Entertainment - Theatre etc
*** A
Acosta - Carlos .. Cuban who was the FIRST black principal dancer with the Royal Ballet In London
Adams - Robert ..... highly successful actor in theatre, films and on radio and television and was also the founder and director of the Negro Repertory Arts Theatre, one of the FIRST professional black theatre companies in Britain
Aldridge Ira ..... born 1804 died 1867 ..... an African-American who was the FIRST black actor to achieve major recognition. He won acclaim throughout Europe as "The African Roscius" playing Othello and many other great Shakespearean roles
Astley - Philip ..... U.K ..... in the late 1770s his equestrian shows developed into the FIRST circus
Australian Olympic Circus .. FIRST in Australia - 1842
*** B
Barnum - Phineas T ..... presented the FIRST Wild West Show in New York and it featured a band of Indians from Iowa
Batt - Fred .. opened the FIRST Male Lap-Dancing club for Ladies Only at the Forum ( next to Caesars) London. He also staged the FIRST Ladies professional boxing at Caesars in London and I believe Jane Couch was the winner ( see also below - Whisky A Go Go)
Bertram Mills Circus .. FIRST circus show to be televised - 1938 - London
Boulting – Sydney Arthur Rembrandt ..... born 19th March 1912 ..... eldest of the Boulting brothers who FIRST put on the world’s longest running play The Mousetrap in 1952. He used the pseudonym Peter Coles and directed and supervised the FIRST tv productions under film conditions at Shepperton Studios
Butlin - Billy..... died 1980 ..... holiday camp entrepreneur, in 1927 he imported the FIRST Dodgem cars into the UK from Canada. He opened his FIRST holiday camp in Skegness in 1936 and many more after that and in 1964 he was knighted
*** C
Clarke - Ernest ..... FIRST circus performer to achieve the triple somersault. He also gave demonstrations in private of a quadruple somersault but this was only FIRST carried off in 1981 by the Mexican, Miguel Vazques
Connor - Edric ..... a major actor in films and on stage and the FIRST black actor to perform in Shakespeare at Stratford-Upon-Avon, as Gower in Pericles in 1958
Count de Grisley ..... in 1799 he was the FIRST magician to perform the trick of sawing a woman in half ( why is it always a woman???)
*** D
Dene - Terry ..... FIRST British Elvis Presley imitator who began copying him in the mid-1950s
Disney - Walt ..... born 1901 died 1966 ..... opened the FIRST theme park, Disneyland, in California in 1955
*** F
Flatley - Michael ..... FIRST American World Irish Dance Champion
*** G
Game Place House, Great Yarmouth ..... in 1539 it was the FIRST building in Britain to be used as a public theatre
Greece ..... the ancient Greeks pioneered most of the firsts in theatre - FIRST playwrights, FIRST actors union ( the Artists of Dionysus) and the FIRST drama competition which was won by Thespis in 534 BC
*** H
Hitchcock - Vincent ..... the FIRST English matador
Hobson's Choice ..... play which became the FIRST show ever to have its run extended in the middle of the Royal Exchange Theatre's (Manchester, England) scheduled season - June 2003. The cast included John Thomson, Trevor Peacock and Joanna Riding
*** J
Jones - Ken .. FIRST ever north west (England) champion at the game of Monopoly - November 2001
*** K
Kay - Peter ..... comedian who was the star of the FIRST ever stand-up show at the Manchester Evening News Arena in the UK ( July 2003)
*** L
La Rue - Danny ..... neι Daniel Carroll born in Cork in 1927 died 2009. He was the FIRST drag artist ever to appear before the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance and in 1984 was the FIRST man to play the role of Dolly in the musical Hello Dolly
Lap Attack ..... in London, it was the world's FIRST lap dancing club for women
Lester - Adrian ..... FIRST black actor to play Shakespeare's Henry V with the National Theatre, England
*** M
Maurier - Sir Gerald du ..... the FIRST " Captain Hook" of Peter Pan fame
Maynard - Ambrose .. the FIRST artiste's agent who established an office in London in 1858 to specialize in bookings for music-hall performers
Miles Bernard - Baron ….. born 27th September 1907 died 1991 ….. English actor and stage director who founded the Mermaid Theatre, the FIRST theatre in the City of London since the Restoration
Mitchell - Arthur ..... born 1934 ..... the FIRST black principal dancer to join the New York City Ballet. In 1968 he founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem
Murray's Cabaret Club ..... London-England ..... opened in 1933 it later became the FIRST British venue to stage a nude cabaret
*** P
Porte - Juan ..... Spain ..... in 1780 he established the FIRST circus in continental Europe - Vienna, Austria
*** R
Raisin in the Sun .. the FIRST ever Broadway play written by a black writer - Lorraine Hansberry
Raymond - Paul .. neι Geoffrey Quinn ..... born 1925 died 2008 ..... launched Britain's FIRST topless dancing club. He had a property empire including the Raymond Revue Bar stripclub in Soho, the FIRST legal nude cabaret club in town. He also introduced the magazine Mayfair to the UK
Rickett's Circus .. FIRST in America - 1792
Ross - Don .. FIRST ' King Rat', he was the husband of Gertie Gitana
*** S
Shipstad - Eddie .. born 1907 died 1998 .. founded the worlds FIRST touring ice revue Ice Follies which was first seen in Tulsa, Oklahoma
*** T
Theatre - The ..... FIRST English playhouse which was built c1576 by James Burbage in London
Thomas - Ben ..... in 1994 he was the FIRST black actor to play King Lear in Britain since Ira Aldridge (see above) in 1859
Trinder - Tommy ..... FIRST host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium who read out Bob Hope's forthcoming gags ( from Sunil Hiranandani)
*** W
Whisky A Go Go .. run by Fred Batt ( see above) in Soho, London it was the FIRST disco in Britain
*** Z
Zacchini - Mario .. died 1999 .. member of the Zacchini family who presented the FIRST double-shot cannon act in history, sending two human projectiles 1934