77-660: Cheltenham ( / ˈ tʃ ɛ l t n ə m / ) is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire , England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the most complete Regency town in Britain . It is directly northeast of Gloucester . The town hosts several cultural festivals, often featuring nationally and internationally famous contributors and attendees:
154-779: A Regency spa town, tourism is an important sector in Cheltenham's economy, but it also has some light industry , including food processing, aerospace and electronics businesses. The Government's electronic surveillance operation Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), known for its "doughnut-shaped" building, is in Cheltenham. Vertex Data Science , GE-Aviation , Chelsea Building Society , Endsleigh Insurance , Archant , Nelson Thornes , UCAS (Universities & Colleges Admissions Service), Kohler Mira , Zürich Financial Services , Douglas Equipment , Volo and Spirax-Sarco Engineering all have sites in and around Cheltenham. A number of design agencies and businesses are located in
231-459: A cold, snowy night), she enters a sunny spring garden where the flowers can speak. Elsewhere in the garden, Alice meets the Red Queen , who is now human-sized, and who impresses Alice with her ability to run at breathtaking speeds . The Red Queen reveals that the entire countryside is laid out in squares, like a gigantic chessboard, and offers to make Alice a queen if she can move all the way to
308-523: A company that owns and operates DVD rental kiosks. The Beechwood Shopping Centre in the town centre was demolished in 2017 to make way for a £30million, 115,000 square foot John Lewis store. Among Cheltenham's many restaurants, two are currently Michelin one-star restaurants , Le Champignon Sauvage and Lumière. The unemployment rate in Cheltenham was 2.7% in 2010 compared to the UK national unemployment level of 7.9%. The average GVA per head in Cheltenham
385-427: A fireplace and discovers, to her surprise, that she can step through it. She finds herself in a reflected version of her own house and notices a book with looking-glass poetry, " Jabberwocky ", whose reversed printing she can read only by holding it up to the mirror. She also observes that the chess pieces have come to life, though they remain small enough for her to pick up. Upon leaving the house (where it had been
462-532: A hardback book. The rediscovered section describes Alice's encounter with a wasp wearing a yellow wig, and includes a full previously unpublished poem. If included in the book, it would have followed, or been included at the end of, Chapter 8—the chapter featuring the encounter with the White Knight. The discovery is generally accepted as genuine, but the proofs have yet to receive any physical examination to establish age and authenticity. The missing episode
539-478: A party that will be hosted by Alice—of which Alice herself had no prior knowledge. Alice arrives and seats herself at her own party, which quickly turns into chaos. Alice grabs the Red Queen, believing her to be responsible for all the day's nonsense, and begins shaking her. Alice awakes in her armchair to find herself holding Kitty, whom she deduces to have been the Red Queen all along, with Snowdrop having been
616-546: A planned extension of Cheltenham to the north, undertaken by Joseph Pitt , who laid the first stone 4 May 1825. Cheltenham's success as a spa town is reflected in the railway station, still called Cheltenham Spa , and spa facilities in other towns inspired by or named after it. Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street, Charlton Kings – a suburb of Cheltenham. Alice Liddell's grandparents owned this house, and still contains
693-499: A plot device; and draws on the imagery of chess . While the first Alice novel took playing cards as a theme, Through the Looking-Glass instead used chess; most of the main characters are represented by chess pieces, with Alice being a pawn . The looking-glass world consists of square fields divided by brooks or streams, and the crossing of each brook typically signifies a change in scene, with Alice advancing one square. At
770-473: A poem of his own composition and repeatedly falls off his horse. Bidding farewell to the White Knight, Alice steps across the last brook, and is automatically crowned a queen, with the crown materialising abruptly on her head. She soon finds herself in the company of both the White and Red Queens, who confound Alice by using word play to thwart her attempts at logical discussion. They then invite one another to
847-515: A programme of art exhibitions running throughout the year. The Wilson was named after polar explorer Edward Wilson , who was born in Cheltenham. In 2014, many of the town's historic cultural and leisure buildings were put under the control of The Cheltenham Trust , a charity set up to manage and develop the buildings on behalf of the town. Along with The Wilson, the Trust now manages the Town Hall,
SECTION 10
