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151-589: The Redgrave Theatre was a theatre in Farnham in Surrey from 1974 to 1998. The theatre, named after Sir Michael Redgrave , had regular repertory seasons and also staged a variety of plays and musical productions until financial difficulties forced it to close. Now demolished, the surrounding site is under redevelopment. In January 2018, the Redgrave Theatre was finally approved for demolition. The theatre

302-425: A baritone dove, he gave us "I'll See You Again" and the other bat's-wing melodies of his youth. Nothing he does on these occasions sounds strained or arid; his tanned, leathery face is still an enthusiast's.... If it is possible to romp fastidiously, that is what Coward does. He owes little to earlier wits, such as Wilde or Labouchere . Their best things need to be delivered slowly, even lazily. Coward's emerge with

453-528: A 1968 Off-Broadway production of Private Lives at the Theatre de Lys starring Elaine Stritch , Lee Bowman and Betsy von Furstenberg , and directed by Charles Nelson Reilly . Despite this impressive cast, Coward's popularity had risen so high that the theatre poster for the production used an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Coward ( pictured above ) instead of an image of the production or its stars. The illustration captures how Coward's image had changed by

604-905: A bust of him in the library in Teddington, near where he was born. In 2008 an exhibition devoted to Coward was mounted at the National Theatre in London. The exhibition was later hosted by the Museum of Performance & Design in San Francisco and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills , California. In June 2021 an exhibition celebrating Coward opened at the Guildhall Art Gallery in

755-482: A carefully crafted image. As a suburban boy who had been taken up by the upper classes he rapidly acquired the taste for high life: "I am determined to travel through life first class." He first wore a dressing gown onstage in The Vortex and used the fashion in several of his other famous plays, including Private Lives and Present Laughter . George Walden identifies him as a modern dandy . In connection with

906-459: A cigarette holder: "I looked like an advanced Chinese decadent in the last phases of dope." Soon after that, Coward wrote: He soon became more cautious about overdoing the flamboyance, advising Cecil Beaton to tone down his outfits: "It is important not to let the public have a loophole to lampoon you." However, Coward was happy to generate publicity from his lifestyle. In 1969 he told Time magazine, "I acted up like crazy. I did everything that

1057-558: A complex hydraulic stage. Its 1933 film adaptation won the Academy Award for best picture. Coward's intimate-scale hits of the period included Private Lives (1930) and Design for Living (1932). In Private Lives , Coward starred alongside his most famous stage partner, Gertrude Lawrence, together with the young Laurence Olivier . It was a highlight of both Coward's and Lawrence's career, selling out in both London and New York. Coward disliked long runs, and after this he made

1208-489: A cycle of ten short plays, presented in various permutations across three evenings. One of these plays, Still Life , was expanded into the 1945 David Lean film Brief Encounter . Tonight at 8.30 was followed by a musical, Operette (1938), from which the most famous number is "The Stately Homes of England", and a revue entitled Set to Music (1938, a Broadway version of his 1932 London revue, Words and Music ). Coward's last pre-war plays were This Happy Breed ,

1359-1184: A dancer in the ballet) and at the London Coliseum in A Little Fowl Play , by Harold Owen, in which Hawtrey starred. Italia Conti engaged Coward to appear at the Liverpool Repertory Theatre in 1913, and in the same year he was cast as the Lost Boy Slightly in Peter Pan . He reappeared in Peter Pan the following year, and in 1915 he was again in Where the Rainbow Ends . He worked with other child actors in this period, including Hermione Gingold (whose mother threatened to turn "that naughty boy" out); Fabia Drake ; Esmé Wynne , with whom he collaborated on his earliest plays; Alfred Willmore, later known as Micheál Mac Liammóir ; and Gertrude Lawrence who, Coward wrote in his memoirs, "gave me an orange and told me

1510-539: A decorative brickwork façade in West Street. It houses a collection of artefacts spanning several periods of the town's history and prehistory. The museum was founded in 1961 to provide the Farnham community with a collection dedicated to the history of the local area in an elegant Grade I listed Georgian townhouse which still retains many original features, including a walled garden. The displays include items from

1661-707: A dispute with the Romans. A hut dating from this period was discovered at the Bourne Spring and other occupation material has been discovered at various sites, particularly Green Lane. During the Roman period the district became a pottery centre due to the plentiful supply of gault clay , oak woodlands for fuel, and good communications via the Harrow Way and the nearby Roman road from Silchester to Chichester . Kilns dating from about AD 100 have been found throughout

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1812-403: A drama about a working-class family, and Present Laughter , a comic self-caricature with an egomaniac actor as the central character. These were first performed in 1942, although they were both written in 1939. Between 1929 and 1936 Coward recorded many of his best-known songs for His Master's Voice (HMV), now reissued on CD, including the romantic " I'll See You Again " from Bitter Sweet ,

1963-462: A farce, Look After Lulu! (1959), and a tragi-comic study of old age, Waiting in the Wings (1960), both of which were successful despite "critical disdain". Coward argued that the primary purpose of a play was to entertain, and he made no attempt at modernism, which he felt was boring to the audience although fascinating to the critics. His comic novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), about life in

2114-403: A few mildly dirty stories, and I loved her from then onwards." In 1914, when Coward was fourteen, he became the protégé and probably the lover of Philip Streatfeild , a society painter. Streatfeild introduced him to Mrs Astley Cooper and her high society friends. Streatfeild died from tuberculosis in 1915, but Mrs Astley Cooper continued to encourage her late friend's protégé, who remained

2265-610: A fool indeed to miss such a magnificent opportunity. The leading actor-manager Charles Hawtrey , whom the young Coward idolised and from whom he learned a great deal about the theatre, cast him in the children's play Where the Rainbow Ends . Coward played in the piece in 1911 and 1912 at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End . In 1912 Coward also appeared at the Savoy Theatre in An Autumn Idyll (as

2416-463: A frank biography once Coward was safely dead. Coward's most important relationship, which began in the mid-1940s and lasted until his death, was with the South African stage and film actor Graham Payn. Coward featured Payn in several of his London productions. Payn later co-edited with Sheridan Morley a collection of Coward's diaries, published in 1982. Coward's other relationships included

2567-771: A frequent guest at her estate, Hambleton Hall in Rutland. Coward continued to perform during most of the First World War, appearing at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1916 in The Happy Family and on tour with Amy Brandon Thomas 's company in Charley's Aunt . In 1917, he appeared in The Saving Grace , a comedy produced by Hawtrey. Coward recalled in his memoirs, "My part was reasonably large and I

2718-506: A great demand for new Coward plays. In 1925 he premiered Fallen Angels , a three-act comedy that amused and shocked audiences with the spectacle of two middle-aged women slowly getting drunk while awaiting the arrival of their mutual lover. Hay Fever , the first of Coward's plays to gain an enduring place in the mainstream theatrical repertoire, also appeared in 1925. It is a comedy about four egocentric members of an artistic family who casually invite acquaintances to their country house for

