Laurel and Hardy comedians. The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is known as The Sons of the Desert which was named after a fictitious fraternal society featured in the Laurel and Hardy film Sons of the Desert. Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire (today Cumbria), England into a theatrical family. His father Arthur Joseph Jefferson was a theatrical entrepreneur and theatre owner in northern England and Scotland who, with his wife, was a major force in the industry. In 1905, the Jefferson family moved to Glasgow to be closer to their
Appreciation Index Appreciation Index The Audience Appreciation Index (AI) is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB), the organisation that compiles television ratings for the major broadcasters and advertisers in the UK. Currently the AI is produced as part of an online Television Appreciation Survey, on behalf of the BBC Audience Research Unit, by GfK NOP. As the individual ratings that produce the AI of