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© G. Osborne An early Edwardian view of Franklin Road looking west. |
Background
It is probable that this road was named after the hero Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). He was only aged fourteen when he joined the Royal Navy and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Today he is chiefly remembered as the intrepid explorer of the Canadian Arctic coast. In 1845 Franklin was in charge of the vessels Erebus and Terror and the expedition hoped to discover the fabled north-west passage. Unhappily, they encountered thick ice, and eventually everyone of the entire company perished. Back home in England people wondered what had become of them, and Franklin’s wife, Lady Jane, sponsored many searches to try and discover the truth. Franklin’s diaries were recovered, and provided evidence that the expedition did indeed discover the north-west passage, but the bones did not come to light until 1859. In 1875 Franklin was commemorated in Westminster Abbey.
Franklin’s tragedy would have
still been in people’s minds in the 1870s when the area on which
Franklin Road was to be built was still in use as a brick field.
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© D. Sharp Franklin Road looking west in May 2023 |
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© J. Middleton The north side of Franklin Road |
It was in 1899 that Portslade
Council approved plans for fourteen houses and six cottages. It
seemed that the building was rapid and the road was declared a public
highway in 1903.
The Brighton & Shoreham Tramways Company
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© G. Osborne This ornate greenhouse structured tram passenger's shelter with its clock tower standing in Franklin Road. In 1911 the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea was built in Portslade's Church Road and dominated this west view of Franklin Road for 81 years. |
Franklin Road’s ornate greenhouse structured tram passenger's shelter/waiting room with its clock tower was located in the actual road itself. The shelter’s location gave an excellent view of approaching horse drawn trams approaching Portslade from the coast road and from Hove’s boundary, nearly a mile away along the very straight New Church Road.
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© G. Osborne The tramway passenger shelter in Franklin Road, the sign on the building's right reads Station Road, Portslade, on its left Franklin Road, the door sign reads The Brighton & Shoreham Tramways Company |
The Brighton & Shoreham Tramways Company ran a steam powered tramway between Shoreham and Portslade in 1884 which ran from Ham Road Shoreham along the coast road and north in Station Road to Franklin Road’s passenger shelter. The heavy steam powered trams only last a few years because of maintenance problems caused by the dusty roads and were replaced by horse drawn trams. The Shoreham to Portslade route was extended along New Church Road to and terminated at Westbourne Villas on the Aldrington - Hove boundary.
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© G. Osborne This pre 1900 photograph shows the Portslade to Shoreham horse drawn tram at the southern end of Station Road picking up passengers from the Boundary Road side of the road, the tram rails are clearly visible in the centre of the road. The advert in the background is for W. Hillman of North Street Portslade. |
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© G. Osborne Coronation Procession in celebration of the crowning of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911, the procession included Portslade's local uniform organisations, societies and churches, seen here passing the junction of Station Road and Franklin Road. |
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| 1930s Business Card |
The entrance to the Diaphragm Leather Works building was accessed via a narrow lane from Franklin Road, the lane still exists today between Deibell & Allen (solicitors) and the Advance Glass shop.
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© G. Osborne The Diaphragm Leather Works was located behind this group of buildings which included the Methodist Church, entry was via a narrow lane between the first house and the corner shop in Station Road. |
On 28 May 1910 there was a big fire that caused the company £2,000 worth of damage. Captain A. W. Hillman of the Portslade Fire Brigade was at the scene with his men, as was also Captain Dumbrell and his men from Hove Fire Brigade.
While the fire was being extinguished, it seems there was a hot exchange of words. It culminated in Captain Hillman asking Portslade Council to state whether or not he had complete control of a fire-related situation. If he did not have such authority, then he would have to re-consider his position. It appears that his angry frame of mind was caused by a bossy Portslade councillor present at the scene, who was in all probability trying to tell Captain Hillman how to do his job. Portslade Council was quick to reassure the irate Captain that he had complete control at the scene of a fire, that it was his decision whether or not to summon Hove Fire Brigade, and that whatever decision the Captain made, the Council would back him. The placated Captain continued at his post.
In November 1931 there were complaints about the smoke nuisance issuing from the company’s chimney. The company were still there in the 1940s when there were plans for new office accommodation in 1946 plus a new boiler house and chimney in 1948.