2869-575: A hit 1963 revival of Private Lives in London and then New York. Invited to direct Hay Fever with Edith Evans at the National Theatre , he wrote in 1964, "I am thrilled and flattered and frankly a little flabbergasted that the National Theatre should have had the curious perceptiveness to choose a very early play of mine and to give it a cast that could play the Albanian telephone directory." Other examples of "Dad's Renaissance" included

3020-435: A large and eclectic collection; from archaeological artefacts to nationally important artworks by local artists and an extensive costume collection. The museum has a Local Studies Library. There are two main parks in Farnham town centre: Farnham Park and Gostrey Meadow. Farnham Park is adjacent to Farnham Castle. Gostrey Meadow is in the centre of Farnham, next to the river Wey, and includes a fenced children's play area. There

3171-643: A line running in that direction. The Alton Line becomes a single track between Farnham and Alton station . The station formerly served as the terminus for the Tongham railway until passenger services ceased in July 1937. The A31 Farnham bypass links the town by road to Winchester , Alton and Guildford ; the A325 links the town to Farnborough and to the A3 (London-Portsmouth) at Greatham . The A287 links Farnham to

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3322-537: A little advertisement appeared in the Daily Mirror .... It stated that a talented boy of attractive appearance was required by a Miss Lila Field to appear in her production of an all-children fairy play: The Goldfish. This seemed to dispose of all argument. I was a talented boy, God knows, and, when washed and smarmed down a bit, passably attractive. There appeared to be no earthly reason why Miss Lila Field shouldn't jump at me, and we both believed that she would be

3473-527: A month a farmers' market is held in the central car park where produce from farms in Farnham and the surrounding area is sold. The Farnham Maltings hosts a monthly market selling arts, crafts, antiques and bric-a-brac with specialist fairs and festivals held there on a less regular basis. Farnham Library moved to its current site in the grounds of Vernon House in April 1990. Refurbished in November 2005, it

3624-613: A more pleasant route to Winchester than the modern road network which constitutes a lot of the Pilgrims Way. The southern suburb of Rowledge lies adjacent to the north western fringes of the South Downs National Park . National Cycle Route 22 passes through Farnham, connecting it to Guildford, East Surrey , Isle of Wight and the New Forest . Farnham is a market town with many shops located along

3775-585: A night club, were financial failures. Further blows in this period were the deaths of Coward's friends Charles Cochran and Gertrude Lawrence, in 1951 and 1952 respectively. Despite his disappointments, Coward maintained a high public profile; his performance as King Magnus in Shaw's The Apple Cart for the Coronation season of 1953, co-starring Margaret Leighton , received much coverage in the press, and his cabaret act, honed during his wartime tours entertaining

3926-402: A one-act satire, The Better Half , about a man's relationship with two women. It had a short run at The Little Theatre, London, in 1922. The critic St John Ervine wrote of the piece, "When Mr Coward has learned that tea-table chitter-chatter had better remain the prerogative of women he will write more interesting plays than he now seems likely to write." The play was thought to be lost until

4077-617: A plaque now marks the building on West Street where he was born. The radical MP, soldier, farmer, journalist and publisher William Cobbett was born in Farnham in 1763, in a pub called the Jolly Farmer. The pub still stands, and has since been renamed the William Cobbett. The London and South Western Railway arrived in 1848 and, in 1854, neighbouring Aldershot became the "Home of the British Army". Both events had

4228-419: A playwright with The Vortex . The story is about a nymphomaniac socialite and her cocaine-addicted son (played by Coward). Some saw the drugs as a mask for homosexuality; Kenneth Tynan later described it as "a jeremiad against narcotics with dialogue that sounds today not so much stilted as high-heeled". The Vortex was considered shocking in its day for its depiction of sexual vanity and drug abuse among

4379-481: A playwright with The Young Idea . The play opened in London in 1923, after a provincial tour, with Coward in one of the leading roles. The reviews were good: "Mr Noël Coward calls his brilliant little farce a 'comedy of youth', and so it is. And youth pervaded the Savoy last night, applauding everything so boisterously that you felt, not without exhilaration, that you were in the midst of a 'rag'." One critic, who noted

4530-501: A playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever , Private Lives , Design for Living , Present Laughter , and Blithe Spirit , have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues ), screenplays, poetry, several volumes of short stories,

4681-729: A rule of starring in a play for no more than three months at any venue. Design for Living , written for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne , was so risqué, with its theme of bisexuality and a ménage à trois , that Coward premiered it in New York, knowing that it would not survive the censor in London. In 1933 Coward wrote, directed and co-starred with the French singer Yvonne Printemps in both London and New York productions of an operetta, Conversation Piece (1933). He next wrote, directed and co-starred with Lawrence in Tonight at 8.30 (1936),

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4832-563: A sense of comedy, and if he can overcome a tendency to smartness, he will probably produce a good play one of these days." The Times , on the other hand, was enthusiastic: "It is a remarkable piece of work from so young a head – spontaneous, light, and always 'brainy'." The play ran for a month (and was Coward's first play seen in America), after which Coward returned to acting in works by other writers, starring as Ralph in The Knight of

4983-485: A significant effect on Farnham. The fast link with London meant city businessmen could think of having a house in the country and still be in close contact with the office; Farnham thereby became an early example of a 'commuter town'. Also, the railway did not reach Aldershot until 1870; during the intervening period soldiers would be carried by train to Farnham station and then march to Aldershot. Many officers and their families chose to billet in Farnham itself. The railway

5134-558: A spring which emerges from between two conglomerate boulders called the Jock and Jenny Stones. "Soldier's Ring" earthworks on Crooksbury Hill date from the later Iron Age. The final era of the Iron Age, during the 1st century AD , found Farnham within the territory of the Belgic tribe Atrebates led by Commius , a former ally of Caesar , who had brought his tribe to Britain following

5285-683: A stage equipped with a permanent revolve. The auditorium was a plain concrete structure, fan shaped in a single rake. The theatre's foyer was extended in 1986 but facilities were limited. Among those who appeared at the theatre were Zoë Wanamaker , Stephen Mangan, Fiona Fullerton , Prunella Scales , Tom Watt , Sandra Payne , Philippa Urquhart , David McAlister , Christopher Cazenove , Angharad Rees , Lisa Bowerman , George Waring , Sean Bean , Ian Bartholomew , Stephanie Turner , Gareth Thomas , Christopher Timothy , Maureen Lipman , James Bolam , Bernard Holley , David Hargreaves , Jack McKenzie , Simon Callow , William Gaunt and Rachel Kempson ,

5436-470: A third of the population. In 1625 Farnham was again subject to an outbreak of the plague which, together with a severe decline in the local woollen industry (the local downland wool being unsuitable for the newly fashionable worsted ) led by the 1640s to a serious economic depression in the area. Local wool merchants were, like merchants throughout the country, heavily taxed by Charles I to pay for his increasingly unpopular policies. Against this background

5587-572: A tropical British colony, met with more critical success. Coward's final stage success came with Suite in Three Keys (1966), a trilogy set in a hotel penthouse suite. He wrote it as his swan song as a stage actor: "I would like to act once more before I fold my bedraggled wings." The trilogy gained glowing reviews and did good box office business in the UK. In one of the three plays, A Song at Twilight , Coward abandoned his customary reticence on

