William Edward "Billy" Cotton (6 May 1899 – 25 March 1969) was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio and television personality, but his musical career had begun in the 1920s. In his younger years Billy Cotton was also an amateur footballer for Brentford F.C. (and later, for the then Athenian league club Wimbledon F.C.), an accomplished racing driver and the owner of a Gipsy Moth, which he piloted himself. His autobiography, "I Did It My Way", was published in 1970, a year after his death.

Life and career

Born in Smith Square, London, to Joseph and Susan Cotton, Cotton was a choirboy and started his musical career as a drummer. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers by falsifying his age and saw service in World War I in Malta and Egypt, before landing at Gallipoli in the middle of an artillery barrage. He was recommended for a commission and learned to fly Bristol Fighter aircraft. He flew solo for the first time in 1918, on the day the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air Force. He was not yet 19 years old. In the early 1920s, he worked at several jobs, including as a bus driver, before setting up his own orchestra, the London Savannah Band, in 1924.

A haunted house is a building purported to be the site of paranormal activity.

Haunted house may also refer to:

Films

Games

The Haunted House is a story published in 1859 for the weekly periodical All the Year Round. It was "Conducted by Charles Dickens", with contributions from others. It is a "portmanteau" story, with Dickens writing the opening and closing stories, framing stories by Dickens himself and five other authors:

"The Mortals in the House" (Charles Dickens)

"The Ghost in the Clock Room" (Hesba Stretton)

"The Ghost in the Double Room" (George Augustus Sala)

"The Ghost in the Picture Room" (Adelaide Anne Procter)

"The Ghost in the Cupboard Room" (Wilkie Collins)

"The Ghost in Master B's Room" (Charles Dickens)

"The Ghost in the Garden Room" (Elizabeth Gaskell)

"The Ghost in the Corner Room" (Charles Dickens)

The story appeared in the Extra Christmas Number on 13 December 1859. Dickens began a tradition of Christmas publications with A Christmas Carol in 1843 and his Christmas stories soon became a national institution. The Haunted House was his 1859 offering.

Dickens's opening story, The Mortals in the House, is the strongest of the collection and demonstrates his mastery of storytelling and characterisation. When the narrator sees a deserted house from his railway carriage he becomes determined to take up residence there. However, the house is said to be haunted and the servants gradually become agitated. The narrator sends them away and invites a group of his friends to stay with him and fend for themselves.

The Haunted House is a 1913 American silent short comedy-drama film starring Julius Frankenburg, Harry Van Meter, Vivian Rich, and Jack Richardson.

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