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© D. Sharp The modern Rothbury Mews now occupies the site of the former Gigin's Bakery on the south side of Franklin Road |
Plans for a Bakery in Franklin Road were submitted to Portslade Council in November 1893; the premises were extended in 1906, the yard was covered in 1913, and there were further extensions in 1917 and 1924. The business also included premises in Norway Street, which were extended in 1902 and 1925. According to Captain Bately, Gigin’s had two buildings in Franklin Road – one on the south side where they baked bread, and another on the north side where they made cakes.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 1 March 1913 Frank Shepherd delivered bread for the Gigin's Bakery and lived next door to the bakers at number 5 Franklin Road on the south side of the road. |
In 1927 Gigin’s opened a shop at 66 Goldstone Villas, Hove.
In 1938 George Ellis went to work for Gigin’s, and earned £2-10s a week plus commission, which was better pay than his previous job in a butcher’s at Trafalgar Road, Portslade. Behind Gigin’s premises in Franklin Road there was a stable where eight horses were looked after by a Welsh ostler named Pugh. One of the horses was called Colonel, and Ellis used to take him out on his bread round. Colonel soon became familiar with the route, and if he considered that Ellis was taking too long, he would move on to the next port-of-call, despite the brake being on.
The round was quite long, and so Ellis had to take a nose-bag for Colonel as well a foot-brake and slipper to cope with steep hills. The first stop was at the Belfast Pub, Hove, where there was a large standing order, then along Blatchington Road, through to Lansdowne Road, Upper North Street and Dyke Road, stopping at various houses on the way.
There was an occasion in 1939 when the round was shorter than usual. But it upset Colonel’s usual routine, and he refused to return to his stables at an earlier time; instead he kicked up his heels, and disappeared at a fast trot down Franklin Road and into Norway Street. But he only took trotted round the block, and soon returned, as pleased as punch with himself.
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© G. Osborne 1940s wedding at Franklin Road's Methodist Church |
The Brighton Gazette (24 August 1907) stated ‘There is a movement afoot for the building of a Wesleyan school chapel at Portslade. The present small but earnest congregation with a Sunday School of about 50 children, have been meeting for many years in a very unsuitable room adjacent to a public house and over a fish shop. Now they have been informed by the police that this room is part of licensed premises and must not be used during the closing hours of such; thus, it is only possible to have an evening service on Sundays.’ The room in question was adjacent to the Clarence Inn, North Street, Portslade.
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© G. Osborne Franklin Road Methodist Church |
There was no alternative but to try and create a new building. On 9 July 1907 a meeting of the building fund committee was held to discuss the issue. Those present included Mr Humphrey, treasurer of the building fund (of St Albans, Boundary Road) and Mr Partner (of 17 Norway Street). Mr Humphrey agreed with Mr Brigden to purchase a 40-ft frontage in Franklin Road at £6 per foot, and paid the deposit.
The committee went along to inspect the Congregational Church at Southwick in July 1907, and afterwards, they looked at plans. On 16 July 1907 G. Gillam produced amended plans for the new chapel, which Portslade Council approved in August 1907.
In the same month the building committee were studying an illustrated catalogue send by a London firm that offered to despatch 34 seats, carriage paid, for £25-10s. A sample seat was requested.
Mr Gillam claimed that the church ought to be ready by the end of September. He also said the building would cost £390, but this was a grave under-estimate because in 1910 it was stated the chapel had actually cost around £800 of which only £200 had been paid off. It was sincerely hoped that a two-day bazaar would help to reduce the debt.
In January 1931 Portslade Council gave permission for a sign saying To the Wesleyan Church to be fixed to the lamp-post at the corner of Station Road and Franklin Road.
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© J. Middleton It is difficult to imagine that this building was once a church, which is now occupied by M & J Keehan's Franklin's Interiors & Antiques |
George Osborn was one of the original trustees of the chapel and after it closed Mrs Violet Osborn transferred to the Methodist Church in Portland Road, Hove. When she died in 1995, she left the latter church in the region of £200,000.
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© G. Osborne The former church's interior, which is now occupied by M & J Keehan's Franklin's Interiors & Antiques |
The Franklin Road chapel was Wesleyan Methodist, and belonged to a circuit of six other churches of the same persuasion – they were located at Norfolk Terrace and Dorset Gardens, Brighton, Portland Road, Hove, Southwick, and Hurstpierpoint. In 1932 the various off-shoots reunited and they all became Methodists.
Middleton (Builders) Ltd
In 1933 Middleton was responsible for building the Rothbury Hall in Franklin Road. It was taken over by a cinema chain, and re-opened as the Rothbury Cinema in 1934.
