Click here to download the story "Did you see Chimp and the Customer?", written by Brighton writer Kyra Jones.

Signs of civilisation in Brighton go back for a long, long time. In fact the first evidence of humans is a dagger found in a cliff near the Whitehawk area dating back to 250'000 years ago!!

In 450 AD the Anglo Saxons claimed Brighton. Their leader at the time was called Beorthelm who was the owner of a farm (called a "tun" in those days). Therefore the first name given to Brighton was actually Beorthelm's tun.

This name later evolved into Brighthelmstone and the village made most of its income by fishing although smuggling became quite a popular industry as well in the 15th century. However, the inhabitants had to cope with a variety of adverse conditions, which made life difficult for them.

One of the main problems was the sea erosion. In 1340 the sea swallowed 40 acres of farmland. Originally there was a road called South Street just below North Street but the sea washed that away as well. By the early 18th century, the sea was severely threatening the town so that in 1722 funds were collected throughout England so that Brighton could build groynes in order to protect them from further sea erosion.

A further problem was bad weather. In 1703 and 1705 two devastating storms hit Brighton the first having destroyed a lot of the lower town.

The third problem was the French. In 1514 Brighthelmstone was completely burned down by a group of French raiders. In those days such attacks were quite commonplace between the English and the French with the English destroying a lot of French villages as well in their turn.
In 1545 the French tried to invade yet again but this time the Brightonians were ready for them attacking the group and forcing them into retreat.

However, Brighton (as the town was officially renamed in 1810) withstood all these adversities and eventually started to prosper.

This was due to the fact that a renowned doctor living in Lewes, Dr. Richard Russell wrote a book about the beneficial effect of bathing in seawater. This had the effect that loads of people came down from London and other areas of England to benefit from this cure. Brighton therefore soon became a popular seaside resort with the tourism industry replacing a lot of the weakened fishing industry, which had suffered severely from coastal erosion.

One of the best-known residents of the town was of course Prince George IV (who was later to became the Prince Regent otherwise known as "Prinny"). His first ever visit to Brighton was in 1783. This was followed by two further visits on the advice of his physicians.

George IV ended up moving to Brighton. In 1786 he decided to rent a farmhouse on the site, which is now the Pavilion. In 1787 the Pavilion itself was built bearing very little resemblance to the current one as this was built in a classical style (influenced by the Romans and Greeks).

Some say that George IV enjoyed Brighton, as it was a place in which he could live his preferred lifestyle, which involved heavy drinking, partying and gambling out of the disapproving eye his father, King George III.

A further difference George IV had with his father was his marriage to Maria Fitzherbert in 1785. The couple had met at the opera and Maria who was 6 years his senior refused to have a relationship with George unless they were married.
The reason for the king's disapproval was that not only was George IV Maria's third husband but she was a catholic as well. With the monarchy being protestant and there being severe conflicts between Catholics and protestants at the time this was considered a terrible thing in the eyes of the government. Therefore the British Constitution refused to acknowledge the marriage as being legitimate.

Eventually King George III got his way. Due to his overly extravagant lifestyle George IV had incurred debts of over a quarter of a million pounds. The prince was given the option of cancelling these debts if he were to marry Caroline of Brunswick. The prince agreed and married Caroline in 1795 but ended up detesting her. His apathy towards her was so great that he didn't even allow her into his coronation ceremony when he became king.

However, in 1800 the pope declared the marriage between George IV and Maria Fitzherbert as valid in the eyes of God which allowed the couple to reunite. They spent another 11 years together until George IV became the Prince Regent due to his father's mental illness and broke up with Maria Fitzherbert. However George IV remained very fond of Maria Fitzherbert throughout his life. To demonstrate this he left all his possessions to Maria, paid her a yearly allowance of £10'000 and set her up in a home in the town which is now the YMCA Building.

In 1815 the prince made an effort to improve the palace, this time he was influenced by India on the outside and opted for a Chinese look on the inside. The result was extravagantly luxurious Pavilion, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the Taj Mahal. In 1821 the prince regent became king until his death in 1830.

The town council was later to purchase the pavilion in 1850, which remains one of Brighton's largest tourist attractions to this day. However, in the past decades the pavilion had to endure a lot of damage as a firebomb hit the music room in 1975.
Ironically, after a large-scale restoration work a large storm knocked down one of the domes destroying the music room again.

To accommodate the growing influx of tourists a number of piers were constructed in the last centuries: the Chain Pier (1823), the West Pier (1866) and the Palace Pier (1899- now known as the Brighton Pier).

In the last century Brighton events which stood out were the seafront clashes between the mods and the rockers, eternalised in the film "Quadrophenia"(1970) and the bombing of Margaret Thatcher's suite (1984) by the IRA in the Grand Hotel.

Brighton is still growing rapidly having recently acquired city status and is home to Brighton and Sussex University. To this day Brighton remains a colourful, tolerant community and the heart of gay Britain.