Thanet District
—  Non-metropolitan district  —
Thanet shown within Kent
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	Kent
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Margate
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Thanet District Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative (council NOC))
• MPs	Sir Roger Gale Laura Sandys
Area
• Total	39.88 sq mi (103.30 km2)
Area rank	217th (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	132,200
• Rank	154th (of 326)
• Density	3,300/sq mi (1,300/km2)
• Ethnicity	95.4% White 1.5% S.Asian 1.1% Black 1.1% Mixed Race
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	29UN
OS grid reference	TR355705
Website	www.thanet.gov.uk

It is hoped that the new Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate will encourage tourism to the area.

Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England^[1] which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974. The Isle of Thanet makes up the major part of the District.

The district, which is governed by Thanet District Council, is located on the north eastern tip of Kent, and is predominantly coastal, with north, east and southeast facing coastlines. It is bordered by the City of Canterbury district to the west, and the Dover district to the south. The main towns in the district are Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.

History[link]

The Isle of Thanet is the major part of the Thanet District. Formed over 7000 years ago and separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it has always borne the brunt of invasions from the Continent. An Isle of Thanet Rural District had existed from the Local Government Act 1894 until it was abolished in 1935 to form part of Eastry Rural District. The current District was formed in 1974, by the addition of the area over which was once the Wantsum Channel, including the settlement of Sarre.

Governance[link]

The current District is held by a Conservative majority, who hold 33 seats, compared to the 19 seats held by Labour, who are the second party.^[2]

There are two MPs for Thanet:

• Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet,
• Laura Sandys, Conservative MP for South Thanet.

The names of the civil parishes located in the district are:

• Acol
• Birchington
• Cliffsend
• Manston
• Minster
• Monkton
• St Nicholas-at-Wade

Broadstairs and St Peter's form Broadstairs and St Peter's, served by a town council, which has no more than the powers of a parish council.^[3] A town council was created for Ramsgate in 2009.^[4]

The town of Margate is an unparished area: it has a charter maintained by charter trustees, having been a municipal borough before 1974.

Demography[link]

In 2005 the estimated population of the District stood at 128,100.^[5]

List of People from Thanet

Economy[link]

Dreamland in Margate was a major tourist attraction before it closed, but is now being redeveloped.

The whole district suffers from seasonal unemployment, in spite of its proximity to London, because of various factors, among them being inward migration; high numbers of old people; and low numbers of affluent people. It is not helped by poor overall indicators for Health.^[6] In a study of resilience to economic downturns, Thanet was poorly rated at 295th out of 324 districts.^[7] Unemployment levels are nearly twice the South East of England as a whole, and as a result a great deal of planning is being done to encourage more businesses to relocate to the District.^[8] The Thanet & East Kent Chamber produces a weekly business digest, the Thanet & East Kent Insider, which reports on economic activity in the private and public sectors.

New Projects underway include: A new community centre for Broadstairs. Redevelopment and renovations are to be undertaken at Margate's Dreamland (a Heritage Amusement Park); Cliftonville (Lido site); and a Holiday Inn (hotel) now open .A large retail and residential development on Ramsgate seafront is due to start construction in 2011. Royal sands as well and a multi million pound art gallery The Turner Contemporary (opened by Tracey Emin in April 2011) in Margate and massive investment and building works taking place in schools across the island.

In addition, the District Council has introduced an empty property initiative and has compulsory purchased empty and derelict buildings with the objective of bringing them back into use.

The Thanet Offshore Wind Project, near North Foreland, began operating in September 2010. The project is expected to have a total capacity of up to 300 MW which, on average, is sufficient to supply approximately 240,000 homes per year with green energy. The project will thus make a significant contribution to the Government’s national and regional renewable energy targets. Thanet Earth is the largest greenhouse development in the UK covering an area of 91 hectares with 7 greenhouses each the size of 10 football pitches producing cucumbers tomatoes and peppers all year.^[9]

Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs each have shopping centres with a mix of local and national retailers complemented by Northdown Road, Cliftonville, Westgate and Birchington. Westwood at the centre of Thanet has seen much major development in recent years with the building of Westwood Cross shopping centre which is the home of national retailers and several restaurant chains including a Travelodge hotel. Associated development has taken place around the shopping centre spawning other retail parks.

Transport[link]

Thanet is now linked to London by high-speed "Javelin" trains.

The rail connections are via the Chatham Main Line through Margate to Ramsgate, and the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line. New high speed rail links from London to Thanet began in December 2009,and it is now possible to travel from Margate to St Pancras at an average speed of 60 miles per hour (about 96 km/h). This will form part of the UK's first true high-speed commuter service, according to the South Eastern Railway Company.^[10] Main road links are the A28 which brings traffic from Canterbury and Ashford; and the A299, north coast route. The Saxon Shore Way Long distance footpath skirts the coast.