The Middleton company consisted of precisely two people – Mr Middleton, and Mrs Middleton, who did the books. The office was in the Rothbury Buildings in Franklin Road. The Middletons were responsible for developing the Stretton Estate in Aldrington during the 1930s in conjunction with Harry Edgar Oliver, estate agent, of 13 Station Road, Portslade, and John Stanley Towse, architect, of Marshall House, 9 Newcomen Street, London Bridge, who designed all the houses.
In February 1936 in the Chancery Court, the two latter men sued the Middletons for money they claimed they were owed. Oliver claimed £1,486-18-1d, and Towse claimed £1,709-7-6d. It was explained that under the agreement dated 10 February 1930 the plaintiffs would receive a quarter of the net profits arising out of the development of the estate.
One of the questions asked was what exactly net profits were because the Middletons had debited large sums of money as directors’ fees before the net profit had been calculated. However, after further questions Mr Oliver did concede that ‘the success of the venture was due to the skill and unremitting attention of Mr Middleton, but he thought £20 a week, the salary of Mr and Mrs Middleton, was too high.’
Perhaps the learned gentleman did
consider that £20 a week in salary was somewhat excessive because on
19 February 1936 Mr Justice Clauson announced a settlement of the
case in which substantial sums were were awarded to the plaintiffs.
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© J. Middleton The local radio station was located on this site |
Southern Sound
In June 1982 a public meeting was held at the Dome to enable people to hear the views of four contenders for the franchise to operate Brighton’s commercial radio station. They were as follows:
1. Channel Contemporary Sound – headed by Dame Vera Lynn with ideas to build a studio at Brighton Marina.
2. Regency Radio – whose directors included Henry Cohen, the man behind the construction of Brighton Marina, and the company already had planning permission for a studio in Marine Parade.
3. Southdown Radio – represented by actress Judy Cornwell, and they hoped to set up a studio in an empty church in Brighton.
4. Southern Sound – which was the newest of the companies, and was led by solicitor Quintin Barry. Their proposed site would probably be in the derelict Rothbury Cinema in Franklin Road, Portslade.
Later on it was announced that the franchise had been awarded to Southern Sound. The company then set about refurbishing the old cinema, spending some £200,000 in the process. There were four studios, a newsroom, and administration offices. The premises could accommodate a staff of around thirty people, while the main outside broadcasting unit was a £340,000 vehicle containing a fully-equipped studio. Rory Mcleod was the founder and managing director.
On 29 August 1983 Southern Sound went on the air for the first time, it being a Bank Holiday Monday. The broadcasts covered an area ranging from Selsey to Beachy Head, and into mid-Sussex.
In March 1985 Southern Sound ended its first full year with a loss of £77,343, which together with its start-up costs of some £225,881 put the company in the red.
In November 1990 it was stated that the Portslade studios would be closed. Instead they were taken over by Southern Radio, which later became Southern FM.
There was an occasion when the present author was interviewed on the radio about her book on Sussex ghosts. Shortly after she left the premises, there was a complete blackout, which caused some wry amusement amongst the staff.
Richard Gwynn was one of the reporters who worked as a morning presenter. Then in January 1999 he switched to chat shows on Southern Counties Radio. In July 1996 he fell some 40-ft from the multi-storey car park at Gatwick Airport, and later died of his injuries.
Southern FM
In November 1991 it was announced that new group Southern Radio plc was one of the largest radio companies in the country, and was valued at around £18.4 million. Rory McLeod was the managing director. A year previously Southern Radio purchased Ocean Sound of Portsmouth, and in 1991 it merged with Invicta Sound from Kent.
Southern Radio was still based at the headquarters in Franklin Road and would employ 100 staff at Portslade, Fareham and Whitstable. Later on the company took the name of Southern FM.
In February 1999 the Radio Joint Audience Research said listeners to Southern FM were down from 328,000 to 316,000, while BBC Southern Counties Radio had increased from 259,000 to 262,000. But by August 1999 figures had risen and it was stated that Southern FM reached 40 per cent of its catchment area, or around 384,000 people a week.
In 2000 Bob Hoad was managing director, and in November of that year staff were given the use of nine red VW Beetles worth £15,000 each. They became a familiar and cheerful sight in Franklin Road with their bright red body and yellow rising sun logo.
Southern FM was taken over by the Southern Radio Group who closed down the Portslade premises in July 2019.
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© J. Middleton The south side of Franklin Road |
Numbers 7 and 9
In 1903 numbers 7 and 9 Franklin Road could be rented for 11s 6d (57 and a half pence) per week, which is equivalent to £88 per week in 2023.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 5 September 1903 |
Number 27 – Able Seaman Walter Nye was the son of Mr and Mrs Henry Nye, and Walter was a veteran sailor, having served in the Royal Navy for twelve years. When he left the service he lived with his wife Jane at this address. He earned his living as a foreman at the Southern Counties Dairies, 146 Church Road, Hove, whose manager was Mr J. M. Hunter.
