143-669: Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 but not produced until 1942 because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the British theatres closed. The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night that urges carpe diem ("present mirth hath present laughter"). The play has been frequently revived in Britain, the US and beyond. The plot depicts
286-425: 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
429-523: 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
572-457: A 73-acre Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (Sangs) nearby. In July 2015, Network Rail announced plans to upgrade the platforms at Uckfield railway station to accommodate trains with up to 12 carriages. The works were predicted to last from November 2015 until March 2016. In March 2016, developers were granted a 75 per cent reduction on the roof tax of 146 proposed homes at Mallard Drive, Ridgewood. The population of Uckfield in 1811
715-600: A French translation, Joyeux Chagrins , with the central character renamed Max Aramont. The production toured, beginning in Brussels, before opening at the Théâtre Édouard VII in Paris in 1948. In September 1996 a new French adaptation, titled Bagatelle was presented at the Théâtre de Paris , starring Michel Sardou in the lead role, now named Jean Delecour. In September 1956 the BBC broadcast
858-503: A business trip abroad, and Garry privately interrogates Morris, who denies that he is having an affair with Joanna. Garry telephones Liz to reassure her. Garry, alone in the flat, answers the doorbell to find Joanna. She claims (like Daphne in Act I) to have forgotten her own door key and asks Garry to accommodate her in his spare room. He correctly suspects her motives, but after much skirmishing allows himself to be seduced. Joanna emerges from
1001-855: 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
1144-476: 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
1287-459: 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
1430-551: 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
1573-489: 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 ,
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#17328766396651716-1138: 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
1859-427: A deep well of loneliness ... neediness ... drives Garry's hunger for affection". The reviewer of The Independent agreed, noting that the leading character's surname, Essendine, is an anagram of "neediness", and commented, "Coward's comedy asks us to wonder: who needs whom most – the sun or the planets that orbit it?" No%C3%ABl Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973)
2002-573: A device that he also used in Private Lives , Hay Fever and Blithe Spirit . In the 1970s the director Peter Hall wrote, "what a wonderful play it would be if – as Coward must have wanted – all those love affairs were about homosexuals". Whether or not Coward would have agreed, in the 1940s the transformation of real-life gay relationships into onstage straight ones was essential. The play nevertheless contains many references to Coward's own life. Monica
2145-403: 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 ,
2288-458: 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
2431-486: A few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce , Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his impending mid-life crisis (he has recently turned forty). The character
2574-403: 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
2717-589: 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
2860-456: 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
3003-734: 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
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#17328766396653146-506: 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
3289-562: 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
3432-407: A large fortune through marriage, real estate acquisition and iron foundering. Their climb to wealth and prominence was a heady one: in 15th-century Sussex they were described as "yeomen", but within a generation they were already among the first rank of Sussex gentry. Church Street was at the heart of the original settlement of Uckfield, near the medieval chapel (built c.1291), which was replaced by
3575-555: A light French comedy to an auditorium that looks like a Gothic edition of Wembley Stadium ." When that row has blown itself out, it is business as usual and Henry and Morris leave in good humour. Liz pours Garry a brandy and tells him she is not only going to Africa with him but is coming back to him for good. Garry suddenly remembers Daphne and Roland lurking in the adjoining rooms and tells Liz: "You're not coming back to me... I'm coming back to you", and they tiptoe out. The play has been regularly revived. Coward directed and starred in
3718-531: 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
3861-575: 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
4004-402: 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
4147-419: 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
4290-477: 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
4433-448: 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,
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4576-575: A property developer, owns property in the area. He was engaged in a long-running dispute with the Ramblers' Association about a local footpath running through his land. Work came to a halt on Hamilton Palace in 2001. The singer Rag'n'Bone Man is from this town, winner of the Brit Award for Critics' Choice 2017, he had a number one single across Europe with the song " Human ". The actor Roman Griffin Davis
