Brighton

Forget sleepy fishing hamlet, Brighton, a town in East Sussex, was once Brightelmston, a humble dot on the map. But its destiny changed in 1753 with the arrival of Dr. Richard Russell, a health guru with a radical idea: seawater cures everything! Bam! His book, A Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water in Diseases of the Glands, became a bestseller, and Brighton's transformation began.

Suddenly, taking a dip wasn't just for the desperate, it was chic. Wealthy folks flocked to the coast, eager for a dose of Dr. Russell's "liquid sunshine." Enter the "dippers," brave souls like the celebrated Martha Gunn, who made a splash (literally) by plunging the rich into the waves for a fee. 

Brighton boomed. Bathhouses sprung up like mushrooms, catering to every whim. Fancy a dip in a private cabin? No problem. Want to watch from dry land? Grab a deckchair and enjoy the spectacle. The town buzzed with excitement, a far cry from its quiet fishing roots.

Brighton, The Front and the Chain Pier Seen in the Distance, Frederick William Woledge, 1840

Prince George, later George IV suffered from gout due to his highly spiced diet. For many years he bathed in the Brighton sea to try to cure this.

Prince George had a villa built in Brighton on the site of a farmhouse. In 1812 he engaged John Nash to enlarge it into the Royal Pavilion, extravagant "Indian" and "Chinese" interiors. Many people attacked his extravagance. 

7,000 residents of Brighton, ate plum pudding and roast beef and played kiss-in-the-ring at The Level urban park to celebrate Napoleon's defeat in 1814.

In 1821 Dean Mahomed, the owner of the first ever Indian restaurant in England, opened some baths on Brighton sea front. He claimed he was ‘the inventor of the Indian Medicated Vapour Baths…by whom the Art of Shampooing was first introduced into England in 1784.’ King George IV gave him a royal warrant and anointed him Shampooing Surgeon to The King. 

Britain’s first seaside pleasure pier, the Chain Pier at Brighton, opened in 1823.

Britain’s first express commuter train started operating in 1841. It run between London and Brighton taking 105 minutes to complete the 59-mile journey.

In 1871, Harry J. Lawson, of Brighton, made the first rear-chain-driven "safety" cycle. The pedal moved the back wheel by means of a chain on sprockets.

Dive into the underwater world at the Brighton Sea Life Centre, which opened its doors in 1872  and is the oldest operating aquarium in the world. It boasts the UK's longest underwater viewing tunnel and houses over 3,500 fascinating creatures.

Volk’s Electric Railway opened in 1879. Running along the Brighton seafront, it was the world’s first public electric railway.

The Duke of York's Picture House opened in Brighton in 1910. It is now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.

The world's first recorded cargo flight took off from Shoreham, just west of Brighton, in 1911. The precious cargo? A box of Osram light bulbs!

During World War I, the Royal Pavilion served as a military hospital for Indian soldiers and British amputees. Two monuments, the Chattri memorial and the Indian Gate, commemorate their legacy.

Britain’s first legal casino of modern times opened at the Metropole in Brighton in 1962.

Harry Bidwen of Brighton divorced his wife at the age of 101 in 1980, having waited until all their children were dead.

Source History World