#1732783402658924-474: A pump to regulate water flow and erected an elaborate well-house complete with a ballroom and upstairs billiard room to entertain his customers. The beginnings of Cheltenham's tree-lined promenades and the gardens surrounding its spas were first designed by Captain Skillicorne with the help of "wealthy and traveled" friends who understood the value of relaxing avenues. The area's walks and gardens had views of
1001-450: A pure or an ideal mate is that the Red (Black) King is unable to move to e3 for two reasons: the knight's attack, and the (sustained) attack of the newly promoted, mating queen. Although pure and ideal mates are "incidental" in real games, they are objects of aesthetic interest to composers of chess problems. The White Queen offers to hire Alice as her lady's maid and to pay her "twopence
1078-428: A residential street in Cheltenham. The graffiti depicted three men in trench coats and dark glasses apparently listening in to calls made in the telephone box. In 2016, it was removed – possibly destroyed – ahead of the sale of the house on which it had been painted. Cheltenham features several sculptural artworks of note, including: Cheltenham hosts the annual Cheltenham Music Festival , Cheltenham Jazz Festival and
1155-629: A significant impact on the town. In the Second World War , the United States Army Services of Supply , European Theatre of Operations established its primary headquarters at Cheltenham under the direction of Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee , with the flats of the Cheltenham Racecourse becoming a giant storage depot for countless trucks, jeeps, tanks and artillery pieces. Most of this material was reshipped to
1232-732: A spa town. Spa towns in South Africa include: Spa towns in Spain include: Taiwan is home to a number of towns and cities with tourism infrastructure centered on hot springs. These include: There are several spa towns in Turkey . The most famous of these is Pamukkale, Denizli where the Pamukkale thermal springs are located. Some but not all UK spa towns contain "Spa", "Wells", or "Bath" in their names, e.g., Matlock Bath . Some towns are designated Spa Heritage Towns. Two out of four of
1309-517: A week, and jam every other day". Alice says that she does not want any jam today, to which the Queen replies, "you couldn't have it if you did want it. The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day ." This is a reference to the rule in Latin that the word iam or jam— which means now , in the sense of already or at that time —cannot be used to describe now in the present, which
1386-414: A working Victorian kitchen and laundry, Regency drawing room and an Edwardian nursery. The Cheltenham Civic Society has been responsible for erecting commemorative plaques in the town since 1982: blue plaques to celebrate well-known people and green plaques to celebrate significant places and events. Every year, Cheltenham Festivals organises music , jazz , literature and science festivals in
1463-475: Is nunc in Latin. Therefore, " jam " is never available today. This exchange is also a demonstration of the logical fallacy of equivocation . Most poems and songs in the book do not include a title. Lewis Carroll decided to suppress a scene involving what was described as "a wasp in a wig" (possibly a play on the commonplace expression "bee in the bonnet"). A biography of Carroll, written by Carroll's nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, suggests that one of
1540-596: Is a dedicated museum and a monument in the town, and FKA Twigs . The collection's of the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum include decorative arts from the era of the Arts and Crafts Movement . The collection enjoys National Designation by the Arts Council of England. The Holst Birthplace Museum contains personal belongings of the composer of The Planets , including his piano. It also includes
1617-467: Is a festival of 7s sport, which includes Netball, Rugby, Dodgeball and Hockey amongst others and incorporates drinking and musical acts over the weekend to complement the sport. Cheltenham has played host to and featured in a number of film and TV series: The Thistle Golden Valley Hotel was used by the ITV soap opera Crossroads for outdoor location filming from 1982 to 1985. Cheltenham has four theatres:
SECTION 20
#17327834026581694-407: Is cited as a possible inspiration for Carroll. The novel prompted a new-found appreciation for its predecessor when it was published. Alice is playing with a white kitten (whom she calls "Snowdrop") and a black kitten (whom she calls "Kitty") while pondering what the world is like on the other side of a mirror's reflection. Climbing up onto a mantelpiece , she pokes at the wall-hung mirror behind
1771-686: Is known for its more than 500 mineral springs, including the hottest spring in the Balkans at Sapareva Banya - 103 °C. Other famous spa towns include Sandanski , Hisarya , Bankya , Devin , Kyustendil , Varshets , Velingrad . In Bulgarian , the word for a spa is баня (transliterated banya ). Harrison Hot Springs is one of the oldest among 18 in British Columbia; there are also two in Alberta and one in Ontario. In Croatia ,
