Willy Russell Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1947) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are "Educating Rita", "Shirley Valentine", "Blood Brothers" and "Our Day Out". Russell was born in Whiston in Lancashire. On leaving school, aged 15, he became a ladies' hairdresser eventually running his own salon until the age of 20 when he decided to try to go back to college, eventually qualifying as a teacher. During these years Russell also worked as a semi-professional singer, writing and performing his own songs on the then flourishing and vibrant folk scene. At college, he began
Blood and Gifts Blood and Gifts Blood and Gifts is a play by the American playwright J. T. Rogers. Its subject is the struggle for control of Afghanistan during the 1980s, from the American, Soviet, British, Pakistani, and secular Afghan points of view. It premiered in September 2010 at the Lyttelton Theatre, starring Lloyd Owen. The play was originally shorter and in one act. That version, now withdrawn, was presented in 2009 as part of "". In 1981 Central Intelligence Agency operative Jim Warnock arrives in Peshawar as station chief, accidentally meeting his Soviet counterpart Gromov at the airport. He and his MI6