Nye was of course still a reservist, and so when war threatened he re-enlisted in August 1914, and was assigned to HMS Alert. His war-time service was probably not what he expected because he found himself in Mesopotamia. In 1916 he was part of the Mesopotamian River Boat Flotilla trying to bring supplies to the Army, who were desperately trying to relieve Knut where British and Indian troops were holed up surrounded by hostile Turkish soldiers. Inside Knut there was disease and hunger. There were three British attempts to break through, and none of them was successful. The siege lasted for 147 days. Unhappily for Nye, he was caught up in events when General Townsend suddenly decided to retreat from Ctesiphon with the result that 49 British sailors were captured by the Turks, and became prisoners-of-war. Nye died of enteritis on 13 August 1916 while still in Turkish hands. He was buried in Baghdad North Gate Cemetery.
The garrison at Knut surrendered on 29 April 1916. The loss of life afterwards was horrendous. Some 2,500 British troops were taken captive, but only 700 men returned home. There were around 9,300 Indian troops in Knut, and 2,500 of them died after surrender, most of them, like the British, on forced marches or in prisoner-of-war camps.
Number
38
– The parents of Lieutenant Edward Bridle of the Royal Artillery
lived in this house. Their son was awarded the Military Cross for his
service in the Italian Campaign of 1944. He was educated at St Nicolas School, Portslade, and Brighton, Hove and Sussex GrammarSchool.
Number 41
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| copyright © D. Sharp Frankville, 41 Franklin Road, Portslade, the double fronted house, to where Adrian and his mother Madam Adey Brunel moved to in 1911, on the right are the terraced houses in Norway Street. In recent years the front door has been replaced, the house is now known as Frankvilla, which can be read in the glass window above the front door. |
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 11 December 1909 |
The Brunels and Dramatic Arts in Brighton & Hove
The following is a list of brief details of Adrian Brunel’s public performances in amateur dramatics and variety shows reported in the Brighton Herald:-
25 March 1911 – acted in a suffrage play entitled A Change of Tenant at a fund raising event at the Davigdor Lawn Tennis Club’s entertainment evening in Hove.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 1 January 1913 |
30 September 1911 – Adrian formed,
directed, acted and sang with the Persian Minstrels. His
mother, Madame Adey, narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show at the
Union Church Young Peoples Society in Brighton.
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October 1911 – Adrian’s
Persian Minstrels
performed at Queen’s Square School Rooms. His
mother, Madame Adey, narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show.
20 June 1912 – acted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at St Ann’s Well Gardens, Hove. This charity event was in aid of The Teacher’s Benevolent and Orphans Fund.
28 October 1912 – sang and narrated a story in a charity concert in aid of church funds at the All Saints Church Hall, Hove.
2 November 1912 – sang a number of songs of which The Brighton Herald commented that Adrian had a ‘light tenor voice’. His mother, Madame Adey, recited poetry at this charity concert at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion in aid of Brighton’s ‘Chichester’ Hospital for Women.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 22 February 1913 Tickets from Mr Brunel, Frankville in Franklin Road Portslade. |
7 December 1912 – performed comedic sketches in a charity concert at the Union Church Institute, Brighton.
28 December 1912 – Adrian played
the part of Finch McComus in George Bernard Shaw’s You Never Can
Tell at Hove Town Hall. The
Brighton Herald praised Adrian for his ability to add 20 years to
his age to play this character. This show was in aid of Brighton &
Hove’s Naval and Military Veterans Association.
1
March 1913 – Adrian’s Persian
Minstrels performed at Queen’s
Square School Room. His
mother, Madame Adey, narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show.
22 March 1913 – Adrian’s Persian Minstrels performed at Queen’s Square School Rooms. His mother, Madame Adey, narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show.
14 June 1913 – acted in the play
The Professor’s Love Story at the Palace Pier Theatre,
Brighton.
26 July 1913 – acted in the play The Doctor
and the Fatal Gift at Hove Town Hall.
18 October 1913 – wrote and acted in his one act play entitled Till Tomorrow in a charity event held at Brighton’s Corn Exchange in aid of St Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton.
8 November 1913 – performed a
dialogue in character at a charity concert at Hove Town Hall in aid
of All Saints Church, Hove.
