May is festival time in my adopted home town of Brighton – every year we host the second largest arts festival in the northern hemisphere (and the third largest in the world). There is still two weeks more to run, but if you’re thinking of visiting you might want to know what a typical day in Brighton is like. It hasn’t changed a lot since this description written 200+ years ago…
“Business, no such word here, sir, all pleasure, morning, a dip in the sea—rolls, butter, and hot shrimps, at ten, foot-races, wagers, novel-reading, Rottendean, and the devil’s dyke, till two, donkys and politics, till three, stockings and dinner, at four, walk on the Steyne, till eight, raffles, little-goes, and one-card loo, till ten, dancing all night, and the next morning a dip in the sea again.”
From a farce written by architect, playwright and Regency eccentric Samuel Beazley. He designed five London theatres and wrote more than 100 plays. He also wrote his own epitaph:
Here lies Samuel Beazley,
Who lived hard and died easily
Brighton Fringe
Brighton Festival
Lovely, lovely post! Dee-light-ful reading.Thanks for the fun! R.
You’re welcome Rae and, of course, Mr Beazley was entirely accurate…it’s still true today.