricci in the dark comedy "Pumpkin", a financial disaster. The film opened to little notice and grossed less than $300,000 during its North American theatrical run. Her performance as the overprotective wine-soaked mother of a disabled teenage boy generated Blethyn mostly critical reviews. "Entertainment Weekly" writer Lisa Schwarzbaum called her "challenged, unsure [... and] miscast." Her following film, limitedly-released Nicolas Cage's "Sonny", saw similar success. While the production was panned in general, the actress earned mixed reviews for her performance of an eccentric ex-prostitute and mother, as some critics such as Kevin Thomas considered her casting as "problematic [due to] caricatured acting." Blethyn eventually received more acclaim when she accepted the lead role in the dark comedy "Plots with a View". Starring alongside Alfred Molina, the pair was praised for their "genuine chemistry."


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: A year after, Blethyn co-starred with Bob Hoskins and Jessica Alba in historical direct-to-video drama "The Sleeping Dictionary". The film earned her a DVDX Award but received mixed critics, as did "Blizzard", a Christmas movie in which Blethyn played the eccentric character of Aunt Millie, the narrator of the film's story. 2003 ended with the mini series "Between the Sheets", in which Blethyn starred as a woman struggling with her own ambivalent feelings towards her husband and sex.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn co-starred as Bobby Darin's mother Polly Cassotto in "Beyond the Sea", a 2004 biographical film about the singer. The film was a financial disappointment: budgeted at an estimated US$25 million, it opened to little notice and grossed only $6 million in its North American theatrical run. Margaret Pomeranz of "At the Movies" said that her casting was "a bit mystifying". Afterwards, Blethyn starred in "A Way of Life", playing a bossy and censorious mother-in-law of a struggling young woman, played by Stephanie James, and in the television film "Belonging", starring as a middle-aged childless woman, who is left to look after the elderly relatives of her husband and to make a new life for herself, after he leaves her for a younger woman. Blethyn received a Golden FIPA Award and a BAFTA nomination for the latter role.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In early 2005, Blethyn appeared in the indie-drama "On a Clear Day" alongside Peter Mullan. In the film, she played the character of Joan, a Glasgow housewife, who secretly enrolls in bus-driving classes after her husband's dismissal. Her performance in the film received positive reviews; ABC writer MaryAnn Johanson wrote: "It's Blethyn, who wraps the movie in a cosy, comfortable, maternal hug that reassures you that it will weather its risk-taking with aplomb [...]." The film became a minor success at the international box-office chart, barely grossing $1 million worldwide, but was awarded a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film and Screenplay.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: A major hit for Blethyn came with Joe Wright's "Pride & Prejudice", a 2005 adaptation of the same-titled novel by Jane Austen. Starring alongside Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland, Blethyn played Mrs. Bennet, a fluttery mother of five sisters who desperately schemes to marry her daughters off to men of means. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I've always thought she had a real problem and shouldn't be made fun of. She's pushy with a reason. As soon as Mr. Bennet dies, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury." With both a worldwide gross of over US$121 million and several Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, the film became a critical and commercial success, spawning Blethyn another BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2007, she appeared in the independent Australian coming-of-age comedy "Clubland". Playing a character that was created specifically with her in mind, Blethyn portrayed a bawdy comedian with a sinking career faced with the romantic life of her young son, played by Khan Chittenden. The film was released in Australia in June 2007, and selected for screening at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival where it was picked up by Warner Independent Pictures for a $4 million deal and gained glowing reviews. "Los Angeles Times" film critic Carina Chocano wrote, "the movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside." The following year, she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award and an Inside Film Award for her performance.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Also in 2007, Blethyn reunited with Joe Wright on "Atonement", an adaptation from Ian McEwan's critically acclaimed novel of the same name. On her role of a housekeeper in a cast that also features Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy, Blethyn commented: "It's a tiny, tiny part. If you blink you'll miss me." The film garnered generally positive reviews from film critics and received a Best Picture nomination at the 2008 Academy Awards. A box office success around the globe, it went on to gross a total of $129 million worldwide. Blethyn also appeared as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa in a supporting role in the internationally produced 2007 miniseries "War and Peace" by RAI, filmed in Russia and Lithuania.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2008, Blethyn made her American small screen debut with a guest role on CBS sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine", playing the neurotic mother to Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character in the fourth season episode "Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner." The same year, she appeared in a single episode of the NBC legal drama series "". Her performance of a sympathetic fugitive of domestic violence and rape that killed her first husband in self-defense earned Blethyn another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series nomination. Blethyn again provided the voice of Mama Heffalump in the animated Disney direct-to-video animated sequel "Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too" (2009).


