42-735: The Brighton Palace Pier , commonly known as Brighton Pier or the Palace Pier , is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton , England, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine . Established in 1899, it was the third pier to be constructed in Brighton after the Royal Suspension Chain Pier and the West Pier , but is now the only one still in operation. It is managed and operated by
84-471: A double act . They are remembered for creating the comedy characters Gert and Daisy , and have been described as "the most successful female double-act in the history of British music hall and variety". They were born in Bromley-by-Bow , east London, the daughters of amateur singers Maud and Ted Waters, a funeral furnisher, who encouraged all their six children to learn musical instruments. Elsie learned
126-455: A haunted house ride , a traditional carousel , a helter skelter and a cup and saucer ride . The Booster is a pendulum ride by Fabbri , which catapults people 130 feet (40 m) into the air, turning upside down in the process. For young children, Fantasia is a simple ride featuring Disney characters. The pier has featured regularly in British popular culture. It is shown prominently in
168-465: A Christmas special), about two ladies who own a shop in Russett Green. It was written by Terry Nation , John Junkin and Dave Freeman, and the supporting cast included Ronnie Barker , Joan Sims , Ron Moody , Doris Rogers, Iris Vandeleur , Hugh Paddick , Anthony Newley and Peter Hawkins . It was produced by Alastair Scott Johnston and Bill Gates (the producer of Workers' Playtime ). In 1959,
210-597: A drink, but not us. We've always been the homely types, which people enjoy. People can identify with us... All good comedy should have truth. Unless Gert and Daisy speak the truth, it's no good." They appeared in their first Royal Variety Performance in 1934, and became amongst the highest paid British entertainers of the period. During the Second World War , they broadcast cookery and home maintenance hints, gave cookery demonstrations, and were given special passes to make regular trips to entertain troops stationed around
252-513: A fairground ride was operated with part of its track missing. A representative from the Health and Safety Executive said that inadequate procedures were to blame for the fact that nothing had been done to alert staff or passengers that the ride would be dangerous to use. The pier management came into criticism from Brighton and Hove City Council , who thought they were relying too much on fairground rides, some of which were being built too high. In 2011,
294-478: A long career on Australian radio during and after the Second World War. The Kray twins were nicknamed Gert and Daisy by other East End gangsters in the 1960s. The radio adaptation of Bristow (1999–2000) featured a comic duo, cleaning ladies named Gert and Daisy. A complete set of transcripts of the sisters' sketches and songs was published in 2003. Wheeler Winston Dixon , Professor of Film Studies at
336-461: A popular tourist attraction into the 21st century, particularly with day visitors to the city. In contrast to the redevelopment and liberal culture in Brighton generally, it has retained a traditional down-market "bucket and spade" seaside atmosphere. In 2016, the Brighton Fringe festival director Julian Caddy criticised the pier as "a massive public relations problem". On 8 April 2019 a piece of
378-501: A theatre. Both Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin performed at the pier to hone their comic skills early in their career, before migrating to the US and finding major commercial success in Hollywood. During World War I , the sea surrounding the pier was extensively mined to prevent enemy attacks. In the 1920s, the pier was widened, and a distinctive clock tower was added. During World War II ,
420-506: Is a list of listed buildings in the United Kingdom . The organization of the lists in this series is on the same basis as the statutory registers, which generally rely on counties. For England and Wales, the county names are broadly those of the ceremonial counties of England and Wales and do not always match the current administrative areas, whereas in most cases they parallel the current subdivisions of Scotland . In Northern Ireland
462-433: Is a pivotal part of the album's plot, and features in the 1979 film . Townshend later said that the rest of the band understood this element of the story, as it related to their mod roots. The 2014 novel The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell includes passages that take place on the pier. The 2015 British TV series, Cuffs , which takes place in Brighton features the pier, both in the opening theme as well as in parts of