1848-502: Is named Chintenha[m] . The town was awarded a market charter in 1226. Though little remains of its pre-spa history, Cheltenham has always been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. Captain Henry Skillicorne (1678–1763), is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs. The retired "master mariner" became co-owner of
1925-638: Is rich in thermal waters with health benefits, and many spa towns are popular tourist destinations. Budapest has several spas , including Turkish style spas dating back to the 16th century. Eger also has a Turkish spa. Other famous spas include the ones at Hévíz , Harkány , Bük , Hajdúszoboszló , Gyula , Bogács , Bükkszék , Zalakaros , the Cave Bath at Miskolctapolca and the Zsóry-fürdő at Mezőkövesd . In Italy , spa towns, called città termale (from Latin thermae ), are very numerous all over
2002-514: Is the largest spa town in Germany. The most popular spa towns in Greece are Aidipsos , Agkistro, Serres , Loutraki , Kamena Vourla , Kimolos , Loutra Kyllinis , Sidirokastro, Serres , Lakkos Milos , Loutrochori, Aridaia, Pella (Pozar) In Hungary , the word fürdő or the more archaic füred ("bath"), fürdőváros ("spa town") or fürdőhely ("bathing place") implies a spa town. Hungary
2079-652: The British Isles , Cheltenham experiences a temperate oceanic climate ( Cfb in the Köppen climate classification ). It has warm summers and cool winters. The town held the British maximum temperature record from 1990 to 2003—temperatures reached 98.8 °F (37.1 °C). The absolute minimum is −4.2 °F (−20.1 °C), set during December 1981. During a typical year, 145.6 days will report at least 1 mm of rain, and some 42.2 nights will record air frost. As
2156-663: The Central Highlands of Victoria . Most are in and around Daylesford and Hepburn Springs . Daylesford and Hepburn Springs call themselves "Spa Country" and the "Spa Centre of Australia". In Queensland , many towns have mineral springs created by artesian bores into the Great Artesian Basin , often the only or primary water supply to the towns. Some of these towns had periods of popularity as spa towns, including Ararmac , Barcaldine , Dalby , Helidon , Innot Hot Springs , and Muckadilla , mostly in
2233-1152: The Cheltenham Literature Festival , the Cheltenham Jazz Festival , the Cheltenham Science Festival , the Cheltenham Music Festival , the Cheltenham International Film Festival, the Cheltenham Cricket Festival and the Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival . In steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup is the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held every March. Cheltenham is located at River Chelt , which rises nearby at Dowdeswell and runs through
2310-760: The Everyman , the Playhouse , the Bacon and the Parabola Arts Centre. Spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring ). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the hot mineral waters there and in 1676 wrote A discourse of Bathe, and
2387-926: The South West of England region being 88 miles (142 km) west-northwest of London, 38 miles (61 km) northeast of Bristol and 41 miles (66 km) south of Birmingham. The districts of Cheltenham include: Arle , Benhall , Charlton Kings , Fairview , Fiddler's Green, Hesters Way , Lansdown , Leckhampton , Lynworth, Montpellier , Oakley, Pittville , Prestbury , the Reddings, Rowanfield , St Luke's, St Mark's, St Paul's , St Peter's, Springbank, Swindon Village , Tivoli, Up Hatherley , Whaddon and Wyman's Brook . The borough contains three civil parishes within its boundaries. These are Charlton Kings , Leckhampton with Warden Hill and Prestbury . These all have their own parish councils who handle local services and planning with elected councillors. Parts of
Cheltenham - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-517: The non-metropolitan district of Cheltenham. Four parishes— Swindon Village , Up Hatherley , Leckhampton and Prestbury —were added to the borough of Cheltenham from the borough of Tewkesbury in 1991. The head office of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), known to locals as The Doughnut , is located in Cheltenham, to which it moved in 1951. As with the vast majority of
2541-594: The nursery rhyme . After reciting a poem , they draw Alice's attention to the Red King —sleeping under a nearby tree—and provoke her with idle philosophical banter that she is but an imaginary figure in his dreams. The brothers begin suiting up for battle, only to be frightened away by an enormous crow, as the nursery rhyme about them predicts. Alice next meets the White Queen , who is absent-minded but can remember future events before they have happened. Alice and
2618-401: The "wood where things have no names". There she forgets all nouns, including her own name. With the help of a fawn who has also forgotten his identity, she makes it to the other side, where they both remember everything. Realizing that he is a fawn, she is a human, and that fawns are afraid of humans, it runs off. She then meets the twin brothers Tweedledum and Tweedledee , whom she knows from
