Maureen Lipman CBE (born Hull, 10 May 1946), is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist, and comedienne. Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are... Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as—in metonymy—the field in general. ... It has been suggested that Drama (art form) be merged into this article or section. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A columnist is a journalist who produces a specific form of writing for publication called a column. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. ... A comedian, or comic, is an entertainer who amuses an audience by making them laugh. ...

Her father Maurice was a leading Hull tailor: he used to have a shop between the Ferens art Gellery and Monument Bridge. Maureen was press-ganged into acting by her mother Zelma, who used to take Maureen to the pantomime and push her onto the stage. Hull or Kingston upon Hull is a British city situated on the north bank of the Humber estuary. ...

She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and married dramatist Jack Rosenthal in 1974 (he died in 2004), and has had a number of roles in his works. She has two grown-up children, Amy and Adam. She has recently (2006) adopted a basenji puppy, called Broiges. Main LAMDA building on Talgarth Road The MacOwan Theatre The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), founded 1861, is a leading British drama school in west London. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Jack Rosenthal, CBE (8 September 1931 - 29 May 2004) , was a playwright, who wrote several early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and a number of successful plays and films. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Basenji is a breed of dog and a member of the sighthound family. ...

She is also known to be a Zionist and a Labour Party supporter. A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the main left-wing political party of the United Kingdom. ...

Work

Maureen initially did understudy in theatre before she gained increased prominence on television in the 1979 sitcom Agony, in which she played an agony aunt with a predictably troubled private life. Shortly after she was the lead role in All at No 20 and then About Face. She is particularly known for her roles as Joyce Grenfell in her biographical play and as "Beattie", a "Jewish mother" character in a long-running series of television commercials for British Telecom (she named the character from the initials BT) . After that she went back to the theatre, for a few years doing Oklahoma! and wrote a column for the Good Housekeeping magazine for over 10 years. In 2002, she played a snooty landlady, Lillian in Coronation Street. In recent years, she has done two television series on design, one for UKTV about Art Deco and one about design in the 20th century for ITV/Sky Travel. She wrote a weekly column for The Guardian in the newspaper's G2 section. She has recently done a piece in Doctor Who, as a villain called "The wire", and until April 29, 2006 played Florence Foster Jenkins in the Olivier Award nominated show Glorious! at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End. An understudy is a theatrical term for someone who learns the lines and moves of a leading actor or actress in a theatrical play. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Agony was a British television sitcom produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network. ... An agony aunt is an advice columnist at a magazine or newspaper. ... All at No 20 was a British sitcom starring Maureen Lipman that lasted from 1986 to 1987. ... About Face was a series of twelve unconnected half-hour sitcoms all starring Maureen Lipman in the lead role. ... Joyce Grenfell OBE (10 February 1910 – 30 November 1979), born Joyce Irene Phipps, was an English film and television actress, comedian, and singer-songwriter. ... Beatrice Bellman, more commonly known as Beattie, was a character from a series of television advertisements by British Telecom, famously played by Maureen Lipman. ... BT Group plc (which trades as just BT, and is commonly known by its former name, British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ... Oklahoma! (1943) was the first musical play written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II (see Rodgers and Hammerstein). ... A cover of Good Housekeeping from 1908. ... Coronation Street is Britains longest-running television soap opera and its consistently highest rating show. ... One of the United Kingdoms largest TV companies, UKTV is a joint venture between the BBCs commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and the cable television company Flextech. ... Asheville City Hall. ... ITV (Independent Television) is the name given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. In England, Wales and southern Scotland, the channel has been rebranded to ITV1 by ITV plc, the owners of the... Sky Travel is a channel from BSkyB that shows extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies, and documentries. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Florence Foster Jenkins (1868–November 26, 1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of singing ability. ...

Awards and nominations

• She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1985 (1984 season) for See How They Run.
• Her show, Live and Kidding, performed at the Duchess Theatre, was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Entertainment of the 1997 season.
• She was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1999.
• In 2003 she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for The Pianist (2002), at The Polish Film Awards.

The Pianist is a 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski starring Adrien Brody. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Quotes

"An ology. He gets an ology and he says he's failed. You get an ology, you're a scientist!" (as "Beattie" in a British Telecom Advertising Campaign)

Political Criticism

Maureen Lipman supported Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. On July 13, 2006, in a debate on the BBC's This Week, she argued that "human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually, because they strap bombs to people and send them to blow themselves up." These comments was condemned by Muslim political columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown who said "Brutally straight, she sees no equivalence between the lives of the two tribes" ^[1] and left-wing journalist John Pilger, who in the New Statesman criticized the BBC for allowing Lipman - whom he described as "a Jew and promoter of selective good causes" - to present her allegedly insensitive remarks without, in his view, any "serious challenge." ^[2] Lipman responded to Alibhai-Brown's accusation of racism by arguing that the columnist had deliberately misrepresented Lipman's comments as generalizations about Muslims rather than specific comments about terrorists ^[3]. Combatants Hezbollah Israel Commanders Hassan Nasrallah (Secretary General) Dan Halutz (CoS), Moshe Kaplinsky[6], Udi Adam (Regional) Strength 600-1,000 fighters 3,000-5,000 available 10,000 reservist [3] 30,000 ground troops (plus IAF & ISC) [7] Casualties Hezbollah militia: 74 dead confirmed by Hezbollah [4] 440 dead... Insert non-formatted text here July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This Week is a current affairs and politics TV programme on the BBC, screened on Thursday evenings, hosted by Andrew Neil alongside former Conservative MP Michael Portillo, and Labour MP Diane Abbott. ... Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (née Damji) is a Ugandan-born journalist, based in London; she only hyphenated her surname after her second marriage in 1990. ... John Pilger John Pilger (born October 9, 1939) is an Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker from Sydney, primarily based in London, UK. // Life and career Pilgers career in journalism began in 1958, and he has developed his reputation through both his reporting and the various books and documentary films... The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ...

