Latest news with #TheHoundoftheBaskervilles
Daily Mirror
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Seaside town with 'best pier in UK' and amazing views is UK's most beautiful
Cromer in Norfolk has been crowned the most beautiful seaside town in the UK, with its rugged cliffs, golden sands and charming Victorian pier making it a hit with visitors There's a certain seaside spot that is stealing hearts as the UK's most stunning coastal town. Perched precariously atop dramatic cliffs facing the North Sea, Cromer in Norfolk is a vision of natural beauty, peppered with verdant woodlands. The town is known for its Victorian pier, thriving with life and entertainment. Buzzing with activity, the Pavilion Theatre on the pier plays host to an array of shows, while further attractions include addictive arcade games and an inviting seafront strewn with quaint shops and tempting eateries. Adding to its accolades, Cromer Pier has scooped up the coveted 'Pier of the Year' award for 2024 from the National Piers Society, reflecting its enormous appeal to tourists. It's fondly referred to as the "gem of the Norfolk coast" due to its spectacular scenery. Literary giants have sought solace and inspiration in this coastal haven; Jane Austen immortalised it in 'Emma', extolling its virtues as a premier spot for sea bathing, praising both its panoramic ocean vistas and invigorating air. Resonating with mystery and intrigue, Arthur Conan Doyle conjured up 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', drawing from Cromer's rich tapestry of local myths, including tales of the Black Shuck, an eerie canine spectre reputed to roam the shores. For those craving that quintessential British beach experience, Cromer doesn't disappoint - with its resplendent golden sands complemented by brightly coloured beach huts, offering a sublime setting for leisurely promenades, sun-drenched relaxation, or a snorkelling adventure. For those wanting a change from the seaside, Cromer offers the delightful Amazona Zoo. Here, you can meet over 200 tropical animals from South America, including jaguars, parrots, monkeys, and even guinea pigs in their own village. However, the real jewel of Cromer is its parish, with a towering spire offering stunning views of the town and countryside. It's a must-see for any keen photographer or tourist. Visitors have been singing praises about Cromer on Google Reviews, applauding its untouched beauty and lack of crowds. One satisfied holidaymaker labelled it "the most beautiful yet underrated beach," while others praised its quaint shops, lively atmosphere, and delicious fish and chips. Every August, Cromer bursts into life with its spectacular Carnival, featuring a dazzling parade, fireworks, live music, and more. And music fans won't want to miss Golk on the Pier, a folk-rock festival hailed as the "best gig on the North Sea" for its fantastic lineup. For seafood lovers, Cromer is famous for its delicious crab, available fresh from March to October. Don't miss the Crab and Lobster Festival in May, where you can enjoy cooking competitions, live music, and local produce stalls. Links Restaurant is a must-visit for seafood lovers, serving up mouth-watering dishes featuring locally sourced crab and lobster. For a gourmet twist on the classic fish and chips, head to No. 1 Cromer, owned by Michelin-starred chef Galton Blackiston, which offers stunning seaside views. Sweet lovers should not miss Herald's Fine Chocolates, a haven of handmade treats including fudges, marzipan fruits and more. With its lively events, fantastic food, and breathtaking coastal views, Cromer guarantees an unforgettable seaside getaway.
Indian Express
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Love gripping mysteries? Here are 5 mystery novels for a true thriller fan
A locked room, a crowd, or an uncanny moor, the detectives are trapped in a series of unkempt, gruesome murder mysteries, and so are you. To keep you hooked till the very end, here are five mystery novels if murder mysteries excite and thrill you. (Photo: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd- Agatha Christie (1926) 'Life is only one of great illusions!' The great detective Hercule Poirot features for the third time in the crime series of Agatha Christie. Published in 1926, the novel has an innovative twist at the end, keeping the readers glued as mysteries unfold one after the other. One of the most controversial novels written by Christie, the British Crime Writers' Association nominated the novel as 'the best crime novel' in 2013. (Photo: 2. The Hound of the Baskervilles- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902) Trapped once again in a crime scene, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are here to take you on a thriller ride. But this time it is not a mere crime scene, but an uncanny horror. Burdened by the curse passed down in the family, Holmes and Watson are invited to Devonshire Moorlands to unfold the mystery behind the death of Sir Charles Baskervilles. With the fascinating combination of gothic horror and deduction skills, this book is a must-read for detective fans. (Photo: 3. Whose Body- Dorothy L. Sayers (1923) A corpse, a bathtube, and a missing financier, Dorothy L. Sayers introduces Lord Peter Wimsey at an unsettling crime scene. With his witty character and sharp deduction skills, Wimsey, a rich, charming man who solves crimes 'just for fun', is stuck with a surreal murder. This eccentric investigation may be a century old, but it is a classic in the era of detective fiction. (Photo: 4. The Blue Cross- G.K. Chesterton (1910) A notorious criminal and a round-faced, humble Father Brown make their debut in G.K. Chesterton's The Blue Cross. A cat-and-mouse chase between an international thief, Flambeau, and an old priest, Father Brown, a detective, who, unlike others, not just wants to catch the criminal but also to understand them. This classic mystery novel is a blend of wit, sin, deception, misdirection, and a sense of morality. (Photo: 5. The Man in the Queue- Josephine Tey (1929) Published in 1929, this revolutionized genre introduces Inspector Alan Grant in the golden age of mystery. Grant combines empathy and logic while infolding the mystery, emphasizing justice over the procedure. A crowd, a theatre queue, and a man stabbed to death in the dark theatre, this locked-room murder mystery, this detective fiction pulls in the reader to not just follow but also think! (The writer is an intern with The Indian Express.)
