JAMES CAIRD SOCIETY SHACKLETON NEWS

ULSTER ROLE FOR BRANAGH

Kenneth Branagh has been appointed honorary president of the Northern Ireland Film Commission, the Belfast Telegraph reports. Ulster's best known film actor and director said that he was delighted to have taken on the role : "I relish the opportunity to make a contribution to the development of the film and television industry in Northern Ireland and to help promote Northern Ireland on the international stage," he said. Colin Anderson, chairman of the NIFC, said that Branagh "has a special place in the hearts of Northern Ireland people, who still talk about his earlier screen role in BBC Northern Ireland's The Billy Plays (1982) by Graham Reid."

Branagh, who recently appeared at London's Royal National Theatre, appeared to acclaim onstage in Shakespeare's Richard III at the Crucible, Sheffield during March and April 2002, and is to play Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the second Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, released in November 2002.

Branagh's recent UK television appearance, as SS General Reinhard Heydrich in the BBC television drama Conspiracy, which coincided with his appearance on Channel 4 as Shackleton, and for which he won an Emmy Award, likewise earned him wide praise. A new recording of King Lear was issued on 21 January 2002 (Paul Scofield's 80th birthday). The recording, made 40 Years after Schofield's original stage triumph in the title tole, features Alec McCowen as Gloucester and Kenneth Branagh as the Fool.