Monstrosities Mon Amour: Grafton Car Park, Worthing, with Travis Elborough

How and why was the chi-chi seafront in Regency Worthing modernised in the 1960s? And what is the appeal of a Swedish prog-rock album of Tolkien’s fantasy epic?

Worthing in West Sussex, long associated with the subversive observational wit of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde, has since been scandalised by the shadow of a late 1960s concrete car park on the sea front. Between the delightful lido and the pier, the car park represents a brave new Worthing, put up at the time when Harold Pinter is nearby writing his menacing play The Homecoming and social and cultural cjhange is coming to the seaside. Fast forward fifty-odd years and that modern dream is crumbling, the car park and its bowling alley are shut. But for some the americanised allure remains.

Meanwhile Swedish prog rocker Bo Hansson’s 1972 album Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings casts a different sort of shadow, eerie in a space-age way.

Choosing these two disparate beauties is Travis Elborough, author of many wonderful books, including one on the English seaside, Wish You Were Here; a classic work on the Routemaster bus; a history of spectacles, Through the Looking Glass; and many others. It was a delight to be bashed over the head and kidnapped by him in his Austin Maxi for this collision of seaside modernism and epic prog-rock extravagance. So don your wizard’s hat and bowling shoes, and come with us on the adventure of a lifetime*

[*Lasts apprioximately 30 minutes].

Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. Logo by Richard de Pesando. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod

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