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Local History

Each month we produce a history feature. There are several writers all living in Brighton producing fasinating ....



A Hugely Influential and Very Talented Brighton Musician

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2024

Friday 8th March is International Women’s Day and Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra have some special plans to help celebrate. Their women led orchestra will be performing at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall, a programme set to showcase music by female composers entitled The Mighty River: Celebrating Women.   As far as I know, no-one is suggesting that the audience or, indeed, the players will be obliged to wear purple, the official colour of International Women’s Day, but celebrating women and their achievements in a field traditionally dominated by men is seen as important.

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George IV’s enchanted party palace

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2024

The Royal Pavilion sprang almost entirely from George IV’s creative mind. He was nothing if not daring, often verging on the reckless in his lifestyle, design ideas and spending habits and thus gave us what is surely the most extravagant, madly beautiful, and romantic of all historic buildings in Britain. It was the expression of a man who loved partying and entertaining, as well as being admired and flattered. The Pavilion was, as a guidebook from the 1820s puts it, ‘an enchanted place’, a ‘fairyland’, and always intended to be a place for amusement, where rules were different from those at the London court.

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‘Devil take me!’ George IV’s enchanted party palace

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2024

The Royal Pavilion sprang almost entirely from George IV’s creative mind. He was nothing if not daring, often verging on the reckless in his lifestyle, design ideas and spending habits and thus gave us what is surely the most extravagant, madly beautiful, and romantic of all historic buildings in Britain. It was the expression of a man who loved partying and entertaining, as well as being admired and flattered. The Pavilion was, as a guidebook from the 1820s puts it, ‘an enchanted place’, a ‘fairyland’, and always intended to be a place for amusement, where rules were different from those at the London court.

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The Lewes Avalanche Christmas 1836

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2023

Sadly, we are becoming accustomed to hearing about catastrophic weather events around the world and seeing images on our television screens of the devastation caused by tropical cyclones, historic heat, wildfires, storms and flooding. But the natural disaster that took place in Lewes in December 1836 remains unique in our island’s history and, quite frankly, continues to shock.

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WHO WERE THE SASSOONS?

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2023

Brighton is a sea-coast town, three miles long and one mile broad, with a Sassoon at each end and one in the middle.” wrote newspaper owner Henry Labouchere in the late nineteenth century. When a poem by the great anti-war-poet Siegfried Sassoon, possibly the only Sassoon still recognised, was published in 1927 containing the lines- “I accuse the rich of what they’ve always done before – Of lifting worldly faces to a diamond star.” – on the day his aunt, another Sassoon, died he wouldn’t have known that she would leave him enough money to buy a house. However, he would have known that the money could be traced back to Bombay in 1832 and his great-grandfather David Sassoon.

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Ocean’s Healing Waters The Story of The Royal Albion Hotel

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2023

Richard Russell (1687 – 1759) was a doctor who lived in Lewes. He wrote a book in 1750 which was translated into English in 1753. It became an instant bestseller and changed Brighton forever.

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Mourning a Monarch

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2023

Elaborate royal funeral rituals began to develop in parts of medieval and Renaissance Europe – wherever and whenever the heir to the throne was publicly declared and acknowledged before the death of the king. Where there was chaos and confusion between rival claimants, by the time the heir apparent had assembled his supporters and arranged his coronation, little time or resources remained for organising a glorious burial for his predecessor. However, once the transition of titles and political power became smoother, the way was clear for magnificent public funeral processions and services that symbolised the sovereignty of the Crown. No expense was spared in royal and aristocratic circles and the wearing of special mourning clothes was a key element of the ritual, a powerful display of wealth and rank.

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A Tilt of Windmills

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2023

<p>In the nineteenth century, there were up to twenty-five windmills in Brighton and over a thousand in the UK. They would either have been a post mill, a smock mill or a tower mill, and there was probably one in your neighbourhood where you and local farmers and smallholders would take your corn to be ground into flour. They were as prevalent as phone boxes and chip shops were in the 1960s. They were put centrally, where people could reach them and where they could get good clean wind. They were on the hills and beside the sea: Hanover, Toronto Terrace, Albion Hill, Rose Hill, Round Hill, Clifto...</p>

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“A Friend of Princes and a Prince of Friends.”

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2023

In the early 1900s, Brighton, like many other seaside resorts, was in decline. No longer patronised by royalty, its fashionable visitors were long gone, and the middle classes elsewhere, it was, according to the Daily Mail, an “unenterprising, unattractive and outdated holiday resort”. Where others saw a decline, Harry Preston saw an opportunity. He bought the almost derelict Royal York Hotel in the Old Steine (now a youth hostel) in 1901 and began a career in Brighton that would turn him into the city’s foremost hotelier, the friend of kings and a major force in the city’s transformation over the next forty years.

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The Bluebell Railway, a brief history of a very famous steam railway

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2023

This article will describe the origin of the Bluebell railway and how it became a preserved railway. We will travel the line; you will be given a brief history of the railway and how it became such an iconic and famous tourist attraction.

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The Sale of a Pleasure Palace by the Sea

Posted in History on May 01, 2023

The Prince Regent, who became George IV, created the Estate at the cost of £1.2 million (£145 million in today’s money.) He paid his last visit to the Pavilion in March 1827, three years before his death in June 1830. His brother William IV inherited and was a regular visitor before he died in 1837. Queen Victoria then succeeded him and her last visit was in 1845. The Royal Pavilion was shut and stripped. It was recorded that the Department of Woods and Forests, which had responsibility for the Estate, ‘had set so liberal an interpretation of the word ‘fixtures’, that in carrying off the pier-glasses, grates and marble chimney-pieces, their agents had nearly carried off the building itself.’

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Man From Patcham Helps Decide Fate of the Monarchy

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2023

It seems only right that we have an interest in the men and women who have shaped the course of English history. What is a little more perplexing is the fascination many of us have with our reigning kings and queens. From Athelstan, the first King of England, who reigned from AD927 to 939, up to Charles III, we revel in their strengths and achievements and in their flaws and indiscretions. Who knows what the history books will say about the new King Charles, one just hopes his story will not be as ‘bloody’ as that of his namesake, Charles I.

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The Brighton engine works and the goods yard, part two

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2023

In this second half of the article, I will show you some of the many engine designs manufactured in the Brighton works. The steam locomotive is a very simple design; water is heated to a very high temperature which turns into steam and the steam is then used to push rods out of a cylinder, which propels the locomotive through a set of connecting cranks. The first locomotives built in Brighton looked like the image top right.

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The Brighton engine works and the goods yard, part one

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2023

It may come as a surprise to many that Brighton once made steam locomotives and boasted an extensive railway goods yard in the centre of the city. This two-part article will give a brief picture of the two facilities. Brighton once had a lot of manufacturing and engineering and these two articles touch on a small section of that history.

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Cosy Indoors

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2023

Keeping warm in winter has never been such a ‘hot’ topic as it is today, but we live in modern times: just how did earlier generations manage? Heating the home. When I was an infant in the early-1960s, on winter mornings there were exciting Jack Frost patterns on the inside of my bedroom window in our village house. My dad then remembered that as a schoolboy in 1920s London he sometimes had to break ice on the surface of the water jug before he could wash. Clearly, before modern domestic central heating created a warm ambience throughout the home, people were accustomed to chilly interiors and generally felt cooler than we expect to today.

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Winter Warmers

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2022

Keeping warm in winter has been a challenge throughout history. From the earliest times, when temperatures dropped, humans wore extra body coverings beginning with animal pelts, progressing to woven textiles, and, eventually, form-fitting clothes.

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Peacehaven Beyond the Rural Idyll

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2022

Peacehaven is the only town in the United Kingdom named after “peace”, or so I believe. What is more certain is that both the creation of the town and its name have close links with the First World War. But look beyond the lofty ideals of ‘homes fit for heroes’ and the ‘rural idyll’ and there is a darker story involving duplicity, legal shenanigans, and a fundraising scam. And it all centres around a man called Charles Neville.

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Recognising a Heroine

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2022

Earlier this year I attended the relaunch meeting of the Brighton & Hove Women’s History Group. After two years of being unable to meet there was, as you can imagine, lots to talk about! One of the items on the agenda particularly caught my attention – The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal.

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I love to go A-Wandering...

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2022

The country walks that we enjoy today are possible because earlier generations championed the natural landscape, establishing our ‘right to roam’. Historically, walking and rambling gradually evolved from a niche pastime into a widespread activity, the recent pandemic highlighting more than ever the benefits of fresh air and outdoor exercise.

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A Different Story for 1953

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2022

You will have noticed that over the last few months a lot of attention has been given to 1953. Of course, it was the year of the Queen’s coronation, but what else happened during those 12 months? What happened specifically in our area? I decided to have a little “Google about” and see what I could uncover and the event that caught my attention was Billy Butlin opening The Ocean Hotel, Saltdean on 2nd May 1953.

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Messing About on the River

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2022

A maritime nation, Britain has a powerful historical connection to the water, both the sea and inland waterways: rivers, canals, reservoirs and lakes. Here we take a brief look at the history of water transport and, especially, boating as a leisure pursuit.

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The Past is a Different Country

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2022

We were a lot poorer in Britain at the time of the Queen’s Accession, the average wage was just £5 - £105 in today’s terms after inflation. The average house cost £2064 and only 8% of the population owned their homes - compared to almost 70% today. There was less pressure to buy, many people were housed by the local authority and did not even consider buying.

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A History of Brighton Trams Part 2

Posted in History on May 01, 2022

I am very grateful that the first article was so well received, so here is a little more on the Brighton trams. I will explain the types of trams that Brighton ran, journey times and frequency and also what is left of the tramways today. Brighton corporation started and continued with a basic open topped 4-wheeler tram. As mentioned before, the narrow gauge of 3 foot and 6 inches did cause design limitations, but there were 6 distinct types, lettered A to F.

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Dame Anita Roddick

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2022

On the 27th March 1976 Dame Anita Roddick opened her first Body Shop. The location she chose was No. 22 Kensington Gardens, Brighton. Anyone around the North Laines at that time will remember the excitement they experienced walking into this “funky”, new shop. Hard to imagine today, but everything about it seemed innovative and modern – so very different from the beauty industry that we were used to.

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The Daily Mail 8th March 1921

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2022

Whatever our personal preferences, the Daily Mail (founded 1896) with its middle-market readership, remains the UK’s highest-circulated daily newspaper: indeed, the early Daily Mail broadsheet was unique in that, from the outset, it aimed to attract female readers. Following the Great War (1914-1918) and years of controversial reporting, it focused on lightweight topics like fashion, the home, travel and music. When the commercial company Historic Newspapers sent me an original newspaper dated 8th March 1921, I recognised an unparalleled historical source for studying past lives and times on the eve of the 1921 Census.

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Gloves

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2022

Ever since early man developed the first primitive bag-like hand-coverings, gloves have played a major role in dress, serving many practical, social, ceremonial and symbolic functions and offering endless scope for fashionable display.

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The 1921 Census & Family Photographs

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2022

On 6th January the long-awaited 1921 Census for England and Wales will be released online by genealogy company Findmypast. No doubt many readers will be keen to consult this vital resource, for general interest or serious genealogical research.

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Picturing Santa

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2021

It is impossible to envisage Christmas without the familiar figure of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, with his rosy cheeks, bushy white beard and jolly red suit. Yet our interpretation of this seasonal gentleman has evolved over centuries, his image shaped variously in Europe and the USA, eventually finding the festive form widely recognised today.

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A Different Type of Tourism

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2021

As the world slowly recovers from COVID-19, a lot of attention has been given to the question of where we should go on holiday, most particularly can we/can’t we, should we/shouldn’t we travel abroad. And what has been very noticeable has been the speed

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A Hawaiian Princess in Hove

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2021

Many moons ago a friend and retired Town Planner told me the story of how he had been approached by a woman wanting to secure a Blue Plaque for a house in Cambridge Road, Hove where, during the late Victorian period, a Hawaiian princess had lived. Nothing came of the application and the story might have disappeared into the annals of Brighton’s history had it not been for Jane Couldrey who, in 2014, made an installation artwork, including a short film, for exhibition in Hove Museum all about Princess Ka’iuluni’s life: a life full of thwarted expectations.