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#1732852769688504-482: Is opposite the southern end of Old Steine (the A23 to London) where it meets Marine Parade and Grand Junction Road which run along the seafront. It is 1,722 feet (525 m) long and contains 85 miles (137 km) of planking. Because of the pier's length, repainting it takes three months every year. At night, it is illuminated by 67,000 bulbs. No. 14 and No. 27 buses run directly from Brighton railway station to
546-603: The 1971 film , Carry on at Your Convenience , and it is shown to represent Brighton in several film and television features, including MirrorMask , The Persuaders , the Doctor Who serial The Leisure Hive (1980), the 1986 film Mona Lisa , and the 2007 film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . The Graham Greene novel Brighton Rock featured the Palace Pier. John Boulting's 1947 film adaptation helped established "low life" subculture in Brighton, and
588-596: The Guildhall School of Music , before joining a theatrical company in Southwold , Suffolk . As singers, musicians, and comic entertainers, they started to perform widely in concert parties , at functions, and on variety bills , and made their first appearance on BBC Radio in 1927. From 1929, they made commercial recordings for the Parlophone label. For one recording, in 1930, they were short of material. Interviewed in
630-625: The National Piers Society 's Pier of the Year award in 1998. In 2017, it was listed as the fourth most popular free attraction in Britain in a National Express survey. In 2017, the pier was said to be the most visited tourist attraction outside London, with over 4.5 million visitors the previous year. Notes Citations Sources Listed buildings in the United Kingdom This
672-661: The University of Nebraska , wrote that "Elsie and Doris Waters are perhaps the most influential social satirists of the period", adding: By forming their double-act around the ever-affianced Gert and the indissolubly married Daisy, they offered women an ontological choice: whether to find their meaning in themselves and with other women, or in the state of gender subalternity, through servitude to men and to patriarchy. By evoking laughter through song, music, patter, gossip, cross-talk, conversation, malapropisms, puns and jokes, through humour, wit, irony, burlesque, parody, satire, ridicule and
714-459: The 1960s, and made occasional television appearances until a few months before Doris's death. The sisters never married, and lived together in Steyning , Sussex , from the 1930s until their deaths. It was widely understood that Doris Waters had been in a relationship with a diplomat in the 1930s, but after he was posted abroad the sisters agreed to stay together, for professional reasons and to aid
756-475: The 1970s, Elsie Waters said: "We thought: what on earth can we do? Anyway, we decided to do a talking record for a change. Well, what shall we talk about? Well, we thought, people like wedding bells, so Doll [Doris] sat down and she wrote a little tune and I put some words to it. We called it 'Wedding Bells' and we did a little bit of chat, and that was the first of Gert and Daisy. After we had done it, we forgot all about it." Their banter as Gert and Daisy, drawing on
798-529: The Air Race ride, manufactured by Zamperla , came loose and hit some people, injuring four people, one of whom was taken to hospital. In 2024 it was announced that the pier would introduce a £1 admission fee beginning on 25 May. The fee is in place over weekends during June and throughout July and August and will not apply to local residents who have a Brighton Palace Pier local residents card. The pier includes several fairground rides, such as two roller coasters ,
840-559: The Bag (1944), which were all produced by Butcher's Film Service . After the war, they were both awarded OBEs in the King's Birthday Honours List in 1946. Their first regular radio series was Gert and Daisy's Working Party in 1948, followed by the variety series Petticoat Lane in 1949. Their success continued into the 1950s, and they continued to tour. They made the radio series Floggit's in 1956 (which ran for two series, across 34 episodes and
882-545: The Chain Pier's debris. The pier was not fully complete on the opening date; some work on the pavilion was completed shortly afterwards. It was designed to resemble kursaals , which were entertainment buildings found near spas on the Continent, and included reading and dining rooms. The pier was an immediate success and quickly became one of the most popular landmarks in Brighton. By 1911, the reading rooms had been converted into
