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Narayan 's writing technique was unpretentious with a natural element of humour about it . It focused on ordinary people , reminding the reader of next @-@ door neighbours , cousins and the like , thereby providing a greater ability to relate to the topic . Unlike his national contemporaries , he was able to write abo... |
According to Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri , Narayan 's short stories have the same captivating feeling as his novels , with most of them less than ten pages long , and taking about as many minutes to read . She adds that between the title sentence and the end , Narayan provides the reader something novelists st... |
Critics have noted that Narayan 's writings tend to be more descriptive and less analytical ; the objective style , rooted in a detached spirit , providing for a more authentic and realistic narration . His attitude , coupled with his perception of life , provided a unique ability to fuse characters and actions , and ... |
Narayan 's writing style was often compared to that of William Faulkner since both their works brought out the humour and energy of ordinary life while displaying compassionate humanism . The similarities also extended to their juxtaposing of the demands of society against the confusions of individuality . Although th... |
= = = Malgudi = = =
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Malgudi is a fictional , semi @-@ urban town in southern India , conjured by Narayan . He created the town in September 1930 , on Vijayadashami , an auspicious day to start new efforts and thus chosen for him by his grandmother . As he mentioned in a later interview to his biographers Susan and N. Ram , in his mind , ... |
Malgudi evolved with the changing political landscape of India . In the 1980s , when the nationalistic fervor in India dictated the changing of British names of towns and localities and removal of British landmarks , Malgudi 's mayor and city council removed the long @-@ standing statue of Frederick Lawley , one of Ma... |
= = = Critical reception = = =
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Narayan first broke through with the help of Graham Greene who , upon reading Swaminathan and Tate , took it upon himself to work as Narayan 's agent for the book . He was also instrumental in changing the title to the more appropriate Swami and Friends , and in finding publishers for Narayan 's next few books . While... |
Narayan 's success in the United States came a little later , when Michigan State University Press started publishing his books . His first visit to the country was on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation , and he lectured at various universities including Michigan State University and the University of Califo... |
Having published many novels , essays and short stories , Narayan is credited with bringing Indian writing to the rest of the world . While he has been regarded as one of India 's greatest writers of the twentieth century , critics have also described his writings with adjectives such as charming , harmless and benign... |
A general perception on Narayan was that he did not involve himself or his writings with the politics or problems of India , as mentioned by V. S. Naipaul in one of his columns . However , according to Wyatt Mason of The New Yorker , although Narayan 's writings seem simple and display a lack of interest in politics ,... |
In the west , Narayan 's simplicity of writing was well received . One of his biographers , William Walsh , wrote of his narrative as a comedic art with an inclusive vision informed by the transience and illusion of human action . Multiple Booker nominee Anita Desai classes his writings as " compassionate realism " wh... |
= = Awards and honours = =
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Narayan won numerous awards during the course of his literary career . His first major award was in 1958 , the Sahitya Akademi Award for The Guide . When the book was made into a film , he received the Filmfare Award for the best story . In 1964 , he received the Padma Bhushan during the Republic Day honours . In 1980... |
Recognition also came in the form of honorary doctorates by the University of Leeds ( 1967 ) , the University of Mysore ( 1976 ) and Delhi University ( 1973 ) . Towards the end of his career , Narayan was nominated to the upper house of the Indian Parliament for a six @-@ year term starting in 1989 , for his contribut... |
= = Legacy = =
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Narayan 's greatest achievement was making India accessible to the outside world through his literature . He is regarded as one of the three leading English language Indian fiction writers , along with Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand . He gave his readers something to look forward to with Malgudi and its residents and is ... |
" Whom next shall I meet in Malgudi ? That is the thought that comes to me when I close a novel of Mr Narayan 's . I do not wait for another novel . I wait to go out of my door into those loved and shabby streets and see with excitement and a certainty of pleasure a stranger approaching , past the bank , the cinema , ... |
= = List of works = =
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Novels
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Non @-@ fiction
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Mythology
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Short story collections
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= = = Adaptations = = =
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Narayan 's book The Guide was adapted to film as Guide , a Hindi movie directed by Vijay Anand . An English @-@ language version was also released . Narayan was not happy with the way the film was made and its deviation from the book ; he wrote a column in Life magazine , " The Misguided Guide , " criticising the film... |