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn's first film in two years, Rachid Bouchareb's "London River" opened at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009 where it won a Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury. In the film, for which Blethyn had to learn French, she portrays a mother waiting for news of her missing child after the London bombings of July 2005, striking up a friendship with a Muslim man, whose child has also disappeared. Blethyn, who had initially felt sceptical and reticent about the film due to its background, was originally not available for filming but Bouchareb decided to delay filming to work with her. Upon release, the film received favourable reviews, particularly for its "dynamite acting". Mike Scott from "The Times-Picayune" commented "that Blethyn's performance is nuanced [...] it's that performance—at turns sweet, funny and heartbreaking—that ultimately draws viewers in and defies them to stop watching".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Also in 2009, Blethyn played a Benedictine nun in Jan Dunn's film "The Calling", also starring Joanna Scanlan and Pauline McLynn. Dunn's third feature film, it tells the story of Joanna, played by Emily Beecham, who after graduating from university, goes against her family and friends when she decides to join a closed order of nuns. Released to film festivals in 2009, the independent drama was not released to UK cinemas until 2010, when it was met with mixed to negative reviews by critics, some of which declared it "half "Doubt", half "Hollyoaks"". Blethyn however, earned positive reviews for her performance; "The Guardian" writer Catherine Shoard wrote that "only she, really, manages to ride the rollercoaster jumps in plot and tone." Her last film of 2009 was Alex De Rakoff's crime film "Dead Man Running" alongside Tamer Hassan, Danny Dyer, and 50 Cent, in which she portrayed the wheelchair-using mother of a criminal who is taken hostage. The film received universally negative reviews from film critics, who deemed it to be full of "poor performances, stiff dialogue, [and] flat characters".


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In May 2011, Blethyn began playing the title role in ITV's crime drama series, "Vera" as the North of England character Vera Stanhope, a nearly retired detective chief inspector obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons, based on the novels of Ann Cleeves. Initially broadcast to mixed reviews, it has since received favourable reviews, with Chitra Ramaswamy from "The Guardian" writing in 2016: "Blethyn is the best thing about "Vera" [...] She has the loveliest voice, at once girlish and gruff. Her face is kind but means business. Not many actors can pull off shambolic but effective but Blethyn can do it with a single, penetrating glance from beneath that hat." Averaging 7.8 million people per episode in the United Kingdom, "Vera" became one of the best-selling British dramas of the 2010s. Blethyn received the 2017 RTS North East & Border Television Award for her performance and has continued to portray Vera in 11 series of the show.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn's only film of 2011 was the Christmas drama "My Angel", written, directed and produced by Stephen Cookson. Also starring Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Mel Smith, it tells the story of a boy, played by Joseph Phillips, looking for an angel to save his mother after an accident. Shot in Northwood for less than £2 million, "My Angel" scooped best film, newcomer, director and screenplay, plus best actor and actress for Blethyn and Spall at the Monaco International Film Festival. In 2012 Blethyn starred opposite singer Tom Jones and actress Alison Steadman in the short film "King of the Teds", directed by Jim Cartwright, as part of Sky Arts "Playhouse Presents" series. She played an old flame who gets in touch with a former boyfriend by Facebook, introducing tensions and doubts from 40 years before.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In March 2013 Blethyn costarred with Hilary Swank in the BBC movie "Mary and Martha". Based on a screenplay by Richard Curtis and directed by Phillip Noyce, it involves two very different women, who both lose their sons to malaria. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with Linda Stasi from "The New York Post" writing that "while Swank and Blethyn make everything they're in more remarkable for their presence, the movie plays more like a based-on-fact Lifetime flick than an HBO work of fiction." Also in 2013 Blethyn began voicing the supporting character of Ernestine Enormomonster in two seasons of the children's animated television series "Henry Hugglemonster", based on the 2005 book "I'm a Happy Hugglewug" by Niamh Sharkey.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2014 Blethyn reteamed with filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb for the French-American drama film "Two Men in Town" (2014), a remake of the 1973 film. Shot in New Mexico along with Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall, Blethyn portrays a parole officer in the Western film. Whilst critical reception towards the film as a whole was lukewarm, Sherilyn Connelly from "The Village Voice" remarked that Blethyn "is wonderful as an all-too-rare character, a middle-aged woman who holds her own in a position of authority over violent men." In January 2015, Blethyn was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Capri Hollywood International Film Festival.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: In 2016 Blethyn lent her voice to the British animated biographical film "Ethel & Ernest", based on the graphic memoir of the same name that follows Raymond Briggs' parents through their period of marriage from the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s. The film earned favorable reviews from critics, who called it "gentle, poignant, and vividly animated" as well as "a warm character study with an evocative sense of time and place." Blethyn received a nomination in the Best Voice Performance category at the British Animation Awards 2018.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn married Alan James Blethyn, a graphic designer she met while working for British Rail, in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn kept her husband's surname as her professional name. British art director Michael Mayhew has been her partner since 1975, and the couple married in June 2010. She has no children.


