Author

Extract

In particular he was greeted with great acclaim on his first visit to Britain in 1847...

The interaction of her characters with their surroundings, particularly with the effects of light, is important in her writing and her last novel, ‘Eva Trout’ (1969), some of which takes place in Broadstairs, shows this strong sense of place...

This gripping thriller was written by Buchan in Broadstairs itself where he was resting from ill-health...

Author of famous novels such as The Last Days of Pompeii Bulwer-Lytton achieved a level of influence that allowed him to introduce his friend Charles Dickens to the literary world...

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In 1862 Collins leased Fort House (later known as Bleak House) for the whole summer...

Dickens entertained extensively at Broadstairs and was often inviting his friends to stay...

Mr and Mrs Dickens entertained a great deal in Broadstairs...

Broadstairs certainly won Dickens’ heart...

Dickens was obviously enjoying the summer in Broadstairs when he wrote this letter entreating his friend Mark Lemon and his wife to come visit the family in Broadstairs...

By 1849 Dickens knew Broadstairs very well...

Dickens knew Broadstairs sufficiently well to expect certain things there...

However he is left with the only other alternative, which was to use the roads – a far less comfortable and easy way of travelling...

In Dickens’ time trains were just becoming a possible travel option...

Unfortunately for Dickens, the town gained in popularity in the mid-nineteenth century especially during the summer months...

By the time this letter was written (1843) Dickens knew Broadstairs well and had come to establish certain routines there as this letter delightfully depicts in which Dickens christens himself Boz, his early pseudonym...

In this letter to his friend Macready, Dickens ‘solemnly declares’ his affection for Broadstairs and proclaims it to be ‘the finest feature in all creation’...

By 1849, when this letter was written, Dickens was well acquainted with Broadstairs and with its unpredictable weather...

Dickens gives a delightful portrayal of Broadstairs in this letter to his friend Miss Allan...

Although the fictitious donkey-chaser, Miss Betsey Trotwood, lived in Dover, her real-life equivalent, Miss Pearson Strong, lived in Broadstairs along Victoria Parade...

Fond of Broadstairs as he was, Dickens was however not oblivious to the dramatic weather that it could host, nor to the fact that it was chosen by many (including himself) as a place of pure air and therefore beneficial to the health...

Having written just a month before to his friend Mark Lemon describing the tranquillity of Broadstairs, Dickens now finds the place invaded by musicians whose musical abilities are inversely proportionate to their over-enthusiasm...

Dickens was very fond of Broadstairs and this is no doubt due in part to the fact that he used it as a convalescence retreat...

‘… I am getting as haggard as an old witch under London atmosphere and influences ,’ wrote George Eliot to friends in May 1852...

Although of the two Weedon had the most fruitful literary career, the Grossmith brothers joined forces to write The Diary of Nobody (1896) the comical account of an office worker, Charles Pooter, who overestimates his sense of humour and has an exaggerated idea of his own importance, much to the amusement of those around him...

He and his wife Carrie choose to go to Broadstairs with their son Lupin for their annual leave...

Alfred Harmsworth was a leading figure in the world of journalism so much so that he revolutionised the whole industry and, notably, saved The Daily Mail, The Timesand The Observe from a bitter end...

Again breaking family tradition, he converted to Catholicism and became passionate about Ireland and its literary revival...

His efforts were not in vain as he founded the journal The Poetry Review in 1911 and opened a poetry bookshop in the slums of London...

He status and reputation were such that he got to the stage where he wielded political influence and turned into a prominent public figure, to the extent that he thought he had a place in the Versailles Peace talks at the end of the First World War...

Looking back in his nineties, he recalled, in his autobiography, a holiday he spent there in the summer of 1877...

Finding the noise and bustle of London at Christmas-time in 1889 too much for him, Shaw sought repose elsewhere...

She seemed to be happy at first and her poem ‘The Occasional Yarrow’ may be based on enjoyable memories of local walks...

He was a recognised authority on mysticism...

Wilde stayed at the Albion Hotel in Broadstairs in July 1883 before giving lectures at Margate and Ramsgate...