About Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman. As a young teenager, he became quite well known in Odense as a reciter of drama and as a singer. When he was fourteen, he set off for the capital, Copenhagen, determined to become a national success on the stage. He failed miserably, but made some influential friends in the capital who got him into school to remedy his lack of proper education. In 1829 his first book was published. After that, books came out at regular intervals. His stories began to be translated into English as early as 1846. Since then, numerous editions, and more recently Hollywood songs and Disney cartoons, have helped to ensure the continuing popularity of the stories in the English-speaking world.
About Stephen Mangan
Stephen Mangan
graduated from London’s RADA after studying law at Cambridge University. He
spent several years in regional theater, playing in classics such as The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet, and his successful seasons with
the Royal Shakespeare Company and the touring company Cheek By Jowl earned him
a nomination for the Ian Charleson award for his roles as Sir Benjamin Backbite
in The School for Scandal and Don
Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing. He became
a regular face in London’s West End in plays such as Hay Fever and Noises Off,
but 2001 marked his breakthrough TV role as the eponymous character in the
six-part BBC TV adaptation of Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years. Stephen has also appeared on
screen as Dr. Guy Secretan in the TV comedy series Green Wing and has gone on to play a number of similarily
self-obsessed characters on film such as Sean Sullivan in Festival and Josef in Confetti,
a film which was wholly improvised.