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A short history of the Brighton Trams

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2021

As far back as 1864 a system of horse trams had been presented to Brighton council. This scheme was rejected on the grounds that the streets around the Hanover district were too steep for horse trams to operate on. Towards the turn of the century and with the development of electric trams, an electric tramways system became a viable proposition and in November of 1898 a Parliamentary bill was prepared enabling the town council to go ahead with a tramway system.

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Seawater Swimming

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2021

Mucking about in the sea has always been a popular activity in Brighton. Some even say the town is one of the original homes of open water swimming in England; we can certainly boast about having the oldest sea swimming club.

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Summer Sandals

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2021

At time of writing (early June) we are enjoying our first ‘heatwave’ of 2021 and many Sussex residents and visitors are wearing t-shirts, shorts, cotton dresses and sandals. Sandals are defined as an open style of footwear comprising a sole secured to the foot with straps over the instep and sometimes around the toes and/or ankle. Sandals may resemble certain other forms of footwear, but the term usually refers to styles that leave most of the foot exposed.

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Mary Adelaide Hare (1865-1945) A Woman of Note

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2021

Earlier this year the twenty-second full Office of National Statistics census took place in the UK. As usual, it counted people and households in England and Wales, but for the first-time respondents were required to answer the questions, all 51 of them, online. Other notable changes in the census procedure took place in 1911 when, for the first time, respondents were asked about their nationality, the duration of their marriage, the number of children born within that marriage, the number of living children and the number who had died. It was also the first census where the forms were completed by the householders and retained, rather than being copied into enumeration books.

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Haile Selassie

Posted in History on May 01, 2021

Brighton has built a bit of a reputation as a place to see famous faces, with a long list of notable people who have visited over the years. They have come to our ‘city by the sea’, for all sorts of reasons - not just to be seen – but to enjoy our fashionable seafront, partake of our culture, embrace our liberal ways and, of course, go shopping. When His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia came he wanted to look at dairy farms!

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Wash Day

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2021

Today doing the laundry is a quick, mechanised task, yet less than a century ago wash day was a laborious process, a major domestic ritual.

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Subversive Stitches

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2021

Needlework and embroidery are embedded in women’s history, chiefly considered a domestic craft and entwined with traditional notions of femininity. Yet men have also embroidered and a broader analysis reveals how embroidered textiles have often used pictures and words to convey powerful messages and complex meanings.

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Last Orders Please!

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2021

I read recently that the UK’s drinking habits are changing. Of course, this is related to Covid-19 restrictions, the closure of pubs and the move to home drinking, but it is also connected to the rise in non-alcoholic alternatives. It seems that more people, young and old, are developing a taste for booze-free beverages. Even in our house, for decades an outpost for Harvey’s Brewery, the odd bottle of Elderflower Pressé has made an appearance! Although, to be fair, the UK’s drinking culture and history of alcohol consumption has always been one of fluctuation and change.

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King of Chefs & Chef to Kings

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2021

We may think famous chefs are a new phenomenon, a product of our seemingly endless fascination with celebrity and our voracious appetite for “entertainment”, but perhaps not!

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All Dressed Up

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2020

The adoption of ‘disguises’ dates back millennia, masks and special costumes playing an important role in magical and religious rites, as well as public spectacles and celebrations. By the 1800s many different occasions required donning ‘fancy dress’ - something that many still enjoy today.

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The Nine Day Miracle of Dunkirk

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2020

2020 has been quite a year for commemorations. At the end of May our thoughts were directed to remembering the nine days, 80 years ago, when 338,225 Allied troops were evacuated from the French port of Dunkirk and its surrounding beaches.

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The African Princess Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-1880)

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2020

The story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta is one many people are familiar with – the child princess sold into slavery who, through a remarkable twist of events, was liberated and became the goddaughter of Queen Victoria – but her connection to Brighton is perhaps another, less well known, twist.

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Hidden from History: A Statue for Mary Clarke

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2020

In recent weeks people across the world, have been re-evaluating the political and cultural significance of statues. There is disquiet about who and what has been commemorated. There is also a recognition, one that has been growing since 2018 (the centenary of the first women getting the Vote) that, despite women’s many achievements, hardly any named statues across Britain commemorate them. Women have literally been ‘hidden from history’.

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A Walk on the Wild Side

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2020

During lockdown many people have discovered or continue to enjoy the pleasures of walking, yet history reveals how recreational walking and rambling was once a niche and often challenging pastime.

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Time for Tea

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2020

or centuries, tea has been a popular drink, shaping many aspects of British culture and even influencing history. Enjoyed by millions, tea-drinking is an important domestic and social ritual, a British institution that has helped many of us during these strange times.

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Preston Park Velodrome

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2020

The Oldest, Working Velodrome in the World. During these strange days of Covid-19, when our lives and, in particular, our sporting lives (actual participant or the sofa-type) are restricted as never before, looking back on past freedoms seems like an activity in itself. Like filling a whole afternoon looking through old photographs and feeling worn-out by the endeavour!

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Hats Off!

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2020

Prompted by the windy weather, we decided this month to look briefly at male hats over the past 500 years. Head coverings were first used for warmth and protection, but soon assumed an additional ornamental and symbolic meaning as the wearing of headgear became a mark of identity, authority and respectability. Hats can be mainly functional (for example, helmets) but are usually considered dress items that complement or complete an outfit and so their style generally links to the prevailing fashion and trends in hairdressing. Hats can be tilted at different angles, adding an air of panache, like John Steed from The Avengers; certain hats have been popularly associated with famous individuals, like the homburg favoured by King Edward VII, Sherlock Holmes’s iconic deerstalker and Maurice Chevalier’s straw boater.

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Pockets

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2020

For centuries pockets have been an essential feature of dress, containing all the paraphernalia of a person’s life, from gloves, watches and money to pencils and sweets. Historically the term ‘pocket’, a Norman diminutive of Old French ‘poke’, referred to a leather or cloth pouch, or purse, suspended from a man or woman’s girdle, used since ancient times for carrying necessities such as money, tools and food.

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Celebrating Fashion in 1820

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2020

As we enter a new year and a new decade, our first history feature of 2020 looks back to the fashions of two centuries ago: 1820. A bicentenary article, then, this also marks the accession to the throne in January 1820 of Brighton’s most celebrated character, the Prince Regent, following the death of his father, King George III.

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A Regency Christmas at the Royal Pavilion

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2019

Celebrations at the Royal Pavilion for the Christmas and New Year period of 1822-23 were so extraordinarily lavish and indulgent they cost quite literally the accumulated worth of a skilled man’s entire working life.

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Family Photographs from WWII

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2019

In our November issue, coinciding with Remembrance Day, we often commemorate the servicemen and women, and others who have been involved in military conflicts. This year is extra-special, as September marked the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. This has inspired much media coverage, while families and communities are also looking back to that turbulent time, still within living memory for some. Here we examine the kinds of photographic mementoes of WW2 that many of us have at home –studio portraits, formal group scenes and more casual snapshots that collectively record our families’ experiences of the Second World War.

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Looking After Baby

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2019

This month our Editor, Joan, has asked me to write about historical aspects of childcare and thought we might focus on how babies have been looked after - or not, as the case may be,

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Brighton as National Foster Mother

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2019

Over the years, Brighton has taken up many identities – the “hospitable hostess to countless seekers for holiday and health”; the spiritual home of the “dirty weekend”; the unofficial gay capital of the UK; the UK’s hippest city… But in September 1939, Brighton took on what must be considered its most audacious role, that of National Foster Mother!

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‘Stop Me and Buy One’

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2019

The first chilled delicacies date back millennia, to when the ancient Chinese, Romans and other early civilisations combined snow or ice with fruit juice or dairy products for the enjoyment of the social elite. In the Levant sharbat/sherbet became renowned as a summer refreshment, but this concoction, created by whisking ice shavings or snow into sugar syrup flavoured with fruit juices and floral essences, and Middle Eastern-style sherbets replicated in fashionable 17th-century London coffee houses weren’t genuine ices, but scented water-based drinks - sometimes cooled with ice or snow, never frozen.

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Full Steam Ahead? Doble Steam Cars - Recollected & Appreciated

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2019

How to achieve clean transport is of great and immediate interest and I thought readers might like to share the story of another alternative form of automative excellence.

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A Short History of Gin

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2019

In the 18th century, long before effective water purification and treatment systems were discovered, quenching the thirst could be hazardous, even deadly. Historically most people consumed ale or light beer, the wealthy enjoyed wine, children were given milk and paupers usually had to drink unsafe water. Enter alcoholic spirits, notably gin - affordable and widely available. Vendors roamed the streets pushing handcarts loaded with gin that, costing only one penny a quarter-pint, was far cheaper than either beer or ale. Gin temporarily disguised the feeling of cold and the hunger pangs of the poorest and most vulnerable in Georgian society: it also led to crime, debt, unemployment, neglect and death. Women, particularly, often bought gin as a medicinal drink to soothe the nerves, possibly giving rise to the epithet ‘Mother’s ruin’, although its precise origins are debateable.

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A Walk in the Park

Posted in History on May 01, 2019

As the days grow longer and the outdoors beckons, we appreciate more than ever the beautiful public parks of Brighton & Hove. There is a fascinating history attached to city parks – open green spaces for the relaxation and enjoyment of all. An early example is St James’s Park in Westminster, open to the public since the 1660s. However, most municipal parks developed later, many becoming established in the Victorian age.

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Tattoos over Time

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2019

Today in Brighton tattoos are everywhere and we have several established tattoo studios. Although not always so fashionable as they are today, tattooing dates back millennia, both scar tattooing and primitive puncture tattooing being practised since Neolithic times. Early tattoos may sometimes have had a medicinal function: the mummified body of Otzi, ‘the Tyrolean Iceman’ (4th century BC) had multiple small markings apparently created by cutting the skin and rubbing in charcoal; concentrated around joints and the lower back, their locations suggest the relief of rheumatic pain, possibly an early form of acupuncture.

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Oldland Windmill - A story of survival and restoration

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2019

Most readers will be familiar with Jack and Jill, the pair of windmills sitting atop the Downs at Clayton. But next time you visit Jill, the white post mill, look out across the weald and you’ll spot little more than a mile to the north another post mill perched on the first greensand ridge. This is Oldland Windmill.

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Lonely Hearts

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2019

We might be forgiven for thinking that today’s internet dating, introduction agencies and lonely hearts advertisements are a modern phenomenon, but the open search for love and marriage dates back centuries. The first known ‘lonely heart’ advertisement in the world (supported by firm evidence) appeared in England in 1695, in a weekly pamphlet. The Licensing of the Press Act restricting printing and publishing had recently lapsed, prompting a young man to place the following advertisement: ‘30 years old and in possession of a good estate and who desires to meet a young gentlewoman with a fortune of £300.’

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Dieting through the Ages

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2019

January is the month for New Year’s Resolutions and top of many lists will be getting trim and fit after the inevitable extravagances of Christmas. Dieting and preoccupation with body image may have reached extremes in our modern world, yet such concerns are not new, for history reveals a catalogue of attempts at weight management, from alcohol, pills, cigarettes and soap to healthy eating programmes.

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Mrs Beeton’s Christmas

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2018

The first collections of recipes and hints for good kitchen practice were published in the late-1700s, followed by improved volumes in the early-1800s. However it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the most famous of all domestic handbooks was published, the Victorian classic: Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, also published as Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book.

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Commemoration

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2018

As we all know the Armistice of Compiègne came into force at 11 a.m. Paris time on Monday 11th November 1918 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”) and brought the fighting to an end.

