HG WELLS – WOKING
HG Wells is considered to be one of the world’s greatest science fiction writers and intellectuals of our time. His move to Woking in 1895 inspired some of his greatest works, including ‘The War of the Worlds’ which made it to the silver screen in 2005, starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Wells made Woking infamous in the late 19th Century by making Horsell Common the location for his Martian invasion in the novel. The original idea for ‘The War of the Worlds’ came during one of his walks in Woking when his brother Frank speculated about what would happen if aliens suddenly descended and started attacking people. Wells lived on the pebble-dashed Maybury Road, in a semi-detached house that faced the main railway to London. It’s built up now but at the time it was isolated. He married Catherine Robbins and moved there for 2 years to escape the smog of London and wrote other classics including ‘The Invisible Man’ whilst being a Surrey resident. There is a memorial statue of Wells and the Martian in the centre of Woking in homage to him and his work. Professor Simon James from Durham University sums up Wells nicely in his quote: “Wells was a visionary – he wrote about the atom bomb, tank, airplane and the internet long before they were invented – and he was also a really powerful writer, one of our finest novelists.”
ENID BLYTON – CHESSINGTON
‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Famous Five’ author Enid Blyton lived in Hook Road, Chessington from 1920 to 1924. She is one of the most popular authors in history and achieved incredulous notability despite being a woman in the ever-apparent man’s world of publishing in her era. There is a blue plaque on her house in Hook Road (placed in 1997, 29 years after her death), despite recent protests to have it removed. Blyton has recently come under fire for her work that has been criticised for being “racist” and “xenophobic.” Due to the criticism, there has been an updated version to her online book, ‘The Little Black Doll’, that now states Sambo “is accepted by his owner now his black face is washed clean by rain” (extracting the word “ugly” before black face). Oh dear! A recent poll in The Guardian stated that 48% of readers agreed Blyton was not racist – just a product of her time. A celebrity fan of Blyton’s comedian David Baddiel backed up her legacy by saying it’s unfair to give her “a lack of literacy merit” despite the backlash she’s endured as she has sold 600 million books and “should be awarded merit for this alone.” Whatever your thoughts on this matter you cannot take away from the fact this Surrey girl broke through barriers imposed on women in her era and wrote some of the most nostalgic literature around today.
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN – EAST MOLESEY
Architect Christopher Wren is a true Surrey legend. Even the greatest scientist known to man, Sir Isaac Newton, referred to Wren as “a genius”. He masterminded the huge St Paul’s Cathedral rebuild, arguably one of London’s most stunning and iconic landmarks, after the Great Fire of London in 1666. After this was rebuilt, he took on the huge project of designing and rebuilding another 58 churches ravaged by the fires. Then there was a small throw in job for Henry VIII (!) by designing Hampton Court Palace, his main home, which according to architects is the most impressively designed listed building in the world and one of the finest palaces ever built. As a gift for his services to the sovereign he was awarded his Garde II listed mansion in Hampton Court, which recently sold for a cool £4.5m. Sir Christopher Wren lived in this 6-bedroom building, 4-reception room, 3-bathroom mansion by the River Thames until he died at the age of 90. His children inherited the property and generations lived here before it was sold to MP Toby Jessel.
VIRGINIA WOOLF – RICHMOND
Feminist activist Virginia Woolf was born in London, Kensington in 1882 and later resided in Richmond at 17 Hogarth House in 1915 until her death at the age of 59. She is considered one of the most important modernist 20th Century authors and a pioneer of consciousness. She suffered from bipolar, yet managed to forge a career in journalism and literature writing the best-selling books ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘To The Lighthouse’ until her untimely death, considered to be suicide. The two Hogarth House dwellings are now on the market for £3.75 million with property agent Savills. Both Richmond properties are set over four floors, with the kitchen, dining room and family room filling the lower ground floor, and the drawing room and study on the ground level. Each has a private courtyard garden designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show medalist Heather Appleton. Woolf bought the house with her then husband Leonard Woolf and formed the publishing group, Hogarth House here.
JULIE ANDREWS – WALTON-ON-THAMES
A born and bred Surrey girl, Oscar Winner Dame Julie Andrews star of ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘The Sound of Music’ was born on October 1st, 1935 in Walton-upon-Thames. She moved to neighbouring West Grove in Hersham in 1945 just before her parent’s divorce. The house was called ‘Little Muese’ and still bares the plac. She also spent time living in London during the blitz and after Hersham but always calls Surrey “her hometown”. Julie also married her first husband Tony Walton in Weybridge in 1959, not long before her heyday of becoming Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp in her two biggest, aforementioned grossing films. The five-time Oscar winner has cemented her position as one of the most successful female actresses by winning three Grammy Hall of Fame Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and an AFI Life Achievement Award. She now resides in Southampton, UK after living in LA and New York after her film career took off.
MARIE STOPES – DORKING
Marie Stopes is most well known for being an advocate of birth control and sexual education. She founded her first clinic in London in 1921 which was open to all married women and there she developed many different types of contraceptive women could use. She moved to the Norbury Park House estate near Dorking in 1838 until her death of breast cancer, aged 77, in 1858. A keen writer and poet (and also notably the first female academic at the University of Manchester), Stopes left the estate to the Royal Society of Literature as she chose never to have children. (Seems quite fitting really – her contraception worked!) In November 2020, the abortion and contraceptive provider, which operates in 37 countries around the world, abbreviated it’s name to MSI Reproductive Choices. It’s slogan for many centres is: “We empower women to have children by choice, not chance.” Marie Stopes is still considered one of the most powerful brand names as every high street shop bears the name.
LORD BEAVERBROOK – LEATHERHEAD
A kingmaker, powerbroker (and sometime mischief maker), Lord Beaverbrook was a consummate politician, publicist of boundless energy, and a great friend of Winston Churchill. His newspapers, the Daily Express and Sunday Express, could make or break almost anyone, and he hosted the great and the good at Beaverbrook during his time there. Take a look at the estate’s visitor’s book and you’ll see for yourself. The ethos of Lord Beaverbrook, is epitomised in the Beaverbrook’s iconic Spitfire emblem. As wartime Minister of Aircraft Production, Beaverbrook famously trebled the production of Spitfires, enabling Britain to snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat in the pivotal Battle of Britain. He masterminded a secret runway for planes to fly out of his secret Leatherhead estate/military base along the famous Young Street road. It was this thinking that enabled there to be no bombing of the sizeable part of Britain’s RAF during World War II. Lord Beaverbrook lived at the estate from 1910 when he purchased it after a single inspection for £30,000 until his death in 1964 leaving it to his wife. It is now owned by Longshot Cherkley Court who transformed it into the Beaverbrook Hotel & Estate that it is today.
