Coordinates: 50°50′35″N 0°07′53″W / 50.842941°N 0.1313120°W / 50.842941; -0.1313120

Brighton
Brighton  Brighton shown within East Sussex
Population	155,919 [1]
OS grid reference	TQ315065
Unitary authority	Brighton and Hove
Ceremonial county	East Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRIGHTON
Postcode district	BN1, BN2, BN50, BN88
Dialling code	01273
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Brighton Kemptown
	Brighton Pavilion
List of places: UK • England • East Sussex

Brighton ⁱ/ˈbraɪtən/ is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove (formed from the previous towns of Brighton, Hove, Portslade and several other villages) in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain. For administrative purposes, Brighton and Hove is not part of the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, but remains part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex.

The ancient settlement of Brighthelmstone dates from before Domesday Book (1086), but it emerged as a health resort featuring sea bathing during the 18th century and became a destination for day-trippers from London after the arrival of the railway in 1841. Brighton experienced rapid population growth, reaching a peak of over 160,000 by 1961.^[2] Modern Brighton forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation stretching along the coast, with a population of around 480,000.^[3]

Brighton has two universities and a medical school (which is operated jointly by both universities).

History[link]

Photochrom of Brighton aquarium, 1890–1900

In the Domesday Book, Brighton was called Bristelmestune^[4] and a rent of 4,000 herring was established. In June 1514 Brighthelmstone was burnt to the ground by French raiders during a war between England and France. Only part of the St Nicholas Church and the street pattern of the area now known as "The Lanes" survived. The first drawing of Brighthelmstone was made in 1545 and depicts what is believed to be the raid of 1514.^[5] During the 1740s and 1750s, Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began prescribing seawater at Brighton.^[6][7][8]

From 1780, development of the Georgian terraces had started and the fishing village became the fashionable resort of Brighton. Growth of the town was further encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after his first visit in 1783.^[9] He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion during the early part of his Regency. Although contracted forms of the name are attested since the 15th Century, it was not until this period that the modern form of the name came into common use.^[10]

The arrival of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841 brought Brighton within the reach of day-trippers from London and population growth from around 7,000 in 1801 to over 120,000 by 1901.^[11] The Victorian era saw the building of many major attractions including the Grand Hotel (1864), the West Pier (1866) and the Palace Pier (1899). Prior to either of these structures the famous Chain Pier was built, to the designs of Captain Samuel Brown. It lasted from 1823 to 1896, and featured in paintings by both Turner and Constable.

After boundary changes between 1873 and 1952, the land area of Brighton increased from 1,640 acres (7 km²) in 1854 to 14,347 acres (58 km²) in 1952.^[12] New housing estates were established in the acquired areas including Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, Coldean and Whitehawk. The major expansion of 1928 also incorporated the villages of Patcham, Ovingdean and Rottingdean, and much council housing was built in parts of Woodingdean after the Second World War.

More recently, gentrification of much of Brighton has seen a return of the fashionable image which characterised the growth of the Regency period. Recent housing in the North Laine, for instance, has been designed in keeping with the area.

In 1997 Brighton and Hove were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, which was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.

Brighton is sometimes referred to as London-by-the-sea.^[13][14][15]

Landmarks[link]

Brighton Pier

Royal Pavilion

The Royal Pavilion is a former royal palace built as a home for the Prince Regent during the early 19th century, under the direction of the architect John Nash, and is notable for its Indo-Saracenic architecture and Oriental interior. Other Indo-Saracenic buildings in Brighton include the Sassoon Mausoleum, now, with the bodies reburied elsewhere, in use as a chic supper club.

Brighton Marine Palace and Pier (long known as the Palace Pier) opened in 1899. It features a funfair, restaurants and arcade halls.^[16][17][18]

The West Pier was built in 1866 and is one of only two Grade I listed piers in the United Kingdom. It has been closed since 1975. For some time it was under consideration for restoration, but two fires in 2003, and other setbacks, led to these plans being abandoned.^[19] Plans for a new landmark in its place – the i360, a 183 m (600 ft) observation tower designed by London Eye architects Marks Barfield – were announced in June 2006. Plans were approved by the council on 11 October 2006.^[20] As of early 2009^[update], construction had yet to begin, but the area has been cordoned off.