title: Brenda Blethyn

text: Blethyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2003 New Year Honours.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: The Guest is a 2014 American thriller film directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. The film stars Dan Stevens and Maika Monroe, with a supporting cast that includes Leland Orser, Sheila Kelley, Brendan Meyer, and Lance Reddick. It tells the story of a U.S. soldier (Stevens) called David who unexpectedly visits the Peterson family, introducing himself as a friend of their son who died in combat in Afghanistan. After he has been staying in their home for a couple of days, a series of deaths occur, and the daughter Anna (Monroe) suspects David is connected to them.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Barrett, who previously worked with Wingard on the films "A Horrible Way to Die" (2010) and "You're Next" (2011), wrote the script for "The Guest". Budgeted at $5 million, filming took place in New Mexico during the summer of 2013. Musician Steve Moore scored the film's soundtrack. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 17. "The Guest" received generally positive reviews from critics.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Spencer and Laura Peterson, with their children Luke and Anna, are coping with the loss of their eldest son, Caleb, to the war in Afghanistan. They are visited by David Collins, a former U.S. Army sergeant who claims he was Caleb's best friend. He tells the family he wanted to visit them as a way to help Caleb take care of them. He is polite and friendly, and Laura invites him to stay as long as he wishes.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: David hears of Spencer's troubles at work, and he sees Luke return home with a bruise on his face, caused by bullies at school. The next day, David and Luke follow the bullies to a bar, where David beats them up. He then uses his knowledge of the law, as well as a bribe, to convince the bartender not to tell anyone. That evening, David goes to a Halloween party with a reluctant Anna, where he makes a good impression with her friends, and later saves her friend Kristen from her violent ex-boyfriend. David and Kristen have sex, then David asks Anna's friend Craig where he can buy a gun. On their way home, Anna offers to make David a mix CD.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: David gives Luke advice on dealing with bullies and gives him his butterfly knife. He meets Craig and his friend to buy the gun, but kills them and steals their weapons. When a suspicious Anna calls the military base to ask about David, she is told that he presumably died a week earlier. The call alerts a private corporation called the KPG, headed by Major Carver, who assembles a special forces team and heads for Peterson's home. Anna then learns about Craig's death, and that her boyfriend Zeke has been blamed for it. It is revealed that Spencer's boss died under mysterious circumstances, giving Spencer the promotion he always wanted. Anna asks Luke to research the numbers David has called on his phone.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: At school, one of the bullies assaults Luke again, but he fights back by punching him in the face and hitting him with a yardstick. After they are both sent to the principal's office, David arrives and coerces the principal to give Luke a month of after-school detention, and threatens litigation if the principal expels him. Luke tells David of Anna's suspicions, but promises not to investigate any further or tell anyone else. While David helps Laura with the laundry, Major Carver's team attacks the house, but David kills all of them except for Carver. His cover blown, David stabs Laura with a kitchen knife. He then drives away, and kills Spencer as well.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Carver picks up Anna and informs her of her parents' deaths. He reveals that David was a test subject in a military medical experiment and was "programmed" to kill anyone who might compromise his identity, and is unlikely to be able to stop even if he wanted to. Meanwhile, David shoots Kristen in the chest and blows up the restaurant where she and Anna work. He goes to the school to kill Luke. Carver and Anna arrive at the school before David, and enter a haunted house set up for the Halloween dance. David turns off the lights and plays Anna's mix CD, then kills Luke's teacher and Carver with a boxcutter. Anna shoots David with Carver's gun, but David stabs her in the leg and attempts to choke her as the gun misfires and damages a light, starting a fire. Luke stabs David twice with the butterfly knife, which frees Anna. David tells Luke that he did the right thing and gives him a thumbs-up before collapsing.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Sitting in an ambulance, Anna and Luke overhear the firefighters say that only two corpses were recovered. As several firefighters exit the school, Anna notices one of them is limping; he turns to face her, and it is David using the disguise to quietly escape the scene.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Simon Barrett, who previously collaborated with Adam Wingard on the films "A Horrible Way to Die" and "You're Next", wrote the script for "The Guest". Barrett said, "one of the things that excites me the most is to have established a pre-existing dynamic like a nuclear family, then introduce an element that's disruptive [...] I love just movies where a stranger comes to town “"High Plains Drifter""-style. Similarly to their previous films, Barrett envisioned "The Guest" with a main character "harboring a secret". The character was inspired by Barrett's former occupation as a private investigator; he said it "really compartmentalized my life [...] so I've become fascinated by characters that just have a weird interior thing going on". Keith Calder and Jessica Calder served as producers, who also produced "You're Next." Wingard describes his working relationship with them as "positive" and "respectful".


