181-560: Thomas Nigel Kneale (18 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award , and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay . Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elements, he was best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass . Quatermass
362-537: A Chekhov short story for the BBC, which Richardson had directed. Kneale was nominated for the British Film Award (later known as a BAFTA) for Best Screenplay for both films. Film producer Harry Saltzman , who had produced the two Osborne adaptations, approached Kneale about scripting a project he was working on to adapt Ian Fleming 's James Bond novels for the cinema; Kneale was not a fan of Fleming's work and turned
543-461: A concentration camp . He continued to appear as an interview subject in various television documentaries, and also recorded further audio commentaries for the release of some of his productions on DVD . In 2005, he acted as a consultant when the digital television channel BBC Four produced a live remake of The Quatermass Experiment . He lived in Barnes, London , until his death on 29 October 2006 at
724-435: A whizzer : a small, light cone attached to the joint between the voice coil and the primary cone. The whizzer cone extends the high-frequency response of the driver and broadens its high-frequency directivity, which would otherwise be greatly narrowed due to the outer diameter cone material failing to keep up with the central voice coil at higher frequencies. The main cone in a whizzer design is manufactured so as to flex more in
905-618: A Jewish refugee , in the BBC canteen. They married on 8 May 1954 and had two children; Matthew , who later became a successful novelist, and Tacy, an actress and later a special effects designer who worked on the Harry Potter film series. Kerr became a successful children's writer, with the Mog series of books and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit , which was based on her own experiences of fleeing Nazi Germany in her youth. Kneale worked with Kerr on an adaptation of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit in
1086-402: A combination of one or more resistors , inductors and capacitors . These components are combined to form a filter network and are most often placed between the full frequency-range power amplifier and the loudspeaker drivers to divide the amplifier's signal into the necessary frequency bands before being delivered to the individual drivers. Passive crossover circuits need no external power beyond
1267-808: A complete loudspeaker system to provide performance beyond that constraint. The three most commonly used sound radiation systems are the cone, dome and horn-type drivers. A full- or wide-range driver is a speaker driver designed to be used alone to reproduce an audio channel without the help of other drivers and therefore must cover the audio frequency range required by the application. These drivers are small, typically 3 to 8 inches (7.6 to 20.3 cm) in diameter to permit reasonable high-frequency response, and carefully designed to give low-distortion output at low frequencies, though with reduced maximum output level. Full-range drivers are found, for instance, in public address systems, in televisions, small radios, intercoms, and some computer speakers . In hi-fi speaker systems,
1448-489: A completely new dimension to television drama in the early to mid-1950s." Jason Jacobs, a lecturer in film and television studies at the University of Warwick , wrote: "It was the arrival of Nigel Kneale ... and Rudolph Cartier ... that challenged the intimate drama directly ... Kneale and Cartier shared a common desire to invigorate television with a faster tempo and a broader thematic and spatial canvas, and it
1629-426: A crossover knob and a phase switch). These variants are known as active or powered subwoofers. In contrast, passive subwoofers require external amplification. In typical installations, subwoofers are physically separated from the rest of the speaker cabinets. Because of propagation delay and positioning, their output may be out of phase with the rest of the sound. Consequently, a subwoofer's power amp often has
1810-426: A driver; each implementation has advantages and disadvantages. Polyester foam, for example, is lightweight and economical, though usually leaks air to some degree and is degraded by time, exposure to ozone, UV light, humidity and elevated temperatures, limiting useful life before failure. The wire in a voice coil is usually made of copper , though aluminum —and, rarely, silver —may be used. The advantage of aluminum
1991-421: A dual role, acting also as a choke coil , filtering the power supply of the amplifier that the loudspeaker was connected to. AC ripple in the current was attenuated by the action of passing through the choke coil. However, AC line frequencies tended to modulate the audio signal going to the voice coil and added to the audible hum. In 1930 Jensen introduced the first commercial fixed-magnet loudspeaker; however,
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#17328698651542172-406: A dynamic loudspeaker, uses a lightweight diaphragm , or cone , connected to a rigid basket , or frame , via a flexible suspension, commonly called a spider , that constrains a voice coil to move axially through a cylindrical magnetic gap. A protective dust cap glued in the cone's center prevents dust, most importantly ferromagnetic debris, from entering the gap. When an electrical signal
2353-482: A few of which are in commercial use. In order for a speaker to efficiently produce sound, especially at lower frequencies, the speaker driver must be baffled so that the sound emanating from its rear does not cancel out the (intended) sound from the front; this generally takes the form of a speaker enclosure or speaker cabinet , an often rectangular box made of wood, but sometimes metal or plastic. The enclosure's design plays an important acoustic role thus determining
2534-512: A full network run on ITV; different regions transmitted the episodes in different timeslots and some in different sequences. In the mid-1970s, Kneale made his only attempt at writing a stage play. Called Crow , it was based upon the memoirs of real-life Manx slaver Captain Hugh Crow . Kneale was unable to find backing to produce the play for the stage, but sold the script to ATV who put it into pre-production for television. Shortly before filming it
2715-458: A high-frequency horn that sent sound through a hole in the pole piece of a 15-inch woofer for near-point-source performance. Altec's "Voice of the Theatre" loudspeaker system was first sold in 1945, offering better coherence and clarity at the high output levels necessary in movie theaters. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences immediately began testing its sonic characteristics; they made it
2896-478: A lack of strategic value of Man during the era of Britannia. No Roman lighthouses or signal towers have yet been found on Man. Around the 5th century AD, large-scale migration from Ireland precipitated a process of Gaelicisation , evidenced by Ogham inscriptions, and the Manx language developed. It is a Goidelic language closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic . In the 7th century, Man came under control of
3077-405: A larger magnet for equivalent performance. Electromagnets were often used in musical instrument amplifiers cabinets well into the 1950s; there were economic savings in those using tube amplifiers as the field coil could, and usually did, do double duty as a power supply choke. Very few manufacturers still produce electrodynamic loudspeakers with electrically powered field coils , as was common in
3258-401: A memo that: "Had competitive television been in existence then, we would have killed it every Saturday night while [ The Quatermass Experiment ] lasted. We are going to need many more 'Quatermass Experiment' programmes." Like all of Kneale's television work for the BBC in the 1950s, The Quatermass Experiment was transmitted live ; only the first two episodes were telerecorded and survive in
3439-605: A new version of Kneale's 1953 adaptation of Wuthering Heights for the BBC in 1962. In 1958, Kneale's play Mrs Wickens in the Fall , transmitted by the BBC the previous year, was remade by the CBS network in the United States, retitled The Littlest Enemy . Broadcast on 18 June as part of The United States Steel Hour anthology series, the script was severely cut back in length. It was Kneale's only involvement with American television, and he
3620-419: A phase-delay adjustment which may be used improve performance of the system as a whole. Subwoofers are widely used in large concert and mid-sized venue sound reinforcement systems. Subwoofer cabinets are often built with a bass reflex port, a design feature which if properly engineered improves bass performance and increases efficiency. A woofer is a driver that reproduces low frequencies. The driver works with
3801-414: A separate box, necessary to accommodate the size of the components used. Passive crossovers may be simple for low-order filtering, or complex to allow steep slopes such as 18 or 24 dB per octave. Passive crossovers can also be designed to compensate for undesired characteristics of driver, horn, or enclosure resonances, and can be tricky to implement, due to component interaction. Passive crossovers, like
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#17328698651543982-515: A seventh kingdom, that of the sea, or Neptune . The Isle of Man has a temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ). Average rainfall is higher than averaged over the territory of the British Isles, because the Isle of Man is far enough from Ireland for the prevailing south-westerly winds to accumulate moisture. Average rainfall is highest at Snaefell , where it is around 1,900 millimetres (75 in)
4163-483: A single driver enclosed in a suitable enclosure. Since sound in this frequency range can easily bend around corners by diffraction , the speaker aperture does not have to face the audience, and subwoofers can be mounted in the bottom of the enclosure, facing the floor. This is eased by the limitations of human hearing at low frequencies; Such sounds cannot be located in space, due to their large wavelengths compared to higher frequencies which produce differential effects in