4719-460: A radio production with John Gielgud as Garry, Nora Swinburne as Liz and Mary Wimbush as Joanna. In 1974, Paul Scofield played the lead role for the BBC, with Fenella Fielding as Joanna, Patricia Routledge as Monica, Miriam Margolyes as Daphne, and Joy Parker (Scofield's real wife) as Liz. In April 2013, a radio adaptation was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , starring Samuel West as Garry. As part of
4862-622: A ramp to access the car park and a watertight pedestrian gate that can be closed when flooding is imminent. It is hoped that this new wall will act as a reservoir to contain the flood water until it recedes, allowing the water to flow back into the river Uck, which runs alongside the carpark. Due to the positioning of the river within Uckfield, any flooding is within the lowest part of the town centre and industrial estate, and so does not affect residential areas as these are all built on higher ground. The Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve can be accessed from
5005-715: 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),
5148-552: 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
5291-401: A stopping-off point on the pilgrimage route between Canterbury , Chichester and Lewes . The settlement began to develop around the bridging point of the river, including the locally famous Pudding Cake Lane where travellers visited a public house for slices of pudding cake; and the 15th-century Bridge Cottage , the oldest house still standing in Uckfield, now a museum. The town developed in
5434-563: 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
5577-519: 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
5720-633: A young admirer of the actor Garry Essendine, has inveigled herself into the flat and has spent the night there. Garry is still asleep, and while waiting for him to wake, Daphne encounters in turn three of his employees: the housekeeper (Miss Erikson), valet (Fred), and secretary (Monica). None of them display any surprise at her presence. Garry finally wakes and with practised smoothness ushers Daphne out. Liz Essendine, who left Garry years ago, nevertheless remains part of his tightly-knit 'family' along with Monica and his manager, Morris Dixon, and producer, Henry Lyppiatt. Liz tells Garry that she suspects that Morris
5863-427: Is "unmistakably Lorn Loraine", Coward's long-serving and much-loved secretary. Morris has been seen as Coward's agent and sometime lover Jack Wilson , and Henry as Binkie Beaumont . Liz, played originally by Joyce Carey, is thought to be based partly on the actress herself, who was a member of Coward's inner circle. The notices for the first production were excellent. The Observer commented, "Mr Coward's production
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6006-493: Is a caricature of the author's real-life persona, as Coward acknowledged. Coward starred as Garry during the original run, which began with a long provincial tour to accommodate wartime audiences. He reprised the role in the first British revival and later in the United States and Paris. Subsequent productions have featured Albert Finney , Peter O'Toole , Donald Sinden , Ian McKellen , Simon Callow and Andrew Scott , and in
6149-476: 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
6292-604: Is a tale of Nan Tuck's Ghost , in which an old witch is said to have lived in a wood in nearby Buxted . There is an area of the wood where nothing grows, and the ghost is said to chase people who wander along Nan Tuck's Lane at night. The Picture House, an independently run three-screen cinema, was established in 1916 and is one of the oldest in England. Uckfield FM is a community radio station that supported Uckfield for its four-week festival in June and at Christmas each year. In July 2009
6435-741: Is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England . The town is on the River Uck , one of the tributaries of the River Ouse , on the southern edge of the Weald . "Uckfield", first recorded in writing as "Uckefeld" in 1220, is an Anglo-Saxon place name meaning "open land of a man called Ucca". It combines an Old English personal name, "Ucca" with the Old English locational term, "feld",
6578-502: Is drawn from the song " O Mistress Mine " in Twelfth Night , Act 2, Scene 3, which urges carpe diem ("present mirth hath present laughter"). The plot of Present Laughter had been forming in Coward's mind over the previous three years, but he recalled in his memoirs that once he began writing it, the play was completed in six days. He described it as "a very light comedy ... written with
6721-428: Is entranced, and Garry is apoplectic. A week later, on the eve of Garry's departure on tour in Africa, he is once more alone in the flat. The doorbell rings and Daphne enters saying she has a ticket to sail with him to Africa. The doorbell rings again, and Daphne retreats to an adjoining room. The new caller is Roland, who announces that he too has a ticket for the voyage to Africa. Garry tries to get him to leave, but as
6864-488: Is from this town, he starred in the acclaimed film Jojo Rabbit , for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. There are a number of mysteries and myths associated with the town and surrounding areas. The most well known is the disappearance of Lord Lucan , who was reportedly last seen at Grants Hill House in Uckfield. In addition, the hoax of the Piltdown Man occurred in the nearby village of Piltdown . There
