Some context: Brandreth was born in Wuppertal, Germany, where his father, Charles Brandreth, was serving as a legal officer with the Allied Control Commission. After having moved to London with his parents at the age of three, Brandreth was educated at the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle (as it is called today), Bedales School, where he met his friend Simon Cadell, and New College, Oxford. He was President of the Oxford Union in Michaelmas Term, 1969 and edited the university magazine Isis. He was described in a contemporaneous publication as "Oxford's Lord High Everything Else".
He is a former European Monopoly champion, and President of the Association of British Scrabble Players, having organised the first British National Scrabble Championship in 1971. He is also the President of The Oscar Wilde Society. The society was founded in September 1990, by a group of fans of Wilde and his work, it is a non-profit organisation that aims to increase knowledge, enjoyment and study of Wilde's life, personality and works. It organises lectures, readings and discussions, as well as visits to places connected with him. Brandreth hosts an annual Oscar Wilde party to celebrate the writer's birth. These parties are often attended by such people as Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Derek Jacobi, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Julian Fellowes. The venues are often places of interest in Wilde's life, for example the Langham where A Picture of Dorian Gray was commissioned. In August 2005, he appeared in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Edinburgh Festival. He is an after-dinner speaker, and he held the world record for the longest continuous after-dinner speech, at 12 and a half hours, done as a charity stunt. With his wife he founded the Teddy Bear museum; formerly located in Stratford-upon-Avon for 18 years, it was relocated to the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, London and as of 2016 it is on display at Newby Hall in Yorkshire. He is a patron of the National Piers Society and vice-president of charity Fields in Trust (formerly the National Playing Fields Association). He was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Chester in December 2016.
On what date?
A:
Some context: Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Diplo, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, and along with producer and DJ Skrillex, part of the electronic duo Jack U. He founded and manages record company Mad Decent, as well as co-founding the non-profit organization Heads Decent. Among other jobs, he has worked as a school teacher in Philadelphia.
Main article; M.I.A. After hearing one of his songs in 2004, M.I.A. approached Diplo when he was DJing one night at the Fabric Club in London. Coincidentally, Diplo was playing her songs "Galang" and "Fire Fire" as she entered the club, which he got from a worker at i-D magazine. Diplo added, "She came through and she wanted to meet me 'cause she'd heard my single and the funk mix from one of her A&Rs and she just thought I was right up her alley. Besides me being a white dude from Florida and her being a Sri Lankan girl in England, everything else was the same: [We were both] film graduates, [listened to] all the same music when we were kids, were going in the same direction right now in music, it was amazing... I always wanted to make a beat with her, but all my beats were really shitty at the time." The two eventually collaborated on a mixtape, Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1., where Arular track acapellas were mashed with other artists' songs and was mentioned as 'Albums of the Year' from the New York Times and Pitchfork Media. The two continued to work together after the release. He was the tour DJ on her 2005 Arular Tour. Diplo continued to work with M.I.A. and, through her, met London DJ Switch. Together, they created the Grammy-nominated track "Paper Planes", peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, during an interview with Rolling Stone, M.I.A said that Diplo resented her rise to fame in 2005, that he tried to hold her back, and fought with her about becoming successful.
How did it do?
A: mentioned as 'Albums of the Year' from the New York Times and Pitchfork Media.
Some context: Dreamgirls is a 2006 American romantic musical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen, Dreamgirls is a film a clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes. The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit, Michigan girl group known as the Dreams and their manipulative record executive. The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, and also features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson.
Dreamgirls premiered on December 4, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, where it received a standing ovation. The film's Los Angeles premiere was held on December 11 at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills. Similar to the releases of older Hollywood musicals such as The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story, Dreamgirls debuted with three special ten-day roadshow engagements beginning on December 15, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, and the AMC Metreon 15 in San Francisco. Tickets for the reserved seats were $25 each; the premium price included a forty-eight page full-color program and a limited-print lithograph. This release made Dreamgirls the first American feature film to have a roadshow release since Man of La Mancha in 1972. Dreamgirls earned a total of $851,664 from the roadshow engagements, playing to sold-out houses on the weekends. The film's national release, at regular prices, began on December 25. Outside of the U.S., Dreamgirls opened in Australia on January 18, and in the United Kingdom on February 2. Releases in other countries began on various dates between January and early March. Dreamgirls eventually grossed $103 million in North America, and almost $155 million worldwide. DreamWorks Home Entertainment released Dreamgirls to home video on May 1, 2007 in DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray formats. The DVD version was issued in two editions: a one-disc standard version and a two-disc "Showstopper Edition". The two-disc version also included a feature-length production documentary, production featurettes, screen tests, animatics, and other previsualization materials and artwork. Both DVD versions featured alternate and extended versions of the musical numbers from the film as extras, including the "Effie, Sing My Song" scene deleted during previews. Both the Blu-ray and HD DVD versions were issued in two-disc formats. Dreamgirls was the first DreamWorks film to be issued in a high definition home entertainment format. As of 2017, total domestic video sales to date are at $95.1 million. A "Director's Extended Edition" of Dreamgirls was released on Blu-Ray and Digital HD on October 10, 2017 by Paramount Home Media Distribution. This version, based on edits done for preview screenings before the film's release, runs ten minutes longer than the theatrical version and features longer musical numbers (including songs and verses cut during previews) and additional scenes.
Was it successful when it premiered?
A:
Dreamgirls earned a total of $851,664 from the roadshow engagements, playing to sold-out houses on the weekends.