4344-408: A single piece, called the poleplate or yoke. The size and type of magnet and details of the magnetic circuit differ, depending on design goals. For instance, the shape of the pole piece affects the magnetic interaction between the voice coil and the magnetic field, and is sometimes used to modify a driver's behavior. A shorting ring , or Faraday loop , may be included as a thin copper cap fitted over
4525-787: A so-called powered speaker system, the power amplifier actually feeding the speaker drivers is built into the enclosure itself; these have become more and more common especially as computer speakers. Smaller speakers are found in devices such as radios , televisions , portable audio players , personal computers ( computer speakers ), headphones , and earphones . Larger, louder speaker systems are used for home hi-fi systems ( stereos ), electronic musical instruments , sound reinforcement in theaters and concert halls, and in public address systems . The term loudspeaker may refer to individual transducers (also known as drivers ) or to complete speaker systems consisting of an enclosure and one or more drivers. To adequately and accurately reproduce
4706-416: A so-so affair", was the verdict of The Times when previewing the final episode. Tying in with the series, Kneale returned to prose fiction when he wrote his only full-length novel, Quatermass , a novelisation of the serial. Kneale's next television series was a departure from his usual style— Kinvig , his sole attempt at writing a sitcom , produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV in
4887-479: A strange snobbery about fantasy or sci-fi it's never quite been that way." The Guardian commented that "Kneale was by no means the only author to have been largely wasted by television, and to have seen his status overtaken by soap opera hacks. But his place is secure, alongside Wells, Arthur C. Clarke , John Wyndham and Brian Aldiss , as one of the best, most exciting and most compassionate English science fiction writers of his century." Writing about The Year of
5068-411: A system using compressed air as an amplifying mechanism for his early cylinder phonographs, but he ultimately settled for the familiar metal horn driven by a membrane attached to the stylus. In 1898, Horace Short patented a design for a loudspeaker driven by compressed air; he then sold the rights to Charles Parsons , who was issued several additional British patents before 1910. A few companies, including
5249-479: A welcome further development of the island's international relationships." Most Manx politicians stand for election as independents rather than as representatives of political parties. Although political parties do exist, their influence is not as strong as in the United Kingdom. There are three political parties in the Isle of Man: There are also a number of pressure groups on the island. Mec Vannin advocate
5430-445: A wide range of frequencies with even coverage, most loudspeaker systems employ more than one driver, particularly for higher sound pressure level (SPL) or maximum accuracy. Individual drivers are used to reproduce different frequency ranges. The drivers are named subwoofers (for very low frequencies); woofers (low frequencies); mid-range speakers (middle frequencies); tweeters (high frequencies); and sometimes supertweeters , for
5611-630: A year. At lower levels it can be around 800 millimetres (31 in) a year. In drier spots, the Isle of Man is sunnier than either Ireland or the majority of England at 1,651 hours per year at the official Ronaldsway station. The highest recorded temperature was 28.9 °C (84.0 °F) in Ronaldsway on 12 July 1983. Due to the moderate surface temperatures of the Irish Sea, the island does not receive bursts of heat that sometimes can hit Northern England. The stable water temperature also means that air frost
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5792-511: Is a long history of relations and cultural exchange between the Isle of Man and Ireland . The Isle of Man's historic Manx language and its modern revived variant are closely related to both Scottish Gaelic and the Irish language and, in 1947, Éamon de Valera , the Taoiseach of Ireland, spearheaded efforts to save the dying Manx language. The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom; however,
5973-475: Is a low priority. A subwoofer is a woofer driver used only for the lowest-pitched part of the audio spectrum: typically below 200 Hz for consumer systems, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX -approved systems. Because the intended range of frequencies is limited, subwoofer system design is usually simpler in many respects than for conventional loudspeakers, often consisting of
6154-552: Is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea , between Great Britain and Ireland . It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations and is the homeland of the Manx people , a Celtic ethnic group. As head of state , Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Governor . The government of the United Kingdom is responsible for the Isle of Man's military defence and represents it abroad, but
6335-431: Is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound . The driver can be viewed as a linear motor attached to a diaphragm which couples that motor's movement to motion of air, that is, sound. An audio signal, typically from a microphone, recording, or radio broadcast, is amplified electronically to a power level capable of driving that motor in order to reproduce
6516-503: Is an island located in the middle of the northern Irish Sea , almost equidistant from England to the east, Northern Ireland to the west and Scotland (closest) to the north, while Wales to the south is almost the distance of the Republic of Ireland to the southwest. It is 52 kilometres (32 mi) long and, at its widest point, 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide. It has an area of around 572 square kilometres (221 sq mi). Besides
6697-416: Is applied to the voice coil, a magnetic field is created by the electric current in the voice coil, making it a variable electromagnet. The coil and the driver's magnetic system interact in a manner similar to a solenoid , generating a mechanical force that moves the coil (and thus, the attached cone). Application of alternating current moves the cone back and forth, accelerating and reproducing sound under
6878-652: Is claimed to have been in continuous existence since 979 or earlier, purportedly making it the oldest continuously governing body in the world, though evidence supports a much later date. Tynwald is a bicameral or tricameral legislature, comprising the House of Keys (directly elected by universal suffrage with a voting age of 16 years) and the Legislative Council (consisting of indirectly elected and ex-officio members ). These two bodies also meet together in joint session as Tynwald Court. The executive branch of government
7059-551: Is designed to be rigid, preventing deformation that could change critical alignments with the magnet gap, perhaps allowing the voice coil to rub against the magnet around the gap. Chassis are typically cast from aluminum alloy, in heavier magnet-structure speakers; or stamped from thin sheet steel in lighter-structure drivers. Other materials such as molded plastic and damped plastic compound baskets are becoming common, especially for inexpensive, low-mass drivers. A metallic chassis can play an important role in conducting heat away from
7240-636: Is found in the Sagas of Icelanders as Mön . The name is probably cognate with the Welsh name of the island of Anglesey , Ynys Môn , usually derived from a Celtic word for 'mountain' (reflected in Welsh mynydd , Breton menez and Scottish Gaelic monadh ), from a Proto-Celtic *moniyos . The name was at least secondarily associated with that of Manannán mac Lir in Irish mythology (corresponding to Welsh Manawydan fab Llŷr ). In
7421-404: Is its light weight, which reduces the moving mass compared to copper. This raises the resonant frequency of the speaker and increases its efficiency. A disadvantage of aluminum is that it is not easily soldered, and so connections must be robustly crimped together and sealed. Voice-coil wire cross sections can be circular, rectangular, or hexagonal, giving varying amounts of wire volume coverage in
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7602-468: Is not usually a noise to get upset about. But it will be an interesting test, today, to go up behind people and whisper 'clip-clop', to find out whether they saw The Woman in Black last night. People who made the bold decision to watch this excellent drama will respond to any 'clip-clop' by gratifyingly leaping in the air and grabbing the backs of their necks." The adaptation nearly went unmade; Kneale had written
7783-568: Is rare, averaging just ten occasions per year. On 10 May 2019 Chief Minister Howard Quayle stated that the Isle of Man Government recognises that a state of emergency exists due to the threat of anthropogenic climate change . The United Kingdom is responsible for the island's defence and ultimately for good governance , and for representing the island in international forums, while the island's own parliament and government have competence over all domestic matters. The island's parliament, Tynwald ,
7964-539: Is relatively flat, consisting mainly of deposits from glacial advances from western Scotland during colder times. There are more recently deposited shingle beaches at the northernmost point, the Point of Ayre . The island has one mountain higher than 600 metres (2,000 ft), Snaefell , with a height of 620 metres (2,034 ft). According to an old saying, from the summit one can see six kingdoms: those of Man, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales and Heaven . Some versions add
8145-503: Is satire from a TV insider, but it mutates into something far more desolate and disorientating." In 1965 Kneale had been approached by the producer of the BBC2 science-fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown to write a new one-off 75-minute Quatermass story for the programme. Nothing came of this, but he would write The Chopper six years later for the fourth and final series. It was about
