Brighton & Hove buses unveil new buses named after celebrities

Scores of buses on the streets have already been named after famous people in a move which has proved popular with the public.

The new names include royalty, designers, a cricketer and a transport expert. Former scriptwriter, actor, voiceover artist and theatre director Andy Cunningham is one of them.

Others include Richard Patching, who founded construction company Patching & Son.

Here are a few...

Rupert Webb

Rupert Webb’s exciting career spanned the worlds of both cricket and showbusiness.

Born in Harrow in 1922, he was offered a place at Cambridge only to have to turn it down for financial reasons. Instead, he trained as a photographer before realising that cricket was his true passion.

He joined the Sussex team after WWII ended and played for his country for 13 years, forging a reputation as a legendary wicket keeper who was adept at stumping batsmen.

Rupert married three times. His third wife, Barbara Whatley, was a well-connected actress who gave him his first showbusiness break. He turned out to be an excellent actor and appeared in many films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral.

The Webbs eventually moved to Rottingdean, where they made many friends. Rupert never gave up his cricket connections, even helping to save a club in Seaford.

He also served on the cricket board for Sussex and campaigned for players to get better wages.

When he died of a stroke in 2018 at the age of 96, his ashes were interred at the county ground in Hove.

Norman Wisdom

SIR Norman Wisdom was a comic legend whose career spanned 50 years.

It was during his time in the army that he began to hone his skills as an entertainer, developing his persona as “The Successful Failure”, adopting a duck waddle and the trip up-and-stumble he became known for.

When he was demobilised in 1945, Wisdom made his debut as a professional entertainer at the age of 31; his rise to the top was phenomenally fast. Called “the best clown in the business” by no less than Charlie Chaplin, he was known for playing downtrodden men in a uniform of crumpled suit and cloth cap.

He lived for many years in West Chiltington and was a director of Brighton and Hove Albion from 1964 to 1970.

Norman was also a singer, best known for his song Don’t Laugh at Me ‘Cos I’m a Fool.

Daisy and Violet Hilton

BORN in Brighton in 1908, Daisy and Violet Hilton were the world’s most famous conjoined twins.

Their mother was a single woman who was working as a barmaid when she gave birth to two little girls joined at the hip.

Before too long, their mother’s employer, pub owner Mary Hilton, took over Daisy and Violet’s lives.

She displayed them in a back room to anyone willing to pay, then took them on a nationwide tour, billing them as the “United Twins”. As their fame grew, they travelled with their guardian to the USA to star in sideshows.

When Mary died in 1931, the twins finally gained their independence, leaving sideshows for good and going into vaudeville.

They also starred in films, most notably the classic movie, Freaks.

Both of them married and even had affairs.

Daisy and Violet eventually settled in Florida but as interest in them declined they were forced into dead end jobs, the last one being at a grocery store.

They died from the flu in 1969.

Carol Barnes

A NATURAL communicator without any airs and graces, Carol Barnes was one of Britain’s best-loved newscasters.

Born in Norwich and educated in London, she spent much of her life in Brighton and was well known.

Carol’s career began in 1975 when she joined ITN as a journalist, covering big news stories like the unrest in Northern Ireland and the Brixton riots.

She was promoted to newscaster five years later, winning many awards for her work.

Carol had a daughter, Clare, from her relationship with Denis MacShane, who later became a Labour minister.

Clare died in 2004 while skydiving in Australia. Carol eventually married ITV cameraman Nigel Thomson.

They had a son, James, before divorcing in 1999. The popular broadcaster played a leading role in Brighton life and was a magistrate for many years.

She also enjoyed playing golf and taking to the air as a qualified pilot. In 2008, Carol died of a stroke at the age of 63. A memorial service in The Grand hotel was attended by many of her former ITN colleagues.

Dame Millicent Fawcett

UNLIKE the more famous Pankhursts, Dame Millicent Fawcett was a suffragette who believed in creating change through peaceful protest.

Born in 1847, she was the sister of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to become a physician in Britain.

Millicent married Henry Fawcett, the radical MP for Brighton, who had been blinded in a shooting accident. Henry encouraged her to fight for women’s rights and in 1868 she gave a widely criticised speech about women’s suffrage.

After he died in 1884 she got even more involved in the suffragette movement, becoming its president in 1907.

Millicent supported the war effort in 1914, believing that if women played a full part they would be rewarded with the vote later on.

She was honoured with a damehood in the 1920s and thankfully saw many of her dreams for women fulfilled before her death in 1929.

Jacky Harding

WHEN eight-year-old Jacky Harding arrived in Sussex from Sierra Leone in 1969, Brighton had very few ethnic minority residents.

Discrimination was an issue, but Jacky was determined to transform her life through education, enrolling at Sussex University to study Economics.

Following this, she joined the Labour party and became a community worker.

A true barrier breaker, in 2000 Jacky became the first black woman to be elected to Brighton and Hove City Council for Labour.

As she knew firsthand how education can transform the lives of ethnic minorities, she was made lead councillor for the Labour group on lifelong learning. Passionate about promoting continuing education for all ages and backgrounds, she also worked for the University of Brighton, was a founder member of the Learning and Skills Council Sussex, and a member of the Friends Centre management committee.

She died from liver failure at the age of 45.

Prince Regent

THE Prince Regent was the eldest child of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

He led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era.

When the future King George IV first set eyes on Brighton in the late 1700s, he knew that he wanted to build something fabulous there.

After buying a farmhouse near to the seafront, he commissioned architect John Nash to transform it into the most fantastic palace in Europe.

Nash set to work creating a storybook oriental building of domes and minarets that became known as the Royal Pavilion.

The Prince furnished it lavishly, turning the music and banqueting rooms into two of the most beautiful spaces in the world.

Next, he filled his palace with guests, throwing epic banquets with up to 36 courses.

George became King in 1820 but his love affair with Brighton ended, as he became fed up with the crowds.

He paid one last visit to his fantasy palace in 1828.

Peter Brackley

PETER Brackley’s great love of football was at the heart of his long and distinguished media career.

Starting out as a football commentator on BBC Radio Brighton in the 1970s, he eventually switched to television, working for both ITV and Sky.

He loved covering matches for Channel 4’s Football Italia in the 1990s, as well as four World Cups and two European championships.

Peter’s talents didn’t stop at football commentary though — he was also a brilliant impressionist, even providing some of the voices for the Spitting Image puppets.

He also appeared on the popular TV show Saint and Greavsie.

A great Seagulls fan, in later years he did a lot of work for Brighton and Hove Albion’s community wing.

In fact, Peter kept busy until near to the end of his life, writing a column for The Argus until he died last year at the age of 67.

Known for being gregarious, Peter made so many friends in the media that scores of them attended his funeral to say farewell to a true football icon.