ADAM Trimingham must be the longest running contributor to The Argus.

I used to find his articles a little irritating so passed most of them by as he was always banging on about bikes, his dislike of cars and the benefits of sea swimming.

I wondered if he would have liked to have embargoed all local new road building, leaving the way west still via a trip over the old wooden toll bridge at Shoreham, as he was no fan of the bypass.

When he became styled as the Sage of Sussex... well.

However, during the last couple of years I have come to really appreciate his talents via the Wednesday column which is now my favourite read of the week as he provides so much detail and insight into events and people as a consequence of his extensive knowledge of the area, its history and people.

His range of topics has broadened as evidenced by last week’s article about the old 1950s rock and rollers.

It’s impossible to convey what an impact they had on the music scene which was previously dominated by middle-aged tuxedo clad crooners and lady vocalists in huge frocks... at least that’s how I recall it.

Sadly by its very nature it was always destined to be rather shortlived as many of the British imitators were to find when they were ultimately forced to declare the ambition of becoming all round entertainers.

However the American pioneers’ influence has continued down the ages with Chuck Berry very prominent in that regard.

Adam concluded by suggesting the genre, which the rock stars said would never die, is gently fading into musical history.

However far far away in interstellar space the Voyager space crafts one and two carry a golden record on which there is a track by one Charles Edward Anderson Berry.

And in 40,000 years time when a rendezvous with the nearest star system is predicted, the local aliens will be on their feet.

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