5738-532: A typescript was found in 2007 in the archive of the Lord Chamberlain's Office , the official censor of stage plays in the UK until 1968. In 1921, Coward made his first trip to America, hoping to interest producers there in his plays. Although he had little luck, he found the Broadway theatre stimulating. He absorbed its smartness and pace into his own work, which brought him his first real success as

5889-572: Is 31 miles (50 km) by road. Gatwick Airport and Southampton Airport are each about 43 miles (69 km) away by main roads. Farnham is the western starting point of the North Downs Way National Trail , which is predominantly footpath. The Pilgrims Way which follows long sections of the North Downs Way traditionally runs from Winchester to Canterbury. The footpath known as St. Swithun's Way has created

6040-448: Is a community lending library service run by Surrey County Council . The library is housed in the historic Vernon House at which King Charles I slept on his way to his trial and execution in London in 1649, commemorated by a plaque on the building wall. The library features public gardens with sculptures provided by local artists and UCA students. The Museum of Farnham is located at Willmer House , an 18th-century town house with

6191-481: Is a political comedy set in a British colony; Quadrille (1952) is a drama about Victorian love and elopement; and Nude with Violin (1956, starring John Gielgud in London and Coward in New York) is a satire on modern art and critical pretension. A revue, Sigh No More (1945), was a moderate success, but two musicals, Pacific 1860 (1946), a lavish South Seas romance, and Ace of Clubs (1950), set in

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6342-482: Is a skate park and leisure centre next to the town centre. Farnham Hospital is directly north east of the town. It was once the main hospital in the area, including accident and emergency services, but that role is now taken by Frimley Park Hospital . Farnham once had a second hospital which was at the end of Bardsley Drive, on the site which is now Lynton Close. No%C3%ABl Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973)

6493-549: Is midway between Winchester and London and, in 1138, Henry de Blois (grandson of William the Conqueror and brother of King Stephen ) started building Farnham Castle to provide accommodation for the Bishop of Winchester in his frequent journeying between his cathedral and the capital. The castle's garrison provided a market for farms and small industries in the town, accelerating its growth. Three miles (five kilometres) west of

6644-636: Is on the north branch of the River Wey , a tributary of the Thames , and is at the western end of the North Downs . The civil parish, which includes the villages of Badshot Lea , Hale and Wrecclesham , covers 14.1 sq mi (37 km ) and had a population of 39,488 in 2011. Among the prehistoric objects from the area is a woolly mammoth tusk , excavated in Badshot Lea at the start of

6795-454: Is thought to have spent part of his childhood under the care of Bishop Richard Foxe and is known to have lived at Farnham Castle when he was 16. In the late medieval period , the primary local industry was the production of kersey , a coarse, woollen cloth. In the early modern period , the town's weekly corn market was said to the second largest in England after London. Between 1600 and

6946-465: Is to make way for the "Brightwells yard development” Whilst numerous attempts of protest was made to stop the theatre being demolished, it was eventually approved and the demolition is so far successful. By the 1990s interest in repertory theatre had declined and after closing down completely for a period Waverley Borough Council took over the theatre and began to show films and to stage plays which did not appeal to local audiences. Roland Jaquarello

7097-400: The 1943 Academy Awards ceremony. Coward played a naval captain, basing the character on his friend Lord Louis Mountbatten . Lean went on to direct and adapt film versions of three Coward plays. Coward's most enduring work from the war years was the hugely successful black comedy Blithe Spirit (1941), about a novelist who researches the occult and hires a medium. A séance brings back

7248-450: The City of London . Coward was homosexual but, following the convention of his times, this was never publicly mentioned. The critic Kenneth Tynan's description in 1953 was close to an acknowledgment of Coward's sexuality: "Forty years ago he was Slightly in Peter Pan , and you might say that he has been wholly in Peter Pan ever since. No private considerations have been allowed to deflect

7399-706: The D. W. Griffith film Hearts of the World in an uncredited role. He began writing plays, collaborating on the first two ( Ida Collaborates (1917) and Women and Whisky (1918)) with his friend Esmé Wynne. His first solo effort as a playwright was The Rat Trap (1918) which was eventually produced at the Everyman Theatre , Hampstead , in October 1926. During these years, he met Lorn McNaughtan, who became his private secretary and served in that capacity for more than forty years, until her death. In 1920, at

7550-682: The English Civil War began, with Farnham playing a major part. Here, support for the Parliamentarians was general. The castle was considered a potential rallying point for Royalists , resulting in the installation of a Roundhead garrison there in 1642. As the King's forces moved southwards, taking Oxford , Reading and Windsor , the garrison commander at Farnham (a noted poet), Captain George Wither , decided to evacuate

7701-477: The Great Depression , writing a succession of popular hits. They ranged from large-scale spectaculars to intimate comedies. Examples of the former were the operetta Bitter Sweet (1929), about a woman who elopes with her music teacher, and the historical extravaganza Cavalcade (1931) at Drury Lane , about thirty years in the lives of two families, which required a huge cast, gargantuan sets and

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7852-471: The Lower Greensand . Farnham has a temperate maritime climate, free from extreme temperatures, with moderate rainfall and often breezy conditions. The nearest official weather station to Farnham is Alice Holt Lodge, just under 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (6 kilometres) southwest of the town centre. The highest temperature recorded was 35.4 °C (95.7 °F), in July 2006. In an 'average' year,

8003-528: The M3 at Hook and the A3 at Hindhead . Farnham is served by several bus routes, the majority of bus services originate from Aldershot bus station and are run by Stagecoach . The Waverley Hoppa provides demand-responsive transport for travel between Farnham and the surrounding villages. The nearest airport for business passengers is Farnborough Airport . The nearest major airport is London Heathrow Airport which

8154-580: The OMs , demonstrably the greatest living English playwright." Time wrote that "in the 60s... his best work, with its inspired inconsequentiality, seemed to exert not only a period charm but charm, period." By the end of the 1960s, Coward developed arteriosclerosis and, during the run of Suite in Three Keys , struggled with bouts of memory loss. This also affected his work in The Italian Job , and he retired from acting immediately afterwards. Coward

8305-563: The Savoy Hotel . During one air raid on the area around the Savoy he joined Carroll Gibbons and Judy Campbell in impromptu cabaret to distract the captive guests from their fears. Another of Coward's wartime projects, as writer, star, composer and co-director (alongside David Lean), was the naval film drama In Which We Serve . The film was popular on both sides of the Atlantic, and he was awarded an honorary certificate of merit at

8456-642: The diæresis (" I didn't put the dots over the 'e' in Noël. The language did. Otherwise it's not Noël but Nool!"). The press and many book publishers failed to follow suit, and his name was printed as 'Noel' in The Times , The Observer and other contemporary newspapers and books. "Why", asked Coward, "am I always expected to wear a dressing-gown, smoke cigarettes in a long holder and say 'Darling, how wonderful'?" The answer lay in Coward's assiduous cultivation of

