IN: The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States.

The Kinks are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called The Kinks "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion". They were ranked 65th on Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam, heavy metal acts including Van Halen and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Craig Nicholls, singer and guitarist of The Vines, described the Kinks as "great songwriters, so underrated". Pete Townshend, guitarist with the Kinks' contemporaries the Who, credited Ray Davies with inventing "a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning." Jon Savage wrote that The Kinks were an influence on late 1960s American psychedelic rock groups "like The Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane". Music writers and other musicians have acknowledged the influence of the Kinks on the development of hard rock and heavy metal. Musicologist Joe Harrington stated: "'You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre... [T]he Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Stooges)." Queen guitarist Brian May credited the band with planting "the seed which grew into riff-based music." A musical, Sunny Afternoon, based on the early life of Ray Davies and the formation of the Kinks, opened at the Hampstead Theatre in April 2014. The musical's name came from the band's 1966 hit single "Sunny Afternoon" and features songs from the band's back catalogue. In 2015, it was reported that Julien Temple would direct a biopic of The Kinks titled You Really Got Me, with singer-songwriter Johnny Flynn and actor George MacKay cast to play Ray and Dave Davies, respectively.
QUESTION: Did they have any albums?
IN: Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the only child of Reginald Francis Cleese (1893-1972), an insurance salesman, and his wife Muriel Evelyn (nee Cross; 1899-2000). His family's surname was originally Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing and changed it when he enlisted in the Army during the First World War. As a child, Cleese supported Bristol City FC and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cleese was educated at St Peter's Preparatory School, where he received a prize for English and did well at cricket and boxing.

Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("... he's from Barcelona"), and Booth as waitress Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town. The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series. In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show. Cleese was a fan of the show and co-wrote much of the episode. Cleese also made a cameo appearance in their 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper. Cleese won the TV Times award for Funniest Man on TV - 1978-79.
QUESTION:
Anything else I should know?