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The Home Dressmaker

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2018

As autumn arrives we may spend more time at home and take up indoor pursuits, perhaps home dressmaking – a traditional domestic skill. Home sewing is far less common now than in our mothers’ and grandmothers’ day, but was once part of daily life, practised in almost every household.

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Best Foot Forward: Children’s Shoes

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2018

When I was young and moaning about having to wear boring regulation school shoes, my Dad told me to consider myself lucky, as when he was a child in 1920s London some of his classmates had no shoes at all, attending school in bare feet. This seemed unbelievable to me, but, sadly, was true: leather shoes and boots were expensive and often difficult for large families to afford, especially in the days before the welfare state.

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In the Shade: A History of Parasols

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2018

Parasols closely resemble umbrellas - and for good reason. The word ‘umbrella’ derives from Latin umbra (‘shade’) and initially the shade-giving device was used as essential protection from the sun. Ancient sculptures dating from around the 11th century BC reveal sunshades being used over 3,000 years ago in Egypt, India and the Middle East, and later they were adopted by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Initially inspired by the shady canopies of trees, the first portable sunshades used in hot climates were literally large fleshy leaves, such as banana leaves, or even a converted tree branch.

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A History of Tennis Gear

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2018

In 1875 lawn tennis was first included in the activities of Wimbledon’s All England Croquet Club (founded 1868) and in 1877 the club, re-named The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, instituted the first Lawn Tennis Championships. This celebrated annual event remains the greatest international tennis tournament and Wimbledon champions are undisputed style leaders on the courts. Here we look back at some of the cumbersome modes worn before the evolution of more modern tennis gear.

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Albion's World Cup Connections

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2018

After watching Brighton & Hove Albion beat Manchester United to secure another season in the Premier League, the best footballing spectacle is undoubtedly the World Cup. Every four years, teams from across the planet represent their countries in a month-long competition seen by billions around the globe.

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Early Continental Travel: The Grand Tour

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2018

As summer time and holidays beckon, we look back at early British foreign travel and the Grand Tour, which inspired the term ‘tourist’.

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Blue Plaque for Brighton Suffragettes?

Posted in History on May 01, 2018

With many towns and cities marking the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act with statues and plaques for their suffrage pioneers, it is not surprising that support is growing for a campaign to commemorate our Brighton Suffragettes with a blue plaque in the city centre. Hove already has a plaque to Victoria Liddiard, one of the last surviving Suffragettes, who died in 1992 at the age of 102.

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How does your garden grow?

Posted in History on May 01, 2018

After a disappointing start to the gardening year, hopefully by May we shall be tending the flowerbeds and enjoying a profusion of spring blooms. People have long grown plants for food, clothing and medicine, but until around 1800, gardening for pleasure was an exclusive pastime for a privileged minority. So how have we become a nation of gardeners?

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A History of Chocolate

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2018

As we indulge in our favourite Easter eggs these holidays, let’s consider the history of chocolate and how it became such a prominent aspect of our lives.

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Famous Brighton Women

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2018

As International Women’s Day comes around (Thursday 8th March), we celebrate some of the extraordinary women who have contributed to the colourful history of our city. Cross-dressing soldier and centenarian

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Making Eyes

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2018

Since the Stone Age humans have adorned themselves using colour, initially during rituals and later for decorative effect. By the time of the ancient civilisations of the Near/Middle East and adjacent Mediterranean region, sophisticated personal grooming practices and widespread use of beauty aids were well established. Early face paints were mineral pigments ground into powder, certain preparations being used to shade and outline the eyes. At Ur (in today’s southern Iraq) Sumerian eye cosmetics were buried with the dead c.2500 BC: cockleshell containers held multi-coloured pigments including purple, blue, green and black. These closely resembled substances found in ancient Egypt (c.3100- 332 BC) and elsewhere: copper compounds produced greens and blues and galena – a dark grey ore – created kohl. Mixed with water or oil, the paste was applied to the eyes with a finger or an applicator of wood or bone.

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The Last Electrobus

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2018

A smidgen over a hundred years ago in April 1917 the country’s last electrobus started on its final journey from Hove to Brighton. It passed the elegant Victorian edifice of Hove Town Hall and trundled along Western Road into Brighton before disgorging its very last passenger in Castle Square, at the bottom of North Street.

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Christmas Greetings

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2017

Like many of the festive customs we enjoy today, exchanging greetings cards with relatives, friends and neighbours originated over 170 years ago in Victorian Britain, at a time when early Christmas rituals like carols were being revived and new customs embraced. The first commercial Christmas card was introduced by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant and inventor who had assisted Sir Rowland Hill with the launch of the Uniform Penny Post in January 1840. Previously, postage had been prohibitively expensive, but the pre-paid penny post was both efficient and affordable for the wider population and sending items through the post gained in popularity. On 1st May 1843, Cole commissioned the artist John Callcott Horsley to design a special card for people to send at Christmas. Horsley’s hand-coloured illustration portraying an affluent family enjoying a lavish meal and raising their wine glasses to the onlooker was reportedly controversial, considered irreligious by some; however, two runs of Horsley’s cards were printed, totalling 2,050, and all sold within that year at one shilling each. The Christmas card tradition was born.

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WW1: Women in Uniform

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2017

Remembering this November the loyal and courageous men and women who served in times of war and following the continuing 1914-1918 Centenary commemorations, here we revisit the evolving role of women during the Great War. Our article of November 2015 considered those who trained as VAD nurses and undertook transport and postal work early on, more becoming ‘munitionettes’ and labouring in heavy industry, particularly from 1915. As the rising death toll overseas fuelled demand for more servicemen, prompting conscription in 1916, so women became indispensable on the Home Front, some eventually being recruited into military units. By 1917 an unprecedented number of British women were in uniform.

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Revolution!

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2017

This year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution – political uprisings that toppled Imperial Russian rule, shook a world already ruptured by WW1 and even has an intriguing connection to Brighton.

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Harvest Home

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2017

September: children are returning to school and days are shortening. The harvest is in and summer will soon incline towards autumn. The word ‘harvest’ originally derived from the Old English word hærfest, meaning ‘autumn’, then came to describe the season for reaping and gathering grain and other crops. Since pagan times in Britain, thanks have been given for successful harvests, through prayer, feasting and celebrations.

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Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club’s 116 Year History

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2017

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club’s history is illustrious, bizarre, tragic, tumultuous and heart-warming. Endeavouring to fit all the promotions, relegations, ups, downs, boardroom struggles, protests, ground moves and sheer do-or-die tension into a thousand words is going to be tricky!

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Bathing Machines and Beach Tents

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2017

High summer and school’s out! Off to the beach…Our love of the seaside dates back centuries, originating with the spas visited for therapeutic purposes. In around 1626 a natural spring was discovered beneath cliffs near Scarborough, mineral water that proved an effective remedy for minor ailments. Sea water began to be identified as having similar curative properties to spring water and learned medical publications extolled the benefits of both sea bathing and drinking sea water. Subsequently Scarborough evolved into a sophisticated commercialized town, Britain’s first seaside resort; by the mid-1700s Brighton, Margate, Weymouth and other well-appointed coastal settlements were also attracting a wealthy, fashionable clientele.

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A Short History of Seaside Photography

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2017

Visiting the seaside became fashionable in Georgian Britain, gaining widespread popularity during the Victorian age when expanding railway networks offered fast, affordable travel to developing coastal resorts. Just as seaside tourism was advancing, so the new portrait medium of photography was becoming established, with pioneering professional photographers launching commercial studios during the 1840s. As David Simkin, local photographic historian, explains, the first photographic portrait rooms opened in Brighton on Monday 8th November 1841 at 57 Marine Parade, their proprietor William Constable

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‘The bathing was so delightful this morning’

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2017

From 17 June, a new display at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton will explore Jane Austen’s relationship with coastal towns and life in Brighton during her time, to mark the bicentenary of her death. Jane Austen by the Sea will look at the seaside context of Austen’s novels and letters and paint a picture of the fashionable seaside resorts in the late 18th and early 19th century. When I was asked to curate a display on one of the most important and influential writers in literary history, I was thrilled, especially as it was through literature that I fell in love with the English language and British culture in general.

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Café Culture

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2017

Brighton & Hove residents reputedly drink more coffee and visit more cafés than anyone elsewhere in the UK. Evidently cafés, café bars and coffee shops play an important role in our lives, as places of refreshment, social venues and work hubs - and this all began centuries ago.

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CONSTABLE & BRIGHTON

Posted in History on May 01, 2017

Brighton is having a bit of a John Constable moment this year. A beautiful exhibition of his seaside paintings runs at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery from April to October and, during Brighton Festival in May, his former home and studio in the city will be an Open House - with artists making modern works inspired by his vivid landscapes.

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Fashion’s Fools

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2017

For centuries, the foibles of fashion have been mocked and condemned. Early Christian churchmen preaching humility denounced overt sartorial display as sinful and ungodly. When tailoring advanced in the late-11th and 12th centuries, provocative tight-fitting garments, long pointed shoes, excessive jewellery, and long hair in men were proclaimed immoral, temptations of the Devil. These modes were also considered unmanly: in Historia Novorum in Anglia, historian and ecclesiastic Eadmer related how by 1100 ‘…

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Hair Today…. A History of Wigs

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2017

The hair on our heads, besides keeping us warm, is an important distinguishing feature and throughout history wigs and false locks have been used to replace or augment natural tresses, often in the name of fashion, for practicality, to indicate social status, even religious faith.

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Winter Warmers: Hand-knitting

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2017

As winter drags on, we look at the history of hand-knitted clothes. An ancient, widely-practised craft, knitting is the creation of fabric from a single thread formed into horizontal rows of loops that interlock with each subsequent row. Historically, the natural yarns available were linen, hemp, wool and later cotton, although wool was often favoured for its softness and warmth. For centuries, wooden sticks, bone, ivory or quills were the basic hand-tools used, until fine steel needles became more commonplace in the 1800s. Over time, diverse customs evolved in different areas, regional variations giving the knitting of specific locations a strong visual identity; yet the familiar knit and purl loop construction was almost universal and similar knitted textiles have been produced worldwide for centuries.

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The Forever Changing Face of The North Laine

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2017

I used to live in the North Laine, we moved there in January 1985 and I can’t tell you how exciting it was. We could open the door of our Robert Street house and (if we avoided getting run over by Argus lorries) find everything we needed just steps away: there was a fish monger, a butcher, a baker and a green grocer just in Sydney Street alone; in Gardner Street, a small Tescos, a purveyor of eggs and a shop that sold shoes for vegetarians. Then there was delicious bread from Infinity Foods, a selection of great pubs, and, for a truly new shopping experience, a visit to Anita Roddick’s Body Shop in Kensington Gardens. As young people-about-town we really didn’t want for more!

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Christmas shopping traditions

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2016

The rampant consumerism at this time of year can seem excessive, almost overwhelming, and yet the avalanche of marketing and merchandise is not entirely new, as Christmas shopping has been big business for generations. Well over a century ago, advertisements for seasonal goods loomed large on billboards, sandwich boards and posters, filled handbills and periodicals, while many shops began stocking their festive fare in September or October.

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30th June 1916 “The Day that Sussex Died”

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2016

30th June 1916 “The Day that Sussex Died” Commemorating The Battle at Ferme du Bois near Richebourg

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Behind the Wheel

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2016

On 6th November a unique local spectacle takes place, the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Organised by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) and Bonhams, this is the world’s longest-running motoring event, attracting participants and spectators from around the globe. The original Emancipation Run of 14th November 1896 celebrated the passing of the Locomotives on the Highway Act (or ‘Red Flag Act’) that raised the official road speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mph to 14mph and abolished the requirement for a man on foot to precede these vehicles. The event was first formally re-enacted in 1927 and has been commemorated every subsequent November, except during WW2 and in 1947, when petrol was rationed. This year marks the 120th anniversary of the original 1896 Emancipation Run.