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#1732852769688924-467: The Eclectic Bar Group. The Palace Pier was intended as a replacement for the Chain Pier, which collapsed in 1896 during construction of the new pier. It quickly became popular, and had become a frequently-visited theatre and entertainment venue by 1911. Aside from closures owing to war, it continued to hold regular entertainment up to the 1970s. The theatre was damaged in 1973 and following a buy-out
966-560: The Noble Organisation put the pier for sale, with an expected price of £30 million. It was rumoured that the council wanted to buy the pier, but this was quickly ruled out. It was taken off the market the following year, due to lack of interest in suitable buyers. In 2016, it was sold to the Eclectic Bar Group, headed by former PizzaExpress owner Luke Johnson , who renamed the pier back to Brighton Palace Pier in July. The Palace Pier remains
1008-509: The Waters sisters appeared in an ITV television series Gert and Daisy , in which they played landladies of a theatrical boarding house . Created by Ted Willis , who also created Jack Warner's Dixon of Dock Green series, Gert and Daisy was not successful, apparently because it relied on scripts written by others rather than on the sisters' own writing skills. However, they continued to perform in theatrical shows, including pantomimes , into
1050-487: The city of Brighton and Hove . During a storm in 1973, a 70-long-ton (71 t) barge moored at the pier's landing stage broke loose and began to damage the pier head, particularly the theatre. Despite fears that the pier would be destroyed, the storm eased and the barge was removed. The landing pier was demolished in 1975, and the damaged theatre was never used again, despite protests from the Theatres Trust . The pier
1092-470: The climax of the film is set on it, where gangleader Pinkie Brown (played by Richard Attenborough ) falls to his death. The 1953 B movie Girl on a Pier is set around the Palace Pier and also features the clash between holidaymakers and gangsters in Brighton. The Who 's 1973 concept album Quadrophenia was inspired in part by band leader Pete Townshend spending a night underneath the pier in March 1964. It
1134-806: The conversations they had overheard when growing up in the East End , became an immediate success, and audiences requested them to repeat and develop it. In their performances as Gert (Elsie) and Daisy (Doris), they are credited with developing a new style of observational and naturalistic comedy, with gossipy and sometimes surreal asides delivered in a conversational matter-of-fact way, but sometimes replete with misunderstandings, malapropisms and innuendo. The conversations were critical of Daisy's mythical husband Bert, and Gert's supposed long-standing fiancé Wally, along with their supposed neighbour Mrs Butler. Their scripts were written mostly by Elsie Waters with contributions from her sister. They claimed never to have repeated
1176-508: The following year after achieving commercial success. On 13 August 1994, a bomb planted by the IRA near the pier was defused by a controlled explosion. A similar bomb by the same perpetrators had exploded in Bognor Regis on the same day. The bombing was intended to mark the 25th anniversary of the start of The Troubles . The pier was closed for several days owing to police investigation. The pier
1218-541: The ghost train ride, which is where the fire started, as well as damaging two other rides and leaving a hole in the pier's decking, but luckily not causing any structural damage. In 2004, the Brighton Marine Palace Pier Company (owned by the Noble Organisation), admitted an offence of breaching public safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act and had to pay fines and costs of £37,000 after
1260-473: The pier was closed as a security precaution. A section of decking was removed in order to prevent access from an enemy landing. The pier regained its popularity after the war, and continued to run regular summer shows, including Tommy Trinder , Doris and Elsie Waters and Dick Emery . The pier was listed at Grade II* on 20 August 1971. As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures , and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in
1302-574: The pier was officially opened on 20 May by the Mayoress of Brighton. It was named the Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, whose name was inscribed into the pier's metalwork. It cost a record £27,000 (£3,839,000 in 2023) to build, including 3,000 lights to illuminate the pier. Part of the cost was repairs to the West Pier and the nearby Volk's Electric Railway caused by damage in the 1896 storm from
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1344-402: The pier. The pier was designed and constructed by R. St George Moore. It was the third in Brighton, following the Royal Suspension Chain Pier in 1823 and the West Pier in 1866. The inaugural ceremony for laying of the first pile was held on 7 November 1891, overseen by Mayor Samuel Henry Soper. A condition to be met by its builders, in exchange for permission to build, was that the Chain Pier