7007-478: Is having an affair with Henry's glamorous wife Joanna, and is concerned that this might break up the family. Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Roland Maule, an aspiring young playwright from Uckfield , whose play Garry has rashly agreed to critique. Liz leaves, and Roland rapidly becomes obsessively fascinated by Garry, who gets him off the premises as quickly as he can. Morris and Henry arrive and discuss theatrical business with Garry. Henry leaves for
7150-712: Is one of Coward's four great comedies of manners, along with Hay Fever , Private Lives and Blithe Spirit . It presents a masterly, exaggerated picture not only of the playwright but of his whole household, his court, his admirers, his lifestyle and his era." Brantley observed in The New York Times in 1995, "Yes, Coward was a terrible snob, and there is a certain smugness about Present Laughter that it's best not to examine too closely", but, "The sneaking wisdom of Present Laughter lies in its suggestion that actorly exaggeration and inner honesty are not mutually exclusive." In 1998 John Peter said that despite its period setting
7293-448: Is so inventive, and his own performance so adroit in its mockery of the vain, posturing, and yet self-scrutinising and self-amused matinee idol, that Present Laughter is likely to be future mirth for as long as Mr Coward cares to run it." The Manchester Guardian added, "One is tempted to cast discretion to the winds and predict that this will be remembered as the best comedy of its kind and generation ... one of those rare occasions when
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#17328766396657436-495: Is the secondary school in the town. There are five primary schools; Harlands Primary School, Holy Cross CE Primary School, Rocks Park Primary School St Philips Catholic Primary School and Manor Primary School. The Church of England parish church is dedicated to the Holy Cross. Queen Elizabeth II made several unannounced low-profile visits to St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Horsted, which became widely known locally when
7579-586: The Play of the Week series in August 1964 four Coward plays directed and produced by Joan Kemp-Welch were transmitted on ITV , including Present Laughter , with Peter Wyngarde as Garry Essendine, Ursula Howells as Liz, Barbara Murray as Joanna and James Bolam as Roland Maule. In 1967 ITV broadcast a production starring Peter O'Toole as Garry, with Honor Blackman as Liz. The 1981 West End production starring Donald Sinden
7722-400: 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
7865-446: 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
8008-689: 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
8151-469: 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
8294-466: The King's Church . Emma Lee French was born in Uckfield in 1836. Frank Tuohy , prize-winning author and academic, was born in Uckfield in 1925. Uckfield was the last place Lord Lucan was seen, at Grants Hill House, the home of his friends Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott. Lady Lucan, his wife, was born in Uckfield. The actress Marjorie Westbury lived at Maresfield near Uckfield. Nicholas van Hoogstraten ,
8437-570: 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
8580-552: 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
8723-580: 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
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#17328766396658866-553: 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
9009-483: 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
9152-656: The 2019 Old Vic production, a critic in The Hollywood Reporter noted that "beneath the frantic surface is a subtle depiction of a man trapped by fame and his own image. ... Garry ... eagerly milks melodrama, hammily proclaiming his misfortunes, namely of being in perpetual service to his entourage. And having "acted" for so long offstage, he's reached the point where no one is willing to believe him when trying to be himself." Another, in The Financial Times , remarked that Garry's "susceptibility to flattery stems from
9295-460: 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
9438-562: 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
9581-473: The Heritage Lottery Fund granted one million pounds to enable the restoration of the cottage. Work started in October 2014, with an estimated completion date of late summer 2015. The town council consists of 15 councillors, representing five wards: West ward (2 councillors); New Town (4); North (3); East (3); and Ridgewood (3). Mayoral elections take place every year. Uckfield was previously represented at Westminster by Charles Hendry, Member of Parliament for
9724-410: The High Street and in the New Town areas (the latter to the south of the original town centre). The Eversfield family, who later became prominent in Sussex history, giving their name to the prime waterfront street of St Leonards-on-Sea , first settled in Uckfield from their Surrey beginnings. The family, who later owned the mansion Denne Park in Horsham , which they represented in Parliament, acquired
9867-407: 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
10010-425: The Old Grammar School (home of the former Uckfield Grammar School , closed in 1930), Bakers Cottage and the Malt House with Malt Cottage (all built before 1700), and Church House with Andertons, Copping Hall and Milton Cottage (all 18th century). Studies suggest that the cottage dates to around 1436. Between 1500 and 1900, it was inhabited by a number of local families, including local merchants. In October 2014,
10153-472: 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
