The more I find out about Hastings the stranger the town becomes. Lord Tiverton who, like his friend Screaming Lord Sutch, seems to have invented his title - in fact he was Derek Howell, health food millionaire - lived in the Old Town and died in October 1999. According to the Evening Argus:
'The short route from Tiver's home above a shop in the historic Old Town of Hastings to the nearby St Clement's Church was packed with those eager to pay their last respects. A jazz band led the hearse, followed by a lively procession of mourners including members of the Monster Raving Loony Party of which Tivers was appointed chairman shortly before his death. Sadly he never heard the good news.'
He lived at 49 George Street, which, according to an article I found online, was decorated in an eccentric style. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find any images online of the interior, so the imagination will have to serve. Above, a general picture of the north side of George Street where the house is located.
2 comments:
I am always sorry when eccentric interiors and also eccentric gardens are not recorded. Even if they don't exist any more I love to look at them.
I used to live in that property (No49) just before it was sold to Lord Tiverton by my Grandfather, I grew up there and played in the street long before it was pedestrianised. I was a young child still at the time so I don't have any photos but I remember the property well and I can tell you that he ripped out the entire staircase and installed a glass elevator, as a child I was fascinated by it! He was always kind and welcoming to me and would let me come by to go up in the elevator and as I was a piano student he gave me an open invitation to visit the house because the living room he had installed a white baby grand piano which I could play and practice on. The building had a garden to the back and then several layers of walled terraces along the the side of the garden. On one of the top terraces there was a large old fig tree that I used to enjoy climbing and sitting in and I built a den nearby, if you pushed through the overgrowth you would come out at the West Hill. Of course it's far easier to take a ride up the West Hill lift located just a bit further along George St. My grandfather and I would walk on both the West and East hills. I don't live in the area now but I have many wonderful memories of George St, playing on the steps that go up the side of Ye Olde Pumpehouse & the little alleyways between shops, going into the amusements at the end of the street, going to Dom's ice creams for slush puppies, the Dolphin Fish Bar for cones of chips, going over the road to the boating lake, crazy golf and so on, and I remember the opening day of Smugglers Adventures at the caves. Not such fun when I was young was having to go with my grandmother to the old town fish huts to buy fish, or the cheesemonger on High St, both of which I hated the smells of. I visited the area several years ago and was delighted to see that so many of the things and places I remembered were still there, many unchanged in name and function although possibly ownership. I hope covid hasn't had too much negative impact on the area as there are many small independent businesses, maybe it's time for another trip!
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