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Casting choices focused on character actors. On June 11, 2013, Dan Stevens signed on to star as the titular character, David. To prepare for the role, he spent hours in the gym to gain muscle. Wingard stated Stevens was the only serious contender for the role of David. "It was a very expedited schedule in terms of the casting [...] It was pretty much only Dan or bust", Wingard said. When casting Stevens, Barrett and Wingard knew that Stevens would be likable, and found him to be "calm and cool" and "naturally charming". They said the film title made the story obvious, and though audiences may cheer on his character for his entertainment value, he is clearly the antagonist of the film, something audiences will easily recognize. Maika Monroe was signed on for the role as Anna on June 26. On July 8, two additional cast members were confirmed; Brendan Meyer, who plays Luke, and Lance Reddick, who plays a Major Richard Carver.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: On July 17, 2013, the New Mexico Film Office announced the start of the production of "The Guest". Principal photography took place in various locations including Moriarty, Edgewood and Estancia, and continued until the end of August 2013. Monroe described the filming process as "light-hearted [...] There's a lot of comedy in "The Guest", so it was a bit more fun".


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Before filming began, Wingard thought about the music first. "For this film I was mostly inspired by electronic/goth bands of the 80s", he said. The film score was composed by Steve Moore, and includes synthwave tracks from artists such as Clan of Xymox and Survive. J-2 Music released the soundtrack on September 16, 2014.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: According to Wang, the rough cut of "The Guest" was about 20 minutes longer than the theatrical version. The rough cut was screened to a test audience, but viewers responded negatively, which resulted in shortening of the runtime. After another test screening, the audience were confused at the sudden arrival of Major Richard Carver and his team at the Peterson home, which is why some scenes with Carver at KPG headquarters were added in final cut of the film. Other footage which was edited or deleted after test screenings were scenes which explained what exactly "David" is, what happened to him, why he commits some of the acts in the story, and more details about the KPG program that he was involved in. Test audiences felt that the plot explanation was too much, a view shared by Wingard and Barrett, who "hated" explaining David's character and his background because they wanted to leave it ambiguous, and were thus happy to cut those scenes from the film.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: On March 7, 2014, Picturehouse acquired the distribution rights to the film. To promote the film, the studio released a teaser trailer on June 26, 2014, followed by a second trailer on August 6.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: "The Guest" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2014 to 274 theaters. It finished in eighth place, grossing $511,040. After four weeks, the film grossed $1,352,579. The United States theatrical release was on September 17, 2014 to 19 theaters. During the first weekend, the film earned $84,527. At its widest release, the film was in 53 theaters. After six weeks, the film grossed $332,890, and earned $2.7 million worldwide.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Universal Studios released "The Guest" on 2-disc DVD, and on Blu-ray with Digital Copy and UltraViolet abilities, on January 6, 2015. The DVD also includes an audio commentary by Wingard and Barrett, and 15-minutes of deleted scenes. In October 2021, the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray by Second Sight Films.