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Hopping Time

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2016

For many women, September is ‘hopping time’; the coming of autumn, the time when they, their mothers and grandmothers made the annual journey to Kent. It is now just a fond memory held by a diminishing few, but nevertheless a marker in the year that is not forgotten.

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Dressed for Action

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2016

With the focus now on the Olympic Games, we look back at nineteenth and early-twentieth century sports and sportswear. Before the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, men enjoyed energetic activities like football, rowing and athletics, wearing comfortable adaptations of regular dress or early sportswear. Conversely, undertaking strenuous exercise and winning at competitive events weren’t deemed appropriate for Victorian ladies and underlying these issues were deep-rooted concerns over dress, particularly the ‘immodest’ exposure of the legs, or even their clothed outline. It wasn’t considered decent for women to wear the kinds of clothes that would provide the physical freedom needed to excel in sports and early female sportswear aimed to conceal, hampering the progress of female competition sport. Only in the early-1900s when clothing conventions began to relax, did a shift occur, the gradual development of more modern, movement-enhancing sportswear furthering the expansion of the Games and sporting prowess.

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New Road – One of the Most Popular Places in the City

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2016

In May I wrote about the Brighton Unitarian Church and, whilst doing my research, stumbled upon some interesting stories about the construction and history of New Road. It is now one of the most popular places to visit in the City, but it started as just a small part of the Prince Regent’s convoluted plan to form an enclosed estate around the Pavilion.

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Fit for a Queen: Royal Style 1926-2016

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2016

Historically the social elite always led fashion and, although dress today is shaped by various influences, the general public remain fascinated by royal style. Born on 21st April 1926, Her Majesty the Queen made her public debut in May, wearing the hereditary royal christening robes of silk and lace, first created for Queen Victoria’s daughter, Vicky in 1841. She still attracts worldwide attention ninety years later.

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Brighton Unitarian Church “At Risk”

Posted in History on May 01, 2016

During this year’s festival season, New Road will be positively humming with activity. If you find yourselves there, on the way to the Dome theatre perhaps, watching a street performance or just sitting outside a pub soaking up the festival spirit, take a minute to look at the buildings around you. There is one, in particular, different to all the adjacent buildings that I think is definitely worth exploring.

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A Well Kept Secret: The Largest Municipal Rock Garden in Britain

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2016

If asked to write a list of all the public gardens in Brighton, I suspect most people would forget to include The Rockery. This really is one of Brighton’s best kept “secrets”. It gets overlooked by residents and is largely unknown to the countless people who drive past it every day. So, in its 80th year, the Garden Manager, Andy Jeavons, and I thought it would be a good idea to shine a little light on its history, the way it is now and plans for the future.

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Wearing the Trousers

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2016

Who wears the trousers in your house? Unlike modern women, who dress mainly as they please, earlier generations were both restricted and defined as the weaker sex by their ‘petticoats’. As we mark Mother’s Day and International Women’s Day in March, let’s consider some of the pioneering women who defied convention by literally wearing the trousers (or bloomers or breeches), ignoring censure and paving the way for the sartorial freedoms enjoyed today.

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History of Homelessness in Brighton & Hove

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2016

Whichever way you look at it, “the history of homelessness” is a huge subject, both in terms of the number of years it spans and the devastating impact it has had (and still has) on people’s lives.

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Winter Sports and sportswear

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2016

Now, in the depths of winter, we can enjoy seasonal outdoor activities. Festive ice-skating rinks are open to the public at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton and at other picturesque venues, while the dazzling slopes of ski and snowboarding resorts beckon energetic holiday-makers. Expertise in traversing the ice and snow are nothing new: for millennia, the inhabitants of cold climates have had to negotiate snowy landscapes and frozen wastes in order to survive; but in recent centuries what were once essential skills have evolved into pleasurable leisure pursuits and serious competitive sports.

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Scarlet and blue: a traditional uniform at Christmas

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2015

Ever since Georgian mail coaches thundered along turnpike roads and early letter carriers knocked on doors, postal workers have been familiar figures in our streets, wearing their distinctive blue and scarlet uniforms. Although sending festive cards by post is no longer the only method of conveying seasonal greetings, our local postmen/women will, as ever, be fulfilling an important role, delivering cards and parcels and helping to connect relatives and friends in these busy weeks leading up to Christmas.

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Female Uniforms of War: 1915

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2015

During the First World War (1914-18) more British women adopted uniforms than ever before. Apart from the standardised dress worn by nuns, nurses, domestic servants and members of the Salvation Army, adult females had scarcely been seen in uniform, but the proliferation of new war-related organisations created an unprecedented demand for outfits that would create identity, foster an esprit de corps and demonstrate their wearer’s role. Yet initially, when war erupted in August 1914, women struggled to gain the right to serve and to be seen doing their duty. Warfare was considered a masculine arena: genteel ladies were traditionally regarded as passive home-makers, while working women often held subservient positions, so in the early months of the conflict the expected role of females was, in general, not to undertake active work, but to support their men folk and urge them to sign up. Everything would change in 1915.

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Honouring A Remarkable Woman

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2015

A new blue plaque was unveiled in Brighton in September, dedicated to Dr Helen Boyle (1869-1957), and marking the place where she carried out ground-breaking work that changed the lives of countless working class women and girls in Brighton and Hove.

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Saddlescombe Farm The Story of a South Downs Farm

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2015

This month I thought that I would travel outside of Brighton for the subject of my article – just five miles to the hamlet of Saddlescombe, where I found a farm that can trace its history back thousands of years.

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VJ Day Celebrations The World at Peace at Last!

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2015

Although the war in Europe ended in May 1945 it continued in the Far East. And while Britain was busy with street parties and bonfires to celebrate VE Day, British and Commonwealth troops were still fighting in Burma, Singapore and Thailand and thousands of POWs continued to live and die in horrendous conditions.

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Stories from the Sewers

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2015

Today the provision of a safe water supply and the removal of wastes are things that are seldom at the forefront of people’s thoughts, but in past centuries these were major concerns. A water supply is often seen as key to establishing a settlement; locally we describe communities such as Poynings or Plumpton as ‘spring-line settlements’. Small communities can cope with provision of drinking water and the disposal of wastes, but with urban and industrial growth demand for these services outstrips the capacity. During the early years of the 19th century Brighton experienced a massive population growth [103% between 1811and 1821] as a depressed agricultural economy drove people from rural Sussex to booming urban settlements on the coast. These people arrived seeking work and somewhere to live, bringing with them such few possessions as they had, which could include donkeys, cooped hens and a pig or two; all of which would be housed alongside human residents.

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Bridal fashions, 1840s-1940s

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2015

Spring always brings seasonal wedding fairs and June is a popular month for weddings. White bridal ensembles were fashionable within early-Victorian high society, for white garments (difficult to care for) signified elevated status and the colour carried Christian associations of innocence, purity and inferred virginity. This vogue evolved into a tradition following Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in February 1840. Declining the customary heavy state robes, the young queen favoured a light toilette comprising a creamy-white Spitalfields silk dress with a deep Honiton lace flounce and white satin court train ornamented with orange-blossom, on her head a wreath of orange-blossom attached to a lace veil. Her twelve train-bearers also wore white dresses and the charming impression conveyed by the bevy of white-clad ladies was captured in the visual images and popular souvenirs widely circulated after the event.

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Festival Time!

Posted in History on May 01, 2015

Whilst now two distinct entities, together, Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe Festival create the largest arts festival in England; putting Brighton right on the international cultural calendar. This is a spectacular achievement and one that deserves to be made a song and dance about and, in 2016, in its 50th anniversary year, the organisers of Brighton Festival intend to do just that. Plans are already being hatched to roll out the red carpet for some really special events. But, ahead of their celebrations, I thought it would be an idea to look back to see how it all came about.

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Historical Hat Parade

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2015

The arrival of spring always brings a renewed excitement about clothing and fashion as evidenced by Easter Bonnet Parades, so it seems the ideal time to look back and take inspiration from some of the more extravagant headwear from the past.

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“Tuppence, Please!”

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2015

In conversation with my friend Lavender, I mentioned that I was looking for a Brighton “character” to write about and she suggested Henry Ratty. How could I resist such a name? Disappointingly though, my research failed to uncover a tale of passion, sacrifice or murder, but he can be credited with a sort of celebrity, at least historian John George Bishop, writing in 1897, thought so: “There were few men better known to Brighton visitors and residents than Mr Henry Ratty. He was regarded as a Brighton “character” and his good-tempered, smiling features, and obliging manner were long borne in remembrance by many old Brightonians”. It can also be said that Henry was closely associated with a golden period in the town’s development, when, for a time, it was the busiest cross-channel port in Britain.

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The Turbulent Life and Times of Sake Dean Mahomed aka “Dr Brighton” (1759 – 1851)

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2015

The history of Asian immigration to Britain does not begin in the 1950s, with post-war labour demands; it goes back much further to the founding of the East India Company in the 1600s and an early and distinctive chapter in this history features Sake Dean Mahomed (also Deen Mohomet). Travelling from India to make a home here, Mahomed demonstrated a resourcefulness and adaptability that was quite remarkable. His skill at reinvention enabled him to move from boy soldier in India to our very own Dr Brighton and, along the way, be the first Indian to publish a book, own a restaurant and do “shampooing” in England.

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The Winter Coat

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2015

Today our modern lifestyle, current fashion trends and advanced weatherproof textiles mean that not all of us possess a traditional winter coat, but in the past a warm woollen cloak, mantle or sturdy overcoat were considered essential items in the outdoor wardrobe.

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“May Everything Go Off Nice And Smooth This Xmas!”

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2014

I know that Christmas is coming because I have had a “visitation”. Nothing particularly existential (or as disturbing as the face of Jacob Marley), more a dream involving my friend Sally! I dreamt of arriving at Sally’s house in Patcham where all was ready for Christmas – the perfect festive scene - the tree was beautifully decorated, at its foot were piles of beautifully wrapped presents and the mantelpiece was covered with cards. My mild surprise on arriving soon turned to panic when I realised that it was Christmas Eve and I had done nothing to prepare for my own family’s Christmas, had not even bought my cards!

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An Act of Remembrance

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2014

Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to remember all those who have suffered and died in conflict and all those who mourn them. On the 9th November this year, services around the country will be framed to ensure that no-one is forgotten. And in this spirit, we should perhaps spare a thought for the 16 German prisoners of war buried in Bear Road Cemetery, Brighton.

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A Call to Arms: Taking a Different View

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2014

Images from the start of the war in August 1914 are familiar to us all now; the cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace, the surge of patriotism through the country and the rush to the recruitment offices, where men inspired by romantic ideas of duty, honour and glory, eagerly took the King’s shilling.

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Back to School: A Short History of School Uniform

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2014

As the new academic year beckons, most local schools are encouraging a smart, standardised image for their pupils. Until fairly recently relaxed polo shirts and sweatshirts in a specified colour and bearing the school’s logo graced many Brighton & Hove schools, but the past few years have seen a return to a more traditional uniform comprising tailored trousers or skirt, a shirt, tie, V-necked jersey and blazer. Adherents consider that a closely-prescribed, formal school uniform reflects well on the institution and benefits its pupils, helping to raise standards of personal appearance, fostering an esprit de corps among students and even improving conduct.

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Brighton: The Summer of 1914

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2014

There is something very appealing about looking back exactly one hundred years. It’s just beyond our memory, but was, nevertheless, experienced by people who lived in the houses we now live in, sent their children to the schools we went to, visited the parks, cinemas and theatres we still enjoy. And in the summer of 1914, despite rumours of war, Brighton was a busy seaside resort playing host to holiday-makers, day trippers and those looking for fun, just as it is today. In fact, Brighton was experiencing a bit of a tourist boom, benefitting from the very natural disinclination on the part of many to risk Continental travel.