His novel Mr. Sampath was made into a Tamil film , Miss Malini , starring Pushpavalli and Kothamangalam Subbu . A Hindi version with Padmini and Motilal was also produced by Gemini Studios . Another novel , The Financial Expert , was made into the Kannada movie Banker Margayya . Swami and Friends , The Vendor of Sweet... |
= Boddingtons Brewery =
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Boddingtons Brewery was a regional brewery in Manchester , England , which owned pubs throughout the North West . Boddingtons was best known for Boddingtons Bitter ( Boddies ) , a straw @-@ golden , hoppy bitter which was one of the first beers to be packaged in cans containing a widget , giving it a creamy draught @-... |
Whitbread bought Boddingtons Brewery in 1989 and Boddingtons Bitter received an increased marketing budget and nationwide distribution . Boddingtons achieved its peak market share in 1997 and at the time was exported to over forty countries . Boddingtons beer brands are now owned by the global brewer Anheuser – Busch ... |
= = History = =
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= = = 1778 – 1969 = = =
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Strangeways Brewery was founded in 1778 by two grain merchants , Thomas Caister and Thomas Fry , just north of what is now Manchester city centre . Their principal customers were the cotton workers of Manchester , then a burgeoning mill town . Henry Boddington , born in 1813 in Thame , Oxfordshire , joined the brewery... |
After Henry Boddington 's death , his son , William Slater Boddington became company chairman , and the company went public in 1888 when it was estimated to have assets of £ 320 @,@ 465 . It was now known as Boddingtons Breweries Ltd . The company owned 212 public houses by 1892 , making it the twelfth largest tied es... |
By the 1930s , the Boddington family shareholding had dwindled to around 40 per cent . On the 22 December 1940 , the brewery water tanks were hit by bombs during the Manchester Blitz , and the brewery had to be closed down for several months , with production moved temporarily to the nearby Hydes Brewery . The brewery... |
= = = Mergers and acquisitions = = =
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In 1969 the large Allied Breweries combine initiated a hostile takeover bid for Boddingtons , which valued the company at £ 5 million . Charles Boddington took the unusual step of issuing a spirited defence of the company to the shareholders :
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You will be only too aware that present @-@ day pressures bear heavily towards the elimination of individuality and character in many consumer goods . There is an inexorable progression towards the mass @-@ produced nationwide product of standardised quality . You , however , are still , at this moment in time , a sha... |
The company 's independence was maintained after Whitbread acted as a white knight by raising its stake in the company from 13 to 23 per cent , and the family and many small shareholders refused to sell their stakes . The chairman of Whitbread , Colonel Whitbread , is reputed to have said , " You are a very old firm .... |
In 1971 , Allied Breweries sold its 35 per cent stake in the company , leaving Whitbread 25 per cent and the Boddington family 10 per cent , with the remainder of company shares held by small shareholders in the Manchester area . That year Guinness Draught stout and Heineken lager were introduced into the tied estate ... |
what has stood Boddingtons in good stead is the highly distinctive flavour of its brews , especially its bitters . In fact , in the North @-@ West , Boddies is increasingly becoming a sort of cult brew .
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In 1982 , Boddingtons bought the Oldham Brewery for £ 23 million , hoping to combine Oldham 's strength in lager and keg bitter with their own expertise in cask ales . After the acquisition , the company owned 272 public houses , 70 per cent of which were within 20 miles of its Manchester brewery . In 1983 , Boddingto... |
In 1987 , the company rejected a £ 270 million reverse takeover bid by Midsummer Leisure . By this time Boddingtons had a tied estate of 520 pubs . In 1988 , the company closed the Oldham Brewery with the loss of 70 jobs , and shed 140 transport jobs at Higsons and Strangeways by contracting out delivery work to TNT .... |
Boddingtons remained independent until 1989 , when Ewart Boddington sold Strangeways Brewery and the Boddingtons brand ( but not the tied estate ) to Whitbread for £ 50 @.@ 7 million . Whitbread was motivated to plug a gap in its portfolio by owning a credible national cask ale brand . The sale was amicable , with bot... |
= = = Whitbread era = = =
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Whitbread transformed the brand from regional to national , expanding production from 200 @,@ 000 to 850 @,@ 000 barrels a year between 1989 and 1995 . By 1993 the cask version was outsold only by Tetley and John Smith 's , and the majority of sales were outside of the North West . By 1994 it was the fourth @-@ highes... |
It was very fortuitous that the brewery was in Manchester . To outsiders , Manchester is a very attractive place – known the world over for soccer , art , music and broadcasting . It would be difficult to have a Cream of Wolverhampton even though Banks 's beer is very good . People do not aspire to visit Wolverhampton... |
Success was attributed to an excellent marketing campaign , and being the first canned ale to be sold with a widget after Guinness . In 1997 Boddingtons sales peaked , and 1998 saw a drop in sales of 10 per cent . Boddingtons had been turned into : " a fashion product ... and as with all fashion products , the drinker... |
Meanwhile , in 1995 the independent owner of the 450 @-@ strong former Boddingtons tied estate , The Boddington Group , was taken over by Greenalls .
