And The Envelope Please......

  1. Who played the female lead in Sir Derek's first ever appearance in Chichester?

Joan Plowright 

  1. Name 6 major awards Sir Derek has won.

BAFTAA, Plays and Players, SWET/Olivia Award, Tony, Emmy, Society of Television Award, Personality of the Year Award, Evening Standard Award 

  1. In what play did Sir Derek make his commercial London debut?

Breaking the Code, 1986, Haymarket
(everything previous was subsidized) 

  1. On what date did Sir Derek receive his CBE from the Queen?

11/26/1985 

  1. On what date did Sir Derek make his pro debut?

9/20/1960 in One Way Pendulum as Stanley Honeybone at Birmingham

  1. What did Sir Derek have faxed to set of Damien and Love is the Devil each day?

The Times Crossword Puzzle

  1. On what day did Sir Derek make his debut with the National Theatre, and what else is significant about that date?

10/22/1963, his 25th birthday

  1. List at least 6 of Sir Derek's off stage/set hobbies.

Gardening, reading, music, crossword puzzles, collecting Staffordshire pieces, and "looking for his next job"

  1. What is Sir Derek's middle name?

George 

  1. Name the Cambridge society which gave Sir Derek a taste for a certain playwright and also a reputation as an interpreter of the same poet and playwright.

The Marlowe Society 

  1. Name the avoidable and unavoidable drawbacks encountered by Sir Derek in playing Cadfael.

Avoidable (for a while!):  riding horses

Unavoidable:  The tonsure.  

  1. Who was Bobby Brown?

A master at LCHS and a valued advisor 

  1. What Cathedral was a featured in a certain Christmas special?

Ely

  1. In what play did Sir Derek make his Broadway debut?

The Suicide, 1980

  1. What was significant about the "theatre" in Edinburgh in which Sir Derek and the Prospect cast performed "Antony and Cleopatra"?

It was a Church of Scotland Assembly Hall  where the Annual General Assembly takes place

  1. Has Sir Derek played pantomine?

Yes;  he played the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" at Birmingham for Christmas, 1961. 

  1. Describe Sir Derek's television debut.

She Stoops to Conquer from Birmingham, where he was spotted by Olivier 

  1. Who presented Sir Derek with his Tony?

Vanessa Redgrave

  1. Name the landlady of the holiday house frequented by the Jacobi family.

Mrs. Dingle 

  1. What was the make of the first car owned by the Jacobi family?

A Hillman

  1. What was the name of Sir Derek's character in his single appearance on Minder?

Freddie Fenton, a rather dodgy businessman 

  1. Name the Edinburgh theatre which has happy associations for Sir Derek.

The Edinburgh Academy, a boys fee-paying school.  He performed  his  school boy Hamlet in the school's Hall in 1957.

  1. List the total number of times Sir Derek has played Hamlet in his career.

Once as a 17 year old student at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  Once as a Cambridge student for a vacation tour of Germany and Switzerland.  He made his professional debut for the Prospect as Hamlet in 1977 at the Old Vic, and again on an international tour.  He reassumed the role with a different cast at the Vic in 1979 and took it on an international tour which included Kronberg Castle in Denmark, China, Japan, and Australia.  He did the role for the BBC in 1980. He also played Laertes to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet for the National in 1963.  In 1996 he played Claudius to Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet in Branagh's film version of the complete play. 

  1. How many times has Sir Derek performed Hamlet professionally?

379 times

  1. Name 2 reasons Bletchy is significant for Sir Derek.

It was the site where the Code was cracked by Alan Turing during WWII as well as the area he was evacuated to as a child during the Blitz.

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