Richard O'Brien – författare

In 1973, in a tiny upstairs theater in London, a sweet transvestite in fishnets, platform heels, and a corset strutted on stage and tossed off his cape—and the world was never the same. Now, for the first time, show creator Richard O’Brien opens his archives to provide an unprecedented look at the origins of Frank N. Furter and Rocky Horror in this unique and stunning two-volume set.It Was Great When It All Began: The Original Annotated Theatrical ScriptBefore the cult movie classic, there was the cult stage show. See where it all began with this original 1973 theatrical script, presented in all its Rocky Horror glory. Production notes, stage directions, and the full script with lyrics are accompanied by rare performance images from the 1973 London and 1974 Roxy (Los Angeles) casts. Remembrances from cast members and an archival piece written by Richard O’Brien offer insights into what makes a winning Rocky Horror stage performance. You’ll feel like you’re in the front row of that little London theater. And because today’s stage productions often reflect the movie, the book also includes a Virgin’s Guide—a complete theatrical script annotated with classic audience callbacks and partici . . . pation.Strange Journey: The Illustrated Oral History of Rocky HorrorRocky Horror’s strange journey began onstage, but the full story is much more. Based on the groundbreaking documentary Strange Journey by Richard’s son, Linus O’Brien, this official oral history chronicles the saga from its stage origins to its lasting cultural impact. Never-before-seen images and ephemera from Richard O’Brien’s personal archive are paired with new interviews from cast and crew—including Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon—shadow cast performers, and of course, Richard O’Brien himself. Cultural icons like Trixie Mattel share how Rocky Horror shaped their lives and the LGBTQ+ community. Packed with fascinating stories, rare imagery, and archival treasures, Strange Journey paints a vivid portrait of how this cult classic became a global phenomenon.DEFINITIVE COMPANION: Experience the cult classic stage play like never before, featuring the complete script and lyrics, original cast photography, and insights from the original cast and show creator Richard O’Brien.EXCLUSIVE MATERIAL: Discover never-before-seen set photography and design sketches from Richard O’Brien’s personal collection.NEW INTERVIEWS: Includes fresh interviews with cast, crew, and cultural historians, offering new perspectives on this enduring cultural phenomenon.

The rapidly changing structure of financial markets is leading to a radical shift in the way in which private-sector financial institutions and firms, and public regulators, are coping with risk. Faced with innovation and volatility, the task of risk management is being passed to the private sector. Following assessments of the extent of market volatility and risk in financial markets, this volume presents examples of how private institutions are developing new risk-management techniques and case studies from specific markets, including securities markets and retail banking. In addition, senior central bankers discuss their changing attitude to risk and regulation and the implications for exchange-rate and monetary policies. The papers are written by authors from a large number of countries covering a wide range of country experiences: by players in leading banks and companies; by public officials; and by academics, providing three differing perspectives on the financial markets of the 1990s. The four main sections address central bank perspectives, volatility and risk, institutional issues and practices, and the policy implications.The volume includes the 1995 Prix Marjolin essay and concludes with the 1995 Marjolin Lecture, given at the 19th Colloquium of the Societe Universitaire Europeenne de Recherches Financieres (SUERF) in Thun, Switzerland, from which the papers are selected. The contributions are intended for those in banks, securities houses, company treasuries, central banks and regulatory bodies, as well as to academics.

The papers in this volume were presented in Budapest at the 20th Colloquium of the Societe Universitaire Europeenne de Recherches Financieres (SUERF), arranged in association with the Robert Triffin-Szirak Foundation. Each paper deals with a different aspect of the characteristics of and trends in corporate governance. The three main topics are: corporate governance of financial institutions; corporate governance as exerted by financial institutions; financial instutions as participants in the transfer of corporate governance. The structure of financial markets and institutions has a significant impact on the ways in which the power to manage corporate resources is allocated. The relative roles of different types of owners and the legal framework within which they operate are currently in a state of flux throughout Europe. Financial integration in the European Union, the transition to open market economies in Central and Eastern Europe and privatization, have a profound effect on the behaviour and influence of different enterprises.This collection of papers demonstrates the range of aspects of corporate governance in a world characterized by rapid technological, political and institutional change which is currently concerning researchers and practitioners. The authors come from a wide number of countries and disciplines, and include people from banks and corporations, public officials and academics, providing different perspectives on corporate governance, financial markets and global convergence in eastern and western Europe. Their contributions should be of considerable interest to academics in the fields of finance and banking, monetary economics and macro-economics, and also to professionals in banks, securities houses, corporate treasuries, pension funds, consultancies, law firms, central banks and regulatory bodies.