Brighton clocktower, built in 1888 for Queen Victoria's jubilee, stands at the intersection of Brighton's busiest thoroughfares.

Created in 1883, Volk's Electric Railway runs along the inland edge of the beach from Brighton Pier to Black Rock and Brighton Marina. It is the world's oldest operating electric railway.^[21]

The Grand Hotel was built in 1864 and the scene of the 1984 Brighton Hotel Bombing. Its nighttime blue lighting is particularly prominent along the foreshore.^[22]

The Brighton Wheel opened with some controversy, directly north east of the Brighton Marine Palace and Pier in October 2011 after a previous attempt to locate it in a more central location near the Metropole Hotel, at which time it was to have been the "Brighton O" — a special spokeless design rather than the traditional spoked wheel eventually purchased from its previous home in South Africa.

Churches and places of worship[link]

The 11th century St Nicholas Church is the oldest building in Brighton, commonly known as "The Mother Church".^[23] Other notable churches include the large brick-built St Bartholomew's, and St Peter's on an island between the Lewes Road and the London Road. Brighton's Quakers run the Friends' Meeting House in the Lanes. There is an active Unitarian community based in a Grade 2 listed building in New Road, and a Spiritualist church in Norfolk Square.^[24] There are also a number of New Age outlets and groups.

Brighton has one synagogue, the Middle Street Synagogue, a Grade II listed building built in 1874–75. It is presently in the process of being gradually restored by English Heritage. There are also several mosques^[25][26] and Buddhist centres.^[27]

Nevertheless, Brighton has become known as one of the least religious places in the UK, based upon analysis of the 2001 census which revealed that 66,955 people (27 per cent of the population) profess no religion, almost double the national average of 15 per cent.^[28] As part of the Jedi census phenomenon, 2.6 per cent claimed their religion was Jedi Knight.

Beaches[link]

Brighton's Kemp Town beach in summer

Boats on Brighton Beach

The seafront has bars, restaurants, nightclubs and amusement arcades, principally between the piers. Being less than an hour from London by train has made the city a popular destination, especially with big party groups.^[29] Brighton beach has a nudist area (south of the easterly part of Kemptown). Brighton's beach, which is a shingle beach up to the mean low tide mark, has been awarded a blue flag. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath heads west along the seafront above the beach.

Since the 1978 demolition of the open-air lido at Black Rock, the most easterly part of Brighton's seafront, the area has been developed and now features one of Europe's largest marinas. However, the site of the pool itself remains empty except for a skate park and graffiti wall, and further development is planned including a high-rise hotel which has aroused debate, mirroring proposals for the King Alfred leisure centre in Hove, which were pulled in 2008.^[30] In addition, part of the eastern side of the beach has been redeveloped into a sports complex, which has courts for anything from beach volleyball to ultimate Frisbee, and opened to the public in March 2007.

Culture[link]

Art[link]

Brighton's art community is showcased once a year in an artists' open house event during the Brighton Festival. On the seafront between Brighton's two piers is the Artists Quarter, a row of Victorian fishermen's workshops converted to small galleries and studio spaces, where artists, employing a variety of media and styles, publicly present their work.^[31]

In 2009 Anish Kapoor exhibited throughout Brighton as part of the Brighton Festival, for which he was also artistic director.^[32]

Brighton Museum and Art Gallery in Pavilion Gardens, part of the Royal Pavilion complex, provides permanent collections and temporary exhibitions.^[33]

Cinema[link]

Brighton has featured in a number of hit movies including Quadrophenia (1979), MirrorMask (2005), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), The Young Victoria (2009), Brighton Rock (2010 and 1947) and The Boat that Rocked (2009).^[34]

The Duke of York's Picturehouse, dating from 1910, is the country's oldest purpose-built cinema, which still operates as an arthouse cinema. The are also two multiplex cinemas.

Festivals and rallies[link]

"The Big Beach Boutique II": over 250,000 watched Fatboy Slim (July 2002)

Seafront display of Minis after a London to Brighton drive

Each May the city hosts the Brighton Festival, the second largest arts festival in the UK (after Edinburgh). This includes processions such as the Children's Parade, outdoor spectaculars often involving pyrotechnics, and theatre, music and visual arts in venues throughout the city, some brought into this use exclusively for the festival. The earliest feature of the festival, the Artists' Open Houses, are homes of artists and craftspeople opened to the public as galleries, and usually selling the work of the occupants. Since 2002, these have been organised independently of the official Festival and Fringe.