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Bathing beauties

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2014

July is here and the summer holidays are imminent. As we head to Brighton & Hove seafront or journey along the coast for a day on the beach, let’s look back at the history of sea bathing and past fashions in swimwear.

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The London to Brighton Bike Ride

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2014

Velocipede (Latin for “fast foot”) is a collective term for any of the various early forms of human-powered land vehicle, like the unicycle, the tricycle and the quadracycle. The most common type of velocipede was, and still is, the bicycle. Something that we are all very familiar with in Brighton, or ‘Cycling Town’ as it is known to some – the place where the Council have multi-million pound plans to create a European centre of excellence for cycling.

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The Battle of Lewes 750

Posted in History on May 01, 2014

Whilst we may be in the midst of Brighton festival madness our neighbours in Lewes also have some pretty extensive plans in place for May. Not the Festival, the Fringe or even the Great Escape, but the Battle of Lewes 750, designed to commemorate events that took place in May 1264 which, some believe, shaped the future of democracy in this country.

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The Countess of Huntingdon and her Connexion

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2014

People new to Brighton (or just the young), may be surprised to know that there was, until relatively recently, a chapel in North Street; directly opposite the entrance to New Road where Huntingdon Towers, the language school, is today. I was certainly surprised by this discovery, even more so by the fact that it was built by a woman; a woman who felt so passionately that she was prepared to sell her jewellery to pay for it; a woman who took on roles normally attributed to men and went on to form ‘The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion’ – her own society of preachers and a popular religious movement.

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Brighton Hippodrome

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2014

At the time of writing, the future of Brighton Hippodrome remains uncertain. Council Planners have received the required information from Alaska Development Consultants and their application to turn the Hippodrome into an eight-screen cinema is now valid. What happens next is a period of public consultation and interested parties have until the 4th March to make their feelings known. What is not in question is the role this Grade-II* listed building has played over the years in developing Brighton’s reputation as a centre for cultural tourism and, indeed, the place to be on the South Coast. It actually started life in 1897 as an ice-rink. Designed by Lewis Kerslake and situated on the east side of Middle Street, it had a long stuccoed façade with short towers at each end. Its neighbours included residential houses, inns, the Union Charity School, which was founded in 1805 and was the first public elementary school in Brighton, and the fabulously decorated Middle Street Synagogue, built in 1874.

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A Short History of Perfume

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2014

In the run-up to St Valentine’s Day many will be heading for the perfume counters or scouring the internet for a loved one’s favourite fragrance. Sensual and captivating, fine perfumes have long been associated with luxury and romance.

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Journeys - Holocaust Memorial Day

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2014

Monday 27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day and this year the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust have taken as their theme ‘journeys’: how the experience of people who suffered in the Holocaust under Nazi persecution is characterised by forced journeys - journeys often undertaken in terror and ending in death, but also journeys that ended in survival, new lives and new homes.

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Fashion History at Christmas

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2013

As Christmas and the New Year approach, the fashion magazines and shops are bursting with festive occasion wear, those must-have sequinned tops, statement dresses and stylish suits for the party season. Christmas celebrations began in earnest in the early Victorian era and here we look at how formal dress for dinners, dances and other evening functions evolved over the following century.

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The Night of the Fires

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2013

Whether you are lighting sparklers in your back garden or watching £12,000 worth of fireworks being let off at the Sussex County Cricket Ground you will be doing so in compliance with an Act of Parliament passed in 1606, ‘for a publique thanksgiving to almightie God everie yeere on the fifte day of November’.

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From Genteel Watering Place to Day Trippers’ Paradise

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2013

Clergy denounced the iron horse as an invention of the Devil, breathing out the black smoke of Hades. Medical men had doubts as to the effect of speed on the human constitution, particularly on delicate females. Many thought the railway was just unnecessary – the present carriage service from London was perfectly adequate – and who knew what environmental and economic effects it might have on the area? The well-to-do, in particular, raised objections about the likely impact on their genteel watering place, turning it into a noisy resort for the Cockney hordes. But, however ‘reasoned’ the protest, because of its wealth and fame, Brighton was an inevitable magnet for developers and the arrival of the railway was inescapable.

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The Friends’ Meeting House

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2013

Back to school, college or university? Or, perhaps this September you are thinking of attending a course at the Friends Centre? Until August 2005, this was located in the Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, where adult education classes have been held continuously since 1876; thanks in no small part to the Quakers – the Religious Society of Friends.

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Innocent Fun under Canvas

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2013

This August Bank Holiday weekend, like very many before it, the circus will be in town. Zippos Circus will be on Hove Lawns from the 21st August to 3rd September carrying on Brighton and Hove’s long tradition of hosting circuses and fairs.

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Brighton on The Level

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2013

After much restoration work, The Level is due to open again on the 8th August. As part of the Master Plan, the Parks Project Team have been working with community history website ‘My Brighton and Hove’, oral historians and volunteers to create a record of activities and events associated with The Level, including personal stories of time spent there. What they have uncovered demonstrates the town’s long and varied relationship with one of its most prominent open spaces – a recreational park, an events venue for circuses, fairs, bonfires, prize fights and music festivals and, on its less playful side, for public speeches, political demonstrations and military gatherings.

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Brighton: A Town on Trial The Great Conspiracy Case

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2013

The 1950s was an interesting decade: a time of change, a move away from the drab austerity of the post-war years into a lighter, brighter world. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan went so far as to say, “most of our people have never had it so good”. In Brighton, the Promettes were on the seafront, housewives could shop in the town’s first supermarket, 200 workers produced BMW Isetta bubble cars in a factory in New England Street, slums were being cleared and plans were in place for the town’s first tower block flats.

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A HISTORY OF PRESTON PARK

Posted in History on May 01, 2013

In 1628 Preston Manor was described as: “the Mansion House of Preston” with “a gatehouse, stables, coach house and other outhouses, barns, gardens, orchards, bowling green with a plantation of young elms”. William Stanford bought Preston Manor and nearly 1,000 acres of land from his landlord Charles Western in 1794 for £17,000.

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Walking in the Zoo

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2013

In 1870, music hall artist Alfred Vance had a “hit” singing about walking in the zoo on a Sunday. His song is noteworthy, because it is credited with bringing into popular usage the words “OK” and “zoo”. The abbreviation, zoo, had appeared in print before in around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo in Bristol, but did not catch on until Vance sang, the okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo. Unsurprisingly, Fellows of the Zoological Society were not OK with the shortened form. Those associated with the very popular and successful London Zoo, in particular, preferred “zoological garden,” which in turn was short for “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London.”

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Medical Failings, Excoriating Reports and Cover-Ups Victorian Style

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2013

Medical scandals are at the forefront of everybody’s mind at the moment, not least because of the catastrophic failings of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust. The national press even went as far as to dub 6th February 2013 the “NHS’s Darkest Day”. Of course, in the history of medicine there have been many low points, although not all of them were the subject of such close scrutiny by the media and the general public.

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Brighton’s Most Famous Ambassador, Sportsman and Philanthropist: Sir Harry Preston

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2013

In February I usually write something connected to Valentine’s Day: times in our past when the tradition of courtly love, romantic love and even mass-produced, commercial love flourished. However, the focus of this month’s article would not, I fear, be considered a heart throb – a little too short, a little too manicured, with a passion for a little too much cologne! But, and this is a huge but, there is no doubt that he was a man with an enormous heart, “The friend of Princes and the prince of friends” (Brighton and Hove Herald, 15th August 1936).

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AUSTERITY IN BACKYARD BRIGHTON IN THE THIRTIES

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2013

I had heard, in the 80s, about the ‘slum photographs’, as they were known, in the keeping of the Chief Environmental Health Officer of Brighton Borough Council, so I asked him if I could see them. He said I could, if he could find them. Two years passed and I heard nothing so I gave up. I thought that they might have been stolen.

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Don’t try this at home! The hazardous world of the Victorian parlour game

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2012

If you are looking to switch off the television, computer and game console this Christmas and play some old-fashioned family parlour games you might want to think twice. The words ‘health and safety’ did not trip off the Victorian tongue and certainly not where Christmas was concerned. We recall the candle-bedecked Christmas tree with its inflammable trimmings and the flaming Christmas pudding but less well-known are the fire-themed parlour games.

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The Changing Face of Commemoration

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2012

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month millions of people observe a two-minute silence to commemorate those who died in the two world wars and all subsequent conflicts. The 11th November this year will be the 94th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, signalling the end of four years or war – the Great War, 1914-1918.

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The Witches of Brighton and Sussex

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2012

It’s Hallowe’en soon and witches will be abroad. There may be covens of witches in Brighton and Hove preparing to celebrate the ancient magic of witchcraft at this very moment. Who knows? Perhaps the people living next door to you are followers of Wiccan. The neighbours of Doreen Valiente, who had a flat at 6 Tyson Place, Grosvenor Street, Brighton, certainly lived next to a witch, indeed, some called her ‘Queen of the Witches’.

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Fun in the Water Aquatic Entertainers

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2012

Caught up in the excitement surrounding the Olympics, I went down to the beach to watch the opening ceremony and, while the stream of teams from countries I had never heard of ambled across the Big Screen, I gazed out along the shoreline to the poor old West Pier and the site of the new i360. With construction now scheduled for the autumn 2012 it does seem that this really is going to happen. The West Pier Trust have said that they are delighted and have described the i360 as a “vertical pier” and a “worthy successor to Eugenius Birch’s masterpiece, the West Pier”. Instead of walking out over the sea as the Victorians did, we Elizabethans will rise 150 metres in the air to admire the panoramic views.

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Princess Charlotte and the Changing Character of Childbirth

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2012

Charlotte may be considered the “forgotten princess”, but her tragic death in childbirth precipitated a new age in medicine, ending arch-conservatism in obstetrics, and bringing about change which has benefited generations of women.

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Charlotte, the Forgotten Princess

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2012

The Prince Regent, later George IV, married his cousin, Princess Caroline of Brunswick in 1795. Princess Charlotte of Wales, born in 1796, was their only child. Her parents separated three months after her birth and Charlotte’s upbringing was that of the child of a broken marriage. She spent a lonely and isolated childhood, kept apart from her mother and with a distant father who was jealous of the nation’s affection for his daughter. ‘My mother was bad’ wrote Charlotte ‘but she would not have become as bad as she was if my father had not been infinitely worse’.

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Royal Memories: Duke and Duchess of York’s Visit to Brighton

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2012

In last month’s history notes article reference was made to the visit made by the Duke and Duchess of York to open the east wing of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children on 30 May 1928. And it was mention of a doll being presented to the Royal couple for Princess Elizabeth that particularly caught the attention of one of our readers.

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The British Swimming Champion & a Very Annoyed Chancellor of the Third Reich!

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2012

At the first few modern Olympic Games, swimming events were held in open water. For the Paris 1900 Games, for instance, they took place in the River Seine. However, the rules were formalised in 1908, when the London Games staged the first Olympic swimming competition to be held in a pool. This outdoor pool was built on the infield of the athletics track at White City Stadium and the swimmers were all men; women’s events were not introduced until the Stockholm 1912 Games.

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Enthroned in the Hearts of their People

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2012

Queen Elizabeth II has now become the second monarch in British history to celebrate sixty years on the throne. To mark this fairly momentous achievement, individuals and communities up and down the country will be marking the Diamond Jubilee in a host of different ways and Brighton will be there joining in the fun and games, with plans afoot for a right royal knees up!

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Ditchling Beacon

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2012

Britain has a long history of beacon lighting spanning many hundreds of years. Beacons have been lit on village greens, castle battlements, church towers, farms, beaches, front gardens, car parks and mountain tops to celebrate Royal Weddings, Jubilees and Coronations.

