Brighton

The fictional seaside town of Watermouth—the setting of Malcolm Bradbury's campus novel The History Man—bears a lot of resemblance to Brighton. After being exposed to the vibrant dance scene, he gradually incorporated dance-like elements into his subsequent works, such as Tubular Bells III. First the Aldrington Tramway (1884-1912), then Brighton Corporation Tramways (1901-1939) ran routes from the Aquarium to Brighton Station (Route S), London Road (Route B), Ditchling Road (route D) and Elm Grove (route E), Lewes Road (Route L), Queens Park (Route Q), New England Hill/Dyke Road (Route N). Mike Oldfield, a prominent British musician, owned a house on Ibiza, where he worked on a couple of his albums. The building of Brighton Marina in 1970s caused the line to terminate at Black Rock, rather than Rottingdean. Popular tracks in this genre include:. Volk's Electric Railway, which runs along the beach, is claimed to be the world's oldest operating electric railway and was the electrification model adopted by London Underground. The atmosphere is brought on with the use of synthesized string instruments, the sound of waves, mandolins and guitars, and wispy vocals.

The council and bus company run a city-wide realtime bus information service. The style tries to reflect the atmosphere of Ibiza, and listeners often say they can see a Mediterranean sunset when they hear its euphoric, uplifting melodies. It was bought by Brighton and Hove, who then merged into the Go-Ahead Group in1993. There also exists a genre of trance music named for Ibiza dubbed Balearic Beat, similarly to the way Goa trance is named for Goa, India. The former Brighton "Blue Buses" company dates back to the 1880s. Ibiza is also famous for Café del Mar, a chill spot in Sant Antoni de Portmany where many people watch the sunset every night. Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates the local bus service with over 250 buses. The most famous clubs include Privilege Ibiza (the world's largest club which holds the weekly event known worldwide as Manumission on Monday nights), Es Paradis (famous for its water parties), Amnesia (famous for its foam parties and what goes on there), Space (opens at around 8AM) and Pacha.

The express London Victoria service takes 51 minutes today, compared with 60 minutes in 1910, 80 minutes in 1859 and up to two hours in 1841. Eivissa is a very popular tourist destination, especially due to its legendary riotous nightlife (mainly in Ibiza Town, the island's capital on the eastern shore). Regular servies also operate to Birmingham New Street and on to Glasgow, Scotland, and via Bristol to Tenby, Wales. The island was conquered by James I of Aragon in 1235. The station provides fast and frequent connections to London Gatwick Airport, London Victoria, London Bridge, and via the Thameslink line, King's Cross, London Luton Airport and Bedford. This survival made Ibiza an excellent place to study Carthaginian-Punic civilization in later years, but also turned the island into a sleepy imperial outpost as it became more and more detached from the important trading routes of the time. Brighton railway station was built by the London & Brighton Railway in 1840, and in 1970 was saved from redevelopment. Ibiza managed to negotiate a favorable treaty with the Romans, who spared Ibiza from further destruction and allowed it to survive with its Carthaginian-Punic institutions well into the Empire days, when it became an official Roman municipality.

On 28th October 2005 fans rejoiced when the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, granted Brighton & Hove Albion permission to build the stadium they had been waiting for since 1995. With Carthaginian military luck running out on the Iberian mainland, Ibiza was last used by the fleeing Carthaginian General Mago to gather supplies and men before sailing to Menorca and then to Liguria. Plans for a new 23,000 seater stadium had been in place since 1998, and Falmer, just north of the city, was chosen as the best location in 1999. During the Second Punic War the island was assaulted by the two Scipio brothers 209 BC but remained loyal to Carthage. Despite fans not having to make the 140 mile round trip to Kent, the 6000 seater stadium is not suitable for Championship games. Iberia began setting up its own trading stations along the nearby Balearic island of Mallorca, from which great quantities of the renowned Balearic slingers were hired as mercenaries for the diverse wars Carthage was fighting. Two years of sharing Gillingham's stadium in Kent ended when the team was granted permission to play their home games at the Withdean Sports Complex in Brighton. Ibiza was a major trading post along the Mediterranean routes.