Brighton Festival Fringe runs alongside Brighton Festival, and has grown to be the second largest fringe festival in the world.^[35] Together with the street performers from Brighton Festival's "Streets of Brighton" events, and the Royal Mile-esque outdoor performances that make up "Fringe City", outdoor spectacles and events more than double during May.^[36]

Other festivals include The Great Escape, featuring three nights of live music in venues across the city; the Soundwaves Festival in June, which shows classical music composed in the 21st Century, and involves both amateur and professional performers; Paddle Round the Pier; Brighton Live which each September stages a week of free gigs in pubs to show local bands; Burning the Clocks, a winter solstice celebration; and Brighton Pride (see lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, below). For a number of years, Andrew Logan's Alternative Miss World extravaganza was held in the city.

The Kemptown area has its own small annual street festival, the Kemptown Carnival, and the Hanover area similarly has a "Hanover Day". Local resident Fatboy Slim puts on a "Big Beach Boutique" show most years. An inaugural White Nights (Nuit Blanche) all-night arts festival took place in October 2008. 2009 saw the first Brighton Zine Fest^[37] celebrating zine and D.I.Y. culture within the city.

On 1 September 2007, competitors from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and other countries convened for the World Beard and Moustache Championship. Hosted by The Handlebar Club, categories include Dali moustache, goatee and full beard freestyle.^[38] Additionally, Brighton is permanent home to notable moustache advocate Michael "Atters" Attree.

Brighton is the terminus of a number of London-to-Brighton rides,and runs, such as the veteran car run and bike ride. Transport rallies are also hosted on the seafront. Groups of mods and Rockers still bring their scooters and motorbikes to the town, but their gatherings are now much more sedate than the violent 1960s confrontations depicted in Quadrophenia.

Food and drink related festivals include the traditional Blessing of the Fisheries, where barbecued mackerel are eaten on the beach and the more recent Fiery Foods Chilli Festival.^[39] There is also a twice-yearly general food festival.^[40] The main Sussex beer festival is held in nearby Hove, and there is a smaller beer festival in the Hanover area. Foodies Festival ^[41] also counts Brighton as one of it's seven national venues, with the event taking place between 25th-27th May at Hove Lawns and including top chefs such as Loyd Grossman.

Brighton is the home of the UK's first Walk of Fame which celebrates the many rich and famous people associated with the city.^[42]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community[link]

Brighton is well known for having a substantial LGBT community served by shops, bars and night-clubs in addition to support organisations. It is often referred to as "the gay capital of Britain".^[43] The Gay Pride carnival every August attracts thousands. It consists of a carnival parade and a party and funfair in Preston Park.

Museums[link]

Brighton museums include Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton Toy and Model Museum, and Brighton Fishing Museum the long established social epicentre of the seafront, which includes artefacts from the West Pier. The Royal Pavilion is also open to the public, serving as a museum to the British Regency.

Night-life and popular music[link]

Brighton is considered ^[44] to be one of the UK's premier night-life hotspots and is also associated with popular music artists such as Fatboy Slim, Kirk Brandon, Tim Booth, Nick Cave, Robert Smith and Jimmy Somerville. There are also live music venues including the Concorde2,^[45] Brighton Centre and the Brighton Dome, where ABBA received a substantial boost to their career when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. There are a large number of events and performance companies operating in the city.^{[citation needed]}

Popular indie rock band The Kooks and hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks originated in Brighton.

There are over 300 pubs in the town.^[46]

Notable residents[link]

Restaurants[link]

Brigton has about 400 restaurants, more per head than anywhere else outside London.^[47] A wide range of cuisines is available, with a particular emphasis on vegetarianism.

Theatre[link]

Theatre Royal, city centre

Theatres include the Brighton Dome and associated Pavilion Theatre, the expanded Komedia (primarily a comedy and music venue but also a theatre), The Old Market which was renovated and re-opened in 2010, and the Theatre Royal which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2007. There are also smaller theatres such as the Marlborough Theatre and Nightingale Theatre, both above pubs, which attract mostly local productions, and the Brighton Little Theatre.