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 91% based on 116 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Boasting enough intelligence to bolster its darkly violent thrills, "The Guest" offers another treat for genre fans from director Adam Wingard." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Robert Abele of the "Los Angeles Times" described the film as a "dirty-sexy-funny homage to the vise-grip corkers that marked John Carpenter' and James Cameron's indie heyday", and praised Stevens' "killer personality" which brings "The Guest" to life. Another critic, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone", also agreed the film was "fun" and praised Stevens' "mesmerizing" performance. Writing for "The New York Times", Jeannette Catsoulis complimented Wingard and Barrett's ability in tackling another familiar genre together; she thought Stevens' performance was restrained but "magnetic" at the story develops. "London Evening Standard"'s Charlotte O'Sullivan was equally impressed by the director and writer duo; the critic gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and opined that Stevens' was "perfect" for the lead role. Dennis Harvey of "Variety", while critical of the horror homage and ending, thought ""The Guest" is blood-soaked action trash of a high grade". He credited the soundtrack for underlining the film's vintage style. The reviewer from "Spin" magazine also praised the "quintessentially Halloween" soundtrack, and drew comparisons to it with the music from "Drive" (2011).


title: The Guest (2014 American film)

text: Of Stevens' performance, the critic from "The Telegraph" opined that it was reminiscent of Ryan Gosling in "Drive" and "Only God Forgives" (2013). However, he thought the logic in the film was lost in the third act, arguing Wingard was "a little shameless". Chuck Bowen of "Slant" magazine enjoyed the 1980s themes and cinematography. "Reds [...] are gorgeously vibrant, and the intentional grain texture, meant to give "The Guest" a somewhat timeless look, comes through subtly. The intentional glare of certain lighting is crisp, and the blacks are beautifully inky. The sound mix, which should be heard loud, boasts impressive nuance and heft", he wrote. "Fearnet" praised the cast performances and overall remarked that it was "a slick, fast, fun thriller flick." "The A.V. Club" gave the film a "B+" rating and said that "Dumb fun is rarely this smartly delivered." "Bloody Good Horror" gave the film a rating of 8/10 and commented, "Mixing elements from such classics like "Halloween", "The Terminator", and using the framework of Molière's hidden-identity classic "Tartuffe" keeps this modern 80's thriller on par with some of the best homages seen in recent memory."


title: Manju Warrier

text: Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978) is an Indian actress, producer, classical dancer and playback singer who primarily appears in Malayalam language films. She is the recipient of several awards including one National Film Award, one Kerala State Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards South. She is regarded as one of the most prolific actresses in Malayalam cinema.


title: Manju Warrier

text: She made her acting debut in "Sakshyam" (1995) at the age of 17. Her notable films include "Thooval Kottaram" (1996), "Sallapam" (1996), "Ee Puzhayum Kadannu" (1996), and "Aaraam Thampuran" (1997).


title: Manju Warrier

text: Warrier married actor Dileep in 1998 and stopped acting. Since their divorce in 2014, she returned to cinema with the critically and commercially successful Malayalam film "How Old Are You?" (2014).


title: Manju Warrier

text: Manju Warrier was born on 10 September 1978 in Nagercoil city of Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in a Malayali family. Her family is originally from Pullu village in Thrissur district of Kerala. Her father, T. V. Madhavan, worked as an accountant at Shakthi Finance's Nagercoil regional office and her mother(from Thiruvilwamala) was a house wife. She has an elder brother, Madhu Wariar, who is also an actor and producer.


title: Manju Warrier

text: Warrier did her primary schooling from CSI Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Nagercoil. After her father was promoted, they returned to Kerala and settled in Kannur. She studied at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kannur and later at Chovva Higher Secondary School.