8326-644: Is the Council of Ministers , which is composed of Members of Tynwald (usually Members of the House of Keys, though Members of the Legislative Council may also be appointed as Ministers). It is headed by the Chief Minister . Vice-regal functions of the head of state are performed by a lieutenant governor . In various laws of the United Kingdom, "the United Kingdom" is defined to exclude the Isle of Man. Historically,
8507-484: Is well damped to reduce vibrations continuing after the signal has stopped with little or no audible ringing due to its resonance frequency as determined by its usage. In practice, all three of these criteria cannot be met simultaneously using existing materials; thus, driver design involves trade-offs . For example, paper is light and typically well-damped, but is not stiff; metal may be stiff and light, but it usually has poor damping; plastic can be light, but typically,
8688-563: The Anglo-Saxon King Edwin of Northumbria , who then launched raids from Man into Ireland . How much influence the Northumbrians exerted on Man is unknown, but very few place names on Man are of Old English origin. Vikings arrived at the end of the 8th century. They established Tynwald and introduced many land divisions that still exist. In 1266 King Magnus VI of Norway ceded the islands to Alexander III, King of Scots , in
8869-622: The BBC 's North of England Home Service region. Later that year he left the Isle of Man and moved to London, where he studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He made further radio broadcasts in the 1940s, including a reading of his story Zachary Crebbin's Angel on the BBC Light Programme , broadcast nationally on 19 May 1948. He also had short stories published in magazines such as Argosy and The Strand . He began using
9050-506: The Beasts episode "Baby" as "the most frightening thing I've ever seen ... Powerful stuff." Film screenwriter and director Dan O'Bannon was also an admirer of Kneale's writing, and in 1993 wrote a potential remake of The Quatermass Experiment , of which Kneale approved, but the film was never made. Other entertainment industry figures that publicly expressed admiration for Kneale's work include The Beatles ' drummer Ringo Starr , members of
9231-532: The British Board of Film Censors , forbade the script's production. In 1966 Kneale worked again for Hammer Film Productions when he adapted Norah Lofts 's 1960 novel The Devil's Own into the horror film The Witches . Kneale had worked on the screenplay for the adaptation in 1961, the same year in which he had begun to adapt Quatermass and the Pit for Hammer. Like The Witches , the film version of Quatermass and
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#17328698651549412-471: The British Film Institute included it in their list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century in 2000. The Creature —an original script by Kneale concerning the legend of the abominable snowman —was his next collaboration with Cartier, broadcast on 30 January 1955, followed by an adaptation of Peter Ustinov 's play The Moment of Truth (10 March 1955), before Kneale
9593-521: The Commonwealth Games . The Government of the Isle of Man has made calls for a more integrated relationship with the Commonwealth, including more direct representation and enhanced participation in Commonwealth organisations and meetings, including Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings. The Chief Minister of the Isle of Man has said: "A closer connection with the Commonwealth itself would be
9774-670: The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars . The 1st Battalion (of 3 companies) was raised in 1793. A 2nd Battalion (of 10 companies) was raised in 1795, and it saw action during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 . The regiment was disbanded in 1802. A third body of Manx Fencibles was raised in 1803 to defend the island during the Napoleonic Wars and to assist the Revenue. It was disbanded in 1811. The Isle of Man Home Guard
9955-463: The Isle of Man , and returned to live there in 1928, when he was six years old. He was raised in the island's capital, Douglas , where his father was the owner and editor of the local newspaper, The Herald . He was educated at St Ninian's High School, Douglas and trained to become an advocate at the Manx Bar. He also worked in a lawyer 's office, but became bored with his legal training and abandoned
10136-684: The Legislative Council was appointed by the Crown. Since then, democratic government has been gradually extended. During both World Wars, the island was used for the internment of people originating from enemy countries. In recent times, the economy of the island has benefited from regulatory arbitrage in various contexts, such as low taxes. These have attracted wealthy individuals and, together with relatively low government interference, industries such as offshore financial services and more recently gambling. The Isle of Man has designated more than 250 historic sites as registered buildings . The Isle of Man
10317-672: The Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man , who is formally responsible for issuing Isle of Man–issued British passports, titled " British passport – Isle of Man " . The powers conferred on the UK Secretary of State by the British Nationality Act 1981 extend to and are exercised in the Isle of Man by the Lieutenant Governor. Isle of Man-issued British passports can presently be issued to any British citizen resident in
10498-550: The Quatermass script books released by Penguin Books in 1959 and 1960. He was also responsible for a painting of a lobster from which special effects designers Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine drew their inspiration for the Martian creatures they constructed for the original television version of Quatermass and the Pit . In the early 1950s Kneale met fellow BBC screenwriter Judith Kerr ,
10679-696: The Sheraton Hotel in Hollywood while Kneale worked on the project. The Black Lagoon script never went into production, but while in America Kneale met the director Joe Dante , who invited him to script the third film in the Halloween series , on which Dante was working; Kneale agreed, on the proviso that it would be a totally new concept unrelated to the first two films, which he had not seen and he did not like what he had heard about them. Kneale's treatment for
10860-641: The Treaty of Perth . But Scottish rule over Man did not become firmly established until 1275, when the Manx were defeated in the Battle of Ronaldsway , near Castletown . In 1290 King Edward I of England sent Walter de Huntercombe to take possession of Man. It remained in English hands until 1313, when Robert the Bruce took it after besieging Castle Rushen for five weeks. In 1314, it
11041-756: The University College Isle of Man function under the department. Two-thirds of residents of Man are overweight or obese, four in ten are physically inactive, one-quarter are binge drinkers, one in twelve smoke cigarettes and about 15% are in poor general health. Healthcare is provided via a public health scheme by the Department of Health and Social Care for residents and visitors from the UK. The Crime Severity Rate in Man, which largely measures crimes directed against persons or property, remains substantially less than that in
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#173286986515411222-514: The Victor Talking Machine Company and Pathé , produced record players using compressed-air loudspeakers. Compressed-air designs are significantly limited by their poor sound quality and their inability to reproduce sound at low volume. Variants of the design were used for public address applications, and more recently, other variations have been used to test space-equipment resistance to the very loud sound and vibration levels that
11403-631: The film house industry standard in 1955. In 1954, Edgar Villchur developed the acoustic suspension principle of loudspeaker design. This allowed for better bass response than previously obtainable from drivers mounted in larger cabinets. He and his partner Henry Kloss formed the Acoustic Research company to manufacture and market speaker systems using this principle. Subsequently, continuous developments in enclosure design and materials led to significant audible improvements. The most notable improvements to date in modern dynamic drivers, and
11584-546: The genitive case as Vannin ( IPA: [vanɪnʲ] ), with initial consonant mutation , hence Ellan Vannin , "Island of Mann". The short form used in English is spelled either Mann or Man. The earliest recorded Manx form of the name is Manu or Mana . The Old Irish form of the name is Manau or Mano . Old Welsh records named it as Manaw , also reflected in Manaw Gododdin ,
11765-418: The mid frequencies (between the woofer and tweeter). Mid-range driver diaphragms can be made of paper or composite materials and can be direct radiation drivers (rather like smaller woofers) or they can be compression drivers (rather like some tweeter designs). If the mid-range driver is a direct radiator, it can be mounted on the front baffle of a loudspeaker enclosure, or, if a compression driver, mounted at
11946-411: The recaps shown at the beginning of each episode. Kneale's publisher was keen for him to write a novel, but Kneale himself was more interested in writing for television. A keen cinema-goer, he believed that the audience being able to see human faces was an important factor in storytelling. His first professional script writing credit came when he wrote the radio drama The Long Stairs , broadcast by
12127-528: The spider , which connects the diaphragm or voice coil to the lower frame and provides the majority of the restoring force, and the surround , which helps center the coil/cone assembly and allows free pistonic motion aligned with the magnetic gap. The spider is usually made of a corrugated fabric disk, impregnated with a stiffening resin. The name comes from the shape of early suspensions, which were two concentric rings of Bakelite material, joined by six or eight curved legs . Variations of this topology included