In the Jewish Chronicle, Lipman argued that media reporting of the conflict was "heavily distorted": The Jewish Telegraph is a Jewish Newspaper in Britain. ...

"There is rarely any film of rockets being fired into Israel, nor any mention of the damage, nor of the 250,000 refugees who have fled to the centre of Israel, nor of rockets targeting Israel every day since it withdrew from Gaza, nor the damage done by 100 Hizbollah rockets a day... I sometimes think Israel should ban the press as Zimbabwe has. They are a democracy, though, and behave accordingly... I respect freedom of speech, but I’m contemptuous of the 300 signatories [to the anti-Invasion Times advert and the Independent letter]".^[4]

... More people are being killed in São Paulo, Somalia and Darfur than in this conflict. Where is the coverage? It is as if the Iraq war has completely stopped while this blanket coverage in Lebanon goes on and on and on.

... To English, assimilated, sometimes self-despising Jews such as Gerald Kaufman and Harold Pinter, I say: where are you going to go when the shit hits the fan? It doesn’t matter if you stand in Parliament or marry into the aristocracy, there will be no Israel to receive you, as they have received so many before. Why didn’t they put their ad in an Israeli newspaper? Because it is more important to impress their fellow Englishmen than to effect change in the situation. Where are their signatures against Burma, Nepal, Tibet, and Zimbabwe?

Motto: Non ducor, duco (Latin: I am not led, I lead) Administrative division of the city Country Brazil Region Southeast State São Paulo Mayor Gilberto Kassab (PFL) Area    - City 1,522. ... Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ... Gerald Kaufman is passionate about Palestine The Right Honourable Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (born June 21, 1930) is a British Labour Member of Parliament who was a government minister during the 1970s. ... Harold Pinter Pinter redirects here. ...

Other appearances

• She has appeared a few times on Just a Minute, The News Quiz, That Reminds Me, This Week and Have I Got News For You.

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967. ... The News Quiz is a topical comedy quiz broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4. ... That Reminds Me is a series of programmes broadcast on BBC Radio 4 where someone (usually) connected with comedy talks about their life for thirty minutes in front of a live audience. ... This Week is one of the American Sunday-morning interview shows. ... Have I Got News for You (sometimes abbreviated to HIGNFY) is a long-running UK television topical panel game. ...

References

1. ^ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, "Nothing but anti-Arab racism can fully explain the behaviour of the Israelis ",The Independent,July 17, 2006
2. ^ John Pilger, "Empire: war and propaganda", New Statesman, July 31, 2006
3. ^ Maureen Lipman, Letters, The Independent, July 19, 2006
4. ^ Maureen Lipman, "Prominent Jews speak out on the war",Jewish Chronicle,August 4, 2006

The Independent is a British compact newspaper published by Tony OReillys Independent News & Media. ... July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ... July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Independent is a British compact newspaper published by Tony OReillys Independent News & Media. ... July 19 is the 200th day (201st in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 165 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Jewish Telegraph is a Jewish Newspaper in Britain. ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Select filmography

• Doctor Who (The Idiot's Lantern) (2006) - The Wire
• Coronation Street (2002) - Lilian
• The Pianist (2002) - Mother
• Eskimo Day (1996) - Shani Whittle
• Carry On Columbus (1992) - Countess Esmeralda
• A Little Princess (1986) - Miss Minchin
• Educating Rita (1983) - Trish
• Agony (1979) - Jane Lucas

Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... The Idiots Lantern is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... Coronation Street is Britains longest-running television soap opera and its consistently highest rating show. ... The Pianist is a 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski starring Adrien Brody. ... Carry On Columbus was a 1992 film, part of the Carry On series of films. ... A Little Princess (1986) is a mini-series directed by Carol Wiseman co-produced by LWT in Britain and PBS in the United States based upon the novel, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. ... Educating Rita is a stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell which premièred at The Warehouse, London, in 1980; and a film (1983) directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Julie Walters, Michael Caine, and Maureen Lipman with a screenplay by Russell. ... Agony was a British TV sitcom broadcast in two series beginning in 1979. ...

External links

• A short bio of Maureen Lipman
• Maureen Lipman at the IMDB
• Maureen Lipman's Guardian column
• Maureen Lipman in webTV interview talking about By Jack Rosenthal and working on Doctor Who