10296-795: 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
10439-541: The United States Clifton Webb , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , George C. Scott , Frank Langella and Kevin Kline . In April and May 1939 Coward wrote two contrasting comedies, both with titles drawn from Shakespeare . One, This Happy Breed , was set in a modest suburban household; the other, originally titled Sweet Sorrow , later Present Laughter , depicted the affairs of a star actor. The title "Present Laughter"
10582-738: 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
10725-485: 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
10868-660: 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
11011-602: The beginning of a 25-week tour of Britain by Coward and his cast. His producer, Binkie Beaumont , was opposed to so long a provincial tour, and wanted to open at the Haymarket Theatre in London. Coward countered that in wartime conditions, "the provinces can't come to the West End any more, therefore the West End must go to the provinces". Present Laughter was first produced in Blackpool on 20 September 1942, Coward directed and
11154-478: The car park (now owned by Waitrose, who took over from the Co-op) and shows classic meadows formed on the flood plain. The West Park Nature Reserve contains a wide variety of habitats; it is located on the western edge of the town. West Park is a Local Nature Reserve . It has several access points, and is a vestige of ancient parkland, containing herb rich uncultivated wet meadow, woodland, some thriving wildlife and
11297-542: 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
11440-505: The common toad . Regular visitors include the grey heron , in addition to its permanent residents, the coot and moorhen . Almost adjacent to the pond is Nightingale Wood. This is a cool, shady haven, containing many different tree species and is a valuable site for early purple orchids. This 22-acre Millennium Green is one of the largest. To the south of the town, in Ridgewood , the Green
11583-543: The constituency of Wealden from 2001 until he stood down at the 2015 general election. On 7 May 2015, Nus Ghani was elected as the MP for Wealden with a majority of 22,967. In the 2017 snap general election , Ghani was re-elected with a slightly increased majority of 23,268. The town of Uckfield has grown up as a road hub, and on the crossing point of the River Uck . Traffic on the A26 between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Lewes, from
11726-525: The critic must claim the privilege of his fellow-playgoers, simply to marvel, admire, and enjoy wholeheartedly." When Coward brought the play back to the Haymarket in 1947, The Times praised it as "a wittily impudent and neatly invented burlesque of a French farce." When it was first seen in the West End without Coward, in 1959, The Times commented, "plays as funny as this are no longer being written in England." In 1993 Ned Sherrin wrote, " Present Laughter
11869-562: 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
12012-416: The details of Morris and Joanna's affair, and Henry's extramarital adventures. Joanna angrily slaps Garry's face and leaves for good. Her departure goes unnoticed because Garry, Henry and Morris have become embroiled in what for them is a much more serious row when it emerges that Henry and Morris have committed Garry to appear at what he considers a shockingly unsuitable theatre. Garry objects: "I will not play
12155-430: The doorbell rings a third time Roland bolts into the spare room and locks the door. The third caller is Joanna, who has also bought a ticket for the Africa voyage and has written a letter to Henry and Morris telling them everything. Liz arrives and saves the tottering situation, announcing that she too is travelling to Africa. Henry and Morris arrive and berate Garry for his night with Joanna. Garry fights back by revealing
12298-552: 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
12441-517: 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
12584-758: 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
12727-467: The first West End revival, in 1947. It ran for 528 performances; Carey once again played Liz, Moira Lister played Joanna, and Robert Eddison played Roland. Coward handed on the lead role to Hugh Sinclair in July 1947. The first West End revival after that was in 1965, with Nigel Patrick as Garry. Notable successors in the role of Garry include Albert Finney (1977), Peter O'Toole (1978), who also played
12870-455: The flustered arrivals and departures of Morris and Henry, Roland's pursuit of Garry, and the arrival of a Lady Saltburn, to whose niece Garry has promised an audition. The niece turns out to be Daphne Stillington, who recites the same Percy Bysshe Shelley poem, "We Meet Not as We Parted", with which he bade her farewell in Act I. Joanna flounces out from the spare room, Daphne faints with horror, Roland
13013-642: 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
13156-499: 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
13299-557: 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
13442-636: 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
13585-435: The latter denoting open country or unencumbered ground (or, from the 10th century onwards, arable land). A number of other places in the area also contain the suffix "feld", which may be an indication of land that contrasts with the surrounding woodlands of the Weald , including in particular Ashdown Forest immediately to the north. The first mention in historical documents is in the late 13th century. Uckfield developed as
