The 200th anniversary of the founding of the coastguard is celebrated at Seaford's romantic South Hill Barn on 9th September with an evening of intrigue and fascination all about Smuggling.
Author, raconteur and expert on the history of Smuggling, Chris McCooey, will be in conversation with novelist Alex Preston, author of the gripping smuggling story 'Winchelsea'.
Chris McCooey is a speaker and the writer of dozens of books about the odd, the dramatic and the fascinating facts found on our south coast. He is the expert on the weird and wonderful of Kent and Sussex and has written numerous features for publications such as The Times and Weekend Financial Times. His Oxford undergraduate thesis of 15000 words titled ‘Socio-Geographical Aspects of Illicit Trading in Kent & Sussex in the 18th Century’ was later expanded to an 85000 word book with the less wordy title: ‘Smuggling’.
His book: ‘Smuggling On The South Coast’, traces the early history of open smuggling back to the illegal export of England's Golden Fleece - the so-called 'owling' of raw wool to the Continent. The violent heyday of the contraband trade came in the 18th century when heavy taxes on tobacco, tea, brandy and geneva (gin) made the illegal importation of these supposed 'luxuries' highly profitable. The smugglers were not 'honest thieves' but outlaws who protected their infamous trafficking by resorting to wholesale corruption, terrorism and murder.
Alex Preston was born in 1979 and lives in Kent. He studied English under Tom Paulin at Herford College Oxford and hold a PhD on: Violence in the modern novel, form UCL.
He writes for The Telegraph, The Economist and Harper's Bazaar and reviews books for the Observer’s New Review. He co-founded the Corfu Literary Festival and is patron of Oxford and Wealden Literary Festivals.
His latest book, ‘Winchelsea’, is an electrifying smuggling story of vengeance and transformation; a rare, lyrical and transporting work of historical imagination that makes the past so real we can touch it. A beautifully told historical drama.
"Daphne du Maurier crossed with Quentin Tarantino" Tom Holland
| Ticket Type | Ticket Tariff |
|---|---|
| Admission | £15.00 per ticket |
Note: Prices are a guide only and may change on a daily basis.
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