Town Profile Cultural references


References to Tunbridge Wells occur in literature as diverse as Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Valley Of Fear, E M Forster’s A Room With A View, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. David Lean’s epic film Lawrence


of Arabia closes with Mr Dryden answering King Feisal: "Me, your Highness? On the whole, I wish I'd stayed in Tunbridge Wells", and in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Tracy Di Vicenzo says to Bond that she "looks forward to living as Mr and Mrs James Bond of Acacia Avenue, Tunbridge Wells". In the TV puppet satire, Spitting


Image, when Britain enters a revolution, Royal Tunbridge Wells declares independence under the slogan of “liberty, equality, gardening”.


Delighted or Disgusted?


The term Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is a sign-off-name for a letter to a newspaper complaining (often excessively) about a subject that the writer feels is unacceptable. The term dates back to the 1950s.


Historian and former newspaper editor Frank Chapman attributes it to the


staff of the former Tunbridge Wells Advertiser. The paper's editor, alarmed at a lack of letters from readers, insisted his staff pen a few to fill space. One signed his simply "Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells". The term was given a wide currency in


the early 1950s by the BBC radio comedy series Take It From Here in


which Disgusted, played by Wallas Eaton, would make a ludicrous protest to give the cue for a sketch by Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley. In recent times, some residents of


TunbridgeWells have called the tag inap- propriate and stereotypical and want the town to drop association with it in favour of Delighted of Tunbridge Wells.


Above: Scotney Castle courtesy of Mike Bartlett. Top: Bedgebury Pinetum. 14 Mid Kent Living


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36