Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside, with a hint of sexual frisson, the potential for a holiday flirtation, and the sense that 'anything goes'. In this seminar, we explore the origins of sex at the seaside, from the sublime to the criminal!

Allan Brodie will consider the clear sexual undertone evident at early seaside resorts, with particular reference to Scarborough. This is evident in a variety of sources including some questionable ‘poetry’ written by visitors to the resort. Allan has been studying the seaside for a quarter of a century and has had a particular focus on the Georgians and the origins of the seaside holiday.

Matthew Roberts will be talking about ‘Lilo's, Libido's and Liminality’. Matthew is a writer on the PhD Text, Practice as Research program at the University of Kent. His plays and performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival have been critically acclaimed and have received extensive national media coverage.  He will discuss the seaside as a liminal space that allows greater freedom for pleasure and leisure, passion and terror (sexuality and criminality). He uses the image of a Lilo to float, flip and flop across the time periods he is researching as part of his PhD. 

Dubbed the ‘Picasso of the Pier’ by the writer Dennis Potter, Donald McGill devoted his working life, from 1904, to designing comic cards for the postcard industry. During a career lasting over sixty years, he produced over 12,000 postcard designs. They sold in their millions, became an essential part of the British seaside holiday and made a major contribution to British popular culture. Bernard Crossley, the author of Donald McGill Postcard Artist: Illustrated Biography, will tell the story of this remarkable man and his work.

The seminar is free, and all are welcome to attend.