Near relegation from Division 3 in 1997, having played their last game at the Goldstone Stadium, saw a new board of directors installed. A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Cuyram, and the rest of the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa's commercial orbit after 400 BC. In 1995 Brighton & Hove Albion's Goldstone Stadium, in central Hove, was sold without viable plans for an alternative. The island produced dye, salt, fish sauce (garum), and wool. and the Hove ground of Sussex County Cricket Club, which is used for international one day matches, and the Brighton Bears. With the decline of Phoenicia after the Assyrian invasions, Ibiza came under the umbrella of Carthage, also a former Phoenician colony. Brighton is the home of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. The Greeks who came to Ibiza during the time of the Phoenicians were the first to call the two islands of Ibiza and Formentera the Pitiusas ("pine-covered islands").

Additionally, Brighton has a lively gay and lesbian scene centred in the Kemptown area of the city. In 654 BC Phoenician settlers founded a port in the Balearic Islands, as Ibossim, later known to Romans (as "Ebusus") for its wine, marble, and lead. Some of the most important clubs in the UK dance music scene are based in Brighton, such as The Honey Club and The Ocean Rooms, and the famous but now rebranded Escape and Zap clubs, which have become Audio and The Union respectively. . There are a large number of bars and nightclubs in Brighton, though due to problems with binge-drinking and vagrancy, alcohol consumption on the street is now banned in some areas. Eivissa is the official Catalan name and the name used by its inhabitants; but the name used by Spanish speakers and the rest of the world is Ibiza (usually pronounced using the Castilian morphology: ih-'bee-thuh). There is also a significant array of local listings and review publications, which serve as a useful showcase for the many local graphic designers. Major cities are Ibiza Town, Santa Eulària des Riu and San Antonio.

There is a healthy free party scene, which has been in action since the early 90s. With Formentera, it is one of the two Illes Pitiüses. Brighton is renowned for its lively music scene, having spawned a number of successful artists, such as The Levellers and Fatboy Slim, and record labels including Skint Records. Eivissa or Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea, and belonging to Spain. This has been demonstrated by the Green Party taking 22% of the vote of the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the 2005 general election, versus just 1% nationally. Beachball by Nalin & Kane. Brighton is considered a fairly progressive town due to the large numbers of political movements and activities, for instance SchNEWS, a local newsletter. Offshore by Chicane.

However, the site of the pool itself remains empty except for a skate park and graffiti wall, and further development is planned for the area including a high-rise hotel which has aroused considerable local controversy, mirroring the situation with proposals for the site of the King Alfred leisure centre in neighbouring Hove. Seven Cities by Solar Stone. Since the 1978 demolition of the Art Deco open-air swimming lido at Black Rock, the most easterly part of Brighton's seafront, the area has been developed considerably and now features one of Europe's largest marinas. Part of the beach has been designated an official nudist area — one of very few naturist beaches in the United Kingdom to be located adjacent to an urban area. In the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather in the city to attend language courses.

It is sometimes known as 'London by the Sea' because of its lively atmosphere and cosmopolitan nature and also because of the large number of visitors from London. Brighton is home to two universities, the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton, as well as a public school, Brighton College. The biggest arts festival in England—the Brighton Festival—takes place in May each year. Every August sees a large annual LGBT Pride event which has now become one of the most popular such events in the UK calendar.

Some indicators suggest a gay population approaching 25%. The city has a large Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, mainly based in the Kemptown area of the city. named for the Hanoverian monarchy of the day. Hilly Laine, on the east slope facing North Laine is now generally known as 'Hanover', such name coming from the early nineteenth century terraces at the base of the hill: Hanover Crescent, Hanover Terrace et al.

The North Laine area still keeps the original spelling. That name was derived from 'Laine', which was apparently an old unit of Anglo-Saxon field measurement. In Brighton, the area occupied by the original fishing village has become The Lanes — a collection of narrow alleyways now filled with a mixture of antique shops, restaurants, bistros and pubs. However, no member of the cabinet was killed.