12308-413: The 1970s, but the eventual makers of the film version disregarded their script. Similarly, in 1995 Kneale scripted a four-part adaptation of one of Kerr's sequels to the book, A Small Person Far Away , but this also went unproduced. Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( Manx : Mannin [ˈmanɪnʲ] , also Ellan Vannin [ˈɛlʲan ˈvanɪnʲ] ) or Mann ( / m æ n / man ),
12489-453: The 9th century, Norsemen established the thalassocratic Kingdom of the Isles , which included the Isle of Man. Magnus III , King of Norway from 1093 to 1103, reigned as King of Man and the Isles between 1099 and 1103. In 1266, King Magnus VI of Norway sold his suzerainty over Mann to King Alexander III of Scotland under the Treaty of Perth . After a period of alternating rule by
12670-563: The ATV company in 1964. A particular critical success was The Year of the Sex Olympics , broadcast as part of BBC2 's Theatre 625 series in July 1968. In the programme, a group of people creates a show-within-a-show called The Live Life Show , in which a family are filmed as they struggle to live on an isolated rural island. becomes a massive success, especially when a murderer is introduced into
12851-483: The BBC on 1 March 1950 and based on an historical mining disaster on the Isle of Man. In 1951 he was recruited as one of the first staff writers to be employed by BBC Television ; before he started working for the station, Kneale had never seen any television. Kneale was initially a general-purpose writer, working on adaptations of books and stage plays and even writing material for light entertainment and children's programmes . The following year, Michael Barry became
13032-400: The BBC's archives. In the autumn of 1955, Hammer Film Productions released The Quatermass Xperiment , their film adaptation of the serial. Kneale was not pleased with the film, and particularly disliked the casting of Brian Donlevy as Quatermass, as he explained in a 1986 interview. "[Donlevy] was then really on the skids and didn't care what he was doing. He took very little interest in
13213-563: The Hammer version of Quatermass and the Pit , as the Professor. While recording an audio commentary for that film in 1997, Kneale speculated about a possible Quatermass prequel set in 1930s Germany . According to The Independent , Kneale conceived a storyline involving the young Quatermass becoming involved in German rocketry experiments in the 1930s, and helping a young Jewish woman to escape from
13394-568: The Head of Drama at BBC Television, and spent his entire first year's script budget of £250 to hire Kneale as a full-time writer for the drama department. Kneale's first credited role in adult television drama was providing "additional dialogue" for the play Arrow to the Heart , broadcast on 20 July 1952. This play was adapted and directed by the Austrian television director Rudolph Cartier , who had also joined
13575-528: The Isle of Man Parliament , Tynwald , became the first national legislative body in the world to give women the right to vote in a general election, although this excluded married women. The Manx economy is bolstered by its status as a tax haven and offshore banking destination. Insurance and online gambling each generate 17% of the GNP , followed by information and communications technology and banking with 9% each. This status has, however, also brought
13756-525: The Isle of Man and to British citizens who have a qualifying close personal connection to the Isle of Man but are now resident either in the UK or in either one of the two other Crown Dependencies. The Isle of Man was never part of either the EEC or the European Union (EU), nor did it have a special status , and thus it did not take part in the 2016 (Brexit) referendum on the UK's EU membership. However, it
13937-482: The Isle of Man still has a separate international identity. Humans have lived on the island since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century AD, when Irish missionaries following the teaching of St. Patrick began settling the island, and the Manx language , a branch of the Goidelic languages , emerged. In 627, King Edwin of Northumbria conquered the Isle of Man along with most of Mercia . In
14118-674: The Kings of Scotland and England , the island came under the feudal lordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested in the British Crown in 1765, but the island did not become part of the 18th-century Kingdom of Great Britain , nor of its successors, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the present-day United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . It has always retained its internal self-government. In 1881,
14299-446: The Pit took several years to reach the screen, eventually being released in 1967. Roy Ward Baker directed, with Andrew Keir starring as Quatermass. Kneale was much happier with this version than the previous Hammer Quatermass adaptations, and the film was described by The Independent in 2006 as "one of the best ever Hammer productions." Quatermass and the Pit was Kneale's final credited film work; 1979's The Quatermass Conclusion
14480-514: The Pit has been referred to by the BBC's own website as "simply the first finest thing the BBC ever made." It was also included in the British Film Institute's "TV 100" list in 2000, where it was praised for the themes and subtexts it explored. "In a story which mined mythology and folklore ... under the guise of genre it tackled serious themes of man's hostile nature and the military's perversion of science for its own ends." Despite
14661-412: The Sex Olympics , Nancy Banks-Smith felt that Kneale was one of the few television writers whose work was particularly memorable. "At the name of Kneale, I feel, every knee should bow. How much TV do you remember from last night ... last year ... last century? Quite. Curiously, I can remember clearly the first time I saw The Year of the Sex Olympics by Nigel Kneale. It was 35 years ago." Kneale
14842-455: The UK has taken care of its external and defence affairs and retains paramount power to legislate for the Island. However, in 2007, the Isle of Man and the UK signed an agreement that established frameworks for the development of the international identity of the Isle of Man. There is no separate Manx citizenship. Citizenship is covered by UK law, and Manx people are classed as British citizens. There
15023-647: The UK is responsible for its defence and external affairs. There are no independent military forces on the Isle of Man, although HMS Ramsey was affiliated with the town of the same name . From 1938 to 1955, there existed the Manx Regiment of the British Territorial Army (TA), which saw extensive action during the Second World War . During the English Civil War , the 7th Earl of Derby , who
15204-427: The United Kingdom, although the rate of violent crime has been increasing in recent years. Most violent crime is associated with the trade in illegal drugs. Loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system ) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers , an enclosure , and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network ). The speaker driver
15385-456: The Women , met with approval from the original author, with Amis regarding it as the most successful adaptation of his work. Kneale also adapted Sharpe's Gold for ITV in 1995, as part of their series of adaptations of Bernard Cornwell 's Sharpe novels. This was an assignment that surprised his agent; "We didn't think he'd want to bother with them but he did. That was probably because he liked
15566-411: The addition of a felt disc to provide a barrier to particles that might otherwise cause the voice coil to rub. The cone surround can be rubber or polyester foam , treated paper or a ring of corrugated, resin-coated fabric; it is attached to both the outer cone circumference and to the upper frame. These diverse surround materials, their shape and treatment can dramatically affect the acoustic output of
15747-592: The age of 84, following a series of small strokes . When he joined BBC, Kneale was impressed with the state in which they found BBC television drama. However, he was frustrated at what he saw as the slow and boring styles of television drama production then employed, which he felt wasted the potential of the medium. Together with Cartier he would help revolutionise British television drama and establish it as an entity separate from its theatre and radio equivalents. Television historian Lez Cooke wrote in 2003 that "Between them, Kneale and Cartier were responsible for introducing
15928-542: The appropriate driver. A loudspeaker system with n separate frequency bands is described as n-way speakers : a two-way system will have a woofer and a tweeter; a three-way system employs a woofer, a mid-range, and a tweeter. Loudspeaker drivers of the type pictured are termed dynamic (short for electrodynamic) to distinguish them from other sorts including moving iron speakers , and speakers using piezoelectric or electrostatic systems. Johann Philipp Reis installed an electric loudspeaker in his telephone in 1861; it
16109-416: The audio signal itself, but have some disadvantages: they may require larger inductors and capacitors due to power handling requirements. Unlike active crossovers which include a built-in amplifier, passive crossovers have an inherent attenuation within the passband , typically leading to a reduction in damping factor before the voice coil. An active crossover is an electronic filter circuit that divides
16290-469: The autumn of 1981. Although his first out-and-out comedy, Kneale stressed that there had always been elements of humour present throughout his scripts. Some of the press reaction to Kinvig was positive: "If you like the idea of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide but found its realization tiresomely hysterical you may well prefer Kneale's relaxed wit. Cast splendid, direction deft," was The Times ' s preview of