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Fish and Ships

Posted in History on May 01, 2012

At 12.30 p.m. on Sunday 13th May a very peculiar Brighton tradition will take place outside the Brighton Fishing Museum – the annual Mackerel Fayre. This is when The Lord Mayor and other local dignitaries, all wearing their best regalia, come together with members of the Church - this year Father Robert Fayers, Parish Priest St Paul’s and St Michael’s - to bless the nets.

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The Price of Fish

Posted in History on May 01, 2012

It is recorded that on 14th May 1807 some of the first Mackerel landed at Brighton were sent to Billingsgate in London, approximately eight hours away by post chaise, where they were sold for 40 guineas per long hundred (132 fish) equal to seven shillings (35p) each, the highest price ever known in the market.

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Revolutionary Tales

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2012

It will not be news to you, that it is 200 years since the birth of Charles Dickens. Events are being staged to mark the bicentenary of his life and work everywhere - film, TV, theatre, arts performances, exhibitions, festivals, outdoor events, there is even a new iPhone and iPad App to take users on a journey through the darker side of Dickens’s London.

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Frances Burney

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2012

Best known as a novelist and playwright, Frances Burney was also a diarist. She began a diary at the age of 16 and went on to chronicle personal and public events from the early reign of George III to Queen Victoria’s coronation. After the French Revolution, Frances spent time in France and whilst there made medical history by documenting her own mastectomy, which she underwent without anaesthesia.

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Raymond Stanley Noble (1903-1978), Bandleader and Composer

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2012

Ray Noble was born at 1 Montpelier Terrace on 17th December 1903. He studied piano from an early age and at just 19 won an arranging competition staged by The Melody Maker. At 21, he became a staff arranger for the BBC and a year later was named a musical advisor for His Master’s Voice Records. He became conductor of HMV’s house band, known as the New Mayfair Orchestra, and in 1931 wrote his first major hit, “Goodnight Sweetheart”.

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Brighton’s Great Dance Craze

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2012

As a major form of entertainment ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (Strictly or SCD to its devotees) and ‘Dancing on Ice’ cannot hold a glitter ball to the dancing craze that hit Brighton in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Vinegar Valentines A Licence to Misbehave

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2012

The Victorian’s love of syrupy sweet, glittery valentine’s cards is well known, but what is not so well documented is the 19th century ‘craze’ of sending vinegar valentines.

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The ‘hidden’ hospital in Buckingham Road

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2012

When young Pat Blaker, a nurse at Southlands Hospital, arrived in Brighton to begin training as a midwife one day in October 1950, she had trouble finding the Sussex Maternity Hospital.

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Chimney Sweep & Social Activist Harry Cowley (1890- 1971)

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2012

Harry Cowley was born in 1890 and worked in Brighton as a chimney sweep. He was, however, so much more than this. From the 1920s onwards, he was involved in grass-roots social activism, working outside of all political parties for the benefit of local people. With a self-help attitude towards social welfare he organised practical aid for the poor and disadvantaged of the town by mobilising pensioners, moving homeless families into squatted buildings, campaigning for cheap food and running social events and centres.

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“Soot -Oh, Sweep”

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2012

Does your chimney need sweeping? In the past, were you one of the many Brighton residents more likely to say ‘I need Wadeys’, rather than ‘I need a chimney sweep’?

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A Dickens of a Christmas!

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2011

In the [happy] days before television celebrities entered our lives novelists were often accorded this status. Amongst their shining number in the 19th century was Charles Dickens, who was a regular visitor to Brighton. Dickens first came here in October 1837 after finishing Pickwick Papers. He liked the town as a seaside resort and a place to write, indeed, he wrote Dombey and Son whilst staying at the old Bedford Hotel, King’s Road. “I feel much better for my short stay here, also the characters one meets at these seaside places.” He particularly liked taking trips on Captain Fred Collins famous pleasure boat. “The sea was rather choppy and his chatter to the trippers was very witty and amusing,” he wrote.

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Séances, Science & Spiritualism: a Victorian diversion

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2011

On the 11th November 1896 the inhabitants of Preston Manor held a séance for which there is documentary evidence including a transcript of the proceedings so we know exactly what happened that night and the consequences. But what were a family of such high social standing and impeccable conventionality doing dabbling in the occult?

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A Little Piece of Hollywood

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2011

The future of Saltdean Lido is in the balance once again and a campaign has been set up to try and save this major Brighton landmark. The Save Saltdean Lido Campaign is asking the owners, Brighton and Hove Council, to start proceedings against the current lease-holder who, they claim, has failed to adequately maintain the building, action (or lack of it) which should, in their view, result in the forfeiture of the lease-hold. According to Rebecca Crook, Campaign Chair: ‘This extraordinary Grade II* Listed building is decaying day-by-day.”

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Wellhouse at Preston Manor

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2011

Preston Manor is so familiar to us, along with its walled garden, croquet lawn, flint walls and pet cemetery that we think we know all about it, but there is a part that often escapes attention: the old well house.

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Brighton and Hove Celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VII

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2011

Edward VII (aka Albert Edward Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; 9th November 1841 – 6th May 1910) was a very popular character. During his many years as heir apparent he built a colourful reputation for himself, not least as arbiter of men’s fashion and as a man with a large appetite for wine, women and song – well perhaps not so much song as food! He was, in fact, responsible for introducing the practice of eating roast beef, roast potatoes, horseradish sauce and Yorkshire pudding on Sundays. For that alone I like him, as did the people of Brighton and Hove who felt they had a special bond with this charismatic Royal.

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I like Hove. I like its surroundings and I like its climate - King Edward VII

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2011

This year marks the 110th anniversary of King Edward VII’s accession to the throne. Unlike his mother, Queen Victoria, Edward was fond of Brighton and Hove. He first came to Brighton as a baby in 1842; while his parents did not return to the town after 1845, Edward remained a regular visitor for the rest of his life. After the sale of the Pavilion in 1850 Brighton lacked a royal residence, but Edward frequently stayed with local friends, such as the Sassoon family. Once he became King in 1901, Brighton once again found itself a favoured resort of the monarch. In his last years, however, more of the King’s time was spent in neighbouring Hove.

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The Oldest Operating Aquarium in the World

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2011

On Saturday 10 August 1872 Brighton aquarium formally opened to the public. 139 years later it is still entertaining and informing the masses about an underwater world that remains a mystery to most of us. Today visitors to this showpiece of Victorian splendour can see giant turtles, sharks encircling a tropical reef, an Amazon rainforest with razor-toothed piranhas and deadly poison dart frogs. They can also learn about the intricate balance of the oceans and the ways in which man is endangering some species.

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Blue Plaque Magnus Volk (1851 - 1937)

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2011

Magnus Volk (1851-1937) was a pioneer electrical engineer. He is best known for having built Volk’s Electric Railway, now the world’s oldest working electric railway. He also built the unique, but short lived Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, together with its unusual Daddy Long Legs vehicle. In 1888, he built an electric car and equipped his own home and some of Brighton’s public buildings with electric light. Born in Western Road, later moved to Preston Road, and lived at 128 Dyke Road from 1914 until his death in 1937.

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Blue Plaque Captain Samuel Brown (1776 - 1852)

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2011

Captain Samuel Brown (1776 - 1852) lived at 48 Marine Parade while he was supervising the construction of the Royal Suspension Chain Pier, Britain's first pleasure pier and one of only two suspension piers to be built; the second being on the Isle of Wight. Naval officer and civil engineer, Brown pioneered the design of iron chains, cables and the building of suspension bridges.

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Blue Plaque – Martha Gunn (1726-1815)

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2011

Martha Gunn (1726-1815) was the most famous Brighton “dipper”, described as "The Venerable Priestess of the Bath". She lived at 36 East Street, a premises that still stands and proudly boasts a blue plaque honouring her. Martha was a favourite of the Prince of Wales and had free access to the royal kitchens. She died on 2nd May 1815, aged 88, and is buried in St. Nicholas' Churchyard.

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I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside…

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2011

Brighton seafront is to have a new visitor attraction – a giant ferris wheel. Developers are to build a Brighton O on Madeira Drive, opposite The Aquarium. This temporary structure (to be removed by May 2016) will be ready for use this summer and will have the capacity to carry 280 passengers on an 11-minute ride. The Council and local businesses are clearly excited about what has been termed a “high profile visitor attraction” and see it as a new way to bring holidaymakers to the city.

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Blue Plaque Richard Russell (1687 – 1759)

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2011

Dr Richard Russell (1687 – 1759), author of A Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water in the Diseases of the Glands, built Russell House on the site now occupied by The Royal Albion Hotel. From 1754 he and his family lived here during the bathing season in order for Russell to be near his patients and to oversee their sea-water treatments. Dr Richard Russell may be said to be the father of Brighton and, indeed, of the seaside and bathing resorts of Britain.

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Blue Plaque – Maurice Tate

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2011

Maurice William Tate was born on 30 May 1895 at 28 Warleigh Road, Brighton. He died in Wadhust on 18 May 1956. In the 1920s and 1930s he was a Sussex and England cricketer. He was the first Sussex cricketer to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket.

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The Earliest Royal Visit to the City of Brighton and Hove

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2011

Charles II’s one night in Brighton prior to fleeing to France and the arrival of the Prince Regent are usually thought of as the first occasions the Royal family had any connection with the City. However, the first known visit by a monarch did, in fact, happen much earlier. On 12 September 1302, the man who was arguably England’s greatest medieval king, Edward I, stopped in Patcham. It is possible that he knew of Patcham because his longest serving Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pecham, was born there. (Pecham or Peecham was the spelling used for Patcham at the time).

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Blue Plaque – Jack Hobbs

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2011

Sir John Berry (Jack) Hobbs was born 16 December 1882 in Cambridge and died 21 December 1963 in Hove. He was a professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930. Universally known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Master", Hobbs is widely regarded as cricket's greatest-ever opening batsman.

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The Gentleman’s Game

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2011

Listeners to a recent Radio Four programme were asked what most signified the arrival of summer to them. I replied to my radio, as you do, without hesitation: the almost permanent presence of a large, overflowing and potentially smelly, cricket bag in the hall. Summer means cricket in our house as it does to so many others on a local club, county team and international level and this has been the way, particularly in Sussex, for a very long time. Sussex cricket teams can be traced back to the 17th century, but the county’s involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. In fact, Sussex, alongside Kent, is believed to be the birthplace of the sport; cricket having been invented by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times.

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Memories Preston Manor

Posted in History on May 01, 2011

I loved Upstairs, Downstairs in the 1970s, I really loved the new episodes shown on the BBC last Christmas, but I really, really loved Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey. In fact I can’t wait for the second series later this year. These television dramas have given me a taste for Edwardian life; the lives of the servants “downstairs” and their masters “upstairs”; the gradual social and technological changes that took place in all their lives and how the two classes reacted.

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Dress for Excess

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2011

Many of us know of George IV’s passion for architecture and opulent furnishings, apparent by the lavish Royal Pavilion that still graces the heart of Brighton today. Perhaps though, less of us know about this King’s love of fashion?

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A Dialogue Between the Past and the Present with Mrs Muriel Elms

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2011

Sunday 13 February saw the planting of new elms in the centre of Patcham; the place where the old, twin elms had stood for so many years, but the idiom off with the old and on with the new doesn’t apply here. I am sure that I was not the only person to see the new trees in-situ and think of those that had been felled and reflect on all that had been played out in front of them over their long history. Happily though for me, I have had the good fortune to meet a lady willing to talk to me about her first-hand memories of Patcham and Preston Park stretching back to 1913.

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The Royal Escape Nicholas Tattersall | Brighton History

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2011

Before 1750 Brighton doesn’t appear very often in the history books, apart from a few incidents which receive mention; the first in 1541 when, as part of his divorce settlement, Henry VIII granted various manors to Anne of Cleves including Preston; then when poor Deryck Carver, a brewer from Black Lion Street, was burned to death in Lewes, making him one of the first Protestant martyrs in Sussex; then, more famous than either of these two events, is the episode that links the town with Charles II’s escape from England - Cromwellian forces hot on his heels.