8607-472: The hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic or early Stone Age , on the basis of stone tools such as many Handaxes found around the town. Most of these were collected by antiquarians in the later 19th and early 20th Century. Additionally prehistoric animal bones, sometimes found together with the aforementioned flint tools in deep gravel pits such as a woolly mammoth tusk , excavated in Badshot Lea at

8758-653: The prehistoric trackway known as the Harrow Way or Harroway, which passes through Farnham Park, and a sarsen stone still stands nearby, which is believed to have marked the safe crossing point of a marshy area near the present Shepherd and Flock roundabout. Occupation of the area continued to grow through the Bronze Age . Two bronze hoards have been discovered on Crooksbury Hill, and further artefacts have been found, particularly at sites in Green Lane and near

8909-438: The 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. He did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn , his long-time partner, and in Coward's diaries and letters, published posthumously. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006. Coward

9060-433: The 1960s: he was no longer seen as the smooth 1930s sophisticate, but as the doyen of the theatre. As The New Statesman wrote in 1964, "Who would have thought the landmarks of the Sixties would include the emergence of Noël Coward as the grand old man of British drama? There he was one morning, flipping verbal tiddlywinks with reporters about "Dad's Renaissance"; the next he was   ... beside Forster , T. S. Eliot and

9211-492: The 1970s, the area was a centre for growing hops and for the brewing industry. The town began to expand in the early Victorian period, stimulated in part by the opening of the railway in 1849 and the arrival of the army in nearby Aldershot in 1855. Farnham became an Urban District in 1894, but under the Local Government Act 1972 , it became part of the Borough of Waverley. The civil parish and town council were created in 1984. The Farnham area has long been associated with

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9362-441: The 21st century. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Neolithic and, during the Roman period , tile making took place close to the town centre. The name "Farnham" is of Saxon origin and is generally agreed to mean "meadow where ferns grow". From at least 803, the settlement was under the control of the Bishops of Winchester and the castle was built as a residence for Bishop Henry de Blois in 1138. Henry VIII

9513-409: The American public and government to help Britain. Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama In Which We Serve and was knighted in 1970. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs, such as " Mad Dogs and Englishmen ", " London Pride ", and " I Went to a Marvellous Party ". Coward's plays and songs achieved new popularity in

9664-424: The Bourne spring in Farnham Park. A significant number of Bronze Age barrows occur in the area, including a triple barrow at Elstead and an urnfield cemetery at Stoneyfield, near the Tilford road. Hill forts from the early Iron Age have been identified locally at Botany Hill to the south of the town, and at Caesar's Camp to the north. The latter is a very large earthwork on a high promontory, served by

9815-407: The Brightwell House site was granted in 2008 in a scheme that included 239 residential units, a multi-screen cinema, together with retail and restaurant units. Listed building consent to demolish the Redgrave Theatre had been granted on two previous occasions, and both times it expired without implementation. In January 2015, permission was again given by Waverley Borough Council for the demolition of

9966-453: The Burning Pestle in Birmingham and then London. He did not enjoy the role, finding Francis Beaumont and his sometime collaborator John Fletcher "two of the dullest Elizabethan writers ever known ... I had a very, very long part, but I was very, very bad at it". Nevertheless, The Manchester Guardian thought that Coward got the best out of the role, and The Times called the play "the jolliest thing in London". Coward completed

10117-457: The Church, and to the diocese of Winchester . A Saxon community grew up in the valley by the river. By the year 803 Farnham had passed into the ownership of the Bishop of Winchester and the Manor of Farnham remained so (apart from two short breaks) for the next thousand years. Although Farnham is documented in Saxon texts and most of the local names are derived from their language, there is only one fully attested Saxon site in Farnham, just off

10268-423: The Great 's son, the future Edward the Elder , and fled across the Thames towards Essex. A hundred (county subdivision) was an area that had a general overlord of its lords of the manor, entitled to charge certain rents to certain intermediate lords . Parishes within Farnham hundred were: Frensham (including tything Pitfold with Churt ) (partly in the hundred of Alton) Elstead , the liberty of Dockenfield,

10419-517: The High Sheriff prisoner. The following year, as the Royalists strengthened their position west of Farnham, the garrison at Farnham Castle was strengthened when it became the headquarters of the Farnham regiment of foot or " Greencoats ", with some eight to nine hundred officers and men, supported by a number of troops of horse. Further reinforcement by three regiments from London, 4,000 strong under Waller's command arrived in Farnham that October prior to an unsuccessful foray to recapture Winchester from

10570-437: The Hundred of Farnham as Ferneham , one of the five great " minster " churches in Surrey. Its Domesday assets were: 40 hides ; 1 church, 6 mills worth £2 6s 0d, 43 ploughs , 35 acres (140,000 m ) of meadow , woodland worth 175½ hogs . It rendered £53. Waverley Abbey , the first Cistercian abbey in England , was founded in 1128 by William Giffard , Bishop of Winchester about one mile (1.6 km) south of

10721-406: The King lodged at Culver Hall (now Vernon House) in West Street before the party continued to London for Charles's trial and execution in January 1649. The King gave his night cap to Henry Vernon, owner of Culver Hall, "as a token of Royal favour". Records show that the following period of interregnum until restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was a time of prosperity and growth for Farnham. In 1660

10872-407: The National Theatre's 2008 exhibition, The Independent commented, "His famous silk, polka-dot dressing gown and elegant cigarette holder both seem to belong to another era. But 2008 is proving to be the year that Britain falls in love with Noël Coward all over again." As soon as he achieved success he began polishing the Coward image: an early press photograph showed him sitting up in bed holding

11023-765: The Queen Mother replied, "I came because he was my friend." The Noël Coward Theatre in St Martin's Lane , originally opened in 1903 as the New Theatre and later called the Albery, was renamed in his honour after extensive refurbishment, re-opening on 1 June 2006. A statue of Coward by Angela Conner was unveiled by the Queen Mother in the foyer of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1998. There are also sculptures of Coward displayed in New York and Jamaica, and

11174-460: The Redgrave Theatre staged the first revival of Noël Coward 's Cavalcade in a production directed by David Horlock (1942–1990) and with a cast of 12 professional actors and 300 amateur performers. The production was filmed by the BBC and shown in 1982 as a two-part documentary, Cavalcade – A Backstage Story . Present day As of March 2019, the theatre is in the process of being demolished, this

11325-504: The Royalists. Eight thousand Royalists under Ralph Hopton (a former friend of Waller) advanced on Farnham from the west and skirmishes took place on the outskirts of town. Despite further reinforcement for Waller from Kent, Hopton's entire army gathered on the heathland just outside Farnham Park. There was some skirmishing but Hopton's men withdrew. Through the next few years Farnham was an important centre of Parliamentary operations and

11476-819: The Second World War. It is a Grade II listed building . In the 1950s, Coward left the UK for tax reasons, receiving harsh criticism in the press. He first settled in Bermuda but later bought houses in Jamaica and Switzerland ( Chalet Covar in the village of Les Avants , near Montreux ), which remained his homes for the rest of his life. His expatriate neighbours and friends included Joan Sutherland , David Niven , Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor , and Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards in Switzerland and Ian Fleming and his wife Ann in Jamaica. Coward