2695-549: The Cheltenham Festival of the Performing Arts (formerly Cheltenham Competitive Festival) is a collection of more than 300 performance competitions that is the oldest of Cheltenham's arts festivals, having been started in 1926. Greenbelt , a Christian arts and music festival, and Wychwood Festival , a family-friendly folk and world music festival, were held at Cheltenham Racecourse . The town also hosts
2772-460: The Cheltenham Racecourse and surrounding green park, along with St Peter Leckhampton parish church and Brizen Playing Fields/Haven and Greenmead parks along the south of the borough, are covered. In May 2024, under plans by Gloucestershire County Council , it was reported that there are secret talks to formally merge the conurbations of Cheltenham and Gloucester with each other. The plans suggest that around ten new garden towns could be built around
2849-479: The English towns granted the title "Royal", Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Tunbridge Wells , are spa towns. Terms used in various countries: Through the Looking-Glass Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (also known as Alice Through the Looking-Glass or simply Through the Looking-Glass ) is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (although it is indicated that
2926-551: The Helidon Spa falling into disuse by 1994. Many towns in Queensland continue to provide bathing facilities fed by hot springs, but these are promoted as relaxing holiday activities rather than as medical treatments. Brazil has a growing number of spa towns. The traditional ones are: Águas de Lindoia , Serra Negra , Águas de São Pedro , Caxambu , Poços de Caldas , Caldas Novas , Araxá , and São Lourenço . Bulgaria
3003-528: The Looking-Glass includes such verses as " Jabberwocky " and " The Walrus and the Carpenter ", and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee . The mirror above the fireplace that is displayed at Hetton Lawn in Charlton Kings , Gloucestershire (a house that was owned by Alice Liddell 's grandparents, and was often visited by Alice and Lewis Carroll) resembles the one drawn by John Tenniel , and
3080-594: The Pittville Pump Room, the Prince of Wales Stadium and Leisure @, a large fitness and swimming complex. A volunteer board of Trustees controls the Trust. The Cheltenham Paint Festival attracts hundreds of mural artists from dozens of countries worldwide and is a highlight of the Gloucestershire arts calendar. In 2014, a piece of graffiti by street artist Banksy appeared next to a telephone box in
3157-594: The Second World War. Cheltenham is on the edge of the Cotswolds , an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the South-West region of England. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town. Cleeve Hill , overlooks the town and is the highest point in the county of Gloucestershire and the Cotswold Hills range, at 1,083 feet (330 m). The town is near the northeastern edge of
Cheltenham - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-600: The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain. In 2010, Cheltenham was named the UK's fifth "most musical" city (sic) by PRS for Music . Musicians Brian Jones , guitarist and founding member of the Rolling Stones , and Michael Burston, nicknamed ' Würzel ' of Motörhead were both born in Cheltenham, with Jones buried in the town's crematorium following his death in 1969. Other Cheltenham-born musicians of international renown include Gustav Holst , for whom there
3311-617: The White Queen advance into the chessboard's fifth rank by crossing over a brook together, but at the very moment of the crossing, the Queen transforms into a talking Sheep in a small shop . Alice soon finds herself struggling to handle the oars of a small rowboat, where the Sheep annoys her with shouting about " crabs " and " feathers ". After crossing another brook into the sixth rank, Alice encounters Humpty Dumpty , who, besides celebrating his unbirthday , provides his own translation of
3388-521: The White Queen. Alice then recalls the speculation of the Tweedle brothers, that everything may have been a dream of the Red King, and that Alice might be a figment of his imagination. One of the key motifs of Through the Looking-Glass is that of mirrors, including the use of opposites, time running backwards, and so on, not to mention the title of the book itself. In fact, the themes and settings of
3465-473: The affix). Portugal is well known by famous spa towns throughout of the country. Due to its high quality, as well as the landscape where are located, the most important ones are: In Romania , the word Băile implies a spa town. The most famous spa towns in Romania are Băile Herculane , Băile Felix , Mangalia , Covasna , Călimănești & Borsec . Serbia is known for its many spa cities. Some of