for many years been heavily dependent on bank financing, and this situation has not changed fundamentally. In his paper on stock exchange governance in the European Union Guido Ferrarini discusses the relative merits of member and investor ownership and compares stock exchange regulation in a number of EU countries. Faced with increasing competition amongst themselves and against other enterprises that offer transaction services, such as proprietary trading systems, it is essential for European stock exchanges to improve their efficiency and to generate volume. Large investments in new information technology are necessary in order to preserve competitiveness in agIobaI financial market. The implementation of the ISD has accelerated cross-border transaction activity of member firms and investors and strengthened the pressure for convergence of national stock exchange laws in the EU. In their paper, Francesco Giavazzi and Marco Battaglini look at the role played by banks in privatization processes. Banks can be involved in such processes in several ways. They may themselves be the objects of privatization since in many countries a significant fraction of the banking industry is publicly owned. This is the case in France, Spain and Italy. But banks can also be important buyers of the equity of industrial firms sold by the government if they are allowed to do so. The authors characterize privatizations as a very good opportunity to set up the right environment for the development of new financial intermediaries and in general for asound corporate governance system.

intense competition on banks and other financial institutions, as a period of oligopoly ends: more rather than less innovation is needed to help share undi­ versifiable risks, with more attention to correlations between different risks. Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics (LSE), while ques­ tioning the idea that volatility has increased, concludes that structural changes have made regulation more problematic and calls for improved information availability on derivatives transactions. In a thirteen country case study of the bond market turbulence of 1994, Bo­ rio and McCauley of the BIS pin the primary causes of the market decline on the market's own dynamics rather than on variations in market participants' apprehensions about economic fundamentals. Colm Kearney of the Univer­ sity of Western Sydney, after a six country study of volatility in economic and financial variables, concludes that more international collaboration in man­ aging financial volatility (other than in foreign exchange markets) is needed in Europe. Finally, Stokman and Vlaar of the Dutch central bank investigate the empirical evidence for the interaction between volatility and international transactions in real and financial assets for the Netherlands, concluding that such influence depends on the chosen volatility measure. The authors sug­ gest that there are no strong arguments for international restrictions to reduce volatility. INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AND PRACTICES The six papers in Part C focus on what market participants are doing to manage risk.

intense competition on banks and other financial institutions, as a period of oligopoly ends: more rather than less innovation is needed to help share undi­ versifiable risks, with more attention to correlations between different risks. Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics (LSE), while ques­ tioning the idea that volatility has increased, concludes that structural changes have made regulation more problematic and calls for improved information availability on derivatives transactions. In a thirteen country case study of the bond market turbulence of 1994, Bo­ rio and McCauley of the BIS pin the primary causes of the market decline on the market''s own dynamics rather than on variations in market participants'' apprehensions about economic fundamentals. Colm Kearney of the Univer­ sity of Western Sydney, after a six country study of volatility in economic and financial variables, concludes that more international collaboration in man­ aging financial volatility (other than in foreign exchange markets) is needed in Europe. Finally, Stokman and Vlaar of the Dutch central bank investigate the empirical evidence for the interaction between volatility and international transactions in real and financial assets for the Netherlands, concluding that such influence depends on the chosen volatility measure. The authors sug­ gest that there are no strong arguments for international restrictions to reduce volatility. INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AND PRACTICES The six papers in Part C focus on what market participants are doing to manage risk.

for many years been heavily dependent on bank financing, and this situation has not changed fundamentally. In his paper on stock exchange governance in the European Union Guido Ferrarini discusses the relative merits of member and investor ownership and compares stock exchange regulation in a number of EU countries. Faced with increasing competition amongst themselves and against other enterprises that offer transaction services, such as proprietary trading systems, it is essential for European stock exchanges to improve their efficiency and to generate volume. Large investments in new information technology are necessary in order to preserve competitiveness in agIobaI financial market. The implementation of the ISD has accelerated cross-border transaction activity of member firms and investors and strengthened the pressure for convergence of national stock exchange laws in the EU. In their paper, Francesco Giavazzi and Marco Battaglini look at the role played by banks in privatization processes. Banks can be involved in such processes in several ways. They may themselves be the objects of privatization since in many countries a significant fraction of the banking industry is publicly owned. This is the case in France, Spain and Italy. But banks can also be important buyers of the equity of industrial firms sold by the government if they are allowed to do so. The authors characterize privatizations as a very good opportunity to set up the right environment for the development of new financial intermediaries and in general for asound corporate governance system.