There is an airport at Manston,^[11] formerly RAF Manston, but since renamed by its commercial operators as Kent International Airport. Because it was used as an U.S. airbase during the second world war, it has one of the longest runways in the UK, and is designated by the United Nations as an emergency landing site for aircraft in trouble.^{[citation needed]}

Ferry services (predominantly freight and car with passengers) are operated by Transeuropa ferries to the Continent from Port of Ramsgate.^[12]

Health[link]

Thanet has a large hospital: the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, known as the QEQM.^[13] Extension work which started in 2007 is still ongoing, as of 2010.

As of July 2010, overall indicators of health are poor for Thanet:^[14]

• Health is worse in Thanet than in England on average
• Life expectancy is lower than for England
• There are health in equalities: in deprived areas life expectancy is 5 years lower for women and 10 years lower for men
• Teenage pregnancies are high compared to the England average
• Estimated smoking rates are average but death rates from smoking are significantly higher
• Binge drinking is around the national average
• Children are significantly less active than average
• Significantly higher than average number of people admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific conditions
• Significantly higher than average rate of diabetes
• Significantly higher than average rate of mental health problems

Media[link]

Local newspapers are the Thanet Extra, part of the KM Group; Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times (merged with Adscene October 2009), all owned by Northcliffe Media; and the midweek Your Thanet published online by KOS Media. The county wide newspapers Kent on Saturday and Kent on Sunday also serve the district.

Local radio stations are

• KMFM Thanet (previously known as Thanet Local Radio) owned by the KM Group.(Most Programmes are networked with other KM Kent stations).
• Community non commercial station Academy FM Thanet on 107.8FM and online and via mobile app it broadcasts from within The Marlowe Academy Ramsgate .
• The county-wide Heart Kent,
• BBC Radio Kent.

National TV stations carry regional news: The ITV1 service is provided currently by Meridian Broadcasting; and the BBC South East Today.

Thanet also has a local online radio and podcasting service currently operating online only known as 'Thanet Community Radio' (TCR). The station works closely with Dover based 'Dover Community Radio' (DCR) which operates in a similar way.

Education[link]

Thanet College is a major provider of further education in East Kent and a Training Provider that works with local businesses to raise the level of education across the region.

Climate[link]

Thanet enjoys a Maritime climate being surrounded on 3 sides by sea, which generally results in mild winters and warm dry summers.

References[link]

1. ^ Thanet District website
2. ^ "2007 Election Results". Thanet District Council. http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/election_results_04-05-07.aspx. Retrieved 2007-06-29. 
3. ^ Broadstairs and St Peter's Town Council website
4. ^ The District of Thanet (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2009 Retrieved 19 May 2010
5. ^ Introduction to Thanet: includes demographic notes
6. ^ Association of Public Health Observatories - Health Profiles APHO Health Profiles
7. ^ "Thanet least resilient to economic woe, research finds". BBC News. 9 September 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11164337. 
8. ^ Thanet District Corporate Plan 2007
9. ^ Thanet Earth Project
10. ^ Southeastern 2009 - your journey starts here: Home
11. ^ Kent International Airport
12. ^ "TransEuropa Ferries". http://www.transeuropaferries.co.uk/. Retrieved 2007-06-29. 
13. ^ QEQM
14. ^ [Association of Public Health Observatories, Thanet Health Profile, July 2010

External links[link]

• Thanet Council YouTube channel
• Clubs and societies in Thanet
• Thanet College Website
• News, views and things to do in Thanet
• Academy FM Thanet
• Thanet Community Radio

v t e Towns and villages in the Thanet district of Kent, England Unparished areas Margate Civil parishes Acol Birchington Broadstairs and St Peter's (town) Cliffsend Manston Minster Monkton Ramsgate (town) Sarre St Nicholas-at-Wade Other settlements Broadstairs Brooks End Cliftonville Ebbsfleet Flete Garlinge Newington Palm Bay Sevenscore St Peters Westbrook Westgate-on-Sea Westwood List of places in Kent

v t e Districts of South East England Berkshire Bracknell Forest Reading Slough West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Vale Chiltern Milton Keynes South Bucks Wycombe East Sussex Brighton and Hove Eastbourne Hastings Lewes Rother Wealden Hampshire Basingstoke and Deane East Hampshire Eastleigh Fareham Gosport Hart Havant New Forest Portsmouth Rushmoor Southampton Test Valley Winchester Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Kent Ashford Canterbury Dartford Dover Gravesham Maidstone Medway Sevenoaks Shepway Swale Thanet Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells Oxfordshire Cherwell Oxford South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire Surrey Elmbridge Epsom and Ewell Guildford Mole Valley Reigate and Banstead Runnymede Spelthorne Surrey Heath Tandridge Waverley Woking West Sussex Adur Arun Chichester Crawley Horsham Mid Sussex Worthing

Coordinates: 51°22′N 1°23′E / 51.367°N 1.383°E / 51.367; 1.383

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Michael Terence Aspel,^[2] OBE, (born 12 January 1933) is an English television presenter on programmes such as Crackerjack, Aspel and Company, This is Your Life, Strange but True? and Antiques Roadshow.