11627-811: The West End: The Vortex , Fallen Angels , Hay Fever and On with the Dance . Coward was turning out numerous plays and acting in his own works and others'. Soon his frantic pace caught up with him while starring in The Constant Nymph . He collapsed and was ordered to rest for a month; he ignored the doctors and sailed for the US to start rehearsals for his play This Was a Man . In New York he collapsed again, and had to take an extended rest, recuperating in Hawaii. Other Coward works produced in

11778-489: The World in 80 Days (1956), Our Man in Havana (1959), Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), Boom! (1968) and The Italian Job (1969). Stage and film opportunities he turned down in the 1950s included an invitation to compose a musical version of Pygmalion (two years before My Fair Lady was written), and offers of the roles of the king in the original stage production of The King and I , and Colonel Nicholson in

11929-697: The age of 20, Coward starred in his own play, the light comedy I'll Leave It to You . After a three-week run in Manchester it opened in London at the New Theatre (renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in 2006), his first full-length play in the West End. Neville Cardus 's praise in The Manchester Guardian was grudging. Notices for the London production were mixed, but encouraging. The Observer commented, "Mr Coward... has

12080-501: The area, including Six Bells (near the Bourne Spring), Snailslynch and Mavins Road, but the main centre of pottery had been Alice Holt Forest , on the edge of the town, since about AD 50, just 7 years after the arrival of the Romans. The Alice Holt potteries continued in use, making mainly domestic wares, until about AD 400. Near the Bourne Spring two Roman buildings were discovered; one was a bath-house dating from about AD 270 and

12231-459: The bishops of Winchester were restored to the adjoining Bishops Palace, which remained their residence until 1927. From 1927 until 1955 it was a residence of the bishops of the newly created diocese of Guildford . The castle is currently owned by English Heritage . Farnham became a successful market town; the author Daniel Defoe wrote that Farnham had the greatest corn-market after London, and describes 1,100 fully laden wagons delivering wheat to

12382-569: The building so that it could be converted into a community centre for the town. Other buildings in Farnham once linked to the Farnham Maltings include The Oasthouse (now offices) in Mead Lane and The Hop Kiln (now private residences) on Weydon Lane. Farnham railway station is served by South Western Railway services between Alton and Waterloo . South Western Railway also manage the station. Services to Guildford are facilitated by

12533-550: The cast. The Redgrave Theatre was mainly funded by the local community at a cost of £260,000 and was built in the grounds of the Grade II listed Brightwell House, which dates to the 1790s, and is attached to the house itself. Brightwell House supplied a restaurant (the Castle Restaurant) and club room, with offices and dressing rooms above. The Redgrave Theatre was built with an orchestra pit for 10 musicians and with

12684-522: The castle; the new High Sheriff of Surrey ( John Denham , a Royalist sympathiser and another noted poet) then occupied the vacant castle with 100 armed supporters. With the castle and much of the surrounding area in Royalist hands, Parliament despatched Colonel Sir William Waller to Farnham to retake the castle. The defenders refused to surrender but Waller's men used a petard to destroy the castle gates and overcame them, with only one fatality, and took

12835-664: The comic " Mad Dogs and Englishmen " from Words and Music , and "Mrs Worthington". With the outbreak of the Second World War Coward abandoned the theatre and sought official war work. After running the British propaganda office in Paris, where he concluded that "if the policy of His Majesty's Government is to bore the Germans to death I don't think we have time", he worked on behalf of British intelligence. His task

12986-636: The creative arts and with pottery making in particular. One of three campuses of the University for the Creative Arts is to the west of the centre and there are numerous works of public art on display in the town . Notable buildings in the civil parish include the ruins of Waverley Abbey and the 18th century Willmer House , now the location of the Museum of Farnham. Politician William Cobbett and writer George Sturt were both born in Farnham, as

13137-569: The curtain calls and spitting at Coward as he left the theatre. Coward later said of this flop, "My first instinct was to leave England immediately, but this seemed too craven a move, and also too gratifying to my enemies, whose numbers had by then swollen in our minds to practically the entire population of the British Isles." By 1929 Coward was one of the world's highest-earning writers, with an annual income of £50,000, more than £3 million in terms of 2020 values. Coward thrived during

13288-557: The drive of his career; like Gielgud and Rattigan , like the late Ivor Novello, he is a congenital bachelor." Coward firmly believed his private business was not for public discussion, considering " any sexual activities when over-advertised" to be tasteless. Even in the 1960s, Coward refused to acknowledge his sexual orientation publicly, wryly observing, "There are still a few old ladies in Worthing who don't know." Despite this reticence, he encouraged his secretary Cole Lesley to write

13439-517: The duke's death, "I suddenly find that I loved him more than I knew." Coward maintained close friendships with many women, including the actress and author Esmé Wynne-Tyson, his first collaborator and constant correspondent; Gladys Calthrop , who designed sets and costumes for many of his works; his secretary and close confidante Lorn Loraine; the actresses Gertrude Lawrence, Joyce Carey and Judy Campbell; and "his loyal and lifelong amitié amoureuse ", Marlene Dietrich . In his profession, Coward

13590-679: The east. In the 7th century, Surrey passed into the hands of King Caedwalla of Wessex, who also conquered Kent and Sussex, and founded a monastery at Farnham in 686. It was the Anglo-Saxons who gave the town its name—Farnham and it is listed as Fearnhamme in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . They arrived in the 6th century and, in AD 688, the West Saxon King Caedwalla donated the district around Farnham to

13741-768: The film The Bridge on the River Kwai . Invited to play the title role in the 1962 film Dr. No , he replied, "No, no, no, a thousand times, no." In the same year, he turned down the role of Humbert Humbert in Lolita , saying, "At my time of life the film story would be logical if the 12-year-old heroine was a sweet little old lady." In the mid-1960s and early 1970s successful productions of his 1920s and 1930s plays, and new revues celebrating his music, including Oh, Coward! on Broadway and Cowardy Custard in London, revived Coward's popularity and critical reputation. He dubbed this comeback "Dad's Renaissance". It began with

13892-461: The garrison cost Farnham people dearly in terms of local taxes, provisioning and quartering; even the lead from the Town Hall roof had been requisitioned to make bullets. A number of local women were widowed following the pressing of local men into the militia. The bombardment of Basing House was by a train of heavy cannon assembled at Farnham from other areas and, in 1646, most of the garrison

14043-649: The ghost of his first wife, causing havoc for the novelist and his second wife. With 1,997 consecutive performances, it broke box-office records for the run of a West End comedy, and was also produced on Broadway, where its original run was 650 performances. The play was adapted into a 1945 film , directed by Lean. Coward toured during 1942 in Blithe Spirit , in rotation with his comedy Present Laughter and his working-class drama This Happy Breed . In his Middle East Diary Coward made several statements that offended many Americans. In particular, he commented that he