16471-642: The beginning of farming, and the people began to build megalithic monuments , such as Cashtal yn Ard in Maughold parish , King Orry's Grave in Laxey , Mull Hill near Cregneash and Ballaharra Stones at St John's . There were also the local Ronaldsway and Bann cultures . During the Bronze Age , the size of burial mounds decreased. The people put bodies into stone-lined graves with ornamental containers. The Bronze Age burial mounds survived as long-lasting markers around
16652-399: The changes that Kneale had made to The Woman in Black . It has been observed that Kneale on some occasions operated a double standard with adaptations; being unhappy when others made changes to his stories, but willing to make changes to stories he was adapting into script form. Referring to The Woman in Black adaptation, the writer and critic Kim Newman noted that: "He was very offended at
16833-414: The character's surname because many Manx surnames began with "Qu"; the actual name itself was picked from a London telephone directory . The Professor's first name was chosen in honour of the astronomer Bernard Lovell . The BBC recognised the success of the serial, particularly in the context of the impending arrival of commercial television to the UK. Controller of Programmes Cecil McGivern wrote in
17014-449: The characteristics of the speaker enclosure to produce suitable low frequencies. Some loudspeaker systems use a woofer for the lowest frequencies, sometimes well enough that a subwoofer is not needed. Additionally, some loudspeakers use the woofer to handle middle frequencies, eliminating the mid-range driver. A mid-range speaker is a loudspeaker driver that reproduces a band of frequencies generally between 1–6 kHz, otherwise known as
17195-513: The consequences of his sending the first crewed mission into space where a terrible fate befalls the crew and only one returns. The Quatermass Experiment was one of the first adult television science-fiction productions, held a large television audience gripped across its six weeks, and has been described by the Museum of Broadcast Communications as dramatising "a new range of gendered fears about Britain's postwar and post-colonial security." Kneale chose
17376-486: The control of the applied electrical signal coming from the amplifier. The following is a description of the individual components of this type of loudspeaker. The diaphragm is usually manufactured with a cone- or dome-shaped profile. A variety of different materials may be used, but the most common are paper, plastic, and metal. The ideal material is rigid, to prevent uncontrolled cone motions, has low mass to minimize starting force requirements and energy storage issues and
17557-581: The country during the 1936 Berlin Olympics . Kneale was invited to write for the successful American science-fiction series The X-Files (1993–2002), but declined the offer. His final professional work was an episode of the ITV legal drama Kavanagh QC , starring John Thaw . Kneale's episode, "Ancient History", was about a Jewish woman who during the Second World War had been subjected to horrific experiments in
17738-514: The countryside. The ancient Romans knew of the island and called it Insula Manavia . During the four centuries when Rome ruled the Province of Britannia , the Roman military controlled the Irish Sea, providing safe passage of agricultural goods from the productive farms of Anglesey to Roman settlements at the English – Scottish frontier. Only a few Roman artefacts have been found on Man, suggesting
17919-413: The crossover is an assembly of filters that separate the input signal into different frequency bands according to the requirements of each driver. Hence the drivers receive power only in the sound frequency range they were designed for, thereby reducing distortion in the drivers and interference between them. Crossovers can be passive or active . A passive crossover is an electronic circuit that uses
18100-746: The driver units that they feed, have power handling limits, have insertion losses , and change the load seen by the amplifier. The changes are matters of concern for many in the hi-fi world. When high output levels are required, active crossovers may be preferable. Active crossovers may be simple circuits that emulate the response of a passive network or may be more complex, allowing extensive audio adjustments. Some active crossovers, usually digital loudspeaker management systems, may include electronics and controls for precise alignment of phase and time between frequency bands, equalization, dynamic range compression and limiting . Most loudspeaker systems consist of drivers mounted in an enclosure, or cabinet. The role of
18281-487: The drivers mounted in holes in it. However, in this approach, sound frequencies with a wavelength longer than the baffle dimensions are canceled out because the antiphase radiation from the rear of the cone interferes with the radiation from the front. With an infinitely large panel, this interference could be entirely prevented. A sufficiently large sealed box can approach this behavior. Since panels of infinite dimensions are impossible, most enclosures function by containing
18462-403: The earliest Irish mythological texts, Manannán is a king of the otherworld , but the 9th-century Sanas Cormaic identifies a euhemerised Manannán as "a famous merchant who resided in, and gave name to, the Isle of Man". (Though others suggest it was the Isle that lent its name to the merchant, refer exhibit in "House of Manannan", of Isle of Man Museum, Peel.) Later, a Manannán is recorded as
18643-589: The earliest designs. Speaker system design involves subjective perceptions of timbre and sound quality, measurements and experiments. Adjusting a design to improve performance is done using a combination of magnetic, acoustic, mechanical, electrical, and materials science theory, and tracked with high-precision measurements and the observations of experienced listeners. A few of the issues speaker and driver designers must confront are distortion, acoustic lobing , phase effects, off-axis response, and crossover artifacts. Designers can use an anechoic chamber to ensure
18824-501: The ears due to shadowing by the head, and diffraction around it, both of which we rely upon for localization clues. To accurately reproduce very low bass notes, subwoofer systems must be solidly constructed and properly braced to avoid unwanted sounds from cabinet vibrations. As a result, good subwoofers are typically quite heavy. Many subwoofer systems include integrated power amplifiers and electronic subsonic -filters, with additional controls relevant to low-frequency reproduction (e.g.
19005-569: The electrical current from an audio signal passes through its voice coil —a coil of wire capable of moving axially in a cylindrical gap containing a concentrated magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet —the coil is forced to move rapidly back and forth due to Faraday's law of induction ; this attaches to a diaphragm or speaker cone (as it is usually conically shaped for sturdiness) in contact with air, thus creating sound waves . In addition to dynamic speakers, several other technologies are possible for creating sound from an electrical signal,
19186-422: The enclosure is to prevent sound waves emanating from the back of a driver from interfering destructively with those from the front. The sound waves emitted from the back are 180° out of phase with those emitted forward, so without an enclosure they typically cause cancellations which significantly degrade the level and quality of sound at low frequencies. The simplest driver mount is a flat panel ( baffle ) with
19367-588: The end of the implementation period, the Isle of Man's relationship with the EU would depend on the agreement reached between the UK and the EU on their future relationship. The Isle of Man is not a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . By virtue of its relationship with the United Kingdom, it takes part in several Commonwealth institutions, including the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and
19548-460: The establishment of a sovereign republic . The Positive Action Group campaign for three key elements to be introduced into the governance of the island: open accountable government, rigorous control of public finances and a fairer society. Local government on the Isle of Man is based partly on the island's 17 ancient parishes. There are four types of local authorities: Each of these districts has its own body of commissioners. The Isle of Man
19729-645: The fact that as a BBC staff writer he had been required to sign the Official Secrets Act . Quatermass II was Kneale's final original script for the BBC as a staff writer. He left the corporation when his contract expired at the end of 1956; "Five years in that hut was as much as any sane person could stand," he later told an interviewer. The same year that he left the BBC, Kneale wrote his first feature film screenplay , adapting Quatermass II for Hammer Film Productions along with producer Anthony Hinds and director Val Guest . Hinds and Guest had overseen
19910-484: The film met with the approval of John Carpenter , the producer of the Halloween series, although Kneale was required to write the script in six weeks. Kneale had a positive relationship with the director assigned to the film, Tommy Lee Wallace , but when one of the film's backers, Dino De Laurentiis , insisted upon the inclusion of more graphic violence and a rewrite of the script from Wallace, Kneale became displeased with
20091-516: The first Quatermass film, upon which Kneale had been unable to work due to his BBC staff contract. Kneale was disappointed that Brian Donlevy also returned in the role of Quatermass. The film premiered at the end of May 1957, and was reviewed positively in The Times : "The writer of the original story, Mr Nigel Kneale, and the director, Mr Val Guest, between them keep things moving at the right speed, without digressions. The film has an air of respect for
20272-460: The first king of Man in a Manx poem (dated 1504). The island was cut off from the surrounding islands around 8000 BC as sea levels rose following the end of the last ice age. Humans colonised it by travelling by sea some time before 6500 BC . The first occupants were hunter-gatherers and fishermen. Examples of their tools are kept at the Manx Museum . The Neolithic Period marked