Early life[link]

Aspel was born in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. During the Second World War he was evacuated and spent nearly five years in Chard, Somerset.^[3] He attended Emanuel School after passing his eleven-plus in 1944. He served as a conscript of the National Service, in the ranks of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, from 1951 to 1953.^[4]

Early career[link]

He worked as a drainpipe-layer and gardener, and sold advertising space for Western Mail newspaper in Cardiff. According to Aspel "National Service was the catalyst that got me to Wales. Before that I was a teaboy in William Collins publishers, in London, serving tea" to famous authors. He took up a job at the David Morgan department store in Cardiff, before working as newsreader for the BBC in Cardiff in 1957. By the early sixties, he had become one of four regular newsreaders on BBC national television, along with Richard Baker, Corbet Woodall and Robert Dougall.

At the BBC he began presenting a number of other programmes such as the series Come Dancing, Crackerjack, Ask Aspel, and Miss World, a beauty contest, which he covered 14 times. He narrated the now cult BREMA cartoon documentary, The Colour Television Receiver (aka Degaussing), a film to "familiarise engineers of some differences between a mono receiver and a colour receiver, from the point of view of adjustment and installation..", which was shown regularly on BBC2 between August 1967 and January 1971. He also provided narration for the BBC nuclear war documentary The War Game, which was judged too horrifying and politically charged to be shown on BBC TV. It won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar in 1966, but it was not shown on British television until 1985.

In 1969 and 1976 he hosted the BBC's A Song for Europe contest and provided the UK commentary twice at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969 and 1976, also presenting the contest previews. He also had a regular joke slot on the Kenny Everett radio show on Capital Radio, and guest-starred twice on The Goodies, appearing as himself, notably in the episode "Kitten Kong", which won the Silver Rose at the Montreux Light Entertainment Festival.

From 1974 until the mid-80s, Aspel also presented a three-hour weekday, mid-morning music and chat programme on Capital Radio in London,

In 1977 Aspel appeared with a number of other newsreaders and presenters in a song-and-dance routine ("There ain't Nothing Like a Dame") on The Morecambe and Wise Show. The sketch, in which the presenters were dressed as traditional sailors, is often cited as one of the classic moments of British TV comedy. In another episode, Morecambe refers to him as "Michael Aspirin". In the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in popular ITV programmes such as Give Us a Clue, Child's Play and The 6 O'Clock Show, a live current affairs and entertainment programme shown only in the London Weekend Television region.

During the early 1990s, Aspel presented two documentaries on BBC Radio 2 written by Terence Pettigrew, on subjects with which they shared a personal knowledge. Caught In The Draft was a nostalgic look back at compulsory National Service. Both had served, at different times, in West Germany, Aspel in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and Pettigrew in the REME. Also taking part in the programme were comedian/compere Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Thomas, author of The Virgin Soldiers, and BBC Radio 2 drivetime host John Dunn.

This was followed by Nobody Cried When The Trains Pulled Out, a documentary about the evacuation of children from major British cities during World War 2. Again, the writer and presenter compared evacuation experiences. Aspel had been sent with his younger brother and sister to Chard in Somerset, whilst Pettigrew was shipped along with his older brother to maternal grandparents in Co Waterford, Ireland. Aspel admitted later that the experience had left deep scars on the family. Also taking part in the programme were champion boxer Henry Cooper, actor Derek Nimmo and author Ben Wicks. Both documentaries were produced by Harry Thompson.

[edit] Aspel and Company

One of his best-known roles was as host of his own chat show, Aspel and Company, which ran for several series in the 1980s and 1990s on ITV. Aspel and Company was successful in attracting high-profile guests, including then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher giving a rare non-political interview, and George Harrison and Ringo Starr together in a unique post-Beatles Q&A.

In 1993, Aspel and Company was censured by the Independent Television Commission over a deal with the restaurant chain Planet Hollywood and Matthew Freud's PR company to secure an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. The trio effectively hijacked the programme, and at one point Aspel started reading from the menu, asking the guests if hamburgers and fries were really the way to "body beautiful".