14194-503: The home front than by intelligence work: "Go and sing to them when the guns are firing – that's your job!" Coward, though disappointed, followed this advice. He toured, acted and sang indefatigably in Europe, Africa, Asia and America. He wrote and recorded war-themed popular songs, including " London Pride " and " Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans ". His London home was wrecked by German bombs in 1941, and he took up temporary residence at

14345-564: The influence of Bernard Shaw on Coward's writing, thought more highly of the play than of Coward's newly found fans: "I was unfortunately wedged in the centre of a group of his more exuberant friends who greeted each of his sallies with 'That's a Noëlism!'" The play ran in London from 1 February to 24 March 1923, after which Coward turned to revue , co-writing and performing in André Charlot 's London Calling! In 1924, Coward achieved his first great critical and financial success as

14496-644: The king irresponsible, telling Churchill, "England doesn't wish for a Queen Cutie." Coward disliked propaganda in plays: Nevertheless, his own views sometimes surfaced in his plays: both Cavalcade and This Happy Breed are, in the words of the playwright David Edgar , "overtly Conservative political plays written in the Brechtian epic manner." In religion, Coward was agnostic. He wrote of his views, "Do I believe in God? I can't say No and I can't say Yes, To me it's anybody's guess." Coward spelled his first name with

14647-513: The liberty of Waverley , Seal (now Seale) the tythings of Badshot , Runfold , Culverlands, Tilford with Culverlands, Farnham, Runwick, Wrecklesham (now Wrecclesham ), and Bourne. In the 14th century, Farnham hundred was owned by the Bishop of Winchester and was one of the wealthiest on the bishop's rolls. See also, in this context: Farnham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 in

14798-630: The lower part of Firgrove Hill, where a road called Saxon Croft is now sited. Here several Saxon weaving huts from about AD 550 were discovered in 1924. In 892 Surrey was the scene of another major battle when a large Danish army, variously reported at 200, 250 and 350 ship-loads, moved west from its encampment in Kent and raided in Hampshire and Berkshire. Withdrawing with their loot, the Danes were intercepted and defeated at Farnham by an army led by Alfred

14949-609: The main local industries of agriculture and minerals extraction. Farnham Geological Society is an active organisation in the town, and the Museum of Farnham has a collection of geological samples and fossils. Farnham lies in the valley of the North Branch of the River Wey , which rises near Alton , merges with the South Branch at Tilford , and joins the River Thames at Weybridge . The mainly east–west alignment of

15100-673: The main thoroughfare running through West Street, The Borough and East Street. The town has a significant number of independent retailers, some of which have been in business since the 19th century, such as Rangers Furnishing Stores (est. 1895), Elphicks department store (est. 1881) and Pullingers (est. 1850). The latter evolved into the Pullingers Art Shop chain and is thought to be Farnham's oldest surviving business. There are also branches of many national retailers and grocery markets. Castle Street's market stalls have been replaced by semi-permanent " orangery " style buildings. Once

15251-537: The mid-to-late 1920s included the plays Easy Virtue (1926), a drama about a divorcée's clash with her snobbish in-laws; The Queen Was in the Parlour , a Ruritanian romance ; This Was a Man (1926), a comedy about adulterous aristocrats; The Marquise (1927), an eighteenth-century costume drama; Home Chat (1927), a comedy about a married woman's fidelity; and the revues On with the Dance (1925) and This Year of Grace (1928). None of these shows has entered

15402-486: The minor roles of the former FUDC from Waverley. Farnham Maltings , Bridge Square was once a tannery; the site expanded to become part of the Farnham United Breweries, which included its own maltings. Taken over by a major brewer ( Courage ) brewing ceased but malting continued into the 1960s, when Courage planned to sell off the site for redevelopment. The people of Farnham raised enough money to buy

15553-709: The north coast of the island. A memorial service was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 29 May 1973, for which the Poet Laureate , John Betjeman , wrote and delivered a poem in Coward's honour, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier read verse, and Yehudi Menuhin played Bach . On 28 March 1984 a memorial stone was unveiled by the Queen Mother in Poets' Corner , Westminster Abbey . Thanked by Coward's partner, Graham Payn , for attending,

15704-436: The north of the town at Caesar's Camp which, with the northern part of the park, lies on gravel beds. There are a number of swallow holes in the park where this stratum meets the chalk. The historic core of the town lies on gravel beds at an altitude of roughly 70 metres (230 ft) ASL on an underlying geology of Gault Clay and Upper Greensand and the southern part of the town rises to more than 100 metres (330 feet) on

15855-490: The novel Pomp and Circumstance , and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works, as well as those of others. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Coward volunteered for war work, running the British propaganda office in Paris. He also worked with the Secret Service, seeking to use his influence to persuade

16006-497: The numbers from his Las Vegas act. It was followed by productions of Blithe Spirit in which he starred with Claudette Colbert , Lauren Bacall and Mildred Natwick and This Happy Breed with Edna Best and Roger Moore . Despite excellent reviews, the audience viewing figures were moderate. During the 1950s and 1960s Coward continued to write musicals and plays. After the Ball , his 1953 adaptation of Lady Windermere's Fan ,

16157-505: The other a house of later date. The Roman Way housing estate stands on this site. William Stukeley propounded that Farnham is the site of the lost Roman settlement of Vindomis , although this is now believed to be at Neatham , near Alton . Large hoards of Roman coins have been discovered some 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Farnham in Woolmer Forest and a temple has been excavated at Wanborough , about 8 miles (13 km) to

16308-459: The playwright Keith Winter, actors Louis Hayward and Alan Webb , his manager Jack Wilson and the composer Ned Rorem , who published details of their relationship in his diaries. Coward had a 19-year friendship with Prince George, Duke of Kent , but biographers differ on whether it was platonic. Payn believed that it was, although Coward reportedly admitted to the historian Michael Thornton that there had been "a little dalliance". Coward said, on

16459-403: The protection of Colonel Robert Hammond , a Parliamentarian officer but with Royalist sympathies. The following March, Oliver Cromwell stayed at Farnham for discussions concerning the marriage of his daughter to a Hampshire gentleman, although some historians have speculated that this was cover for secret negotiations with the King. Following the rebellion during the summer of 1648 the keep

16610-497: The public view of Coward's flamboyant lifestyle, Churchill used as his reason for withholding the honour Coward's £200 fine for contravening currency regulations in 1941. Had the Germans invaded Britain, Coward was scheduled to be arrested and killed, as he was in The Black Book along with other figures such as Virginia Woolf , Paul Robeson , Bertrand Russell , C. P. Snow and H. G. Wells . When this came to light after

16761-402: The regular repertoire, but the last introduced one of Coward's best-known songs, "A Room with a View". His biggest failure in this period was the play Sirocco (1927), which concerns free love among the wealthy. It starred Ivor Novello , of whom Coward said, "the two most beautiful things in the world are Ivor's profile and my mind". Theatregoers hated the play, showing violent disapproval at

16912-526: The ridges and valleys has influenced the development of road and rail communications. The most prominent geological feature is the chalk of the North Downs which forms a ridge (the Hog's Back ) to the east of the town, and continues through Farnham Park to the north of the town centre, and westwards to form the Hampshire Downs . The land rises to more than 180 metres (590 feet) above sea level (ASL) to