20453-570: The first episode. The series was not a commercial success, although Kneale later remained personally pleased with it. In 1982, Kneale made another one-off diversion from his usual work when he wrote his only produced Hollywood movie script, Halloween III: Season of the Witch . Kneale was approached by the director John Landis to work on the screenplay for a remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon , and Kneale and his wife spent some time living at
20634-429: The first film industry-standard loudspeaker system, "The Shearer Horn System for Theatres", a two-way system, was introduced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . It used four 15" low-frequency drivers, a crossover network set for 375 Hz, and a single multi-cellular horn with two compression drivers providing the high frequencies. John Kenneth Hilliard , James Bullough Lansing , and Douglas Shearer all played roles in creating
20815-607: The government of the island in all respects and had control over its finances but was subject to the approval of the Lord of Mann. In 1765, the Act of Revestment occurred, whereby the feudal rights of the Dukes of Atholl as Lords of Man were purchased and revested into the British Crown. In 1866, the Isle of Man obtained limited home rule, with partly democratic elections to the House of Keys , but
20996-433: The highest audible frequencies and beyond. The terms for different speaker drivers differ, depending on the application. In two-way systems there is no mid-range driver, so the task of reproducing the mid-range sounds is divided between the woofer and tweeter. When multiple drivers are used in a system, a filter network, called an audio crossover , separates the incoming signal into different frequency ranges and routes them to
21177-437: The island of Man itself, the political unit of the Isle of Man includes some nearby small islands: the seasonally inhabited Calf of Man , Chicken Rock (on which stands an unstaffed lighthouse), St Patrick's Isle and St Michael's Isle . The last two of these are connected to the main island by permanent roads/causeways. Ranges of hills in the north and south are separated by a central valley. The northern plain, by contrast,
21358-425: The issues touched on, and this impression is confirmed by the acting generally." 1957 also saw the release of another cinematic collaboration between Kneale and Guest, when Kneale adapted his 1955 BBC play The Creature into The Abominable Snowman ; in this case, Hammer retained the star of the BBC version, Peter Cushing . In May 1957, Kneale was contracted by the BBC to write a third Quatermass serial, and this
21539-419: The large, heavy iron magnets of the day were impractical and field-coil speakers remained predominant until the widespread availability of lightweight alnico magnets after World War II. In the 1930s, loudspeaker manufacturers began to combine two and three drivers or sets of drivers each optimized for a different frequency range in order to improve frequency response and increase sound pressure level. In 1937,
21720-501: The launching of rockets produces. The first experimental moving-coil (also called dynamic ) loudspeaker was invented by Oliver Lodge in 1898. The first practical moving-coil loudspeakers were manufactured by Danish engineer Peter L. Jensen and Edwin Pridham in 1915, in Napa, California . Like previous loudspeakers these used horns to amplify the sound produced by a small diaphragm. Jensen
21901-415: The loudspeaker diaphragm—again resulting in degradation of sound quality. This can be reduced by internal absorption using absorptive materials such as glass wool , wool, or synthetic fiber batting, within the enclosure. The internal shape of the enclosure can also be designed to reduce this by reflecting sounds away from the loudspeaker diaphragm, where they may then be absorbed. Other enclosure types alter
22082-454: The loudspeakers that employ them, are improvements in cone materials, the introduction of higher-temperature adhesives, improved permanent magnet materials, improved measurement techniques, computer-aided design , and finite element analysis. At low frequencies, Thiele/Small parameters electrical network theory has been used to optimize bass driver and enclosure synergy since the early 1970s. The most common type of driver, commonly called
22263-401: The lowest point of British television science-fiction. Doctor Who was heavily influenced by Kneale's Quatermass serials, in some cases even using specific storylines that were similar to those from Quatermass . Kneale's younger brother is artist and sculptor Bryan Kneale , who was Master and then Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy from 1982 to 1990. He painted the covers for
22444-420: The magnetic gap space. The coil is oriented co-axially inside the gap; it moves back and forth within a small circular volume (a hole, slot, or groove) in the magnetic structure. The gap establishes a concentrated magnetic field between the two poles of a permanent magnet; the outside ring of the gap is one pole, and the center post (called the pole piece) is the other. The pole piece and backplate are often made as
22625-531: The making of the films or in playing the part. It was a case of take the money and run. Or in the case of Mr Donlevy, waddle." Kneale and Cartier next collaborated on an adaptation of Wuthering Heights (broadcast 6 December 1953) and then on a version of George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (12 December 1954). Nineteen Eighty-Four was a particularly notable production; many found it shocking, and questions were asked in Parliament about whether some of
22806-451: The minimum number of amplifier channels. Some loudspeaker designs use a combination of passive and active crossover filtering, such as a passive crossover between the mid- and high-frequency drivers and an active crossover for the low-frequency driver. Passive crossovers are commonly installed inside speaker boxes and are by far the most common type of crossover for home and low-power use. In car audio systems, passive crossovers may be in
22987-472: The most imaginative and intelligent examples of the horror genre to appear on British television, a single play to rank alongside the best of Play for Today ." His final BBC work was an entry into a series called Bedtime Stories , adapting traditional fairy tales into adult dramas. Kneale's last script for the BBC, Jack and the Beanstalk , was transmitted on 24 March 1974. Kneale's remaining television work
23168-537: The name "Nigel Kneale" for these professional credits, but was known as "Tom" to his family and friends up until his death. After graduating from RADA, Kneale worked for a short time as a professional actor performing in small roles at the Stratford Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon . He continued to write in his spare time and in 1949 a collection of his work, Tomato Cain and Other Stories ,
23349-525: The name for an ancient district in north Britain along the lower Firth of Forth . In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder records it as Monapia or Monabia , and Ptolemy (2nd century) as Monœda ( Mοναοιδα , Monaoida ) or Mοναρινα ( Monarina ), in Koine Greek . Later Latin references have Mevania or Mænavia ( Orosius , 416), and Eubonia or Eumonia by Irish writers. It
23530-429: The notion of Susan Hill using the name of Kipps from HG Wells as the hero of The Woman in Black , and so he decided not to use it and to change the hero's name to Kidd. I'm sure if somebody thought that Quatermass was a silly name and changed it, he'd be furious!" However, Kneale's adaptations were not always unpopular with the original author. In 1991, a four-part version he wrote of Kingsley Amis 's novel Stanley and
23711-498: The offer down. Kneale completed screenplays for adaptations of the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley . Neither of these scripts ever saw production, as the companies making them went out of business. Another screenplay that went unproduced was a Kneale original, a drama involving a wave of teenage suicides called The Big Giggle , or The Big, Big Giggle . Written in 1965 while Kneale
23892-617: The outer diameter than in the center. The result is that the main cone delivers low frequencies and the whizzer cone contributes most of the higher frequencies. Since the whizzer cone is smaller than the main diaphragm, output dispersion at high frequencies is improved relative to an equivalent single larger diaphragm. Limited-range drivers, also used alone, are typically found in computers, toys, and clock radios . These drivers are less elaborate and less expensive than wide-range drivers, and they may be severely compromised to fit into very small mounting locations. In these applications, sound quality
24073-487: The output power of some designs has been increased to levels useful for professional sound reinforcement, and their output pattern is wide in the horizontal plane, a pattern that has convenient applications in concert sound. A coaxial driver is a loudspeaker driver with two or more combined concentric drivers. Coaxial drivers have been produced by Altec , Tannoy , Pioneer , KEF , SEAS, B&C Speakers, BMS, Cabasse and Genelec . Used in multi-driver speaker systems ,
24254-429: The patent by Rice and Kellogg is the adjustment of mechanical parameters to provide a reasonably flat frequency response . These first loudspeakers used electromagnets , because large, powerful permanent magnets were generally not available at a reasonable price. The coil of an electromagnet, called a field coil, was energized by a current through a second pair of connections to the driver. This winding usually served
24435-453: The pole tip or as a heavy ring situated within the magnet-pole cavity. The benefits of this complication is reduced impedance at high frequencies, providing extended treble output, reduced harmonic distortion, and a reduction in the inductance modulation that typically accompanies large voice coil excursions. On the other hand, the copper cap requires a wider voice-coil gap, with increased magnetic reluctance; this reduces available flux, requiring