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
A Dartmoor village is paying Prince William £1.5m-a-year for an abandoned prison - and former inmates say it gave them cancer
The village of Princetown sits surrounded by the desolate beauty of Dartmoor national park. It should, in theory, be a hub for the more than 2 million people a year who come to explore the bogs, granite tors and windswept moorland that in part inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. Today it more closely resembles a mining community after the pits closed. Dartmoor prison, which provided jobs for many residents, has been closed since last summer after the discovery of dangerous levels of radon gas. The prison museum, a former tourist attraction, is also closed, and the prison officers' club is derelict. Quiet streets bear testimony to the ghostly finger of financial fate. The fate of the prison has not dented the profits of the Duchy of Cornwall, however, which owns the land the village sits on. The taxpayer is still paying Prince William's estate £1.5m a year to lease the abandoned prison, and is set to do so for another 24 years. The government may soon face an even bigger bill: about 500 former inmates and staff who worked at the jail are planning to sue the Ministry of Justice, alleging they have been exposed to radon levels up to 14 times the legal limit, the Observer can reveal. Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas in soil and rocks, is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking and is conservatively linked to about 5% of lung cancer cases in the UK a year, causing more than 1,100 deaths, 3.1% of the total annually. Solicitor Mladen Kesar is representing the group. Of those bringing the case, 10 people have had cancer and, of those, two have since died. Others report symptoms they believe are linked to radon poisoning, including shortness of breath, wheezing and nosebleeds. Many worry that it may take several years for potential health effects to show, including lung cancer, stomach cancer and emphysema. Kesar compared his clients' time in the jail to sitting inside the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. 'I can't prove causation yet, but that doesn't mean I won't be able to prove it,' he said. Lindon Ball, 31, from Torquay, who was already asthmatic, has suffered more severe lung and heart problems since serving time in Dartmoor in 2019 and 2020 for possessing an unlicensed firearm. During the Covid pandemic, he and other prisoners were locked up for more than 23 hours a day. 'The prison is a bad, bad place,' he said. 'They treat you like a dog. I've had breathing problems. I feel like I've got lumps in my lungs. I've got heart problems as well.' Another man, who asked to remain anonymous, described cell windows which had been smashed out to let more air in because of the radon, heating that worked only intermittently, mist rolling into the damp cells and mould everywhere that had to be regularly scrubbed off. 'My cell, I think, was 14 times over the legal limit [for radon]. I went there as a well man and came out ill,' he said. 'I'm a scaffolder but I can't work now. I'm signed off sick.' Joe Priscott, 27, from north Devon, who was in Dartmoor for dangerous driving and actual bodily harm from July 2021 to May 2023, developed nosebleeds for the only time in his life while he was there. 'My solicitor sent me a list of the cells with the highest radon readings – and four of the highest were the ones I'd been in,' he said. MPs first began discussing high radon levels on Dartmoor in 1987. Staff at the prison began monitoring levels in 2010, say former inmates, but the last of the 640 prisoners and 159 staff were not moved out until July 2024. Villagers, who have dealt with their own radon problems by installing ventilation systems, doubt that the jail will ever reopen because of the complications of fixing such an old building. However, Amy Rees, the head of the prison and probation service, told the justice parliamentary select committee last month that it would still be cheaper to install protective equipment in Dartmoor than to build a new prison. A grey granite fortress built from 1806-09 to house French prisoners of the Napoleonic wars, the empty category C jail casts a shadow over increasingly worried neighbours looking out at disused buildings. The village – which is owned by William's £1.1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate and stands as the highest settlement on the moor at 1,430ft above sea level – and its surrounding area have suffered an estimated £30m hit to the local economy after a disastrous combination of events. Many of them stem from the prison closure but there are other factors too, including financial cuts at the national park authority. The national park's visitor centre, housed in the historic former Duchy Hotel where Conan Doyle stayed and started writing The Hound of the Baskervilles, is due to close later this year because of a cash crisis at the park authority and mounting repair bills for the building. The youth centre has run into financial problems, the arts festival has been cancelled, and a long-promised new tourist attraction, a distillery, has failed to materialise and is still short of £5m in startup cash. Locals believe tens of thousands of tourist visits have been lost, despite the raw beauty of the surroundings, and local businesses are reporting a subsequent drop in trade. Rory Atton, who owns the Dewerstone organic clothing and coffee shop in the village centre, sees one common problem: nearly all the affected buildings and organisations are on leases from the duchy, requiring them, rather than the duchy, to pay for any repairs or improvements. Villagers have questions for William, who became Duke of Cornwall when his father acceded the throne and thus took over the duchy. 