For a time, Aspel and Company performed well for ITV in the highly competitive Saturday night ratings. After the Planet Hollywood controversy, Aspel vowed never to host a chat show again.^[5]

Later career[link]

Aspel was featured on This is Your Life in 1980, and when host Eamonn Andrews died in 1987 he became presenter of the programme until its run ended in 2003. Although he had guested on The Goodies, Bill Oddie refused at first to be featured and had to be persuaded.^[6]

In 1993, Aspel began presenting the ITV supernatural programme Strange But True?, a series exploring supernatural phenomena and unexplained mysteries. The programme ran between 1993 and 1997. He presented a new version of the ITV gameshow Blockbusters for the BBC in 1997; 60 programmes were made.

He presented BBC's Antiques Roadshow from 2000 until 2008, his last programme (recorded at Kentwell Hall, Suffolk) was shown on 30 March 2008 being a tribute to himself.^[7]

In 2003, Aspel starred in a BBC Three spoof documentary which claimed he had affairs with Pamela Anderson, Valerie Singleton and Angie Best, among others. Several well known celebrities were claimed to be love children from these and other relationships, including Daniella Westbrook (with Pamela), Shane Lynch (with Valerie), Mel B (with a West German Eurovision Song Contest entrant), Melinda Messenger, Gail Porter, Michelle Heaton and Ben Shephard.^[8]

He has guest hosted the topical quiz show Have I Got News for You on two occasions (October 2005 and November 2007).

In 2006, he played the role of the narrator in the UK tour of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show.^[9]

He was at one point favourite to be the new host of Countdown, though on 16 October 2006 the Daily Express reported that he had told an audience at a book launch he had already turned the job down.^[6]

During July and August 2008, Michael Aspel filmed Evacuees Reunited,^[10] a five-part documentary series made by Leopard Films for ITV1, which aired from 15–19 December 2008.^[3] Along with fifteen other wartime evacuees, he returned to the locations of his own youth, including his wartime home in Chard, Somerset. He was reunited with his childhood gang of evacuees at Forde Abbey, just outside the town. Later he caught up with his 96 year-old former school teacher, Audrey Guppy.^[11]

Personal life[link]

He has been married three times, first to Dian Sessions^[1] a "stunning domestic science student" in 1957. "She was particularly fecund," he says, "and we had two children [Greg and Richard]^[6] in barely the time it takes to have two [sic]." They divorced in 1961 and, on a whim - "I suggested a holiday become a honeymoon" - he married Anne Reed,^[1] a TV scriptwriter, in 1962. They had twins, Tom and Jane,^[6] but divorced in 1967.

Aspel is married to, but separated from, the actress Elizabeth Power, best known for her role in EastEnders. His current partner is Irene Clarke, who was a production assistant on This Is Your Life at the time of meeting.^[12] In April 2008 he was made a Freeman of the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey.^[13]

Since 1994, when their affair made headlines and ended his marriage to Lizzie, an affair which he revealed to Lizzie by telephone when she was hundreds of miles away on tour, he has lived with Irene Clark, a production assistant on This Is Your Life.^[3] Aspel also has family in Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire.

In 2004, Aspel announced that he had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma^[14][14][15]

His sanguine attitude toward his health is borne of family tragedy. One of his brothers was killed in a motorbike accident; his son James died at three days old; another son, Patrick, suffers from cerebral palsy. Most poignantly he watched his son Greg fight a long battle against cancer of the sinuses through the second half of his 20s, succumbing to the disease just weeks after turning 30 in 1989. He said:.^[14]

"It has made everything else seem no more than a vague toothache. In remission, Greg was reinstated as the handsome, healthy person he had been before, but then it came back to get him. He went through dreadful operations and fought so hard, but he was a ruin when he died. If I'd gone a week later myself, I'd have not cared. It has put my own illnesses into perspective."

Honours[link]

In 1993, Aspel became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to broadcasting", and has been voted TV Times and Variety Club Television Personality of the Year. He was also voted into the Royal Television Society Hall of Fame for outstanding services to television.^[16]

He is a supporter of the charity Cancer Research UK and on 9 April 2008 Elmbridge Borough Council, Surrey, appointed him an Honorary Freeman of the Borough:

"...in recognition of the eminent service to the community and local charities, which he has given consistently for more than 30 years. In addition to being very involved with cancer charities, he has continued to support local events, whether to celebrate a resident’s 100th birthday or give his time freely to help raise the profile of local charities."^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Michael Aspel at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Aspel biography at BFI Screenonline
• Interview with Michael Aspel about leaving the Antiques Roadshow