Movies and Literature
St Mary's House
Alfred Musgrave was an owner of St. Mary's at the turn of the 20thC - he probably was the inspiration for Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "The Musgrave Ritual".
The characters Algernon and Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde's famous play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' were probably based on the owners of St. Mary's at the end of the 19thC, Algernon and Gwendolen Bourke, who would certainly have known Oscar Wilde.
Used as a location for the BBC 'Dr Who' 25th anniversary story in 1988 'The Silver Nemesis'
Other TV films about historic houses and gardens have been filmed here.
St. Mary's was originally founded by the Knights Templar as a pilgrim inn for those on their way to Canterbury. The present building was built by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, around 1450.
Broughton Castle - Banbury
Broughton Castle is a medieval manor house located in the village of Broughton which is about two miles south-west of Banbury in North Oxfordshire
It was built as a manor house by Sir John de Broughton in 1300 at a location where the confluence of three streams created a natural site for a moated manor. The house was sold in 1377 to William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. The original house was regenerated by Sir Thomas Wykeham in 1406. In 1451 it passed by inheritance to the Fiennes family (Barons Saye and Sele). Beginning in 1550 Richard Fiennes transformed the medieval manor into a house in the Tudor style.
In the 17th century William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was one of the leading activists against Charles I. He raised troops to fight against the king at the inconclusive Battle of Edgehill in 1642. Royalist troops later besieged the castle, overcoming the defenders and occupying the castle for a time.
Broughton fell into decay in the 19th century, but was eventually rescued by Frederick Fiennes, 16th Lord Saye and Sele, who brought in the prominent Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.
It is still the home of the Saye and Sele family today.
As a hardworking castle, Broughton has won starring roles in many films, of which several are of the royal variety, such as The Madness of King George (1994), based on the play by Alan Bennet, starring Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren.
In the award-winning Shakespeare in Love (1998), the actor Joseph Fiennes stalks his lady love played by Gwyeth Paltrow, only to be chased away by guard dogs through the arches of the gatehouse. The actors Joseph Fiennes and Ralph Fiennes are related to the family living at Broughton Castle.
In the Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) Anthony Andrews rescues innocent aristocrats from the guillotine and there is a firing squad execution in the Ladies' garden at Broughton.
There are soaring helicopter shots of the castle for Three Men and a Little Lady (1987) starring Tom Selleck. Much of the film was shot around Banbury.
There was quite a stir within the castle walls when topless nuns paraded on the front lawn for Tony Richardson's well-received Joseph Andrews (1976), starring Peter Firth and Ann-Margret.
Lady Jane (1986) was the Trevor Nunn film that gave a young Helena Bonham Carter the break which eventually let to her best remembered role as Lucy Honeychurch in EM Forster's A Room With A View.
Film-makers gave the castle a big part in The Slipper and the Rose (1976), a Cinderella remake.
Horsham
Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet and well known political radical, was born at Field Place, Warnham, West Sussex in 1792. During his short life he wrote some of the most powerful poetry in the English language and is admired throughout the world for his works. Horsham Museum has built up a collection of first and early editions that tell his life through books. Also on display there is a very rare bronze bust of Shelley.
W B Yeats Poet and dramatist. Often stayed at Chantry House Church Street Steyning during the last years of his life.
Hilaire Belloc, a leading writer and political thinker, also known for his cautionary tales for Children. In 1906 Belloc purchased King's Land in the hamlet of Shipley, near Horsham for £900. This included a house, five acres of land and Slindon Mill. Belloc developed a deep love for Sussex and over the next thirty years wrote numerous articles and several books on the subject.
Next time 'The Black Narcissus' - the classic Powell and Pressburger film - is shown on TV, look at the scenes of Tibet: They are in fact Leonardslee Gardens in Lower Beeding, West Sussex! Due to unrest in India and China, filming could not take place in Tibet so the Himalayas came to the Horsham District just after WWII.
Hampshire
The very famous of North Hampshire is Jane Austen, more information on:
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/austen
Guildford
The Holiday, starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black is a romantic comedy, featuring two women looking to escape their complicated love lives by house swapping. Cameron Diaz leaves behind a manic life in Los Angeles for a holiday in a quiet Surrey village.
Portsmouth
On 7th Februrary 1812, the great novelist Charles Dickens was bron in a modest house in Old Commercial Road, Portsmouth. The house now stands in a quiet cul-de-sac but in 1812 it was a busy main road into the town. The house is now Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum and open to the public.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Southsea from 1882 - 1890, after coming to Portsmouth to set up a doctor's practice. He played a leading role in Portsmouth's political, literary and sporting life, and here he created the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes in 1886.
The distinguished novelist, historian and social thinker Herbert George Wells spent a while in Southsea, where as a young man he was a drapery apprentice to Edwin Hide, near the corner of Kings Road and St. Paul's Road. His experiences are recorded in 'Kipps'.
Russel Crowe researched the Royal Navy and Nelson's era extensively for his role in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, when he visited Portsmouth Historic Dockyard's HMS Victory and Royal Naval Museum.
Many parts of Tommy by The Who were filmed in Portsmouth including scenes for Bernie's Holiday Camp, Tommy's Holiday Camp, The Church of Marilyn Monroe, and Pinball Wizard.
Lewes
Virginia Woolf/The Hours
From 1911 Virginia Woolf had rented small houses near Lewes in East Sussex. Her sister Vanessa Bell rented Charleston Farmhouse (now owned by the Bloomsbury Trust) nearby from 1916 onwards. In 1919 the Woolfs bought Monks House in the village of Rodmell, East Sussex. This was a small weather-boarded house (now owned by the National Trust) which they used principally for summer holidays until they were bombed out of London in 1940 when it became their home.
In 1941 Virginia Woolf reputedly committed suicide by filling her pockets with rocks and drowning herself in the River Ouse, just outside Lewes.
Virginia Woolf was recently played by Nicole Kidman in the film 'The Hours'
East Hampshire
East Hampshire is home to some of Britain's literary greats. You can follow in the footsteps of these writers, including Jane Austen and Flora Thompson, on 6 self-guided walks.
Edward Thomas Walk - Steep
Flora Thompson Walk - Liphook
Gilbert White Walk - Selborne
WH Hudson Walk - Buriton
William Cobbett Walk - Hawkley
Jane Austen Walk - Chawton
A circular walk from Petersfield via Buriton, Weston, Ramsdean and Stroud.
Milton Keynes
Bletchley Park was where the Enigma code was cracked, which helped the Allied Forces win WWII. It is also where Alan Turing developed Colossus, the world's first computer. Sir Winston Churchill was a frequent visitor during WWII
The film "Enigma" was about the cracking of the code. However, instead of using the authentic site to film, Chicheley Hall, near Newport Pagnell, was disguised to look like Bletchley Park
Much of the first "Superman" film was shot in Milton Keynes using the modern architecture for backdrops.
With the poet, William Cowper, who also lived in Olney and Weston Underwood, a small village next to Olney, John Newton wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". A film with that title has just been released to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade in the U.K.
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming, the much loved author of James Bond and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, would have turned 100 on 28th May 2008. To celebrate his life and much loved characters, the South East will be organising special events and activities throughout the year. Find out more about Ian Fleming events in the South East