Madame Adey
The following is a list of brief details of Madame Adey Brunel’s poetry recital performances reported by the Brighton Herald:-
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 13 June 1903. Madame Adey ‘The Renowned Society Recitalist’ directed by her husband Mr. R. Norman Concorde soon to be her ex-husband. |
7 December 1901 – Madame Adey’s
‘one woman show’ – An Afternoon with the Poets - her
series of recitals of poems at Hove Town Hall.
14 December
1901 – a repeat of Madame Adey’s ‘one woman show’ – An
Afternoon with the Poets at Hove
Town Hall. She also performed these shows in the evenings, at the
same venue, under the title of An Evening with the
Poets.
13 June 1903 – Madame Adey was top billing
with her poetry recitals at a concert in the performance hall of
Brighton Aquarium. The advert for this event described Madame
Adey as ‘The Renowned Society Recitalist’. There is one
particularly interesting name shown on the advert, the director - ‘Mr
R. Norman Concorde’, one of the many names her husband went by, who
was soon to be her ex-husband – a divorce was in the offing in
1903.
8 April 1911 – Madame
Adey recited poems at the Welsh Bazaar in Hove Town Hall.
30
September 1911 – Madame Adey
narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in her son’s Persian Minstrels
show at the Union Church Young Peoples Society in Brighton.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 10 May 1913 |
28
October 1911 – Adrian Brunel’s Persian Minstrels
performed at Queen’s Square School Rooms.
Madame Adey narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show. .
1 March 1913 – Adrian Brunel’s Persian Minstrels performed at Queen’s Square School Rooms. Madame Adey narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show.
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March 1913 – Adrian Brunel’s Persian Minstrels
performed at Queen’s Square School Rooms. His mother, Madame Adey,
narrated, recited poems and wrote the script for the Persian play, entitled, On the Wing in the show.
17 April 1913:-
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10 May 1913 – Madame Adey wrote the script for a costume drama entitled, Until the Dawn, for the Chieftain Ragiuia Concert at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Tuahina Ragiuia, who sang in the Maori language and played the harp, was very popular at society events and on the music hall circuit of England.
A letter critical of Adrian Brunel politics:-
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 5 December 1914 |
By 1915 the Brunels had left Portslade and Adrian was employed in London in the distribution of films to the music hall chain of the Moss Empire.
Adrian Brunel was a major director
in the early British film industry with a long career that stretched
from silent films to the ‘talkies’ era and right through to the
late 1940s. He directed over 50 films and wrote the screenplays for
nearly 40 films. During both World Wars he was involved in wartime
propaganda films. In the Second World War he assisted the famous
Alexander Korda.
In 1916 he and a friend formed a company
called Mirror Films, which produced one film, The Cost of a Kiss.
In 1920 Brunel joined with actor Leslie Howard and author A. A. Milne
to set up Minerva Films, which produced six silent comedy films. Also
in 1920 Brunel directed The Bump starring Hove’s C. Aubrey
Smith. The screenplay was written by A. A. Milne.
In 1923 Brunel
directed the film The Man Without Desire, starring Ivor
Novello. In 1925 he founded the London Film Society, an organization
dedicated to eliminating censorship in Britain. Brunel served as an
advisor to Leslie Howard on his directorial debut in the films, The
First of the Few (1942) and The Gentle Sex (1943). Adrian
Brunel died in Buckinghamshire in 1958, he was married to the actress
Jane Dryden (1891–1987).
In Geoff Brown’s Reference Guide
to British and Irish Film Directors, he writes, “Brunel’s
career was clearly not what it might have been, and the apparent
absence of surviving copies of many of his talkies makes a thorough
re-evaluation of his work difficult. But the burlesque comedies alone
give him a distinctive place in British cinema history as a satirical
jester, and a key player in the film industry's uneasy war between
art and commerce.”
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© J. Middleton A lovely tiled pathway in Franklin Road |
Number 54 – This house has a splendid example of Victorian tiling on the premises. The long tiled path in fine condition exhibits colours of terracotta, black, and biscuit with a scattering of small blue tiles.
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© D. Sharp Franklin Road, Portslade looking east towards New Church Road, Hove in May 2023 |
Sources
Thanks are due to Mr G. Osborne for allowing me to reproduce nine of his wonderful photographs from his private collection.
Josephine Botting
Encyclopaedia of Hove and
Portslade
Middleton, J. Hove and Portslade in the Great War (2014)
Newspaper Reports
Personal interview
Portslade Council Minutes
Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove
UK Census
Copyright
© J.Middleton 2023
page layout and additional research
by D. Sharp