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The Popular Figure of the 18th Century Gentleman Smuggler

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2011

Last month all our thoughts were turned to where we were going to purchase the “little extras” we wanted for the festivities. We were on the look out for signs that a bottle of gin was cheaper in Asda than Sainsburys. Now, with Christmas over, we have the additional incentive to buy goods at “sale” prices to help counter the effects of Mr Osborne’s VAT increase.

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A Regency Christmas at the Royal Pavilion

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2010

Celebrations at the Royal Pavilion for the Christmas and New Year period of 1822-23 were so extraordinarily lavish and indulgent they cost quite literally the accumulated worth of a skilled man’s entire working life.

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Brighton as National Foster Mother

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2010

On 22 August 1939, Parliament was recalled and the Emergency Powers Defence Act was instigated. This set in motion wartime regulations, including an evacuation procedure, which had been crystallising since 1922. The signal for evacuation was given on the radio on 31 August 1939 and Operation Pied Piper began the next day. Of the 660,000 evacuees streaming out of London over the next three days, approximately 31,000 arrived in Brighton.* 400 buses and a convoy of cars met the evacuees at the railway station and delivered them to six distribution centres throughout the Brighton area.

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No Ordinary Ghost Story: No Ordinary House

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2010

We all know about Brighton’s restless dead; the woman in white at Preston Manor, the haunted house in Prestonville Road, the famous grey nun in The Lanes, ghoulish monks, martyrs and drowned sailors. The World Horror Convention went so far as to declare Brighton the UK’s ghost capital. There is, however, one haunting, said to have occurred at Patcham Place, that seems to attract less attention.

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Entertainment for the Masses

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2010

On the 22nd September the Duke of York’s cinema celebrates its 100th anniversary. This is a real achievement, especially when so many of its contemporaries, with wonderful names like the Bijou Electric Empire (now Burger King), have long since closed their doors. The history of cinema in Brighton goes back further than 1910 though and encompasses not only the rise and fall of glitzy picture palaces and back street ‘flea pits’, but the very birth of the film industry.

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The Most Notorious Man-Women Story of the Early 20th Century

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2010

I went on an organised walking tour recently of some of Brighton’s more interesting places. Outside The Old Courtroom in Church Street the tour guide regaled us with a fascinating tale that he introduced as similar in theme to the stories surrounding Phoebe Hessel - one of the most well known women of Brighton – who is said to have dressed as a soldier and served in the West Indies in order to be near her lover, Samuel Golding.

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Old Friends

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2010

Everyone will be saddened by the news that the two elms at the centre of Patcham Village - that live so close to each other they form a heart-shaped canopy, have to be felled. They attained monumental stature, 70-80 feet, and it is humbling to reflect upon the dramatic changes they witnessed and were part of in Patcham.

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The Wagners

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2010

The Wagners were of German descent and emigrated to England in 1717. They were hatters to the Monarchy and eventually to the British Army, and were thus quite wealthy and influential. The Brighton connection came about when, in 1784, one of the Wagners’ married the daughter of Henry Mitchell, Vicar of Brighton. Henry Mitchell was also a man of influence, having been a tutor to the future Duke of Wellington and a Sussex Yeoman. One of the sons of this marriage was Henry Mitchell Wagner, who apart from inheriting some of the Wagner wealth, became tutor to the sons of the Duke of Wellington and therefore influential in his own right. In 1824, Henry Mitchell Wagner was appointed Vicar of Brighton at St Nicholas Church, a post he held until his death in1870. Also in 1824, his eldest son Arthur Douglas Wagner was born.

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Oriental Palace Occupied by King-Emperor’ s Oriental Troops

Posted in History on May 01, 2010

I have tried to think when I last visited the Royal Pavilion. I suppose my first visit was in the 1980s when we came to live in Brighton and then again in the 1990s when our children were small. In those intervening years nothing much had changed. The glittering chandeliers, sumptuous furnishings and exotic decoration were all still there, but nothing new appeared to have been added and I guess that is why I have not ventured back. Now there is a reason, a new permanent exhibition has just opened, charting a fascinating chapter in palace’s history.

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Stones at St Peters

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2010

St Peter’s Church has stood at Preston for more than seven hundred years and holds, in its memorial stones, all manner of stories - of people linked to royalty and also to murder.  The oldest graves, from the centuries after the church was built in 1250, no longer survive. One of the earliest memorials is a grey stone plaque in the wall of the bell tower ‘Here lyeth buried the body of Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Richard Shirley, Barronnett who departed this life on 23rd day of April Anno Domini 1684’

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Gangland Brighton

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2010

Gang warfare, racketeering, welshing and protection – no not the Sopranos, but the more seedy and sordid attractions of gangland Brighton in the inter-war years. A side of Brighton that was brought to us by Graham Greene in his 1938 novel Brighton Rock and later the film of the same name, staring Richard Attenborough as the sadistic teenage gangster, Pinkie Brown.

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The Passing of St Valentine

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2010

Sad as it might sound, I haven’t given much thought to St Valentine for quite a few years now, but when I was in the History Centre this week I did take the opportunity to try and discover how people have regarded Valentine’s Day in the past.

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THE SEVEN AGES OF BRIGHTON GENERAL

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2010

When the newly appointed administrator arrived from his Sheffield teaching hospital to take up his post at Brighton General in 1951, he was shocked at what he found. The wards on J Block, for example, had open fires, wooden floors and no curtains at the windows. They were, he later recalled, “like giant cowsheds filled with people”

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Pantomime & Brighton’s Theatrical Heritage

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2009

The origins of British pantomime probably date back to the Middle Ages and blend the traditions of the Italian “Commedia dell’Arte and the British music hall. Commedia was a type of travelling street entertainment that used dance, music, tumbling, acrobatics and buffoonery in a repertoire of stories passed down through generations of touring troupes. Each plot contained stock characters such as the over protective father, Pantaloon, Columbine his daughter, her love the heroic Harlequin and the servant Pulchinello, (who still exists in this country as the puppet Mr Punch)

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Heartbreak Village

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2009

Heartbreak Village is the title of an article that appeared in The Sussex Country Magazine in January 1946. In it the author, Betty Harvey, gives a firsthand account of what happened to Stanmer Park when the Powers-That-Be requisitioned the village, ‘every stick and stone of it’ and handed it over to the military. Betty lived on the Stanmer estate, her father farmed the 700 acres around the village. When war was declared in 1939, she and her family naively thought that they would carry on much as always. They had no premonition of what fate, the War Office or the Ministry of Agriculture had in store for them or their ‘little piece of old Sussex’.

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The Lewes Road Cemeteries

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2009

On the glorious evening of the 10th September the Brighton & Hove Open Door event The Paths of Glory lead to 10 Grade II Listed Buildings on the area of Tenantry Down known as The Lewes Road Cemeteries. The Byzantine oratory, Gothic Revival chapels, mausoleums, Egyptian Pylon and Tabernacle were Romantic and theatrical backdrops but the star of the evening was Nature herself. Golden lambent sunlight filtered through forest-size trees and shone on springy chalk down land turf pawed by badgers. The walkers could only agree with the late Anthony Dale, author of Brighton Cemeteries, that , “ The Extra-Mural Cemetery is one of the most delightful spots in the whole of Brighton.”. And we owe it all to water pollution. In 1850 the disposal of the dead threatened Brighton’s supply of clean water.

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Brighton’s Victorian Railway Heritage

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2009

A new greenway has recently been planted near Brighton Railway Station. It is currently in its maintenance period, before being formally opened to the public later this year. The area has been designated a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and forms part of the approved Masterplan for the Brighton Station Site. It is located to the rear of One Brighton and the Clarenden Centre and the traffic-free path will take in the New England Road Grade II listed bridge. Seating has been placed along the greenway, together with an art installation designed to reflect the site’s Victorian railway heritage (a rocket style steam train I believe).

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Devil’s Dyke: The Largest ‘Dry’ Valley in Britain

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2009

The Beachdown Festival on Devil’s Dyke is happening again this August Bank Holiday weekend and it looks like it will be quite an event, offering an eclectic line-up of music, film and comedy. Not only do the promoters promise 42 hours of entertainment, they also guarantee the driest underfoot-festival site anywhere in the UK - due to the chalk base of the South Downs any rain that falls will simply seep away.

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West Pier Story

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2009

Brighton’s West Pier was the finest pier -ever! As a Grade One listed structure it epitomised the exuberance and exoticism of the British seaside combining raffish buildings and superstructures, with the utilitarian engineering of its pilings and struts, girders and bracings. As with many things ‘Brighton’ the pier was at the cutting edge of contemporary style but also engineering innovation and social change.

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The Hangman and the Corrupt Banker

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2009

For months now our newspapers have been full of stories about bankers, fraud and corruption, so much so that I must admit to feeling a tad weary of the subject. Until that is I found a story about a corrupt English banker who had forfeited his life for his crimes, and discovered that both he and his hangman had lived in Brighton.

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Royal Pavilion Gardens

Posted in History on May 01, 2009

As we all know, Queen Victoria wasn’t a fan of the Royal Pavilion and when her seaside residence on the Isle of Wight was completed she took the opportunity to strip the Pavilion almost bare, leaving it to become the property of the town in 1850. From that time the gardens changed, new paths were laid and seats placed in the shrubbery walks making them the place in the town for promenading.

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The Battle of Lewes Road

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2009

Not the Battle of Lewes, which took place on 14th May 1264 between the forces of Simon de Montford and King Henry III, but a strike action the Brighton and Hove Herald called the ‘Battle of Lewes Road’. A violent and bloody incident leading from The General Strike called by the Trades Union Congress in defence of mineworkers who were being asked to accept a universal seven-day week and a drop in wages of up to 25%.

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Anglo- Saxon Burials in the Seven Dials Area

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2009

I cannot claim to know anything about Anglo-Saxon Brighton, but I did find it really interesting to learn that evidence had been found of these early inhabitants of the town in roads and places I regularly drive along.

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Three Women Called Louisa

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2009

The first was Louisa Edwards, mother of ten children and wife of James Spicer, paper merchant. She was a committed Congregationalists and believer in religious and moral reforms. Her eldest daughter, Louisa, (1839-1914) became a suffragist and activist for women’s rights and her daughter, Louisa, (1872-1966) in turn became one of the world’s leading experts in obstetrics and gynaecology. Together, they made a big impact on the lives of women, especially those living in Brighton.

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Brighton Love Stories

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2009

A weekend spent clandestinely with a lover. How exciting that sounds – theoretically, of course! But the element of sin and guilt, fundamental to the uniquely English and rather old-fashioned concept of the ‘dirty weekend’, is not quite the same now. Romantic couples no longer have the excitement that signing the hotel register as Mrs and Mrs Smith must have created and those wanting a divorce no longer have to wait in anticipation of being caught in flagrante. However, if you were thinking of a little dalliance you are in the right place. With its raffish, tolerant and non-censorious atmosphere Brighton, apparently, remains the nation’s favourite destination for weekends dedicated to sensual pleasures.

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Prosperity and poverty, dereliction and rebuilding, the story of London Road

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2009

A valley running through downland fields. The first development in this area became Brighton’s first suburb, built on the open field known as the North Butts, an area which we can now identify as between London Road, Viaduct Road and Ditchling Road, a triangle ending in the south at what is now St Peter’s church. The first roads to be developed there were Queen’s Place, Marshall’s and Brunswick Rows.

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The Chattri

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2009

It was not so much a New Year’s Resolution, more a need to break the invisible hold the kitchen had gained over me in the last couple of weeks, that made me think about visiting the Chattri. I have never been there before and, for someone who professes a keen interest in all things connected to the First World War, I felt that it was time to rectify this. I must say though that, as soon as I had parked the car and started across the fields, I did feel that perhaps I had made a bit of a mistake. But, in truth, the walk was easy, even for a “non-walker/townie” like me, and after about 30 minutes I came to the Chattri, the resting place of 53 Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton and were cremated on the Sussex Downs near Patcham during the early part of the First World War.

