Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 August 6

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August 6

Ooi Teik Hock

Is Ooi Teik Hock, a Malayan badminton player, living or dead? I added a bio template to his article, but I have been unable to find information on his date of death, if any, but he would be quite elderly in 2009, having played in 1939. --DThomsen8 (talk) 00:59, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

This article (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/8/sports/2493011&sec=sports) from Nov. 2008 mentions that he's passed away. No date though. Dalliance (talk) 12:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Same here [1]. The site gives his age at the time of his death as 80, so some time span could be calculated if his date of birth (which I can´t find via Google) were known. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 18:36, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Mike Power

Merged into section above. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 07:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The most knighted film

A question out of sheer curiosity. What film has had the most knighted people involved in it? I don't think Ian Holm, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Alec Guinness and Richard Attenborough ever collaborated, but it must be something like that. SGGH ^ping! 15:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Do they have to have been knighted at the time, or is it OK if they were knighted later? DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:09, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Not promising it's the most, but I'm going to bet with A Bridge Too Far (film). Sir Richard Attenborough, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Sean Connery, Sir Anthony Hopkins for five. (Olivier was later made a Lord, but he was still a knight). DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:16, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

(And technically Sir Winston Churchill and various others in archive footage) DJ Clayworth (talk) 16:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes I forgot to mention, they do not have to be knights at the time, just at some point. SGGH ^ping! 16:40, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Found another with the same count - Battle of Britain (film). Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Michael Redgrave, Sir William Walton (composer). DJ Clayworth (talk) 18:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

...and a six! Richard III (1955 film). Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir John Geilgud, Sir William Walton (composer), Sir Alexander Korda (producer, uncredited - may have to confirm that). DJ Clayworth (talk) 18:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

...and another six. Gandhi (film) - Sir Richard Attenborough (director), Sir Ben Kingsley, Sir John Geilgud, Sir John Mills, Sir Nigel Hawthorne, Sir Michael Hordern. DJ Clayworth (talk) 21:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

...and another six, if you allow Dames. Gosford Park. Sir Alan Bates, Sir Michael Gambon, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Eileen Atkins. DJ Clayworth (talk) 21:27, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Only six? Pshaw! Oh! What a Lovely War had nine: Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde, Gielgud, Holm, Mills, Olivier, Redgrave, Richardson and Smith. Btw, A Bridge Too Far had six, as Bogarde was in that one, too. -- JackofOz (talk) 13:15, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm very impressed, jack. That one would never have occurred to me. And none of the nine behind the cameras, either. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:40, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I've been hunting around to find one that beats nine, but no luck so far. I get the feeling that's the one, for now at least; but who knows who's going to become a knight/dame in years to come, and all their movies will then have to be ratcheted up, knight-count-wise. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Trivia buffs may be interested to know that, while Gielgud, Olivier and Richardson all appeared in Richard III (1955) and Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), there were never more than two of them in the same scenes. The first and only time all three appeared in the same scenes was in Wagner (1983 mini-series) - and even then they played fictional characters while the rest of the cast played people who had actually existed. Wagner had 5 knights: those three, plus Dame Joan Plowright, and Sir William Walton in his only acting role – as King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (bet you didn’t know that!). It also starred Richard Burton as Wagner; Burton was never knighted, but many thought he should have been. -- JackofOz (talk) 05:12, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

The wise-guy answer would be, "Easy - just name any picture that's about King Arthur!" But that leads to another question: What movie about knights has the most knighted actors? An obvious example of this idea: Star Wars, with Sir Alec Guinness playing a Jedi Knight. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 18:41, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

OK, how's this for starters. Young Winston (1972) was about Sir Winston Churchill. It was directed by Richard Attenborough and roles were played by John Mills, Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm and Nigel Hawthorne – none of these 5 were knights at the time. The original music was by Alfred Ralston (not knighted), but they also included some sizeable chunks of Sir Edward Elgar's music (arranged by Ralston). King Hassan II of Morocco was an uncredited "special assistant" - he was awarded an honorary Royal Victorian Chain, but that's not a knighthood; I don't know whether his kingship counts. There was some brief archival footage of Churchill at the end, if I remember correctly, showing him waving to crowds from a balcony at the end of WW2, and it may have also shown his wife Clementine, who was a dame, and later a baroness - but I personally wouldn't include archival footage in such tallies. Simon Ward (as Churchill), Edward Woodward and Robert Hardy also appeared – they're not knights yet, but I'd never be surprised if they were knighted at some stage. -- JackofOz (talk) 20:17, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

I wonder whether IMDb lists any obscure Baronets. —Tamfang (talk) 04:42, 17 August 2009 (UTC)