The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, narrowly escaped injury, although members of her Government were injured — most notably Norman Tebbit. Four people were killed in the blast (including Sir Anthony Berry), and Norman Tebbit's wife subsequently died of her injuries. In the early hours of October 12th 1984 an IRA bomb exploded in the Grand Hotel where leading members of the governing Conservative Party were staying. The stubby remains of some of the pier's iron piles, sunk ten feet into bedrock, can still be seen at the most extreme low tides.

They were saved this task by a storm which destroyed the already closed and rather decrepit pier on December 4, 1896. The Chain Pier survived the construction of the West Pier, but a condition for permission to build the Palace Pier was that the builders would dismantle the oldest pier. An esplanade with an entrance toll-booth controlled access to the pier which was roughly in line with today's New Steine. The pier was primarily intended as a landing stage, Brighton having no natural harbour, but it also featured a small number of attractions including initially a camera obscura.

Brighton had one further major pier, the Brighton Chain Suspension Pier ("Chain Pier") of 1823. However, in September 2005 the Trust revealed in their newsletter that they are forming further plans to rebuild the original structure with help from private funding. Finally, in December 2004, the Trust admitted defeat, after their plans were rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund and subsequent less ambitious plans to restore only the oldest, structural parts of the pier were also rejected by English Heritage. Despite all these setbacks, the owner of the site West Pier Trust remained adamant they would soon begin full restoration work.

On June 23, 2004 high winds caused the middle of the pier to completely collapse. The West Pier Trust refers to the fires as the work of 'professional arsonists', (notwithstanding that there is no evidence linking the fires to the owners of the Palace Pier). Arson was suspected. On May 12, 2003, another fire broke out, consuming most of what was left of the concert hall.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Firefighters were unable to save the building from destruction because they could not reach the end of the pier - the previous collapse had destroyed the walkway. On March 28, 2003 the pavilion at the end of the pier caught fire. On January 20, 2003 a further collapse saw the destruction of the concert hall in the middle of the pier.

The West Pier partially collapsed on December 29, 2002 when a walkway connecting the concert hall and pavilion fell into the sea after being battered by storms. The restoration was also opposed by the owners of the Brighton Pier, who reportedly saw its subsidised rebuilding, were it to happen, as unfair competition. Plans by The West Pier Trust to renovate the pier with help from Heritage Lottery Fund have been opposed by some local residents who claimed that the proposed new onshore structures — which the renovators needed to pay for the work on the pier — would obstruct their view of the sea. The West Pier is one of only two Grade 1 listed piers in the UK, the other being Clevedon Pier.

The older West Pier, built in 1866 by Eugenius Birch, has been closed and deteriorating since 1975, awaiting renovation. It suffered a large fire on 4 February 2003 but the damage was limited and most of the pier was able to reopen the next day. The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, generally known as the Palace Pier before being unofficially renamed by its current owners as Brighton Pier in 2000, opened in May 1899 and is still popular. Luckily this proved not to be the case - a consortium formed by residents and owners were able to wrestle the freehold of the building from the previous inneffectual management company, and restoration commenced in 2004.

The building made the local press after chunks of render and windows fell from the building onto the street below, and it appeared until recently that it may suffer the same ignomious fate met by the West Pier sat opposite it, which finally succumbed to the elements (and arsonists) in early 2004. When built in 1935, designed by architect Welles Coates, the building contrasted sharply with the more sedate and ornamental architecture of King's Road; but by the 1990s, the structure drew comment because of its terribly run down nature. Embassy Court is one of the most striking buildings on the seafront at Brighton and Hove, although the reasons for this have differed over the years. Brighton, with its cutting edge scene, is hard to imagine without the 20,000+ students of the now two Universities.

The University has aquired a strong academic reputation, not least in left-leaning humanities subjects. The single most important postwar development was the opening in the mid sixties of Sussex University, designed by Sir Basil Spence. Pubs and restaurants are abundant. The growth in mass tourism stimulated numerous Brighton businesses to serve the insatiable appetites of the holidaying masses.

In many ways, Brighton's postwar growth has been a continuation of the 'fashionable Brighton' that drew the Georgian upper classes at the beginning of its recent history. Brighton's character evolved over the course of the twentieth century but not so as to leave it unrecognisable. Visitors were further encouraged by the arrival of the London and Brighton Railway in 1840, which also established one of the first railway-owned locomotive works. The Kemp Town estate (at the heart of the Kemptown district) was constructed between 1823 and 1855, and is a good example of Regency architecture.