3542-966: The best known springs are the Vrnjačka Banja , Bukovička Banja , Vrujci , Sokobanja and Niška Banja . The hottest spring in Serbia is at Vranjska Banja (96°C) In Serbia, the word Banja implies a spa town. Slovakia is well known by its spa towns. The most famous is the city of Piešťany in Trnava Region . Other notable spa towns in Slovakia include: Spa towns in Slovenia include Rogaška Slatina , Radenci , Čatež ob Savi , Dobrna , Dolenjske Toplice, Šmarješke Toplice, Moravske Toplice , Rimske Toplice , Laško and Topolšica . They offer accommodation in hotels, apartments, bungalows, and camp sites. The Slovenian words terme or toplice imply
3619-516: The book make it somewhat of a mirror image of its predecessor, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The first book begins in the warm outdoors, on 4 May; uses frequent changes in size as a plot device ; and draws on the imagery of playing cards. The second book, however, opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, on 4 November (the day before Guy Fawkes Night ); uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as
3696-443: The book's beginning, Carroll provided and explained a chess composition with descriptive notation , corresponding to the events of the story. Although the piece movements follow the rules of chess , other basic rules are ignored: one player (White) makes several consecutive moves while the (Red/Black) opponent's moves are skipped, and a late check (12... Qe8+) is left undealt with. Carroll also explained that certain items listed in
3773-490: The borough council. Since 2002, elections have been held every two years with half of the councillors elected at each election. Cheltenham was an ancient parish . Until 1786 it was administered by its vestry , in the same way as most rural areas. The vestry was supplemented by a body of unelected improvement commissioners in 1786 known as the Paving and Lighting Commission, initially charged with paving, lighting and repairing
3850-631: The buildings are listed, including the Cheltenham Synagogue , judged by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the architecturally best non-Anglican places of worship in Britain. Built in 1902 within the Imperial Square, Cheltenham Town Hall is a Grade II-listed building and features a plaque commemorating the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra . The Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum , also called The Wilson, hosts
3927-491: The composition do not have corresponding piece moves but simply refer to the story, e.g. the "castling of the three Queens, which is merely a way of saying that they entered the palace". Despite these liberties, the final position is an authentic checkmate . The most extensive treatment of the chess motif in Carroll's novel was made by Glen Downey in his master's thesis, later expanded and incorporated into his dissertation on
SECTION 50
#17327834026584004-428: The conditions of a pure mate , a special type of checkmate where the mated king is prevented from moving to any of the adjacent squares in its field by exactly one enemy attack, among other conditions. The position is also nearly an ideal mate , a stronger form of pure mate in which every piece on the board of either colour contributes to the checkmate. The one feature of the position which prevents it from being either
4081-735: The continent for and after the D-Day invasion . Lee and his primary staff had offices and took residence at Thirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham. The first British jet aircraft prototype, the Gloster E.28/39 , was manufactured in Cheltenham. Manufacturing started in Hucclecote near Gloucester, but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High Street (now the Regent Arcade), considered a location safer from bombing during
4158-630: The country because of the intense geological activity of the territory. These places were known and used since the Roman age. Most spa towns in Poland are located in the Lesser Poland and Lower Silesian Voivodeships. Some of them have an affix " Zdrój " in their name (written with hyphen or separately), meaning "water spring", to denote their spa status, but this is not a general rule (e.g. Ciechocinek and Inowrocław are spa towns, but do not use
4235-419: The countryside, and soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come and investigate the beneficial waters of Cheltenham's market town spa. The visit of George III with the queen and royal princesses in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa. The spa waters can still be sampled at the Pittville Pump Room , built for this purpose and completed in 1830; it is a centrepiece of Pittville ,
4312-535: The eighth rank in a chess match. Alice is placed in the second rank as one of the White Queen's pawns , and begins her journey across the chessboard by boarding a train that jumps over the third row and directly into the fourth rank, thus acting on the rule that pawns can advance two spaces on their first move. She arrives in a forest where a gnat teaches her about the looking glass insects, creatures part bug part object (e.g., bread and butterfly, rocking horse fly), before flying away. Continuing her journey, Alice crosses