Second Place Rosette is a calendar of the customs, rituals and practices that make up life in modern Britain. The poems take in maypole dancing, mehndi painting, and medical prescriptions. Some events, like the Jewish Sabbath, happen every week; some, like the putting away of Christmas decorations, thankfully come only once a year. The subjects range from the universal to the personal: every family might have its own ritual, and each culture its own important figures to remember and commemorate. In the introduction, co-editor Emma Wright notes how, as the daughter of a refugee, she felt ‘deeply disturbed by current discourse about Britishness and how it seems impossible to separate talk of national identity and pride from talk of exclusion and isolation.’ Against that divisive rhetoric, Wright and co-editor Richard O’Brien have assembled a refreshingly inclusive take on national identity. Poets from different cultural backgrounds speak to their sense of what Britain means through their own daily lived experience, through what they care about on a grass-roots level. The nation which emerges from the poems is a patchwork quilt of betting tips and TV dinners, nights out on Bold Street and strolls in the park. While the years pass, the seasons cycle, and the people who make up the country change, these poets reveal how much stays the same. In Britain, there will always be a man running late who really should have been allowed to get the bus, and a warm spot by the fire in a pub in December. Much of the book displays an ambivalence towards the land and its rituals, but there is also love, affection and pride. Mixed feelings: what could be more British than that?

This Is Not Your Final Form showcases the best of Birmingham: a rich, varied and vibrant city capable of inspiring a range of contemporary poetic responses. This anthology, bringing together entries from the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival Competition, depicts a second city which is no longer content to play second fiddle. Poets take on the area''s musical past, its complex industrial history, its unique blend of architectural styles and the experiences of its many immigrant communities. Writers celebrate the lives of significant figures, from Matthew Boulton to Benjamin Zephaniah, and ordinary Brummies alike. Ranging from spoken word-inspired pieces to more traditional styles, much of the work collected here channels the energy and the political anger that runs like a seam through centuries of Birmingham history. Taken together, This Is Not Your Final Form is a tough, unsentimental love letter to the Midlands metropolis, which finds beauty in concrete and unity in contradiction.

Second Place Rosette is a calendar of the customs, rituals and practices that make up life in modern Britain. The poems take in maypole dancing, mehndi painting, and medical prescriptions. Some events, like the Jewish Sabbath, happen every week; some, like the putting away of Christmas decorations, thankfully come only once a year. The subjects range from the universal to the personal: every family might have its own ritual, and each culture its own important figures to remember and commemorate. In the introduction, co-editor Emma Wright notes how, as the daughter of a refugee, she felt ''deeply disturbed by current discourse about Britishness and how it seems impossible to separate talk of national identity and pride from talk of exclusion and isolation.'' Against that divisive rhetoric, Wright and co-editor Richard O''Brien have assembled a refreshingly inclusive take on national identity. Poets from different cultural backgrounds speak to their sense of what Britain means through their own daily lived experience, through what they care about on a grass-roots level. The nation which emerges from the poems is a patchwork quilt of betting tips and TV dinners, nights out on Bold Street and strolls in the park. While the years pass, the seasons cycle, and the people who make up the country change, these poets reveal how much stays the same. In Britain, there will always be a man running late who really should have been allowed to get the bus, and a warm spot by the fire in a pub in December. Much of the book displays an ambivalence towards the land and its rituals, but there is also love, affection and pride. Mixed feelings: what could be more British than that?

ROAR! Now I’ve got your attention, can I interest you in a book of poems about dinosaurs? Though they went extinct 65 million years ago, dinosaurs are still everywhere. They’re on TV in The Land Before Time, in classrooms and museum collections, but it might still be hard to believe that dinosaurs walked here once. The poets in this anthology bring dinosaurs out of their display cases and into your home, and ask them politely to be careful with the carpet. Dragons of the Prime is an anthology for children which tackles the big questions about these larger-than-life creatures: what would a baby diplodocus pray for, and just how big is a dinosaur’s egg? Along the way it takes in fossil-finders – like the pioneering Mary Anning – T-Rex’s gym routine, and chickens who dream at night of their dino ancestors’ ‘dagger teeth’. There are poems about dinosaurs in their Jurassic heyday, poems about new discoveries and the latest scientific knowledge, and poems about the history of how humans have imagined these amazing beasts.

ROAR! Now I''ve got your attention, can I interest you in a book of poems about dinosaurs?Though they went extinct 65 million years ago, dinosaurs are still everywhere. They''re on TV in The Land Before Time, in classrooms and museum collections, but it might still be hard to believe that dinosaurs walked here once. The poets in this anthology bring dinosaurs out of their display cases and into your home, and ask them politely to be careful with the carpet.Dragons of the Prime is an anthology for children which tackles the big questions about these larger-than-life creatures: what would a baby diplodocus pray for, and just how big is a dinosaur''s egg? Along the way it takes in fossil-finders – like the pioneering Mary Anning – T-Rex''s gym routine, and chickens who dream at night of their dino ancestors'' ''dagger teeth''. There are poems about dinosaurs in their Jurassic heyday, poems about new discoveries and the latest scientific knowledge, and poems about the history of how humans have imagined these amazing beasts.