Portal:Hampshire

St Mary Magdalene's in the village centre

Oakhanger is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Bordon, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) eastward on the B3004 road. It is part of the parish of Selborne, which covers an area of 7,915 acres (3,203 ha). The nearest railway station is Alton, 3.8 miles (6.1 km) to the northwest; the village had its own Oakhanger Halt railway station on the Longmoor Military Railway until its closure.

A Roman road passed through Oakhanger although no traces of it remain today. Its first known mention is in a charter dated to the early 10th century, and the lands passed through numerous families until the early 20th century. It contains four Grade II listed buildings, including Oakhanger Farmhouse and its three outbuildings, and one pub, The Red Lion. St Mary Magdalene's Church was built in 1873. The former Royal Air Force station, RAF Oakhanger, still retains its satellite domes, although the station is now privately run. (Full article...)

Portrait by Allan Warren, 1973

Sir Alec Guinness CH CBE (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which he played eight characters; The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; and The Ladykillers (1955). He collaborated six times with director David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946); Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948); Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor; Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962); General Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965); and Professor Godbole in A Passage to India (1984). In 1970, he played Jacob Marley's ghost in Ronald Neame's Scrooge. He also portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy which brought him further recognition; for the original 1977 film, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 50th Academy Awards.

Guinness began his stage career in 1934. Two years later, at the age of 22, he played the role of Osric in Hamlet in the West End and joined the Old Vic. He continued to play Shakespearean roles throughout his career. He was one of the greatest British actors who, along with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, made the transition from theatre to films after the Second World War. Guinness served in the Royal Naval Reserve during the war and commanded a landing craft during the invasion of Sicily and Elba. During the war he was granted leave to appear in the stage play Flare Path about RAF Bomber Command.

Guinness won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Tony Award. In 1959 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1980 and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 1989. He appeared in nine of the BFI Top 100 British films, including five directed by Lean. (Full article...)

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