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Winter Solstice

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2008

At this time our attention is once again taken up with Christmas preparations; what shall we eat, what to buy that ‘difficult’ man, will the wrapping paper co-ordinate with the chosen colour scheme and, perhaps this year more than ever, will the funds stretch?

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Unknown Warriors

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2008

A few years ago I met a man who planned to write a book about all the war memorials in Sussex. He wanted to record where the county’s war memorials were and attempt to put faces and personalities to the names inscribed on them. A huge task and, as I found out when I tried to look at the Book of Remembrance at St Peter’s Church, not an easy one.

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A YOUNG LADY JUST ARRIVED IN BRIGHTON…

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2008

“In her imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness…” wrote Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice, describing her character Lydia’s idea of what it would be like to walk about in the town surrounded by masses of soldiers in gaily coloured uniforms.

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Young and Single in Regency Brighton

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2008

On arriving in Brighton young ladies headed straight for a library, such as Baker’s on the Steine or Tuppen’s on Marine Parade. There, they signed the visitors’ book announcing they were in town and, of course, looked to see who else had arrived.

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Shine on Harvest Moon

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2008

Many moons ago I was a secretary, working for a man who would not normally be considered a traditionalist, but for reasons beyond my young-self, he liked to refer to the four quarter days of the year. For example, he would say ‘….after Lady’s Day’ or ‘when the Michaelmas term starts…’. At the time I thought he was completely bonkers, but now I have made the connection between quarter days and the time of year, particularly Michaelmas, September and our harvest festival customs and traditions.

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The Oldest Electric Railway in the World

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2008

I must confess that I am not a great fan of Brighton seafront during the summer months; in fact, I usually go out of my way to avoid it, humbug that I am. However, this August I might be tempted down to the Banjo Groyne to join in some of the celebrations being held to mark the 125th anniversary of Volk’s Electric Railway - the oldest working electric railway in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.

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Wykeham Terrace - Home for “Fallen” Women

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2008

Wykeham Terrace cannot escape attention, located as it is just down from St Nicholas’ Church and only seconds away from the city centre. Architecturally, it is one of the most striking terraces in the whole of Brighton, built in Regency Gothic style, possibly by A.H. Wilds or Henry Mew, between 1822 and 1830. Historically, it boasts a past that includes both squatters and a number of well-known residents; Dame Flora Robson and her two sisters lived at No 7 and, apparently, Leo Sayer and Adam Faith have occupied No 1 Wykeham Terrace at different times. Further back in time, the Terrace was simultaneously home to cavalry officers, an order of nuns and ex-prostitutes! This slightly odd arrangement coming about because the northern part of the Terrace served as the officer’s mess for cavalry based at Preston Park and St Mary’s Home for Female Penitents was located in the southern part.

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Midsummer Magic at Hollingbury Camp, Ditchling Road, Brighton

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2008

Midsummer is the magical time when the days are longest, the nights are shortest, and our hopes for that seemingly elusive long, hot summer have not yet been shattered. A time when spending the evening in a pub garden becomes an attractive prospect.

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Whitsun 1964 - Battle of Brighton

Posted in History on May 01, 2008

Whitsun has the feel of one of those long forgotten events, like Lady Day or Michaelmas. As a child growing up in a seaside town, Whitsun was the time when the B&B sign went up in the front window and my sister and I vacated our bedrooms for ‘the visitors’. Later I realised that Whitsun could be a far more exciting time. Being too young to remember newspaper headlines like the Evening Argus’s ‘Battle of Brighton’, this revelation came to me via The Who and Quadrophenia; first the 1973 album and then in 1979 the film which immortalised the clashes between Mods and Rockers on Brighton seafront over the Whitsun Bank Holiday of May 1964.

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Brighton’s Poorest

Posted in History on Apr 01, 2008

Poor relief in Brighton began in the early 1600s with the building of almshouses in Bartholemew’s Square, Market Street, where the Town Hall is today. By 1723, they were too small and a new workhouse was erected on the site. Its inmates included the town’s sick, aged, and impoverished children who, in addition to cooking and making their own clothes, collected and crushed oyster shells for use as fertiliser. Later, when the poorhouse Commissioners became responsible for maintaining highways, workhouse inmates were used as town scavengers removing animal dung and rubbish from the streets.

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The Changing Face of Brighton’s Beer Houses and Gin Palaces

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2008

I have been thinking about pubs a lot recently, where to go for lunch on Mothering Sunday, possible venues for my “big” birthday party, places to meet friends. It seems to me that pubs and pub culture have changed a lot recently and I no longer have the comfort and certainty of old favourites to go to.

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Lightning Rods for Scandal: The Hilton Twins

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2008

Most people today are aware of the socialites, Paris and Nicky Hilton, but they were not the first Hilton sisters to create a splash in the world of celebrities. Indeed, this rather dubious honour should go to two Brighton girls, Daisy and Violet Hilton.

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Proposal of Marriage

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2008

Leap Year is the traditional time for women to propose marriage. It is believed that this tradition started in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait a long time for men to propose. According to legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day, the 29th February.

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A History of Brighton Police - timeline

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2008

Brighton Police existed from 1830 to 1967, a total of 137 years as a separate force before becoming part of the Sussex Police force. Before the police came into being in Brighton, the 1810 Town Act authorised Town Commissioners to appoint night watchmen.

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MURDER MOST FOUL

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2008

If your New Year’s resolution was to get out more and do different things then I may have just the thing for you. The Old Police Cells Museum in Brighton’s Town Hall. This is a fascinating place, originally dedicated to charting the history of policing in the city from the first days of the force in 1812 until 1967 when the local force merged with the Sussex Police. It has now been expanded to cover policing in Sussex up to the present day. The museum is staffed by volunteer workers all with a great deal of knowledge and all with a tale to tell.

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Christmas Past - describes A Regency Christmas

Posted in History on Dec 01, 2007

Christmas in the late Georgian and Regency period was very different from festivities today. 200 years ago the ‘Season’ began on 24th December and ran until 12th Night on 6th January. It would be unseemly to begin celebrations before the end of the sombre pre-Christmas period of Advent. Christmas in the Eighteenth century was a restrained affair – a time for elegant entertaining and extending hospitality to family, friends and neighbours. Children today might be dismayed to learn that pre-Victorian Christmas was considered an adult occasion.

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We Shall Remember Them

Posted in History on Nov 01, 2007

With a nephew in the British army my thoughts are never far from the fighting taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment, but the approach of 11th November will inevitably turn my thoughts outward to all those who have faced conflict, particularly during the Second World War.

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Victorian Rubbish

Posted in History on Oct 01, 2007

Planning Permission is being sought for a massive waste transfer and recycling depot. The site “selected” is right beside the very successful Downs Infants School and across the road from the Downs Junior School. It is a five minute walk from The Level and surrounded by houses. It is so central that the rubbish would have a choice of about 6 buses!

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Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children

Posted in History on Sep 01, 2007

The Royal Alexandra Children’ Hospital, 57 Dyke Road, Brighton closed its doors on Friday 22 June 2007, after serving the community for more than 120 years. All services are now delivered at the new children’s hospital, a ten-storey, custom designed building, in the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road. It is one of only seven dedicated paediatric hospitals in the UK and with more than three times the floor space of the former site; the new hospital provides massively improved accommodation for patients and their families.

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THE SPIRIT OF BRIGHTON

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2007

Preston Park Avenue was developed from the 1880s with large red brick villas, many of which remain, but several have been replaced with blocks of flats. Whistler Court is one of these; its name commemorates the decorative artist, Rex Whistler.

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The Coach House, Clifton Hill, Brighton

Posted in History on Aug 01, 2007

In recent weeks, I have seen articles in both local and national papers about possible plans to build next to the Coach House in Clifton Hill and I must say I have been shocked. Not so much by the idea of developers presuming to build near a historic site, but by what a wonderful site it is. Once the location of a windmill, an inspiration to Constable who, from 1824, painted it on four separate occasions.

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Amon Wilds

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2007

The petition to improve the Seven Dials roundabout is gathering steam. One idea put forward is to erect some form of memorial to the architectural partnership of Amon and Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Augustus Busby who designed much of Regency Brighton. And since I find myself looking largely to the past to find Brighton’s chief assets, I think that this is a very interesting idea.

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PRESTON PARK

Posted in History on Jul 01, 2007

Schools will soon be out for summer. Another academic year over and the long holidays ahead. Years ago, when my sons were younger, the very thought of the approaching school summer holidays filled me with dread. What was I going to do with them for all those weeks? Luckily for me Preston Park was there to come to my rescue.

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The Chalybeate - St Ann’s Well Gardens

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2007

The beauty of St Ann’s Well with its wonderful scented garden, winding pathways and fishpond, plus all the amenities it provides for the community, needs no introduction to local residents. However, it might surprise some to know of the part this woodland oasis played in the successful establishment of Brighton as a health resort.

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Saint Bartholomew’s Church

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2007

“In the noise and glitter of cheerful Brighton this great church is a tall sanctuary of peace. Its interior awes beholders to silence” (Sir John Betjeman)

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Grand Designs. Their vision, our town.

Posted in History on Jun 01, 2007

The petition to improve the Seven Dials roundabout is gathering steam. One idea put forward is to erect some form of memorial to the architectural partnership of Amon and Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Augustus Busby who designed much of Regency Brighton. And since I find myself looking largely to the past to find Brighton’s chief assets, I think that this is a very interesting idea.

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Bicentenary 1807-2007 - Brighton’s Links to Slavery

Posted in History on May 01, 2007

On 25 March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed. Two hundred years on this event was marked by a range of different celebrations, which tried to address what, for many, is almost impossible to take in - the sheer scale of the transactions of slavery, men, women and children as cargo, people whose names, heritage and culture were stripped from them.

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PRESTON MANOR

Posted in History on Mar 01, 2007

What is the attraction of Preston Manor? As a resident of Preston, I pass the house almost daily, but I really do not know what I feel about it. On sunny days and especially when the front lawn is covered with daffodils, I think it looks charming and I remind myself that I must visit its rooms again soon; but on grey days it almost disappears into the background, its architectural and family history lost from view. David Beevers, one time Keeper of the Manor, certainly does not share my pedestrian views; in an article in The Lady magazine in 1997 he explained exactly why I should be more interested and appreciative of this great building:-

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Seven Dials, In The Parish of St Giles, London

Posted in History on Feb 01, 2007

Today Seven Dials is a small road junction in London’s West End, north west of Covent Garden and just to the south of Shaftesbury Avenue. Like much of London, Seven Dials has been subject to rises and falls in popularity and affluence over time, more recently, however, it has experienced a wonderful regeneration. This has included the re-erection of a column at its centre, on the summit of which are seven sundials, which keep correct time to within 10 second - no small accomplishment for a sundial!

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESTON

Posted in History on Jan 01, 2007

The development of Preston from a rural centre to a middle-class suburb can be traced back to Brighton’s renaissance as a fashionable seaside resort, which ultimately lead to the town growing to such an extent that, by the middle of the 19th century, it was pressing against the parish boundaries. Faced with a shortage of building land, speculators sought sites for building houses some distance from the town. They naturally looked along the main roads leading northwards, but realised that only those who could afford the travel costs could afford such locations. Their commuter costs were substantially increased by the Victorian equivalent of today’s London congestion charges, where residents had to pay a road toll to travel along the road to Brighton and their place of work. However, in May 1854 a group of influential people from Brighton and Preston greatly improved the prospects for those who wished to sell or to buy land for development in Preston by successfully getting the tollgate removed to a hundred yards north of Withdean.

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