4389-420: The green belt at Boddington which if removed would result in the complete merger of both boroughs. Doing so would facilitate and effectively merge the two into a supercity . The move has been criticised by both Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council . Cheltenham Borough Council is the local authority for Cheltenham; it is split into 20 wards, with a total of 40 councillors elected to serve on
4466-400: The guise of " Anglo-Saxon messengers" called "Haigha" and "Hatta". Upon leaving the Lion and Unicorn to their fight, Alice reaches the seventh rank by crossing another brook into the forested territory of the Red Knight, who wants to capture the "white pawn"—Alice—until the White Knight comes to her rescue. Escorting her through the forest towards the final brook-crossing, the Knight recites
4543-404: The hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water . This brought the purported health-giving properties of the waters to the attention of the aristocracy, who started to partake in them soon after. The term spa is used for towns or resorts offering hydrotherapy , which can include cold water or mineral water treatments and geothermal baths. There are mineral springs in
4620-448: The late 1800s and early 1900s when mineral spas were believed to cure various medical conditions. However, the remote locations of most of these towns made them expensive to visit and only small-scale spa facilities developed there. Helidon, a day trip from Brisbane by car, was more successful, particularly with growing owernship of cars after World War II . However, concerns about radioactivity and bacterial contamination resulted in
4697-404: The mirror, or looking glass, that was purportedly inspired for Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass , published in 1871. Horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815 and became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival in 1902. The racecourse attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each day of the festival each year, with such large numbers of visitors having
SECTION 60
#17327834026584774-492: The multi-venue Walk the line festival . Two sporting events are also routinely described as the "Cheltenham Festival" or "the Festival": the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, which features Gloucestershire County Cricket Club , and National Hunt racing's Cheltenham Festival . In 2021 the Cheltenham 7s festival began and is held at the end of July each year at the Newlands Rugby club opposite the main GE Aviation (ex Smiths Industries site) works between Southam and Bishops Cleeve. It
4851-570: The novel was published in 1872 ) by Lewis Carroll , a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church , University of Oxford , and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic (for example, running helps one remain stationary, walking away from something brings one towards it, chessmen are alive, nursery rhyme characters exist, and so on). Through
4928-528: The property containing Cheltenham's first mineral spring upon his 1732 marriage to Elizabeth Mason. Her father, William Mason, had done little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the mineral water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring. Skillicorne's wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the dormant potential on this inherited property. After moving to Cheltenham in 1738, he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa. He built
5005-432: The reasons for this suppression was a suggestion from his illustrator, John Tenniel , who wrote in a letter to Carroll dated 1 June 1870: I am bound to say that the 'wasp' chapter doesn't interest me in the least, and I can't see my way to a picture. If you want to shorten the book, I can't help thinking—with all submission—that there is your opportunity. For many years, no one had any idea what this missing section
5082-410: The strange terms in "Jabberwocky". In the process, he introduces Alice to the concept of portmanteau words, before his inevitable fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men come to Humpty Dumpty's assistance, and are accompanied by the White King , along with the Lion and the Unicorn , who proceed to act out a nursery rhyme by fighting with each other. The March Hare and Hatter appear in
5159-412: The streets, which later gained other powers including providing a watch and setting standards for new buildings. The commissioners were reformed in 1852 to be partly-elected and were eventually replaced in 1876 when the town was incorporated as a municipal borough . On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , the borough of Cheltenham was merged with Charlton Kings urban district to form
5236-430: The town has green belt along its fringes, and this extends into the surrounding Tewkesbury district, helping to maintain local green space, prevent further urban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Gloucester and Bishop's Cleeve, as well as protecting smaller villages in between. West of the Greenfield Way and Fiddlers Green Lane roads, along with much of the open space up to the Civil Service Sports Ground, as well as
