The following is a brief run down of the characters referred to in our guided tour, which featured live scenes, audio tracks listened to on headphones and interactive activities.
In the splendour of Pavilion Gardens we recalled some hell-raisers from the Regency period.
1. The Prince Regent
Son of King George III – or Prinny as he was known – lived in the Royal Pavilion, which sits in pompous majesty amongst the larkspur, laburnum, purple broom, periwinkles and peonies. Here he could indulge his lavish lifestyle, gorging himself on banquets, wine and affairs of the heart. As a young man his charm, wit and artistic sensibilities attracted a large and colourful retinue that swarmed around him.
2. Robert Romeo Coates
Famed throughout the land as the most brilliantly bad actor, people flocked to his performances to hear him massacre Shakespeare. He took liberties with the verse, added scenes where he saw fit and was prone to repeat a good death if he thought it had gone down well. His favourite role was Romeo, whose speeches he was prone to recite, whenever the occasion arose. We imagined him doing his Romeo to an unsuspecting lady on a balcony of the palace.
3. The Baron de Geramb
A giant of a man at 6 foot 5 inches, with red thigh boots and jacket bejewelled with a piratical skull and crossbones, packing pistols, daggers and a decanter of claret – the Baron de Geramb was a military officer of unknown origin, who claimed to be Hungarian (but was probably French). He presented himself as Napoleon’s number one enemy and was an unlikely supporter of Romeo Coates. Prinny admired him because he could get through two chickens and a ham for breakfast. You can just imagine him climbing to the top of the onion dome…
From there, we travelled to the Old Stein – the place where people would parade in their finery…
4. The Green Man
Henry Cope, man about town, wore green pantaloons, a green waistcoat, green frock coat, green cravat and held a green silk handkerchief in his hand. His carriage, his livery, his luggage, his gloves and whip were all green. He ate nothing but green fruits and vegetables, had his rooms painted green, and furnished with green sofa, green chairs, green table, green bed and green curtains. He loved the colour green. Why? Nobody knows but we can celebrate him every time we cross the road.
Travelling up James Street, we envisioned a number of exotic characters associated with Brighton’s colourful drag and cabaret scene.
5. Dougie Byng
Dougie was part of the London smart set of the 1920s and was one of the most celebrated and highly paid stars of his day. He wrote his own material, songs and patter, packed with double entendres. He also made many of his costumes himself and is acknowledged as inventing the glamorous style of pantomime dame. As John Gielgud once noted in his diary ‘Spotted Dougie Byng on Brighton seafront today wearing Russian hat with flowing mauve silk scarf. Now that is eccentric.’ You can just see him leaning out of a first floor window with a flute of pink champagne in hand.
6. Mrs Shufflewick
Mrs. Shufflewick (alter-ego of Rex Jameson) was a ‘dame comedian’ who hit the big time in the 60s and went on to attract cult audiences. Shuff was a drunken old dear, a Cockney of the type that you used to see propping up the bar, perched on a stool and drinking port and lemon. She had a fund of stories to tell about herself and the more drunk she got, the dirtier they were. In 1969 she was the star of an adult pantomime in Brighton called Sinderella, but the police closed it after 2 nights because of complaints about the material.
7. Drako
Tony Banwell adopted the name ‘Drako Oho Zahar Zahar’ to match his lifestyle as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the London Palladium. He featured in films by Andy Warhol and Derek Jarman and he was model and muse for Salvador Dali. One of his favourite stories described him filming in Rome, when he stuck a candle between his bum cheeks and flicked it out with a whip. He was a regular performer at Vavavoom, a cabaret night in Brighton where he used to stand naked on a plinth. Sadly, a car crash in 1991 left him with significant memory loss. He recorded his memories on notes, suspended on fishing lines through his flat, so that his home became an art-work in itself.
8. Boogaloo Stu
Boogaloo Stu is easy to spot in his high rise quiff, neon bright, skin tight leotards and platform shoes. As a young man, Stu spent some time in New York and brought some NY glitz back to Brighton. He created the legendary club night, Dynamite Boogaloo. On a typical evening, you would be met at the door by the Amazonian Gwendolyn, 6 foot 6 inches in her stockinged feet. Dolly Rocket, with her own impressive proportions, would be spinning disco on the decks and Le Gateau Chocolat – a large Nigerian bearded man, covered in sequins and feathers would sing with his incredible, bass voice. Presiding over a ridiculous game show would be Boogaloo Stu: The King of pop kitsch.
Then wending our way down to Marine Parade to consider a great engineer and inventor –
9. Magnus Volks
Volks is best known for building the Volks Electric Railway, which opened in 1883, which is the longest running electric railway in the world. In 1887 he made a three-wheeled electric carriage and received a commission for another from his majesty Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey. He created a hydraulic time ball the top of the Clocktower on Queen’s Road. It rises up a mast on the hour, every hour from where it drops back down. What’s it for? Nobody knows! And in 1896 he launched The Pioneer or Daddy Long- Legs, a carriage on 23 foot long stilts which travelled through the waves and unsurprisingly didn’t last long.
From here we walked to the Palace Pier to reflect on the end of the pier performer, the most sensational being –
10 The Great Omani
As a young boy Ron Cunningham came across a book about the escapologist Harry Houdini and was so captivated that he decided to follow in his footsteps. He was actually best known for jumping off the West Pier. Petrol would be poured onto the surface of the water and set alight and Ron would be chained and manacled and would be flung into the flaming water, from where he would have to escape. On the Palace Pier, he was once entombed in a glass coffin. He was still performing aged 91. To celebrate his birthday, he invited an audience to gather in his local pub, the Bedford Tavern on Western Street, where he was chained and manacled and set alight. He managed to escape just in time…
And looking out to see, we thought of the people who search for the edges…
11. Doreen Valiente
Described as ‘a plain, owlishly bespectacled woman with a slight stoop and a friendly twinkle’, her appearance belied a dramatic life. She worked for the intelligence services during WWII, married a Greek sailor who was declared missing in action five months later and after two years as a widow, married a Spaniard who had fought against Franco. After the war she became increasingly interested in occultism and eventually became known as The Mother of Modern Witchcraft, writing much of the religious liturgy for the English Wicca, as well as searching assiduously for ley lines.