24616-529: The problems of money laundering , financial crime and terrorism financing. The Isle of Man is also known for the TT Motorcycle Races, and the Manx cat , a breed with short or no tails. In 2016, UNESCO awarded the Isle of Man biosphere reserve status . The Manx name of the Isle of Man is Ellan Vannin : ellan ( Manx pronunciation: [ɛlʲan] ), a Manx word meaning "island"; Mannin ( IPA: [manɪnʲ] ) appears in
24797-514: The producer." He returned to writing for radio for the first time since the 1950s in 1996, when he wrote the drama-documentary The Quatermass Memoirs for BBC Radio 3 . Partly composed of Kneale looking back at the events that led to the writing of the original three Quatermass serials and using some archive material, there was also a dramatised strand to the series, set just before the ITV Quatermass serial and featuring Andrew Keir , star of
24978-526: The profession. At the beginning of the Second World War Kneale attempted to enlist in the British Army , but was deemed medically unfit for service owing to photophobia , from which he had suffered since childhood. On 25 March 1946 Kneale made his first broadcast on BBC Radio , performing a live reading of his own short story "Tomato Cain" in a strand entitled Stories by Northern Authors on
25159-449: The rear radiation from the moving diaphragm. A sealed enclosure prevents transmission of the sound emitted from the rear of the loudspeaker by confining the sound in a rigid and airtight box. Techniques used to reduce the transmission of sound through the walls of the cabinet include thicker cabinet walls, internal bracing and lossy wall material. However, a rigid enclosure reflects sound internally, which can then be transmitted back through
25340-418: The rear sound radiation so it can add constructively to the output from the front of the cone. Designs that do this (including bass reflex , passive radiator , transmission line , etc.) are often used to extend the effective low-frequency response and increase the low-frequency output of the driver. To make the transition between drivers as seamless as possible, system designers have attempted to time align
25521-455: The reproduction of the very lowest frequencies (20–~50 Hz ) is augmented by a so-called subwoofer often in its own (large) enclosure. In a two-way or three-way speaker system (one with drivers covering two or three different frequency ranges) there is a small amount of passive electronics called a crossover network which helps direct components of the electronic signal to the speaker drivers best capable of reproducing those frequencies. In
25702-411: The resulting sound quality. Most high fidelity speaker systems (picture at right) include two or more sorts of speaker drivers, each specialized in one part of the audible frequency range. The smaller drivers capable of reproducing the highest audio frequencies are called tweeters , those for middle frequencies are called mid-range drivers and those for low frequencies are called woofers . Sometimes
25883-407: The results and had his name removed from the film. He returned to writing scripts for British television, including Gentry with Roger Daltrey for ITV in 1987, and the 1989 adaptation of Susan Hill 's novel The Woman in Black for transmission on ITV on Christmas Eve. Lynne Truss , reviewing a repeat broadcast of the production on Channel 4 for The Times in 1994, wrote that: "Clip-clop
26064-411: The rock group Pink Floyd and Monty Python's Flying Circus writer/performer Michael Palin . Kneale never saw himself as a science-fiction writer, and was often critical of the genre. He particularly disliked the BBC series Doctor Who (1963–89; 1996; 2005–present), for which he had once turned down an offer to write. He also criticised Doomwatch and Blake's 7 , with the latter described as
26245-583: The same circumstances and restrictions as any other non-EU European relating country to work in the EU. The political and diplomatic impacts of Brexit on the island are still uncertain. The UK confirmed that the Crown Dependencies' positions were included in the Brexit negotiations . The Brexit withdrawal agreement explicitly included the Isle of Man in its territorial scope, but makes no other mention of it. The island's government website stated that after
26426-551: The scenes had been suitable for television. There was also prominent support for the play; the Duke of Edinburgh made it known that he and the Queen had watched and enjoyed the programme, and the second live performance on 16 December gained the largest television audience since her coronation the previous year. The Guardian newspaper's obituary of Kneale in 2006 claimed that the adaptation had "permanently revived Orwell's reputation," while
26607-425: The script in ten days but been advised by his agent to wait before submitting it to the producers Central Independent Television so that they would not think he had rushed it. When he did submit the script three weeks later, he discovered that Central had been about to cancel the production as they had assumed that Kneale, then 67, had not been able to complete the work due to his age. Susan Hill did not like some of
26788-403: The set-up. The Year of the Sex Olympics has been praised for its foreshadowing of the rise of reality television programmes such as Big Brother (1999–present) and Celebrity Love Island (2005–2006). Critic Nancy Banks-Smith wrote in 2003 that: "In The Year of the Sex Olympics [Kneale] foretold the reality show and, in the scramble for greater sensation, its logical outcome ... This
26969-433: The signal into individual frequency bands before power amplification, thus requiring at least one power amplifier for each band. Passive filtering may also be used in this way before power amplification, but it is an uncommon solution, being less flexible than active filtering. Any technique that uses crossover filtering followed by amplification is commonly known as bi-amping, tri-amping, quad-amping, and so on, depending on
27150-418: The sound corresponding to the original unamplified electronic signal. This is thus the opposite function to the microphone ; indeed the dynamic speaker driver, by far the most common type, is a linear motor in the same basic configuration as the dynamic microphone which uses such a motor in reverse, as a generator . The dynamic speaker was invented in 1925 by Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice . When
27331-496: The speaker can be measured independently of room effects, or any of several electronic techniques that, to some extent, substitute for such chambers. Some developers eschew anechoic chambers in favor of specific standardized room setups intended to simulate real-life listening conditions. Individual electrodynamic drivers provide their best performance within a limited frequency range. Multiple drivers (e.g. subwoofers, woofers, mid-range drivers, and tweeters) are generally combined into
27512-489: The staff of the BBC drama department in 1952. Kneale's "lost" radio play You Must Listen , broadcast in 1952, was re-broadcast in a new production by BBC Radio 4 on 20 September 2023. Kneale wrote The Quatermass Experiment , which was broadcast in six half-hour episodes in July and August 1953. The serial told the story of Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group, and
27693-435: The stiffer it is made, the poorer the damping. As a result, many cones are made of some sort of composite material. For example, a cone might be made of cellulose paper, into which some carbon fiber , Kevlar , glass , hemp or bamboo fibers have been added; or it might use a honeycomb sandwich construction; or a coating might be applied to it so as to provide additional stiffening or damping. The chassis, frame, or basket,
27874-399: The success of the serial, Kneale felt that he had now taken the character of Quatermass as far as he could. "I didn't want to go on repeating because Professor Quatermass had already saved the world from ultimate destruction three times, and that seemed to me to be quite enough," he said in 1986. It was also his final new collaboration with Rudolph Cartier, although the director did later handle
28055-436: The system. At the 1939 New York World's Fair , a very large two-way public address system was mounted on a tower at Flushing Meadows . The eight 27" low-frequency drivers were designed by Rudy Bozak in his role as chief engineer for Cinaudagraph. High-frequency drivers were likely made by Western Electric . Altec Lansing introduced the 604 , which became their most famous coaxial Duplex driver, in 1943. It incorporated
28236-534: The throat of a horn for added output level and control of radiation pattern. A tweeter is a high-frequency driver that reproduces the highest frequencies in a speaker system. A major problem in tweeter design is achieving wide angular sound coverage (off-axis response), since high-frequency sound tends to leave the speaker in narrow beams. Soft-dome tweeters are widely found in home stereo systems, and horn-loaded compression drivers are common in professional sound reinforcement. Ribbon tweeters have gained popularity as
28417-454: The use of wide-range drivers can avoid undesirable interactions between multiple drivers caused by non-coincident driver location or crossover network issues but also may limit frequency response and output abilities (most especially at low frequencies). Hi-fi speaker systems built with wide-range drivers may require large, elaborate or, expensive enclosures to approach optimum performance. Full-range drivers often employ an additional cone called
28598-432: The vengeful spirit of a dead motorcyclist who is reluctant to leave his wrecked machine and manifests itself to a woman journalist as motorbike noise. It featured Patrick Troughton as a mechanic, although the episode is now lost . In 1972 he was commissioned by the BBC to write a new four-part Quatermass serial, based in a dystopian near future world overrun with crime, apathy, martial law and youth cults . The serial