5313-447: The town on its way to the Severn . It was first recorded in 803, as Celtan hom ; the meaning has not been resolved with certainty, but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic noun cilta , 'steep hill', here referring to the Cotswold scarp; the second element may mean 'settlement' or 'water-meadow'. As a royal manor, it features in the earliest pages of the Gloucestershire section of Domesday Book where it
5390-593: The town, attracting names with national and international reputations in each field. Events take place at venues including the town hall , the Everyman Theatre , the Playhouse Theatre and the Pittville Pump Room . Several other cultural festivals, including the Cheltenham International Film Festival, Cheltenham Paranormal Festival, the Cheltenham Design Festival, Cheltenham Folk Festival, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, The True Believers Comic Festival and Cheltenham Comedy Festival are separately organised but also attract international performers and speakers. A more local event,
5467-428: The town. Weird Fish was founded in Cheltenham. The multinational design house Meri Meri has its European headquarters in Cheltenham. SuperGroup plc, owner of the Superdry label, has its headquarters in Cheltenham. Cheltenham is a regional shopping centre, home to department stores , the oldest being Cavendish House , from 1823, and the Regent Arcade. Since 2006, Cheltenham is the headquarters of "The Movie Booth",
5544-569: The use of chess as a device in Victorian fiction. In the former piece, Downey gave the composition's moves in algebraic notation : 1... Qh5 2. d4 3. Qc4 4. Qc5 5. d5 6. Qf8 7. d6 8. Qc8 9. d7 Ne7+ 10. Nxe7 11. Nf5 12. d8=Q Qe8+ 13. Qa6 14. Qxe8#. In the latter piece, Downey treated the 21 items in the composition sequentially, identifying the above 16 coherent chess moves, and another five items as "non-moves" or pure story descriptors, per Carroll's qualification. The mating position nearly satisfies
5621-992: The word Toplice implies a spa town. The most famous spa towns in Croatia are Daruvar , Šibenik and Sisak . In Czech , the word Lázně implies a spa town. The most famous spa towns in Czech Republic are the West Bohemian Spa Triangle of Karlovy Vary , Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně , listed on UNESCO World Heritage Site . Other important spas are Luhačovice , Teplice , Jáchymov , Konstantinovy Lázně , Jeseník , Třeboň , Poděbrady , Bechyně or Velké Losiny . Traditionally, Hanko , Rauma and Kalajoki have been considered spa towns. Today there are more than 50 spas ( kylpylä ) in Finland; some towns known for their spa centers include Ikaalinen , Naantali and Imatra . In France ,
5698-950: The words bains , thermes and eaux in city names often imply a spa town. There are more than 50 spa towns in France, including Vichy , Aix-les-Bains , Bagnoles-de-l'Orne , Dax , and Enghien-les-Bains . Borjomi is one such example in south Georgia. In Germany , the word Bad implies a spa town. Among the many famous spa towns in Germany are Bad Aachen , Baden-Baden , Bad Brückenau , Bad Ems , Bad Homburg , Bad Honnef , Bad Kissingen , Bad Kreuznach , Bad Mergentheim , Bad Muskau , Bad Oeynhausen , Bad Pyrmont , Bad Reichenhall , Bad Saarow , Bad Schandau , Bad Schönborn , Bad Segeberg , Bad Soden , Bad Tölz , Bad Wildbad , Bad Wimpfen , Bad Wildstein , Berchtesgaden , Binz , Freudenstadt , Heiligendamm , Heringsdorf , Kampen , Königstein , Radebeul , Schwangau , St. Blasien , Titisee , Tegernsee , Travemünde and Zingst . Wiesbaden
5775-553: Was higher than across the South West as a whole in the year ending September 2023. The employment rate remains now at 81.3%, for ages 16-64. Unemployment (people looking for work) has risen since a year earlier. The most recent unemployment rate for Cheltenham was about the same as across the South West as a whole. The town is known for its Regency architecture and is said to be "the most complete regency town in England". Many of
5852-588: Was or whether it had survived. In 1974, a document purporting to be the galley proofs of the missing section was auctioned at Sotheby's ; the catalogue description, in part, read, "the proofs were bought at the sale of the author's…personal effects…Oxford, 1898". The document would be won by John Fleming, a Manhattan book dealer, for a bid of about US$ 832 (equivalent to $ 5,140 in 2023). The contents were subsequently published in Martin Gardner 's More Annotated Alice (1990), and are also available as
5929-474: Was £21,947.27 in 2011 compared to the national average of £26,200. In 2012, The Guardian found that, at the end of 2011, 41 multi-millionaires lived in Cheltenham, which was the fourth-highest rate in the UK of multi-millionaires per 100,000 people at 35.44. According to the Office of National Statistics, employment in Cheltenham has decreased in comparison with the previous year. Cheltenham's employment rate
#657342