Economy[link]

"The Lanes" in Brighton city centre

Brighton has a high density of businesses involved in media, particularly digital or "new media", and since the 1990s has been referred to as "Silicon Beach".^[48]

American Express is building a new headquarters building on John Street, behind its current European headquarters in Edward Street. It employs around 3,000, making it the largest private employer in the city.^[49]

Natural cosmetics retailer the Body Shop started in Brighton. Its headquarters are now in nearby Littlehampton.^[50]

"The Lanes" form a retail, leisure and residential area near the seafront, characterised by narrow alleyways following the street pattern of the original fishing village. The Lanes contain predominantly clothing stores, jewellers, antique shops, restaurants and pubs. The North Laine area is a retail, leisure and residential area immediately north of the Lanes. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon "Laine" meaning "fields". The North Laine contains a mix of businesses dominated by cafés, independent and avant-garde shops, bars and theatres.

Churchill Square is a shopping centre with a floor space of 470,000 sq ft (43,663 m²) and over 80 shops, several restaurants and 1,600 car-parking spaces.^[51] It was built in the 1960s as an open-air, multi-level pedestrianised shopping centre, but was rebuilt and enlarged in 1998 and is no longer open-air. Further retail areas include Western Road and London Road.

There are also a considerable number of construction companies within Brighton and Hove that specialise in many different types of construction.

Education[link]

Roedean School.

Checkland Building, University of Brighton

Brighton & Hove City Council is responsible for 80 schools, of which 54 are in Brighton.^[52]

The University of Sussex established in 1961 is a campus university between Stanmer Park and Falmer, four miles (6 km) from the city centre. Served by frequent trains (to Falmer railway station) and 24-hour buses, it has a student population of 12,500 of which 70% are undergraduates.^[53] The University is currently ranked 8th in the UK, 16th in Europe and 79th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.^{[citation needed]}

The University of Brighton, the former Brighton Polytechnic, has a student population of 20,017 of which 80% are undergraduates.^[54] The University is on several sites with additional buildings in Falmer, Moulsecoomb, Eastbourne and Hastings.^[55]

In 2003, the universities of Sussex and Brighton formed a medical school, known as Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The school was one of four new medical schools to be created as part of a government programme to increase the number of qualified NHS doctors. The school is also based in Falmer and works closely with the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust

A range of non-university courses for students over 16, mainly in vocational education subjects, is provided at the further education college, City College Brighton and Hove. More academic subjects can be studied for 16–18 year-olds at Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC) in the Seven Dials area. Varndean College in North Brighton occupies a commanding position. The 1920s building is celebrated for its façade and internal quads. The college offers academic A levels, The International Baccalaureate and vocational courses.

There are state schools and some faith schools. Notable state schools include Longhill High School, Varndean School, Patcham High School, Dorothy Stringer High School, Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College, and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy.

There are also a number of private schools, including Brighton College, Roedean School, Steiner School, BHHS and a Montessori School. As with the state schools, some independents are faith-based; Torah Academy, the last Jewish primary school, became a Pre-K/Nursery School at the end of the 2007.

In spring and summer, thousands of students from all over Europe gather to attend language courses at the many language schools.

Politics[link]

Brighton Town Hall

For the local authority, see Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove is part of three constituencies in the British Parliament: Brighton Kemptown, Brighton Pavilion, and Hove. These three seats are all marginal constituencies. They were held by Labour from 1997 to 2010. At the 2010 British election, Brighton Kemptown and Hove both elected Conservative MPs, Simon Kirby and Mike Weatherley respectively, while Brighton Pavilion elected Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP ever elected to Westminster. Lucas won 16,238 votes (31.3%), compared with Labour's 14,986 votes (28.9%) and the Conservative's 12,275 votes (23.7%).^[56] In European elections, Brighton is part of the European Parliament constituency of South-East England.