28779-405: The voice coil; heating during operation changes resistance, causes physical dimensional changes, and if extreme, broils the varnish on the voice coil; it may even demagnetize permanent magnets. The suspension system keeps the coil centered in the gap and provides a restoring (centering) force that returns the cone to a neutral position after moving. A typical suspension system consists of two parts:
28960-481: Was admired by the film director John Carpenter . The horror fiction writer Stephen King has cited Kneale as an influence, and Kim Newman suggested in 2003 that King had "more or less rewritten Quatermass and the Pit in The Tommyknockers ." Other writers have acclaimed Kneale as an influence on their work including comics writer Grant Morrison and television screenwriter Russell T Davies , who described
29141-627: Was also the Lord of Mann, conscripted 10 men from each parish (170 in total) to fight for the Royalist cause; the majority were killed at the Battle of Wigan Lane in 1651. In 1779, the Manx Fencible Corps , a fencible regiment of three companies, was raised; it was disbanded in 1783 at the end of the American War of Independence . Later, the Royal Manx Fencibles was raised at the time of
29322-428: Was an heroic scientist who appeared in various television, film and radio productions written by Kneale for the BBC , Hammer Film Productions and Thames Television between 1953 and 1996. Kneale wrote original scripts and successfully adapted works by writers such as George Orwell , John Osborne , H. G. Wells and Susan Hill . Kneale was most active in television, joining BBC Television in 1951; his final script
29503-559: Was announced as a forthcoming production by the BBC in November, and some model filming was even begun in June 1973, but eventually budgetary problems and the unavailability of Stonehenge —a central location in the scripts—led to the project's cancellation. Kneale's next script for the BBC was The Stone Tape , a scientific ghost story broadcast on Christmas Day 1972. Lez Cooke praised the production, when writing in 2003, describing it as "one of
29684-413: Was cancelled by ATV's managing director, Lew Grade , and Kneale was never told why. Following the cancellation of Crow , Kneale moved to work for another of the ITV companies, Thames Television , who in 1977 commissioned the production of the scripts of Kneale's previously abandoned fourth Quatermass serial, to be produced by their Euston Films subsidiary film company. The production, Quatermass ,
29865-399: Was capable of reproducing clear tones, but later revisions could also reproduce muffled speech . Alexander Graham Bell patented his first electric loudspeaker (a moving iron type capable of reproducing intelligible speech) as part of his telephone in 1876, which was followed in 1877 by an improved version from Ernst Siemens . During this time, Thomas Edison was issued a British patent for
30046-443: Was commissioned to write Quatermass II . Specifically designed by the BBC to combat the threat of the new ITV network, which launched just a month before Quatermass II was shown, the serial was even more successful than the first, drawing audiences of up to nine million viewers. Kneale was inspired in writing the serial by contemporary fears over secret UK Ministry of Defence research establishments such as Porton Down , as well
30227-481: Was denied patents. Being unsuccessful in selling their product to telephone companies, in 1915 they changed their target market to radios and public address systems , and named their product Magnavox . Jensen was, for years after the invention of the loudspeaker, a part owner of The Magnavox Company. The moving-coil principle commonly used today in speakers was patented in 1925 by Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice . The key difference between previous attempts and
30408-568: Was eventually transmitted as Quatermass and the Pit across six weeks in December 1958 and January 1959. On this occasion Kneale was inspired by the racial tensions that had recently been seen in the United Kingdom, and which came to a head while the serial was in pre-production when the Notting Hill race riots occurred in August and September 1958. Drawing audiences of up to 11 million, Quatermass and
30589-501: Was followed by several one-off dramas for the BBC over the following decade, including two entries into BBC1 's The Wednesday Play anthology strand. During this period he was regarded as one of the finest writers working for the BBC by Shaun Sutton , the Head of Drama for BBC television. Kneale did his first work for the ITV network during this time, writing a one-off play called The Crunch for
30770-511: Was included within the EU's customs area , as part of Protocol 3 of the UK's Act of Accession to the Treaty of Rome , allowing Manx goods to be traded throughout the EU without tariffs. It was not part of the EU's internal market and there were still limitations on the movement of capital, services and labour. EU citizens were entitled to travel and reside, but not work, in the island without restriction. British citizens with Manxman status were under
30951-439: Was no coincidence that they turned to science-fiction in order to get out of the dominant stylistic trend of television intimacy." The writer and actor Mark Gatiss indicated that Kneale was among the first rank of British television writers, but that this had been overlooked. "He is amongst the greats—he is absolutely as important as Dennis Potter , as David Mercer , as Alan Bleasdale , as Alan Bennett , but I think because of
31132-667: Was not pleased with the result. "I made up my mind I would never ever again have anything done on a television network in America," he later commented. For the next few years, Kneale concentrated mostly on film screenplays, adapting plays and novels for the cinema. Described by The Independent as "one of the few writers not to fall out with John Osborne ", Kneale adapted Osborne's plays Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer in 1958 and 1960 respectively, both for director Tony Richardson . Kneale knew Richardson through having previously adapted
31313-478: Was only released to cinemas in overseas markets after it was made for television in the UK, and he had his name removed from the credits of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). Kneale returned to writing for television with the BBC when his play The Road was broadcast in September 1963. The play concerned the population of an 18th-century village who become haunted by visions of a future nuclear war , and
31494-504: Was published. The book sufficiently impressed the writer Elizabeth Bowen that she wrote a foreword for it, and in 1950 the collection won the Somerset Maugham Award . Following this success, Kneale gave up acting to write full-time. He did take small voice-over roles in some of his 1950s television productions, such as the voice heard on the factory loudspeaker system in Quatermass II (1955), for which he also narrated most of
31675-558: Was raised during the Second World War for home defence. In 2015 a multi-capability recruiting and training unit of the British Army Reserve was established in Douglas. There is no citizenship of the Isle of Man as such; Isle of Man residents are entitled to British citizenship and can obtain a full UK British passport or British Isle of Man passport. The Passport Office, Isle of Man, Douglas, accepts and processes applications for
31856-500: Was retaken for the English by John Bacach of Argyll. In 1317, it was retaken for the Scots by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray and Lord of the Isle of Man. It was held by the Scots until 1333. For some years thereafter control passed back and forth between the two kingdoms until the English took it for the final time in 1346. The English Crown delegated its rule of the island to a series of lords and magnates. Tynwald passed laws concerning
32037-519: Was structured to work both as a four-episode serial for transmission in the UK, and a 100-minute film version for cinema release overseas—something Kneale later regretted agreeing to. Starring John Mills as Quatermass and with a budget of over £1 million—more than fifty times the budget of Quatermass and the Pit in 1958—the serial was not as critically successful as its predecessors. "Thematically no less awesome than Mr Kneale's earlier science-fiction essays for BBC Television, his ITV debut has proved only
32218-420: Was suffering from a mystery illness and forced to stay in bed for a long period, the concept was produced as a drama serial for the BBC, before the corporation reconsidered the nature of the storyline and the possibility of copycat suicides ; Kneale later agreed with their decision not to make it for television. The production was nearly made as a film by 20th Century Fox , but John Trevelyan , Chief Executive of
32399-587: Was the last place in the British Isles to legalise same-sex sexual activity. While it had been legal in England and Wales since 1967, it remained illegal in the Isle of Man until 1992. The Isle of Man's former Chief Minister Howard Quayle issued an "unqualified apology" to gay men convicted of same-sex offences under previous Manx laws. Public education is overseen by the Department of Education, Sport & Culture. Thirty-two primary schools, five secondary schools and
32580-483: Was transmitted on ITV in 1997. He wrote well-received television dramas such as The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968) and The Stone Tape (1972) in addition to the Quatermass serials. He has been described as "one of the most influential writers of the 20th century", and as "having invented popular TV". Kneale was born Thomas Nigel Kneale in Barrow-in-Furness , England on 28 April 1922. His family came from
32761-558: Was written for ITV. His first script for ITV in this period was the one-off play Murrain , made by the network's Midlands franchise holders Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1975. The play, a horror piece based around witchcraft , led the following year to a series called Beasts , a six-part anthology where Kneale created six different character-based tales of horror and the macabre. It featured some well-known actors such as Martin Shaw , Pauline Quirke and Bernard Horsfall , but did not gain
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