'I think he might have been to some surrounding farms, but he's not been to the village to talk to us,' Atton said. 'Many people around here are ex-services and tend to be supportive of the monarchy, but they are growing increasingly frustrated with Prince William. What is his plan? Is there a plan? Because right now no one can see it.' Mark Renders, a local councillor, member of the Dartmoor National Park Authority and village postmaster in Princetown, worries that the shops may have to close eventually if nothing is done. He shares some similar criticisms of the duchy but also points out that many organisations have been paying only £100 rent, heavily subsidised by the duchy, and could have chosen to pay higher sums in return for making the duchy responsible for repairs under their tenancy agreements. 'They've had 30 years paying £100 a year in rent,' he said. The duchy, for its part, appears to be putting together a plan to revitalise the village. It has given the youth club money for six months while it searches for alternative funding and is understood to be developing a wider strategy for the area. A spokesperson said it was working with the national park on a plan to turn the visitor centre into something that would support the local tourist industry. 'We take our role seriously,' she said. Neither the duchy nor the national park would give further details about the plan for the visitor centre, one of three on Dartmoor, but the Observer understands that they may turn it into a youth hostel. The prison service, meanwhile, said it was still monitoring radon levels at Dartmoor prison and would not comment on the legal action. 'We continue to take advice from specialists to explore how it can be reopened as quickly as possible,' a spokesperson said.
CBS News
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Baskerville brings murder mystery, fast paced comedy to Lone Tree Arts Center
Sherlock Holmes' classic case of The Hound of the Baskervilles is on stage at the Lone Tree Arts Center. This production of the whodunit is not like anything audiences would expect. Of course, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are on the case, figuring out who is killing the Baskerville heirs. But, this telling of the story is a fast-paced farce. "It's a haunted story. It's a mystery. It's a ghost story, but it's also a comedy," said Matt Zambrano, Director of "Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first write Hounds of Baskerville as a serial for a magazine called The Strand around 1899. Readers got a new piece of the story every week. Since then, the story has been adapted into many radio broadcasts, films, and plays. Playwright Ken Ludwig adapted the story in 2015. "So his aesthetic , his quality is very much fast-paced, zany, farce," Zambrano explained. In addition to Holmes and Watson, four actors play more than 40 individual characters. "So you'll see an actor say a line as one character, walk off stage, come right back and it's a completely different costume," Zambrano said. The play has 5 separate story line and goes to 25 different locations. For the first time, Lone Tree Arts Center is using it's extensive fly system to change scenery in seconds. "It's a lot, but it's also a great challenge," said Zambrano. "My job, as a director for a piece like this is to herd the cats, make sure that you have all the pieces working together." For Zambrano, it's a labor of love. For the audience, it's an exciting whodunit. "At it's best it's an opportunity to come inside a lovely theater and sit back for 2-hours and 15-minutes and enjoy a really well told story. You'll laugh along the way. You may have a few jump scares at some points perhaps, but at the end of the day, you're going to watch a really good play performed by some really good performers and designed by the incredible designers," Zambrano added. The 'game is a foot' at the Lone Tree Arts Center. LINK: For Tickets & Information about "Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" "Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holms Mystery" runs through Sunday, April 13, 2025 at the Lone Tree Arts Center.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Doctor Who stars to perform The Hound of the Baskervilles
TWO STARS from Doctor Who will appear on stage near Worcester in just a few weeks' time. Former on-screen enemies as the Doctor and Davros, Colin Baker and Terry Molloy will be taking to the stage as detective duo Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in Tenbury Wells. The performance will be a radio-play-on-stage version of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Adaptor and director Martin Parsons said: "We originally staged this brand new adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 2022 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the novel's publication. READ MORE: What's happening to former Argos which was set to be fairground-themed bar? "However, such has been the popularity of the tour with audiences that we're delighted to be returning to theatres with it one last time in 2025. "The key to its success is the pitch-perfect performances of Colin Baker and Terry Molloy in their portrayals of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. We're in for another treat and I'm thrilled to be able to bring two such fine actors together again on stage in these iconic roles." The pair will be joined by Dee Sandler as Doctor Mortimer, along with David Sandham, Kate Ashmead, Martin Parsons and Imogen Jones. The production will be set up like a radio studio, with sound effects created live on stage. It will take place at the Regal Tenbury Wells on Tuesday April 8 at 7.30pm.
