Richard Attenborough, left, and Ben Kingsley with their Oscars, for Gandhi. Reed Saxon / AP Photo
Richard Attenborough, left, and Ben Kingsley with their Oscars, for Gandhi. Reed Saxon / AP Photo

Richard Attenborough: ‘I want to be remembered as a storyteller’



He was a lord, an Oscar-winning director of the much-lauded Gandhi and an unflagging pillar of British cinema. But to most people, Richard Attenborough, who has died at the age of 90, was best known as Dickie.

Baby-faced as a young actor and white-bearded in his older age, Attenborough – warmly known as “Dickie Darling” – presided over six decades of British moviemaking as an actor and filmmaker with a genial warmth that endeared him to his fans, fellow actors and filmmakers.

"I have no great interest in being remembered as a great creative filmmaker," he told The New York Times when Gandhi was released in 1982. "I want to be remembered as a storyteller."

The actor’s son, Michael, announced that his father, who had been in poor health for some time, died on Sunday.

Ben Kingsley, who shot to stardom for his performance as Mahatma Gandhi, recalled Attenborough’s passionate 20-year struggle to bring the Indian leader’s story to the big screen.

“He placed in me an absolute trust and, in turn, I placed an absolute trust in him and grew to love him,” said Kingsley. “I along with millions of others whom he touched through his life and work will miss him dearly.”

Gandhi won eight Oscars, including Best Director for Attenborough, Best Actor for Kingsley and Best Picture – defeating ET, directed by a young Steven Spielberg, who would later cast Attenborough as John Hammond, Jurassic Park's naive idealist whose dream of resurrecting the dinosaurs turns into a nightmare.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, described Attenborough as "one of the greats of cinema", adding: "His acting in Brighton Rock was brilliant, his directing of Gandhi was stunning."

A product of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Attenborough made his screen debut in the patriotic, 1942 Second World War film In Which We Serve. He served, too, in the Royal Air Force.

In 60-plus years of acting, he amassed more than 70 credits, including roles in classics such as Brighton Rock, The Great Escape, Doctor Dolittle and 10 Rillington Place. In later life, in addition to acting in Jurassic Park, he played Kriss Kringle in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street.

Attenborough's move into directing began with 1969's First World War musical comedy Oh! What a Lovely War. He directed 12 films, including A Bridge Too Far, A Chorus Line, Cry Freedom, Chaplin and Shadowlands.

He was a constant advocate for the British film industry as well as other humanitarian causes. He did extensive work as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef and was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr Nonviolence Peace Prize in 1983.

He was knighted in 1976 and in 1993 received a life peerage, becoming Baron Attenborough of Richmond upon Thames.

The son of a university principal, Attenborough was born on August 29, 1923, into a family with strong liberal views and a tradition of voluntary work for humanitarian concerns. One of his younger brothers is the naturalist David Attenborough, whose BBC nature documentaries have reached audiences around the world.

In his 1942 film debut as a terrified warship crewman in In Which We Serve, the 19-year-old Attenborough made a small part into one of the most memorable roles in the film, which won the Best Picture Oscar.

In 1947, he gave one of the best performances of his career as the teenage thug Pinkie in Brighton Rock, the film version of Graham Greene's novel.

Attenborough's youthful appearance nearly cost him the lead role in the original cast of The Mousetrap because its author, Agatha Christie, didn't think he looked like a police detective. But he starred with his wife, the actress Sheila Sim, when the hit play opened in November 1952 and stayed for 700 performances.

He also appeared as a prisoner of war in 1963's The Great Escape and, in 1971, turned in a chilling performance as the 1950s mass murderer John Reginald Christie in 10 Rillington Place.

Denzel Washington won an Oscar nomination for his role as the South African activist Steve Biko in Attenborough's 1987 film Cry Freedom.

“The people I want to reach are those who have never even considered the whole question of South Africa,” said Attenborough at the time. “In order to do that, you have to make a film that is fundamentally entertaining. I’m in the entertainment business; I’m not a politician. I make movies for millions of people all over the world.”

Attenborough’s later years were marked by a personal tragedy when he lost his daughter and granddaughter in the tsunami that hit Thailand on Boxing Day in 2004. The heartbroken Attenborough said he was never able to celebrate the Christmas holidays after that.

Attenborough had been in frail health since a fall at his home in 2008 and spent his last years in a nursing home with his wife.

He is survived by his wife, their son and a daughter.

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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Writers: Walter Mosley

Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins

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Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

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What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

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Director: Christian Schwochow

Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)

Dubai – Call 800243

Sharjah – Call 065632222

Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372

Ajman – Call 067401616

Umm Al Quwain – Call 999

Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final

Kashima Antlers 3 (Nagaki 49’, Serginho 69’, Abe 84’)
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Top tips to avoid cyber fraud

Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
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Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
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Joker: Folie a Deux

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Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

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Schalke 0

Werder Bremen 1 (Bittencourt 32')

Man of the match Leonardo Bittencourt (Werder Bremen)

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

MATCH INFO

Alaves 1 (Perez 65' pen)

Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 52', Carvajal 69')

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
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Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

If you go
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When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
What went into the film

25 visual effects (VFX) studios

2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots

1,000 VFX artists

3,000 technicians

10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers

New sound technology, named 4D SRL

 

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.