The Blow Fly Judgement
August, 1235, Hunan Province, China. A man’s body is discovered in a rice field hacked to death with multiple stab wounds. The presiding magistrate, Sung Tz’u... Read more.
Love and Murder on a Plate
During the 1950s I was obliged to spend a couple of weeks of the school summer holidays with an aunt in Brighton and all her crockery, from egg cups to…... Read more.
Van Gogh’s Ear
One of the most bizarre and notable events of art history occurred 23rd December 1888 when Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh cut of his left ear in an apparent fit…... Read more.
Sounds of Silence
‘The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.’ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Anyone could compose and notate silence, but surely no one would publish... Read more.
Discovery of America
The Nao Santa Maria, pictured, is a replica of the boat in which Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. The boat was on a visit to Eastbourne’s…... Read more.
Grandeur in Eastbourne
The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, known locally as ‘the white palace’, is by far the largest and most impressive building on the seafront, dominating the skyline... Read more.
Swimming the Channel
The English Channel seems to be forever in the news for one reason or another and it was so in 1875 when a memorable crossing took place, but not in…... Read more.
The Graduate at Seaford Little Theatre
The Seaford Little Theatre is an amateur group of actors who stage four plays a year to professional standard. Their next production 6 – 14 March is an adaptation... Read more.
John’s Favourite Article of 2024 The Jewel of Kent
By John Silverton This is John’s Favourite Article of 2025. Dear reader, a question. Who connects the following event and places: a fatal sailing accident... Read more.
Eastbourne’s International Workers Mural
This exceptional and unique artwork, a fourteen-panel painted frieze, measuring 27.2 x 1.1 metres (89’1″ x 3’7″) in total, depicting the... Read more.
Glittering Piano Recitals in Eastbourne
Three finalists of Norah Sande Award. L – R We Cherry Ge, Radu-Gabriel Stoica, Erica Sin U Sou. Fourteen brilliant young classical pianists on the brink... Read more.
Sussex Modernism Towner Gallery Exhibition, Eastbourne
By John Silverton Crying Girl (2023) by Jennifer Binnie (1958 – From the mid-1950s, Towner Gallery was instrumental in bringing modernist and abstract art... Read more.
The Lure of the South Pole.
By John Silverton Blue Plaque, 14 Milnthorpe Road, Eastbourne. The first Blue Plaque to be erected in Eastbourne was at 14 Milnthorpe Road, Hampden Park, from 1916... Read more.
Brilliant Young Pianists in Eastbourne Birley Centre 5th & 6th July
By John Silverton Birley Centre permission to use both photographs from the organiser, Norah Sande Award (ref. Victoria Henley The Birley Centre, Carlisle Road,... Read more.
Art of Berwick Church
If you drive west from Eastbourne along the A27 you descend a hill approaching the roundabout turn off to Alfriston. In the distance on the left poking up through... Read more.
Beachy Head – Death and Directors
Moving from London to the south coast, I decided the tempo of Eastbourne agreed with my intended andante lifestyle of retirement, but persuaded to work part-time... Read more.
Today’s Coastline Will Not Be Tomorrow’s
In 1993 the Grand National was cancelled and a hotel in Scarborough toppled into the sea. These two events were included to great effect in a speech by Labour Party…... Read more.
Eastbourne Blues
By John Silverton Alan Bennett’s filmed story of The Lady in the Van (2015), related the saga of Miss Shepherd, the eponymous ‘Lady’ of the title, who for... Read more.
Eastbourne Hosts Brilliant Young Pianists
One of the best undiscovered secrets of Eastbourne is the Birley Centre, Carlisle Road, opposite Towner. Opened in 2011 this modern art-deco styled exhibition and... Read more.