The political campaigning group Justice? and its SchNEWS newspaper are based in Brighton, at the Cowley Club libertarian social centre; also operating from the town is the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The presence of a British subsidiary of the United States arms company EDO Corporation in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, has been the cause of protests since 2004.^[57]

Brighton's citizens have developed a reputation in recent years for their readiness to challenge the views of the council's planning department. One of the main campaigning organisations is savebrighton, founded in 2007 to oppose the overdevelopment of Brighton Marina. Savebrighton has also been active in opposing other planning applications for developments it has regarded as excessive, out of context or otherwise inappropriate.^[58] Another group was established in 2010 to hold the local authority to account over alleged irregularities regarding the Brighton Wheel.^[59]

Sport[link]

Goldstone Ground, former home of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

Brighton Marina

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is the city's professional football team. After playing at the Goldstone Ground for 95 years, they were forced to sell it in 1997 to pay off debts. The club spent two years ground-sharing at Gillingham before returning to the town as tenants of the Withdean Athletics Stadium. However, in 2011 the club moved to a permanent home at Falmer at the start of the 2011/12 season, with the first match happening in July 2011. The new stadium, the Falmer Stadium, was built by The Buckingham Group, who also built the MK Dons stadium. The club's notable achievements including winning promotion to the Football League First Division for the first time in 1979, staying there for four seasons, during the last of which they reached the FA Cup final and took Manchester United to a replay before losing 4–0. Notable former managers of the club include Brian Clough, Peter Taylor (born 1928), Peter Taylor (born 1953), Jimmy Melia, Liam Brady, Jimmy Case, Steve Gritt, Brian Horton, Steve Coppell and Mark McGhee. Notable former players include Gareth Barry, Dave Beasant, Justin Fashanu, Dennis Mortimer, Gordon Smith, Frank Stapleton, Howard Wilkinson and Bobby Zamora.

Brighton and Hove is also home to the Sussex County Cricket Club based on Eaton Road in Hove.

Brighton is also the home of one of the oldest Rugby Clubs in England; Brighton Football Club (RFU).^[60]

Throughout the year many events take place on Madeira Drive (a piece of roadway on Brighton's seafront), which was constructed in order to host what is commonly held to be the world's oldest motor race, the Brighton Speed Trials, which has been running since 1905. The event is organised by the Brighton and Hove Motor Club and normally takes place on the second Saturday in September each year.

There is also an from time to time a beach soccer competition in a temporary stadium on imported sand on the beach. The inaugural contest in June 2002 featured football stars such as Eric Cantona and Matt Le Tissier.

Brighton has a horse-racing course, Brighton Racecourse, with the unusual feature that when the full length of the course is to be used, some of the grass turf of the track has to be laid over the tar at the top of Wilson Avenue, a public road, which therefore has to be closed for the races.

There is a greyhound racing circuit in Hove, run by Coral, at which Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in 1928.

Basketball team Brighton Bears were in the British Basketball League before dropping out at the end of the 2005/06 season. Their home venue was at The Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill.

Brighton Ultimate, an ultimate Frisbee team^[61] was set up in 1985.

The Brighton and Hove Petanque Club runs an annual triples, doubles and singles competition, informal KOs, winter and summer league, plus Open competitions with other clubs. The club is affiliated to Sussex Pétanque, the local region of the English Pétanque Association, so they can also play at a Regional and National level. The Peace Statue terrain is the official pétanque terrain situated on the seafront near the West Pier.^[62]

There are yachting clubs and other boating activities run from Brighton Marina.

Brighton has two competitive swimming clubs. Brighton SC^[63] formed in 1860 claims to be the oldest swimming club in England. Brighton Dolphin SC^[64] was formed in 1891 as Brighton Ladies Swimming

Climate[link]

Transport[link]

Main article: Transport in Brighton and Hove

Brighton railway station

Brighton Skyline from Carlton Hill

There are several railway stations, bus services, taxis, and coach services. A Rapid Transport System^[65][66] has been under consideration for some years and in the past it has had trolleybuses, ferries, trams and hydrofoil services.

Frequent trains operate from Brighton Station. Many Brighton residents commute to work in London and destinations include London Victoria, London Bridge, and Gatwick Airport, with trains continuing to Bedford. The fastest service from London Victoria takes 51 minutes.^[67] Lines from Brighton serve stations to Worthing, Portsmouth and Southampton in the west and via Lewes to Newhaven, Eastbourne, Hastings and Ashford, Kent in the east. A wider range of long-distance destinations was served until 2007–08 when rationalisation caused the ending of services via Kensington Olympia and Reading and beyond to Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Manchester. Twice-daily services remain, however, on the line west to Bristol.

Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates 300 buses. There is also a limited night service. Brighton buses are often named after famous local figures. Brighton also has buses that run on recycled bio-fuel, obtained from locally-sourced used cooking oil; The Big Lemon runs from the University of Sussex into the centre of Brighton regularly. Countryliner operate regular services to the surrounding areas such as Burgess Hill. Brighton seafront is the home of Volk's Electric Railway, the world's oldest electric railway.

Nearest places[link]

• Saltdean
• Rottingdean
• Ovingdean
• Hove
• Portslade
• Patcham
• Withdean
• Hollingbury
• Bevendean
• Lewes
• Falmer
• Moulsecoomb
• Whitehawk
• Pyecombe
• Hassocks

Brighton in fiction[link]

See also[link]

	East Sussex portal
	Brighton portal

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Brighton (England).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brighton

• Brighton and Hove
• Brighton hotel bombing
• Brighton in film
• Brighton Marina
• Eurovision Song Contest 1974
• List of people from Brighton and Hove
• Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children
• The Evening Argus (newspaper)

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

• Brighton at the Open Directory Project
• "Brighton & Hove City Council". http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/. Retrieved 20 August 2007. 
• "Brighton from Space – Satellite image of Brighton courtesy of Google Maps". http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brighton&ie=UTF8&ll=50.820469,-0.135183&spn=0.018463,0.039911&t=k&z=15&om=1. Retrieved 20 August 2007. 
• "History of Brighton and the Royal Pavilion palace". http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/rp00.html. Retrieved 20 August 2007. 

Al Murray
Born	(1968-05-10) 10 May 1968 (age 44) Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, England
Medium	Stand-up, Television
Nationality	British
Years active	1994-present
Genres	Parody, character comedy, insult comedy, musical comedy
Subject(s)	French and Gender stereotypes, Society, British politics
Influences	Frank Skinner
Spouse	Katherine Perry (1998-2000) (Divorced) Amber Murray (2000-2008) (Separated)
Notable works and roles	The Pub Landlord Time Gentlemen Please Fact Hunt Multiple Personality Disorder

Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray (born 10 May 1968), is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 25th greatest stand-up comic.^[1]

Early life[link]

Murray was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Ingram Bernard Hay Murray (through whom he is a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl) and Juliet Anne Thackeray Ritchie (through whom he is a great-great-great-grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray).^[2] His grandfather was diplomat Sir Ralph Murray.^[3] Murray attended Bedford School and is a graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he studied modern history. There he performed in the comedy group, the Oxford Revue in a show directed by Stewart Lee.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Murray married Amber, in 2000. The couple, who have two daughters, Scarlett and Willow, separated in 2008.^[5]

Career[link]

Murray has toured with other comedians including Harry Hill and Frank Skinner. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999, after being nominated in 1996, 1997 and 1998.^[6] He started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including of guns, animals and a particularly impressive car boot; a combination that prompted an equal number of plaudits for vocal skill and complaints of tastelessness.

The Pub Landlord[link]

The Pub Landlord is a stereotypical, right-wing, British Patriot with a dislike for anything "un-British". He has a particular dislike of Germans and the French; he will challenge the audience to name any country in the world before producing some plausible instance of Britain bettering it. The character also has a great love for the British 1970s rock band Queen, often getting musician(s) on his show to perform a song of Queen's in their own style.

The character is very different from Murray's real life public-school and Oxbridge background and first appeared in 1994 when Murray was the tour support act for Harry Hill.^[4] At that time part of a comedy band called "The Pub Band International" in which he played the drums, they were looking for a link to Hill's act. After trying out a character which they decided didn't work, on the eve of performing at the Edinburgh Festival, Murray created the Pub Landlord.

Murray then made his first television appearances on Hill's TV show playing his big brother Alan ("If it's too hard, I can't understand it!"), and subsequently featured in a short film, Pub Fiction (1995).