17063-412: The second part could derive from hamm , meaning "river meadow". Farnham's history and present status are mainly the result of its geography ; a combination of river, streams, fresh water springs and varied soils, together with a temperate climate, was attractive in prehistoric times. The geology of the area continues to influence the town, both in terms of communications, scenic and botanic variety and

17214-465: The settlement appears as Fernham . The name is written as Fearnhamme in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from c.  900 and as Ferneham in Domesday Book . The town first appears with its modern spelling "Farnham" in 1233. The name is thought to derive from the Old English words fearn and ham and is generally agreed to mean " homestead or enclosure where ferns grow". Alternatively

17365-411: The staccato, blind impulsiveness of a machine-gun. In 1955 Coward's cabaret act at Las Vegas, recorded live for the gramophone and released as Noël Coward at Las Vegas , was so successful that CBS engaged him to write and direct a series of three 90-minute television specials for the 1955–56 season. The first of these, Together With Music , paired Coward with Mary Martin , featuring him in many of

17516-461: The start of the 21st century. The first known settlement in the area was in the Mesolithic period, some 7,000 years ago; a cluster of pit dwellings and evidence of a flint-knapping industry from that period has been excavated a short distance to the east of the town. There was a Neolithic long barrow at nearby Badshot Lea , now destroyed by quarrying. This monument lay on the route of

17667-533: The subject and played an explicitly homosexual character. The daring piece earned Coward new critical praise. He intended to star in the trilogy on Broadway but was too ill to travel. Only two of the Suite in Three Keys plays were performed in New York, with the title changed to Noël Coward in Two Keys , starring Hume Cronyn . Coward won new popularity in several notable films later in his career, such as Around

17818-526: The theatre and conversion of Brightwell House, but campaigners again objected. The actor Simon Callow , who had appeared at the theatre, lent his support to the campaign to save it. Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey , England, around 36 miles (58 km) southwest of London . It is in the Borough of Waverley , close to the county border with Hampshire . The town

17969-496: The theatre and to demolish the building and develop the area. The Farnham Theatre Association (FTA) campaigned to either save the theatre or have a similar venue built in the town. The proposed developer of the East Street site, Crest Nicholson, has said the scheme will help to revitalise an under-used part of the area and will see the creation of more than 200 homes and more than 800 new jobs. Full planning permission to develop

18120-638: The theatre's construction in September 1971. Judi Dench was among the founding members. The theatre officially opened on 29 May 1974 and commenced with a production of Romeo and Juliet attended by Princess Margaret . Princess Margaret returned to the theatre in 1984 to join the celebrations surrounding the Redgrave's tenth anniversary. She watched a performance of David and Jonathan which had been specially commissioned by local playwright William Douglas-Home and which had George Waring and Sean Bean in

18271-407: The town centre. King John visited Waverley in 1208, and Henry III in 1225. The abbey produced the famous Annals of Waverley, an important reference source for the period. By the end of the 13th century the abbey was becoming less important. By the time it was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1536 as part of the dissolution of the monasteries there were only thirteen monks in the community. The town

18422-508: The town is Barley Pound , the remains of an 11th-century precursor of Farnham Castle. Farnham was granted its charter as a town in 1249 by William de Ralegh , then Bishop of Winchester . The Blind Bishop's Steps, a series of steps leading along Castle Street up to the Castle, were originally constructed for Bishop Richard Foxe (godfather of Henry VIII ). The Black Death hit Farnham in 1348, killing about 1,300 people, at that time about

18573-420: The town on market day. During the 17th century, other new industries evolved: greenware pottery (a pottery, dating from 1873, still exists on the outskirts of the town), wool and cloth , the processing of wheat into flour, and eventually hops , a key ingredient of beer . The Anglican divine , Augustus Montague Toplady , composer of the hymn Rock of Ages (1763, at Blagston) was born in Farnham in 1740 –

18724-635: The troops, was a supreme success, first in London at the Café de Paris , and later in Las Vegas . The theatre critic Kenneth Tynan wrote: To see him whole, public and private personalities conjoined, you must see him in cabaret ... he padded down the celebrated stairs   ... halted before the microphone on black-suede-clad feet, and, upraising both hands in a gesture of benediction, set about demonstrating how these things should be done. Baring his teeth as if unveiling some grotesque monument, and cooing like

18875-598: The upper classes. Its notoriety and fiery performances attracted large audiences, justifying a move from a small suburban theatre to a larger one in the West End. Coward, still having trouble finding producers, raised the money to produce the play himself. During the run of The Vortex , Coward met Jack Wilson , an American stockbroker (later a director and producer), who became his business manager and lover. At first Wilson managed Coward's business affairs well, but later abused his position to embezzle from his employer. The success of The Vortex in both London and America caused

19026-474: The war, Coward wrote an alternative reality play, Peace in Our Time , depicting an England occupied by Nazi Germany . Coward's new plays after the war were moderately successful but failed to match the popularity of his pre-war hits. Relative Values (1951) addresses the culture clash between an aristocratic English family and a Hollywood actress with matrimonial ambitions; South Sea Bubble (1951)

19177-451: The war, Coward wrote: "If anyone had told me at that time I was high up on the Nazi blacklist, I should have laughed ... I remember Rebecca West , who was one of the many who shared the honour with me, sent me a telegram which read: 'My dear – the people we should have been seen dead with'." Churchill's view was that Coward would do more for the war effort by entertaining the troops and

19328-555: The warmest day would reach 26.3 °C (79.3 °F), with 18.1 days attaining a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or higher. The lowest temperature recorded was −14.0 °C (6.8 °F) in February 1986. On average, 57.7 nights of the year will register an air frost. Annual rainfall averages 821mm, with at least 1mm of rain reported on 126.0 days. All averages refer to the 1991–2020 observation period. Farnham's history extends back hundreds of thousands of years to

19479-507: The weekend and bemuse and enrage each other's guests. Some writers have seen elements of Coward's old mentor, Mrs Astley Cooper, and her set in the characters of the family. By the 1970s the play was recognised as a classic, described in The Times as a "dazzling achievement; like The Importance of Being Earnest , it is pure comedy with no mission but to delight, and it depends purely on the interplay of characters, not on elaborate comic machinery." By June 1925 Coward had four shows running in

19630-613: The widow of Sir Michael Redgrave. The theatre company Cheek by Jowl premiered its production of As You Like It at the theatre in July 1991 before a run at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. A 1991 production of The Seven Descents of Myrtle at the Redgrave starring Kit Hollerbach as Myrtle and Stephen Hattersley as Chicken led to Hattersley winning Best Actor 1991 in the TMA Awards for his performance. In 1981,

19781-566: Was Maud Gonne , the Irish republican suffragette . More recent residents have included the watercolour artist , William Herbert Allen , the Formula One driver, Mike Hawthorn , the England cricketer , Graham Thorpe , and the England rugby union captain , Jonny Wilkinson . The oldest surviving record of Farnham is from a c.  1150 copy of a c.  688 charter, in which