1386-757: The province's six traditional counties are used, and these are unchanged in modern times. Different classifications of listed buildings are used in different parts of the United Kingdom: The lists for the countries of the UK are at: This article about a listed building in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gert and Daisy Florence Elsie Waters (19 August 1893–14 June 1990) and her sister Doris Ethel Waters (20 December 1899–18 August 1978) were English comic actresses and singers who performed as
1428-467: The same sketch or song, and toured the country, appearing regularly on radio in shows such as Henry Hall 's Guest Night . Doris Waters later commented: "We wouldn't say what they wouldn't say. We know them too well, you see. Having been brought up in the East End of London, we know the way they think." Elsie added: "Gert and Daisy have never quarrelled. They have never been drunk. 'Bert' was always fond of
1470-519: The story lines. Graham Swift 's 2020 novel Here We Are , focuses on a trio of entertainers performing at the pier in the immediate postwar period. In 2015, Martyn Ware , founding member of pop group the Human League , made a series of field recordings on the pier as part of a project with the National Trust and British Library project to capture the sounds of Britain. The pier was awarded
1512-462: The violin, and Doris the piano and tubular bells ; the entire family performed together as E.W. Waters' Bijou Orchestra. Another sibling, Horace John "Jack" Waters (1895–1981), became a leading entertainer and actor from the 1930s onwards, using the stage name Jack Warner . Elsie and Doris Waters both attended Coborn School for Girls in Bow , and were choristers at St. Leonard's Church. They studied at
1554-422: The war effort. Attempts in the 1980s to present stage versions of the sisters' lives foundered because of Elsie's refusal to allow any mention of their brother Jack, or of rumours of the sisters' relationships with the same man. Doris Waters died in 1978, aged 78, after a long illness, and Elsie died in 1990, aged 96. The Australian comedian Dorothy Foster cloned the idea to create "Ada and Elsie", who enjoyed
1596-581: The world. Gert and Daisy were favourites of Winston Churchill , and had elephants named after them at London Zoo . They performed regularly on BBC Radio's Workers' Playtime , and their high profile was used by German propagandists such as Lord Haw Haw , who said in one broadcast that "the people of Grimsby must not think that Gert and Daisy can save them from the might of the Luftwaffe." The duo appeared in three films together: Gert and Daisy's Weekend (1941), Gert and Daisy Clean Up (1942) and It's in
1638-516: Was demolished in 1986, changing the pier's character from seaside entertainment to an amusement park , with various fairground rides and roller coasters . The pier remains popular with the public, with over four million visitors in 2016, and has been featured in many works of British culture, including the gangster thriller Brighton Rock , the comedy Carry On at Your Convenience and the Who 's concept album and film Quadrophenia . The pier entrance
1680-403: Was renamed as "Brighton Pier" in 2000, although this legal change was not recognised by the National Piers Society nor some residents of Brighton and Hove. The local newspaper, The Argus , continued to refer to the structure as the Palace Pier. The Palace Pier caught fire on the evening of 4 February 2003, most of it reopening the following day with police suspecting arson. The fire destroyed
1722-511: Was sold to the Noble Organisation in 1984. The theatre was removed two years later, on the understanding that it would be replaced; however a domed amusement arcade was put in place instead. Consequently, the seaward end of the pier was filled with fairground rides, including thrill rides, children's rides and roller coasters . Entertainment continued to be popular at the pier; the Spice Girls made an early live performance there in 1996 and returned
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1764-428: Was to be demolished as it had fallen into a state of disrepair. In 1896, a storm destroyed the remains of the Chain Pier, which narrowly avoided colliding with the new pier during its collapse. Some of its remaining parts, including the toll houses, were re-used for the new pier. A tram along the pier was in operation during construction, but it was dismantled two years after opening. Work was mostly completed in 1899 and
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