13728-532: 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
13871-704: The newsagent was asked to stock a copy of the Sporting Life . The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri. Uckfield Baptist Church was founded in 1785 by seceders from nearby Five Ash Down Independent Chapel , and a new building opened at the top of the High Street in 1789 (rebuilt 1874); it closed in 2005, but the congregation now meet at a school. Other churches and chapels include Methodist , Evangelical (Grange Evangelical Church in Hempstead Road), United Reformed Church and
14014-682: 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,
14157-493: The north-east to the south-west, joins with that on the A22 London – Eastbourne road around the town on its bypass ; whilst the long-distance cross-country A272 road (the old pilgrimage route) crosses them both north of the town. As the town has grown, new housing estates were developed: Hempstead Fields, Harlands Farm, Rocks Park, West Park, Manor Park and Ringles Cross among them. Parts of Uckfield, owing to its location on
14300-483: 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
14443-493: 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 ,
14586-513: The play was timeless, and commented, "As in all the greatest comedies in the language, those of Shakespeare, Congreve and Wilde , the wit is both in the situations and the language." Reviewing the 2016 revival starring Samuel West, Lyn Gardner , in The Guardian , found the play "deeply unpleasant ... misogynistic and snobbish". Two years later the same paper's chief drama critic, Michael Billington , called it an "imperishable comedy". Reviewing
14729-459: 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
14872-684: The present parish church in 1839. It is situated on an ancient ridgeway route from the direction of Winchester in the west, to Rye and Canterbury in the east. Local hostelries along the route are the Maiden's Head, the King's Head (now the Cinque Ports) or the Spread Eagle. Uckfield was part of the Archbishop's extensive Manor of South Malling. Church Street contains a number of post-medieval buildings. These include
15015-488: The public in the arts and in particular, the arts of music, speech, drama and the visual arts". A number of local organisations/events have grown from the festival some of these include The Art Trail, The Film Society & Uckfield FM . Uckfield hold an annual torchlight carnival on the first Saturday in September. The High Street is closed in the evening and local bonfire societies, sports teams, schools and businesses join
15158-490: 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
15301-402: 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
15444-537: The remains of Mesolithic settlement. Hempstead Meadows is a Local Nature Reserve. The River Uck runs through the flood plain, occupied by the Hempstead Nature Reserve, and is an important area of wetland. The area has an abundance of unusual flora and fauna, which flourish on this ideal site. A new footpath, the River walk is a recent introduction to this area. Harlands Pond, located via Mallard Drive, home of
15587-480: The river, have been subject to extensive flooding on a number of occasions, the earliest recorded being in 1852. More recent floods have occurred approximately every nine years: in 1962, 1974, 1989, 1994, 2000 and 2007, although those in 2007 were not as severe as previous floods. Local residents have long been lobbying for flood defences in the town, and when the local Somerfield became a Co-op (now Waitrose ), its car park's walls were rebuilt as flood defences with
15730-556: The role in a production at the Kennedy Center , Washington, D.C., in the same year, Donald Sinden (1981), Tom Conti (1993), Peter Bowles (1996), Ian McKellen (1998), Rik Mayall (2003), and Simon Callow (2006). The National Theatre revived the play in 2007 and 2008 with Alex Jennings as Garry. More recent Garrys have included Samuel West ( Theatre Royal, Bath , 2016), Rufus Hound ( Chichester Festival Theatre , 2018), and Andrew Scott ( Old Vic , 2019). Present Laughter
15873-399: The secret service. In 1942 the prime minister, Winston Churchill , told Coward that he would do more good for the war effort by entertaining the troops and the home front: "Go and sing to them when the guns are firing – that's your job!" Though disappointed, Coward followed this advice. He toured, acted and sang indefatigably in Europe, Africa and Asia. Present Laughter was first staged at
16016-431: The sensible object of providing me with a bravura part". He planned to appear in both the new plays in the autumn of 1939, and they were in rehearsal for a pre-London tour when the Second World War began on 2 September; all theatres were closed by government order, and the production was shelved. Between the outbreak of war and 1942 Coward worked for the British government, first in its Paris propaganda office and then for
16159-502: The sets and costumes were designed by Gladys Calthrop . The repertory of the tour also consisted of This Happy Breed and Blithe Spirit ; the three were advertised collectively as "Noel Coward in his Play Parade ". After playing in twenty-two towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales, the tour ended with a six-week run at the Haymarket. All three acts of the play are set in Garry Essendine's London flat. Daphne Stillington,