19932-545: Was knighted in 1970, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature . He received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 1970. In 1972, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Sussex . At the age of 73, Coward died at his home, Firefly Estate , in Jamaica on 26 March 1973 of heart failure and was buried three days later on the brow of Firefly Hill, overlooking

20083-590: Was "less impressed by some of the mournful little Brooklyn boys lying there in tears amid the alien corn with nothing worse than a bullet wound in the leg or a fractured arm". After protests from both The New York Times and The Washington Post , the Foreign Office urged Coward not to visit the United States in January 1945. He did not return to America again during the war. In the aftermath of

20234-403: Was Ian Mullins (1929–2014) from 1974 to 1977, followed by David Horlock from 1978 to 1979, Stephen Barry taking the position from 1982 to 1986, Patrick Sandford from 1986 to 1988, Graham Watkins from 1988 to 1994 and Roland Jaquarello from 1994 to 1995. Located in the town's East Street, the Redgrave Theatre was given the family name of actor Sir Michael Redgrave who inaugurated the start of

20385-523: Was a witness at the Flemings' wedding, but his diaries record his exasperation with their constant bickering. Coward's political views were conservative, but not unswervingly so: he despised the government of Neville Chamberlain for its policy of appeasing Nazi Germany, and he differed sharply with Winston Churchill over the abdication crisis of 1936. Whereas Churchill supported Edward VIII 's wish to marry "his cutie", Wallis Simpson , Coward thought

20536-455: Was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as

20687-543: Was appointed Artistic Director in 1994 but he was only able to direct one season, the "incomprehensible" The Playboy of the Western World , a commercial failure, before the theatre "went dark", temporarily closing in January 1995. Having endured long-term underfunding with a smaller than average subsidy, the theatre made large financial losses during its final years and in 1998 the Council decided to permanently close

20838-579: Was bitten by the performing bug early and appeared in amateur concerts by the age of seven. He attended the Chapel Royal Choir School as a young child. He had little formal schooling but was a voracious reader. Encouraged by his ambitious mother, who sent him to a dance academy in London, Coward's first professional engagement was in January 1911 as Prince Mussel in the children's play The Goldfish . In Present Indicative , his first volume of memoirs, Coward wrote: One day   ...

20989-575: Was born in 1899 in Teddington , Middlesex , a south-western suburb of London. His parents were Arthur Sabin Coward (1856–1937), a piano salesman, and Violet Agnes Coward (1863–1954), daughter of Henry Gordon Veitch, a captain and surveyor in the Royal Navy . Noël Coward was the second of their three sons, the eldest of whom had died in 1898 at the age of six. Coward's father lacked ambition and industry, and family finances were often poor. Coward

21140-533: Was built on Waverley Lane, it was dedicated to St Joan of Arc because Farnham Castle was a residence of Cardinal Henry Beaufort who presided over the saint's trial. The FUDC was abolished in 1973 by the Local Government Act of the previous year. Farnham, together with Hindhead, Haslemere, Cranleigh and surrounding areas were absorbed into the new Waverley District Council (latterly Waverley Borough Council) with its headquarters in Godalming. In 1984 Farnham Parish Council became Farnham Town Council, taking on some of

21291-445: Was demolished to make room for the "Brightwells Yard development". A modern, purpose-built theatre designed by architect Frank Rutter, the Redgrave Theatre replaced the Castle Theatre in Farnham which had opened for Farnham Repertory Company in 1941, and which operated as a weekly repertory theatre. Eventually, Farnham Repertory Company outgrew its premises and moved to the newly built Redgrave Theatre in 1973. The first Artistic Director

21442-461: Was electrified by the Southern Railway company in 1937 as far as Alton, and a carriage shed for the new electric stock was built in Weydon Lane. This building, which carried fading camouflage paint for many years after World War II, was replaced in 2006. In 1895 Farnham Urban District Council (FUDC) was formed. In 1930 the council purchased Farnham Park, a large park occupying much of the former castle grounds. That same year, St Joan of Arc Church

21593-418: Was expected of me. Part of the job." Time concluded, "Coward's greatest single gift has not been writing or composing, not acting or directing, but projecting a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise." Coward's distinctive clipped diction arose from his childhood: his mother was deaf and Coward developed his staccato style of speaking to make it easier for her to hear what he

21744-424: Was in the care of the orphanage. He became Collinson's godfather and helped him to get started in show business. When Collinson was a successful director, he invited Coward to play a role in The Italian Job . Graham Payn also played a small role in the film. In 1926, Coward acquired Goldenhurst Farm , in Aldington, Kent , making it his home for most of the next thirty years, except when the military used it during

21895-417: Was partially dismantled at the orders of Cromwell, to make further occupation by garrison indefensible. In late November that year Hammond was summoned to Farnham, where he was arrested and the King was removed under military escort to the mainland. On 20 December the King and his escort entered Farnham, where groups of men, women and children gathered at the roadside to welcome him and touch his hand. That night

22046-461: Was really quite good in it, owing to the kindness and care of Hawtrey's direction. He took endless trouble with me   ... and taught me during those two short weeks many technical points of comedy acting which I use to this day." In 1918, Coward was conscripted into the Artists Rifles but was assessed as unfit for active service because of a tubercular tendency, and he was discharged on health grounds after nine months. That year he appeared in

22197-400: Was removed from Farnham to form a brigade to besiege Donnington Castle near Newbury . The King surrendered shortly afterwards at Newark and a small garrison remained at Farnham. In 1647, having escaped from custody at Hampton Court , the King rode through Farnham at dawn on 12 November with a small party of loyal officers, en route to the Isle of Wight , where he sought sanctuary under

22348-425: Was saying; it also helped him eradicate a slight lisp. His nickname, "The Master", "started as a joke and became true", according to Coward. It was used of him from the 1920s onwards. Coward himself made light of it: when asked by a journalist why he was known as "The Master", he replied, "Oh, you know – Jack of all trades, master of none." He could, however, joke about his own immodesty: "My sense of my importance to

22499-507: Was the last musical he premiered in the West End; his last two musicals were first produced on Broadway. Sail Away (1961), set on a luxury cruise liner, was Coward's most successful post-war musical, with productions in America, Britain and Australia. The Girl Who Came to Supper , a musical adaptation of The Sleeping Prince (1963), ran for only three months. He directed the successful 1964 Broadway musical adaptation of Blithe Spirit , called High Spirits . Coward's late plays include

22650-419: Was to use his celebrity to influence American public and political opinion in favour of helping Britain. He was frustrated by British press criticism of his foreign travel while his countrymen suffered at home, but he was unable to reveal that he was acting on behalf of the Secret Service. In 1942 George VI wished to award Coward a knighthood for his efforts, but was dissuaded by Winston Churchill . Mindful of

22801-427: Was widely admired and loved for his generosity and kindness to those who fell on hard times. Stories are told of the unobtrusive way in which he relieved the needs or paid the debts of old theatrical acquaintances who had no claim on him. From 1934 until 1956, Coward was the president of the Actors Orphanage , which was supported by the theatrical industry. In that capacity, he befriended the young Peter Collinson , who

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