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= = = Interbrew takeover = = =
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In May 2000 the Whitbread Beer Company was acquired by the Belgian brewer Interbrew , which owned Stella Artois . At that time one in eight barrels of Boddingtons was exported to some 40 countries worldwide , including China , the United States , Taiwan and the West Indies . The Strangeways Brewery kegging facility cl... |
In September 2004 the owners ( now known as InBev ) announced plans to close the Strangeways Brewery and move most production from Manchester to Magor in South Wales and Samlesbury , Lancashire , with the loss of 60 jobs . Two years earlier the brewery had employed 250 people . Boddingtons cask ale production , which ... |
In May 2010 it was speculated in The Times that InBev ( Anheuser @-@ Busch InBev from 2008 onwards ) would attempt to sell the Boddingtons brand to another brewer after its failed attempt to sell the UK rights to Bass ale . The newspaper was damning of what it perceived as InBev 's mismanagement of the brand , which h... |
In 2010 Boddingtons was the sixth @-@ highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom , although sales had dropped by almost three quarters since the takeover by Anheuser – Busch InBev in 2000 . In July 2011 AB InBev 's UK president Stuart MacFarlane claimed " We still believe in the brand " whilst admitting to not adver... |
Production was around 250 @,@ 000 hectolitres in 2012 , with around 80 per cent of production destined for the UK market , and around 20 per cent for export markets such as Taiwan , Singapore and the United Arab Emirates .
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= = Beers = =
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Boddingtons has a distinctive straw @-@ golden coloured body with a creamy white head , which is achieved by the addition of nitrogen .
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Boddingtons Draught Bitter ( 3 @.@ 5 % ABV )
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The nitrogenated and pasteurised variant of the beer available in kegs and cans . It is brewed in Samlesbury . The canned variant , launched in 1991 , contains a widget to give the beer a creamy white head . The beer 's ABV was reduced from 3 @.@ 8 % to 3 @.@ 5 % in late 2008 . On draught in the United Kingdom it is t... |
Boddingtons Pub Ale ( 4 @.@ 6 % ABV )
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A higher ABV version of Boddingtons Draught Bitter , brewed since 1993 for export markets . It was available in the United Kingdom from 1995 – 6 as Boddingtons Export .
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= = Advertising = =
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The Boddingtons two bees logo was introduced in 1900 . The bees are a symbol of Manchester , from a time when it was a " hive of industry " , but the two bees also represent a pun on the company name of Boddingtons Breweries .
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Boddingtons largely eschewed above the line advertising until 1987 , when it was first advertised on Granada television in the North West of England . The tagline from 1987 until 1991 was " If you don 't get Boddies , you 'll just get bitter " . Under Whitbread 's custodianship the comedian Frankie Howerd fronted the ... |
From July 1991 until 1999 , a series of Boddingtons advertisements created by the Bartle Bogle Hegarty ( BBH ) agency used " The Cream of Manchester " tagline . The campaign , credited with revitalising the image of Manchester , was arguably third behind Manchester United and Coronation Street in raising the city 's p... |
The series won several international advertising awards for BBH . The brand 's creaminess was emphasised through items such as face cream , ice cream , sun cream and whipped cream . Managing director of Whitbread , Miles Templeman , explained that :
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We were thinking how to turn a second @-@ rate north @-@ west brand into something more stylish , to make it more appealing again . BBH thought of focusing on the creamy aspect , of selling a beer like a face cream .
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A previously unknown Melanie Sykes launched her career as a television presenter following her appearances in the adverts from 1996 until 1999 . Animated television advertisements starring the transgender playboy cow Graham Heffer ran from 1999 until 2002 . The adverts attracted complaints from the public for allegedl... |
This is at best cynical and at worst a slur on our great city , its heritage and the Strangeways workers . People have lost their livelihoods because of how this company has behaved . They will not be best pleased at what we can only see as pouring salt on the wounds .
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Boddington 's was mentioned in episode 2 season 5 of Friends
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