16302-553: The spare room wearing Garry's pyjamas just as Daphne did in Act I. She too encounters Miss Erikson, Fred, and then Monica, who is horrified at her presence in such compromising circumstances. Liz arrives and puts pressure on Joanna by threatening to tell Morris that Joanna has spent the night with Garry. Joanna retreats to the spare room when the doorbell rings, but the caller is not Morris but Roland Maule, who says he has an appointment with Garry. Monica leads him to an adjacent room to wait for Garry. Frantic comings and goings follow, with
16445-411: 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
16588-510: The station was granted a licence by Ofcom to become a full-time community radio station, broadcasting live to Uckfield and the surrounding areas from 1 July 2010. The station was founded by Mike Skinner, Paddy Rea, Gary King and Alan French and now has more than 80 members, who are all voluntary. In the summer of 2008, ITV's Trinny and Suzannah was filmed at the Bird in Eye studios when Mayor Louise Eastwood
16731-524: 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
16874-499: The town. It also limits to 1000 the number of new homes to be built between then and 2027. In June 2015, the Ridgewood Farm development was granted outline planning approval. The development would see 1000 new homes of which a minimum of 15 per cent would be affordable housing. The development would include a two-form primary school, a large employment space, community, health and leisure facilities and pedestrian and cycle paths, and
17017-627: 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
17160-598: 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
17303-469: 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)
17446-447: 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
17589-507: 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
17732-427: The world is relatively small. On the other hand, my sense of my own importance to myself is tremendous." When a Time interviewer apologised, "I hope you haven't been bored having to go through all these interviews for your [70th] birthday, having to answer the same old questions about yourself", Coward rejoined, "Not at all. I'm fascinated by the subject." Uckfield Uckfield ( / ˈ ʌ k f iː l d / )
17875-585: 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
18018-515: 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
18161-433: Was 916; in 1841, it was 1,534; in 1861, it was 1,740; in 1871, it was 2,041; in 1881, it was 2,146; in 1891, it was 2,497; in 1901, it was 2,895; in 1911, it was 3,344; in 1921, it was 3,385; and in 1931, it was 3,555. In 2001, the population had reached 13,697. Uckfield is connected to London Bridge station by Southern services on its Oxted Line via East Croydon . Until 1969, the rail link continued to Lewes; after it
18304-518: 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
18447-455: 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
18590-568: 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 ...
18733-563: 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
18876-509: Was closed, Uckfield became the terminus; the station building was rebuilt in 1991 to allow the removal of a level crossing. The Wealden Line Campaign hopes to reopen the closed section to Lewes. There are 20 local bus services in the Uckfield area; Brighton and Hove , CTLA, Renown Coaches, The Sussex Bus, Seaford & District and Stagecoach in Eastbourne all serve Uckfield. National Express coaches also operate to London. Uckfield College
19019-593: Was created on a site of three disused clay pits (now a SNCI) at the turn of the Millennium. East Sussex County Council completed phase one of the Uckfield Town Centre Highway Improvement Scheme (UTC-HIS) in November 2014. In January 2016, phase two of the highway improvements were started, taking approximately eight months. The scheme involved the creation of 10,000 m of retail space within
19162-418: 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
19305-401: Was filmed for BBC Television . Coward acknowledged that the central character, the egocentric actor Garry Essendine, was a self-caricature. Ben Brantley called the play "among the most shameless, if liveliest, self-addressed valentines in theater history." Coward repeats one of his signature theatrical devices at the end of the play, where the main characters tiptoe out as the curtain falls –
19448-659: Was first staged in the US in 1946; after an out-of-town tour it opened on 29 October 1946 at the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway . It featured Clifton Webb as Garry and closed in March 1947 after 158 performances. In 1958 Coward appeared in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles as Garry with Eva Gabor as Joanna. American successors in the role of Garry Essendine have included Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1975), George C. Scott (1982), Frank Langella (1996), Victor Garber (2010), and Kevin Kline (2017). Coward directed and starred in
19591-475: 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
19734-517: 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
19877-425: 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
20020-557: 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
20163-425: Was the star of the show. In 2014, the station was granted a five-year extension to its licence, taking "Uckfield FM's service through until 2020". As of 1 April 2022, the station expanded its FM coverage area to take in the neighbouring town of Crowborough, and has re-launched as Ashdown Radio. The festival was originally intended "as a one off Millennium year celebration", from this event it has sought to "advance
20306-419: 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
20449-485: 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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