Eventually he spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the exotic-looking Royal Pavilion, which is the town's best-known landmark. The growth of the town was further encouraged when, in 1786, the young Prince Regent later King George IV, rented a farmhouse in order to escape from public life. By 1780, development of the Regency terraces had started and the town quickly became the fashionable resort of Brighton. Currently approaching the conclusion of its ambitious restoration, Marlborough House on the Steine was built by Robert Adam in 1765 and purchased shortly afterwards by the eponymous Duke.

He set up house there and before long, the rich and the sick had started to make their way to the seaside. Brighthelmstone began to change in 1753 when Dr Richard Russell of Lewes published his thesis on sea bathing, which proclaimed the benefit to health of the salt water of Brighton. Brighton remained a small fishing village up until the 18th century. A display copy of the map can be seen in Hove Museum.

Part of their 'pitch' was an illustrated map (1545) showing the French raid of 1511. Later on in Henry's reign, the residents of the town petitioned the monarch for defensive cannon. In June 1514, the fishing village then known as Brighthelmstone was burnt to the ground by the French as part of a war between the two which began as a result of the Treaty of Westminster (1511). It is now a pub.

A medieval priory on the site of the present Town Hall has left no visible trace, though Hangleton Manor to the north of the suburb of Portslade is a sixteenth century flint manor building, very well preserved, juxtaposed in amongst a twentieth century housing estate. The church contracted through ruin down to just this part, before nineteenth century restoration returned it to the comparably mighty edifice visible today. While other ecclesiastical buildings in Brighton date from the post-Russell period, St Andrew's Church on Church Road, Hove has a dramatic thirteenth century nave. As such, it is among the oldest art in Brighton.

A medieval fresco depicting the murder of Thomas a Beckett was discovered under paint following a fire in the early part of the twentieth century. Although the present day manor house is relatively recent in construction, the church — St Peters, currently under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust — is fourteenth century. From the manorial system, Preston manor lingers on today as a museum. In the Domesday Book, Brighton was called Bristemestune and a rent of 4000 herring was established.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains the first mention of a settlement in the area at Beorthelm's-tun (the town of Beorthelm). In the thirties, the garage owner had a small display of Roman statues and broaches in the forecourt shop. Numerous artefacts were found as well as the foundations of the building. The villa was excavated in the 1930s prior to the building of a (now gone) garage on the site.

The villa was sited more or less at the water's edge, immediately south of Preston Park — which area itself would perhaps have been part of the outer grounds. At the time of its construction in the late first or second century AD there was a river running along what is now the tarmac of London Road. Having conquered Britannica (43AD), and after brutally surpressing the Boudicaen counter-invasion (61AD), the Romans built villas throughout Sussex and indeed there was a villa in Brighton. Cissbury Ring, at a distance of about ten miles from Hollingbury and quite awesome in its construction, is reckoned by some to have been the tribal 'capital'.

Hollingbury is one of numerous 'hillforts' found across southern Britain. As a 'ball park figure', its diameter is about 300 metres. Commanding panoramic views over Brighton, this Celtic Iron Age encampment is circumscribed by substantial earthwork outer walls. Undoubtedly the single most impressive pre-Roman site in Brighton is Hollingbury Camp.

Made of translucent red Baltic Amber and approximately the same size as a regular china teacup, the impressive artefact can be seen in Hove Museum. A defining point on the landscape since at least 1500BC, this 20 foot high tomb yielded, amongst other treasures, the Hove Amber Cup. During nineteenth century building work near Palmeira Square, workmen tasked with removing an earth mound 'excavated' a significant burial mound. Of considerable interest from the middle Bronze Age is the Hove Amber Cup.

