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Masterpiece Theatre (also known as ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theater and earlier Mobil Masterpiece Theater) is the title of a long-running television series that premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971 and is produced by WGBH. The show has allowed a large number of award-winning television miniseries and made-for-TV movies, most of them British productions from the BBC or various ITV companies, to air on American television. The show was hosted by Alistair Cooke from its premiere until Cooke retired in 1992 at the age of 83. Since then, the host has been Russell Baker .Masterpiece Theatre is best known for a large number of adaptations of famous novels into episodic TV mini-series, and for works of a biographical nature, but it also shows original television dramas. Famous stories to have aired on the show include I, Claudius, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth R, The Jewel in the CrownThe Jewel in the Crown is a British television drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and based on the Raj Quartet novels by Paul Scott. The programme was shot on 16mm film, much of it on location in India. The difficulties of storing film in, and many others.
The show has been financed by the Mobil corporation since its inception. In DecemberDecember is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. From the Latin decem for " ten" (it was originally the tenth month of the year, before January and February were inserted). The winter solstice falls in December. of 20022002 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). 2002 was the first palindromic year since 1991 and the last until 2112. 2002 was also designated: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains National Science Year in the United Kingdom the corporation (now Exxon MobilExxon Mobil Corporation ( International: Esso , headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil corporation, formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its ticker symbol is XOM . The current CEO of ExxonMobil is Lee Raymond. In the United St) announced they would no longer fund the show after 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co.
The famous theme music to the show, played during the opening credits of each episode, is taken from Rondeau by classical composer J.J. Mouret ( 1682Events March 11 Chelsea hospital for soldiers is founded in England May 6 Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles. First black slaves arrive in Germany French court moves to Versailles Halley's comet makes an appearance, and is observed by Edmon- 1738Events April 15 - Premiere in London of Serse an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel. November 13 Ratification of the Treaty of Vienna The excavation of Herculaneum, a Roman city buried by Vesuvius in AD 79, begins. John and Charles Wesley form the Me). Ironically, for a series featuring British drama, the music was created by a French composer.
In 1979Events January-February January 1 Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations January 4 State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings., Masterpiece Theatre gained a sister series, also financed by Mobil: Mystery! is an umbrella series for (again, mostly British) detective and crime series.
A series of movie, theatre, and television show parodies were shown on Sesame Street as Monsterpiece Theatre, hosted by Cookie Monster in the guise of "Alistair Cookie".