title: Manju Warrier

text: In the first half of her on-screen career, Manju featured in 20 films over a three-year period with prominent directors producing a number of performances that earned her equal billing with some of the male leading actors in Malayalam.


title: Manju Warrier

text: At the age of 17, she debuted in the film "Sakshyam" (1995). Later at the age of 18, she acted in the movie "Sallapam" (1996), co-starring Dileep, whom she later married.


title: Manju Warrier

text: Her performance in the movie "Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu" won a special mention from the jury for the National Film Awards. Her other films include: "Kanmadam" and "Aaraam Thampuran" with Mohanlal, "Ee Puzhayum Kadannu" and "Kudamattam" with her now ex-husband Dileep, "Summer in Bethlehem", "Pranayavarnangal", "Pathram" and "Kaliyattam" with Suresh Gopi, and "Irattakuttikalude Achan","Dilliwala Rajakumaran", "Kaliveedu", "Thooval Kottaram" and "Krishnagudiyil Oru Pranayakalathu" with Jayaram.


title: Manju Warrier

text: She won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the movie "Ee Puzhayum Kadannu". In "Kanmadam", she portrayed the role of a high-tempered blacksmith named Bhanu, which also starred Mohanlal. In her film "Daya", Warrier's character is disguised as a man. Her role as the strong-willed Devika in "Pathram" was popular with audiences. It was the highest-grossing film of 1999 and played for over 250 days in theatres. Her last film before she took a sabbatical was "Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu". Her portrayal of Bhadra, who takes revenge against Natesan who killed her parents, is considered her best acting performance to date. She was awarded the Special Mention (acting) for her performance.


title: Manju Warrier

text: On 24 October 2012, she performed Kuchipudi in the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple.Later in July 2013, she acted in a commercial with Amitabh Bachchan. She later appeared in many advertisements for Kalyan Jewellers alongside Amitabh Bacchan, Aishwarya Rai, Nagarjuna, Prabhu and Shiva Rajkumar. She recently published a book titled "Sallapam".


title: Manju Warrier

text: She made her return to cinema with Rosshan Andrrews's "How Old Are You" in 2014. Warrier played the character of Nirupama Rajeev, a UD clerk in the Revenue Department. The film received positive reviews from critics and was well received by audiences and it became a succesfull hit in the Kerala box office. She received numerous accolades and became the goodwill ambassador for many ventures related to organic farming, inspired by her film.


title: Manju Warrier

text: Her next film was Sathyan Anthikad's "Ennum Eppozhum" which reunites her with Mohanlal after a gap of 17 years. Her next project was "Rani Padmini" by Aashiq Abu along with Rima Kallingal, released in October 2015. The film did not fare well at the box office. She acted in "Jo and the Boy", "Vettah", "Karinkunnam 6's" "C/O Saira Banu", "Udaharanam Sujatha" and "Villain".


title: Manju Warrier

text: She acted in a Sanskrit stage drama based on Abhijñānaśākuntalam. The play was presented by the Sopanam Institute of Performing Arts & Research, founded by the late Kavalam Narayana Panicker, and was hosted by Swaralaya. Warrier debuted as a producer as well and the play was produced under her banner, Manju Warrier Productions.


title: Manju Warrier

text: In 2018, Manju appeared in the lead role in the Kamala Surayya biopic "Aami". Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News wrote in her review - "Warrier enters the frame much later, but seamlessly takes on the role of a woman on the cusp of a quarter-life crisis. The actress is in total command here. Surayya isn't an easy woman to play, but Warrier make her eccentricities alluring and charming." Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express complimented Manju delivered a 'knockout performance' - "It is, indeed, impressive to watch Manju Warrier play the role of a conflicted woman. Her conviction in the performance is what keeps our attention even when narration loses steam." Her next film for release was the musical-romantic-comedy drama Mohanlal in which she played a die-hard fan of Mohanlal.


title: Manju Warrier

text: Her next release was the much-hyped fantasy drama Odiyan, in which she appeared alongside Mohanlal and Prakash Raj sporting different looks throughout the movie. Odiyan earned the highest opening-day collection for a film at Kerala box office and for a Malayalam film at worldwide box office. Odiyan also registered the highest opening weekend (14–16 December) collection for a Malayalam film at domestic and worldwide box office.