After a scholarly review, Paul Harwood of Birmingham's Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity noted that "there are a concentration of Beaker burials on the fringes of the central chalklands around Brighton, and a later cluster of Early and Middle Bronze Age ‘rich graves' in the same area.". A standing stone circle nearby (today's Hove Park) is documented up to 1820, when the farmer had had one too many "antiquarians" traipsing over his crop and buried the stones. There is a plaque telling us it was believed to be in use (ceremonial? geomantic?) around 2000BC. More of prehistoric Brighton and Hove can be observed just north of the small retail park on Old Shoreham Road, built over the site of the town's football ground in the late 1990s, where you can visit The Goldstone.

The building of a new housing estate in the early nineties over the South Eastern portion of the enclosure resulted in damage to the archeology, the loss of the ancient panoramic view and a diminishment in atmosphere of the historical site. Significant vestiges of the mounds remain and you can trace their arc with the eye. There are four concentric circles of ditches and mounds, broken or 'causewayed' in many places. The centre of this early Neolithic causewayed enclosure c.3500BC is someway toward the aerial mast on the south side of Manor Road, opposite the grandstand.

Whitehawk Camp — a natural viewpoint — is bisected by Manor Road. While any British history predating the first mentions by literate Romans is, by definition, consigned to an obscured landscape known intimidatingly as 'prehistory', a few things are known about the area. . The two boroughs were joined together to form the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove in 1997, which in 2000 was granted city status by the Queen as part of the millennial celebrations, following competition from other large towns which coveted city status.

Brighton's lively atmosphere is a direct contrast to its near neighbour, Hove which has quieter and more refined character. Brighton and Hove form a single conurbation. Brighton on the southern Sussex coast is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. MirrorMask (2005).

Wimbledon (2004). The Chalk Garden (1963). Carry On At Your Convenience (1971). Carry On Girls (1973).

Circus (2000). Mona Lisa (1986). Me Without You. The End Of The Affair.

Dirty Weekend (1993). Oh! What A Lovely War (1969). Quadrophenia (1979) Franc Roddam. Genevieve (1953) Henry Cornelius.

Brighton Rock (1947) John Boulting. Helen Zahavi. William Makepeace Thackeray. Nigel Richardson.

Louise Rennison. Phillip Reeve. Robert Rankin:. Henry James.

Patrick Hamilton. Graham Greene. George Gissing:. Jane Austen:.

Mark Williams, star of The Fast Show and the Harry Potter films. Rachel Whiteread, artist and Turner Prize winner. Keith Tyson, artist and Turner Prize winner. Dusty Springfield, lived at Wilbury Road, Hove & formed band The Springfields there.

Jimmy Somerville, 1990s pop star formerly of band The Communards. Captain Sensible. Dame Flora Robson, 1960 until her death in 1984. Robert Rankin, Fiction author.

Katie Price, model (also known as Jordan). Patsy Palmer, ex-EastEnders television actress. Lord Lawrence Olivier & Joan Plowright, lived at Royal Crescent, Kemptown 1960 to 1978. Dame Anna Neagle, lived at Lewes Crescent, Kemptown.

Bob Meek, journalist. Paul McCartney, musician, and his wife Heather Mills McCartney, designer (Hove). Ida Lupino, C1914 to C1949. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London.

Vivien Leigh. Prince Peter Alexeevich Kropotkin, 1912 to 1917. Rudyard Kipling, 1897 to 1903. James Herbert, author.

Phil Hartnoll, of band Orbital. Graham Greene. Michael Fabricant MP, born in Brighton in 1950 and educated at the Brighton and Hove Grammar School. Chris Eubank, ex-boxer.

Roger Dean. Ashes scattered at Devil's Dyke. Aleister Crowley, died in a nursing home in Brighton in December 1947. Gaz Coombes, lead singer of Supergrass.

Formerly of band The Housemartins (Hove). Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, musician & DJ. Steve Coogan. Julian Clary, comedian.

Sir Winston Churchill, attended school. Nick Cave. Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1880 to 1898. Julie Burchill, journalist.

Dora Bryan. Cate Blanchett. Steve Cornflower, Björk's new german boyfriend. Björk.

Patrick Bergin, star of films including Sleeping with the Enemy and Patriot Games. Aubrey Beardsley, born in Brighton 1872, and for some time lived at Lower Rock Gardens, Kemptown. Michael "Atters" Attree, satirist. Richard Attenborough.