Silly Sussex
25 April|10:30 - 15:00
A Light-hearted lunchtime, fused with foolishness, food, fun and games; all mixed up with more than a hint of history at Leonardslee for those people who don’t want foolishness to stop with April Fools’ Day.
All-inclusive History Events presents a unique lunchtime event of local history, food, foolishness and fun; provided by three of the county’s most engaging history and food speakers. Find out about the timeline of the event below.
A break for lunch will be taken with afternoon tea which includes scones with cream and jam, a sandwich, a slice of cake and a tea or coffee per person. Please email info@leonardsleegardens.co.uk if you have any allergies or dietary requirements.
£29.50 per person | 10% off for Members
Garden Entry Included | Parking included for Leonardslee Members | Parking information
Event Information
10.30 - Doors open
10.45 – Your host - Kevin Newman
Silly Sussex is compered by Sussex’s most prolific writer of local history, Kevin Newman, author of over a dozen light-hearted history books on the county and busy public speaker. Kevin warms us up with some silly Sussex games (including ‘What’s Your Sussex Smuggler Name?’ & ‘Scoff or Keep Well Off?’) and a few tales of Sussex silliness over the centuries before he introduces our first guest. That guest is the very funny local historian Dr Janet Pennington, known across the county (and beyond) for her funny, saucy and always entertaining talks. Janet will be starting off the silly proceedings with a talk that everyone needs – on ‘Hats of Sussex’!
11.30 - Janet
Kevin will be introducing Janet who will be telling us everything we need to know about hats from history – and some things we don’t need to know, but she thinks we should. By the end of the talk, you’ll be looking at hats in a completely new way!
Janet is Sussex’s most popular history speaker and is beloved by groups county wide, as well as the author of the wonderful ‘Chanctonbury Ring- The Story of A Sussex Landmark’ & co-author of ‘Lives, Loves & Letters – The Goring Family of Wiston, Sussex’. You will find you laugh, learn and lust after hats from the past, but perhaps not necessarily in that order.
12.15 - Interval
12.30 - Ian
Next up on our line up is TV and Radio’s Ian Dowding, famed chef of the Hungry Monk restaurant in Jevington and co-author of its famous and widely selling cookbooks. Ian will be bringing his wit, charm and wealth of experience as a celebrity chef along with his experiences of appearing in several television programmes as chef and food adviser including ‘Regency House Party’ (2003, Channel 4), ‘The Diets that Time Forgot’, and more recently ‘Turn back Time’ for BBC1.He has also appeared on Radio 4’s ‘The Kitchen Cabinet’ but is most famous as the co-creator of Sussex’s most famous ever dessert, Banoffi pie. Ian has penned numerous cookbooks including the wonderfully titled ‘Fish Bananas’ and is now a novelist too, with a range novels to his credit, including ‘Fish Farce’ and his latest offering; a tale of smuggling in Sussex called ‘A Fraternity of Thieves’.
If you’ve never been to one of Ian’s talks you’re in for a treat as his long career has been full of many exciting adventures, and his latest adventure is the enigmatically title talk, ‘The Pheasants Are Revolting!’. More will be revealed about the talk nearer the time.
13.30: Lunch with today’s speakers
14.00: Kevin – Silly Sussex: Foolish Fellas and Females
Our final section of our foolish festivities sees a return of the light-hearted local historian Kevin Newman, author of the bestselling ‘Little History of Sussex’ and ‘Pond Puddings and Sussex Smokies’, both now in their second editions. Kevin also pens the history column ‘Sussex and Surrey Miscellany’ which appears across Surrey and Sussex’s ‘Pages’ Magazines. Kevin will be taking us through the funnier side of the county’s foolish past, the foolish fellas and females of yesteryear, daft decisions and some more goofy games.
14.45: Q&A - 15.00