Murray's theatre show with the pub landlord character My Gaff, My Rules was short-listed for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002,^[7] and he has also appeared in character as the central focus of the television series Time Gentlemen Please, as well as a number of other television appearances, including the An Audience with... strand. Subsequent theatre tours, ...A Glass of White Wine for the Lady (another catchphrase) and Giving it Both Barrels also ran to critical acclaim. When asked about the sitcom during live shows, in character as the Pub Landlord, Murray claims to be unhappy with the television series, a joke some have taken literally.

A quiz show, Fact Hunt presented by Murray as the Pub Landlord and named after the fictional quiz machine of the same name from Time Gentlemen Please was shown on late-night ITV in 2005.^[8]

From January 2006, Murray filled in for Tim Lovejoy on Virgin Radio on Sunday afternoons, in character as the Pub Landlord, and broadcast his final show on 24 December 2006.^[9]

His chat show Al Murray's Happy Hour began airing 13 January 2007 on ITV.^[10] The show has won a British Comedy Award and was nominated for a National Television Award. A new series returned on 12 September 2008, and of this Murray said:

"It goes without saying ... the trouble with telly these days is that the viewer is not credited with enough intelligence and the fact I'm back on is proof they know what's good for them".^[11]

Murray was the headliner on 11 July 2009 episode of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, which was filmed at the Brighton Dome.

On 18 December 2009, Murray hosted the BBC One TV show, Live at the Apollo.

In May 2011, Murray began hosting a new quiz show, Compete for the Meat on the UKTV channel Dave. The show will be co-presented by ex-Blue Peter presenter, Zöe Salmon. The prizes will be a frozen Chicken for 1st place, Sausages for 2nd place and Shame for the Losers! (3rd & 4th places).

Other work[link]

As a teenager, Murray was a drummer in a band with his schoolmates.^[12] He played drums on the music for his Pub Landlord TV series and during an appearance by Phil Collins, they performed a duet. He also plays the drums for the rock cover band T-34 and appeared at the Download festival in 2010, returning once again in 2011.^[13]

In 2003, Murray appeared on an episode of the BBC's Time Commanders alongside Kate Silverton, Raji James and Ricky Groves.

In 2004, Murray appeared as a contestant in the first series of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay's cookery based reality show on ITV, and in 2005 appeared as a contestant on Comic Relief does Fame Academy on BBC One.^[14] Murray presented Al Murray's Road To Berlin on the Discovery Channel. This was a series about the last phase of World War II, taking him from the beaches of Normandy, through Arnhem and up the Rhine, ending in Berlin. In the series he drove around in a restored Willys Jeep, and interviewed survivors from both sides of the war. In the episode about Operation Market Garden he parachuted, together with veterans, from a plane, to commemorate the battle.^[15][16]

In 2007, Murray published the book The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense. It consists of The Pub Landlord's opinions and views on a number of topics such as James Bond actors, religion, politics, television, films and Churchill quotes.

Murray starred in Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, a sketch show, which aired in early 2009.^[17]

In late 2010, Murray made a documentary on German culture for BBC4 Al Murray's German Adventure^[18] in which he sought to find a different side of the German nation than the one portrayed by his Pub Landlord character.^[19]

Also in 2010 Murray was a guest as a 'Star in the Reasonably Priced Car' on Top Gear.

Murray is the Patron of The Cambodian Children's Charity^[20] which is a development and relief charity for children in Cambodia.^[21]

Murray attended the London protest against the Pope's visit in 2010 and said, "The Pope's opposition to condoms kills people. It is all very well him lecturing us on morals but he should look at his own organisation's view."UKAP^{[dead link]}

Murray became the host of the BBC Radio 5 Live show 7 Day Sunday in March 2011, taking over from Chris Addison.

Murray has his own crisps named 'Steak and Al Pie' which he is entering in a crisp competition with the host being Gary Lineker. He is up against 'Jimmy Con Carne', (Jimmy Carr), 'Stephen Fry-Up', (Stephen Fry) and 'Frank Roast Dinner', (Frank Skinner).^{[citation needed]}

Murray sat in for Dermot O'Leary Saturday show on BBC Radio 2 on 3 September 2011 and 26 November 2011.

Stand-up DVDs[link]

Books[link]

References[link]